I just got back from my trip to Bonaire and I did stay at the beachcombers villa (
Beachcomber Villas).
This was my first trip to Bonaire. We had looked at many places and spent a long time researching the island. We did not want to go the resort route as we felt we could do it cheaper and better on our own. We had at first decided on another place, but when we finally got off our butts to book it, it had been taken. This might have been the luckiest thing to happen. We then found a new posting on VRBO for the beachcomber villas. It seemed too nice to be true.
We emailed to the owners and I quickly noticed a difference in the quality of responses we got. We were to stay in Bonaire for 10 days and this seemed to throw off a lot of places with pricing. We mostly got form responses from most of our inquiries, these emails were personal and showed they actually read and listened to the questions that we asked. It is/was a new operation when we booked so there were no reviews online of the place. I am a pessimist and am always looking for half truths in statements so I took the website with a huge grain of salt. I assumed the pictures were of "the ocean" and ocean front ment you could see a sliver of ocean through trees from the highest point. It was still way cheaper than all the other places we looked at so we figured even with half truths it was going to be ok. We have all been on vacation and I am sure you know about the chronic overselling of descriptions. They also did us a huge favor. When we emailed them our itineraries they noticed we had accidentally reversed one of our flights. That would have REALLY sucked when we tried to get on our plane.
This place was AMAZING when we arrived. I literally had chills when they showed us around. This place is truly ocean front with only a gate stopping you from walking into the ocean. We were shocked! The room we stayed in was fresh and new with everything one could want. The owners are clearly divers and frequent travelers. They looked at their own travels and understood the little things that make a difference. The bed was very comfortable, the kitchen was very well stocked with plenty of pots and pans and a nice selection of spices. We cooked almost all the time we were there. They have soap and such to wash dishes including a rack. They also had coffee and teas available but we never used them. There was even a gas grill just for guest use on the balcony. We did not have to buy anything other than the food wanted to eat.
A flat screen TV with cable that was unnecessary (shame on you if you go there to watch TV), Wifi, and IHOME style iPod doc that we listen to often while cooking. They had listened to every request we had made and also had things in the apartment that we talked about in jest. I was concerned about my sensitive rechargeable dive gear so they had a true surge protector waiting for me. They even had a bookshelf full of diving books about Bonaire that really came in handy.
The location was even great. They are within a short walk to Capt Don’s habitat and we went for drinks a couple nights. We often found ourselves on Don’s house reef at our turn time on dives on their house reef (The Cliffs).
Tim and Leanne were great. They gave us site recommendations every day and were interested in what we saw each night. Any questions or requests we had were promptly answered. We asked if they knew where any sea horses were at. Leanne did an internet search that night and printed off all references to seahorse sightings over the past three weeks waiting on our door. This led us right to a PAIR of them. Awesome. They even got us a tarp for our poor little car we rented to try and keep it less skanky from all the wet dive gear. It was service like this that really pushed this place over the edge. I have tons and tons of little stories like this about the little things they did that made a huge difference.
The price was very very good and I believe the website is totally underselling it. The operation would best be described more as a Bed & breakfast style mom and pop operation for divers. The do not offer tanks but have true dive gear storage and rinse/drying racks. They do have a dive operation very very close to the house but we choose a different operation that had larger steel tanks.
I do not believe that we could have found a better place for 3-4 times the amount we paid. This place is wonderful and Tim and Leanne are great people. If you had a vacation rental in Bonaire, this is what it would be like.
Sorry for the long post guys. I just cannot say enough good things about this place. Feel free to ask any questions here or in PM as I just got back from the place.
Jimmy
PS I do not proof read and I am sure this post be full of errors ;-)
