Two questions about LDS Bonaire Trip, please

[driftwood]

Hi Don, my lds runs two trips to Bonaire each year flying Con., staying at Buddy's, unlimited boat dives, free nitrox, breakfast, and truck for the week. About the same deal your shop gets. They are priced at $1800 and generally have around 16 people making the trip. PM sent with the contact info. Those rates are from Austin (cheaper to fly to BON from AUS than IAH btw, I LOVE Continental's little quirks like that) and I am sure that their travel agency can work things out for you.

If you do stay at Buddy's be sure to stay in the newer section (the right hand buildings on their home page). At some point Buddy's acquired Lion's Resort so you have two very different levels of accommodations (ever wonder why they don't have a room photo?). Do yourself a big favor and stay in the newer buildings.

I think that Bonaire has a bad rep for crime since it is the "shore diving capital of the world" and the thieves found out a long time ago that rock breaks glass. This is especially true at the more remote dive sites like Karpata and the lighthouse. Best to just keep your truck windows down, vacation time dealing with the police is bad. One thing that I did was to buy an old dive light and removed the guts to be used as my "safe box" while I dive. Clip it on the BC and forget about it.

Been to Bonaire twice in the past three years and the Continental flight is the way to go. Beats the American flight from DFW/SJN/BON any day. Loved the dive operation at Buddy's (they only have 32% nitrox as I recall) and if their house reef was the only one on the island, it might still be worth the trip. Bonaire is still exactly what a good Carib reef should look like.

 

[lmorin]

We stayed at Sand Dollar and dove with Bonaire Dive and Adventures for a week in March. Room was a 1 BR condo. From Kennedy Airport, flight was $442/pp to San Juan connecting to Bonaire; accommodations, breadfasts, 11 boat dives plus a truck was $1255/pp. Would only do only 6 boat dives next time.

Arrangements were made through BayAdventures.com. We've used them several times and been happy with the prices.

 

[ReefHound]

Our dive club just did a trip for about $1600 per person total, including air.

Airfares and rules are in a rapid state of change right now. Everything is unstable. What someone paid a few months ago means nothing. No telling what fares are going to do over time and no guarantee they'll honor your fare purchased now if fuel continues to skyrocket. Airlines are also planning capacity cuts so those empty flights might be dropped.

Don't forget the extra $100 you'll be paying in baggage fees.

If you email Buddy's and ask nicely maybe they'll email you pics of their analyzers then you can leave yours at home?

 

[DandyDon]

Our dive club just did a trip for about $1600 per person total, including air.

Airfares and rules are in a rapid state of change right now. Everything is unstable. What someone paid a few months ago means nothing. No telling what fares are going to do over time and no guarantee they'll honor your fare purchased now if fuel continues to skyrocket. Airlines are also planning capacity cuts so those empty flights might be dropped.

Don't forget the extra $100 you'll be paying in baggage fees.

If you email Buddy's and ask nicely maybe they'll email you pics of their analyzers then you can leave yours at home?

I know. I appreciate that members are willing to take time to tell me about their trips - before air fares skyrocketed, at other times of year, at other resorts, etc - but it just tells me that they had a nice time, which is good but not not I posted about. That my LDS has fares locked in on their package may be great if it includes good flights. They'll be open tomorrow; I'll get more them.

Continental is not charging $100 on the second bag - only $25. See Continental Airlines - $25 Fee for Second Checked Bag I might get that waived for my Elite status even tho the rules say that does not apply on groups.

Good idea; I took it a little further and sent this email...

Your resort has been highly recommended. Would you please send information about your air quality controls, i.e.
> A copy of your last quarterly air tests as required by PADI;
> What inline carbon monoxide monitors do you run on your compressors; and
> What Nitrox tester do you provide for customers?

thanks!

If they respond well, I'll be impressed. If they give me the usual response, well....

 

[b1gcountry]

I've been there before, and honestly, I've felt much safer on Bonaire than on any other island I've been on. Some shore dives on the South involve parking your car in the middle of nowhere often without even other divers around. If you did that in Chicago where I grew up, you wouldn't have wheels on your truck! Another thing is that the people who would be stealing your stuff are not divers, and they can't hock dive gear on the island, so they tend to leave it alone. I doubt they would touch your nitrox analyzer, although I could be wrong.

Ask about the boat package ahead of time. Often you can add it in during the week at the same cost, or even cheaper. If you do decide not to do as many, you are ahead, and if nothing else, that's $100 that you have in your pocket in the meantime...

Back to the theft; I left stuff out in my room the whole time, and nothing ever got stolen. A lot of people left their wetsuits on the porch on the first floor as well, and had no problems. Buddy Dive has a security guard at the gate, and a perimeter fence, so they have a pretty good way to prevent theft.

I would also recommend leaving the O2 analyzer at home. You can borrow their toys for the week and have the same result. All the fill stations have their own you can use; often several types.

Tom

 

[DandyDon]

Just spoke with the LDS finally. Great shop, closed Mondays, opens at 11 on Tuesdays. The couple has been there several times, never a problem with the rooms, never a problem with the pickups other than filling the tanks with "Gas-Oil" (diesel) then having to drain the tanks to fill them with gas. The flights are the ones I hope for: 4:20pm out of Lubbock, long layover, overnight to BON; 8am return, lonnnng layover, home that night. All in all, with their info and the feedback you all have given me, I am encouraged.

I'll probly be fine with their O2 testers; I will be pleasantly & greatly surprised if they have recent test results required by PADI or an inline CO monitor, but maybe?

 

[ReefHound]

Continental is not charging $100 on the second bag - only $25. See Continental Airlines - $25 Fee for Second Checked Bag I might get that waived for my Elite status even tho the rules say that does not apply on groups.

I didn't mean it to be a price quote, just that if you are comparing fares with a $100 difference there could be more things to compare. Is that $25 one way or RT? With several majors now charging for the 1st bag it's possible CO could start doing the same.

 

[flatwood]

Just spoke with the LDS finally. Great shop, closed Mondays, opens at 11 on Tuesdays. The couple has been there several times, never a problem with the rooms, never a problem with the pickups other than filling the tanks with "Gas-Oil" (diesel) then having to drain the tanks to fill them with gas. The flights are the ones I hope for: 4:20pm out of Lubbock, long layover, overnight to BON; 8am return, lonnnng layover, home that night. All in all, with their info and the feedback you all have given me, I am encouraged.

I'll probly be fine with their O2 testers; I will be pleasantly & greatly surprised if they have recent test results required by PADI or an inline CO monitor, but maybe?

If I'm not mistaken, I saw a PADI certificate in their air fill where they had been checked when I was there in march.

 

[DandyDon]

I didn't mean it to be a price quote, just that if you are comparing fares with a $100 difference there could be more things to compare. Is that $25 one way or RT? With several majors now charging for the 1st bag it's possible CO could start doing the same.

Oh ok, I see, TY. Continental charges $25 each way on second bag, and that cannot be changed once ticketed. Before ticketing, yes it can.

If I'm not mistaken, I saw a PADI certificate in their air fill where they had been checked when I was there in march.

That'd be great, hope so. Padi does not enforce the requirements and many tropical ops don't bother with tests or monitors.

I don't dive a tank until I confirm it's full - not taking anyone's word on it; and I don't dive a tank unless I know it's CO free - not playing that roulette game again.

 

[georoc01]

Don,

When I was there last month, we had 50 people and no theft that I have heard about. And everyone had laptops, cameras etc. Having stuff in the truck is one thing, but I would consider your room as safe as it is say in Cozumel.

As far as back and forth to the room, it depends what dive site you are diving. From Buddys, the further south you go, the less I would like to make the drive back to Buddys between dives. Traffic in town seemed to get backed up about midday.

On the flight issue, you are correct in that you are limited compared to say a Cozumel. The other thing was that you have to factor in that the dinners are more expensive than in Cozumel also.

As a first timer, I agree on the boat dives. Staying at Divi Flamingo, we had 3 boat dives a day and our Dive masters were excellent at finding stuff. Saw a Seahorse on just about every boat dive we did. Also from the boat you can dive Klein Bonaire, which had some good dive spots as well. I'd do them the first time.

I really enjoyed Bonaire and would go back. My LDS' trip for New Years is running around $2700 staying at Captain Don's.
Bonaire: Travel at A-1 Scuba Colorado