Trip Report Delfins/AB Dive Feb 9-16, 2020 Punt Vierkant Bonaire

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Protondecay123

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Apex of Moronia
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I posted this review on the Undercurrent Members Review as well. It was one "Incredible Vacation"
After hearing so much about the quality of SCUBA diving Bonaire, we had to give it a go. The wives don't dive, so we booked Delfins Beach Resort at Punt Vierkant just south of BIA. There has been a lot of criticism of the place on online reviews and it does have it's quirks. But it does have some really great benefits for those who do not dive. My traveling started in the 1980's via Uncle Sam's Navy about the Caribbean, North Atlantic, North Sea, the Med and Red Sea over a 4 year time period on a guided missile destroyer. So adapting to the "European way" of vacationing was not terribly problematic for me. Having wives who don't dive had us looking outside the usual dive resorts for a nice beach, pool side bar, hammocks, etc. Perusing for hours looking at photos on this site and various resort websites, we decided on Delfins. And ultimately we were quite happy with our choice. We would go back there again with non-diving significant others. The beach at the resort and layout of the beach chairs, piers and tiki bar is certainly one of the best, if not the best on the island. We went by Eden Beach Resort and Harbor Village, which were much more packed like a sardine can. While we were checking in to Delfins, they gave us a small glass of sparkling wine ( champagne or asti?) to take the edge off of the travel. Also my wife and I had dinner one night at the Brass Boer which was one of our most incredible dining experiences ever. Yes, the portions were small compared to the usual in the USA. Yes, it was very expensive. Three glasses of champagne, "The Meter" ceviche, Cod, Dutch Shrimp, Special Coconut and deconstructed Apple pie with an expresso and Americano was over $250 with tip. But the dining experience was simply put, one of the finest dining experiences of our life on our 24th Wedding Anniversary.
Our room had a one bedroom oceanfront which was quirky. The doors do not lock behind you. The bathroom does NOT have an exhaust fan. The Shower is small with no door. So you have to use the Squeegee to dry out the bathroom floor from the spay after your shower. But, the room does have a kitchenette where you can cook if you like, if you can find the directions to the electric stove top (which we couldn't, but we weren't interested in cooking anything other than a cup of coffee). The coffee is indeed $5/4packets. Each packet was good for about 1 cup. To make one cup you had run the coffee maker three times. But, The coffee was very good European style darker type roast. The morning breakfast buffet at the Brass Boer is typical Dutch and $23. But you can eat all you like. The restaurant does accommodate dietary restrictions as we had group members with lactose and gluten sensitivities. The service at the restaurant is okay, better than some of the restaurants we ate at on Kralendijk (It Rains Fishes for example). There is no service at the poolside. You must go to the Tiki Bar for drinks. The Dutch staff are somewhat less friendly in general than the locals, but were never rude nor inappropriate. We had none of the reported problems with housekeeping. Our housekeeper was excellent. We did initially have a problem with hot water that was corrected the first day. The water is not as hot as you would expect for the US but was more than adequate for a shower.
We used AB Dive and Drive package for 7 days with full coverage, no deductible insurance with nitrox, which after taxes was $670.98 total. The dive package included weights. They are only open 0800-1700 and only have 1 location on Kaya Industrial across from Lucky Supermarket and just south of Van Den Twell. However they will let you take pretty much as many tanks as you like. One evening we took 6 for the two of us. We came with all of our own gear except weights and tanks which worked out perfectly for their package deal. Gasoline (Yellow handle) was $1.39/litre. The Truck was a Chinese brand " Grand Tiger" that was a little bit of a beater, but ran fine and had good AC. After burning a little over half a tank for the week, it cost $65 to fill it up before returning it. AB Dive picked us up at the airport and drove us back very promptly on the return. Great service overall. Free nitrox upgrade as long as your certified. If you aren't the course was $127. No deductible full coverage on your truck. A good value for sure. No complaints. Would definitely use them again.
The great diving at Bonaire is rightfully heralded. Though, there was much more dead coral, particularly around "Front Porch", "The Lake" and "The Cliff" (closer to town) than expected. The reef at Margate Bay, LaDania's Leap and Karpata was in much better shape. We did the drift dive from LaDania's Leap to Karpata, which was the highlight for me. We offloaded the gear at LaDania's Leap and flipped a coin ( I won!) on who was driving the truck up to Karpata. Then Geared up and headed down the trail to the jump off point. We did "The Leap" and I was a little too negative without mask and fins on. I want a redo on that entry. I think I'm going to Giant Stride it with the fins on with positive buoyancy next time. We saw juvenile Green Turtles every day. Green, Goldentail and Spotted Morays. Yellowhead Jawfish, Anemone with Peterson Cleaning Shrimp, Mantis Shrimp, Small Schools of Reef Squid, etc.
So in summary, Delfins is not for everyone. If you are going with dive buddies, there are better places for you to stay. But if you have a romantic interest that doesn't dive, it's highly recommended. Given, that you can accept it's somewhat quirky nature and unapologetically Dutch manner of business. AB Dive is a great operation and highly recommended.
 

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Ate lunch there last Friday and took a walk around. Definitely a great place if you have non-diving members of a group. Since they had Dive Friends on site, I’m curious why you picked AB for your tanks. Dive Friends was great and multiple locations made it very convenient to swap out tanks. I would consider Delfins next time as well because it adds a bit of luxe to the traditional Bonaire dive hotel. Did you hit the house reef off their new pier?
 
I don't think the Dive Friends onsite was established when I booked the room early last year. We were basically doing two dives a day, then hanging out with the wives, so we were just looking for something very inexpensive. AB is $150/nitrox included. I think Dive Friends was $200. AB Picked us up at the airport and shuttled us back which was nice to have those transfers included. Plus we could just get the truck and Nitrox at basically the same location. Their single location was convenient for us as we shopped mostly at Van Den Twell which is about a block away. I didn't dive Delfins House Reef. We dove "The Lake" which is just south and was surprised to see various splotches of red algae and the degree of dead coral. It seemed to us that if a dive site was close to developed beach front it was pretty stressed. Bari/Front Porch was almost desert-like.
 
Front Porch was quite bad, but we found lots of critters there. From DenLaman north, the reef was totally different. I thing you’re right that the new development has something to do with it. I may consider Delfins for the next trip - but having Dive Friends at so many locations makes it worth the extra $. I did use AB for my truck as they are the only rental with full deductible - they never even looked at the truck when I turned it in - and I was able to request a 2019 model year truck - far different from what I got at Buddy, and Buddy made me rinse the whole truck at the end of my trip- seriously.

Thanks for the info on Delfins.
 
Scubadada,

Pier was finished and I saw an instructor take a diver off the end (stairs) for a shore dive. I was only there for lunch and did not see any boats on the pier at that time. Dive Friends runs their tank drive thru as well as the Delfins Dive Shop (I visited both), they might be able to shed some light on whether they operate boats from there. The gear storage at the drive thru did not look large, perhaps only a dozen lockers and you have to "dry" your gear before it can be placed in the lockers based upon the signs I saw. I got the impression that Delfins was far from a "Dive Resort" but was more of a resort with available diving. It was quite new and nice and the food at lunch was excellent.

Gerry
 
Hi @Protondecay123

Is the pier at Delfins finished/open? If yes, do Dive Friends or Delfins boats leave from there? Out of interest, why didn't you dive Lighthouse Point at Delfins?
If you look at the photo of the piers. The one to the left of the cabana is the "dive pier". I saw people entering and exiting the water from there, but no boats. . There is a Dive Shop on the Resort. A Dive Friends drive through is also on the resort. @undrwtr1 's characterization as "resort with available diving" is spot on . I'm almost certain that Dive Friends Boats do not leave from Delfins.
We didn't dive Lighthouse Point at Delfins due to our "shore diving strategy". With the wives in tow we were pretty much limited to 2 -3 dives a day. Our plan was to familiarize ourselves with the more distant places North and South ( hence Margate Bay and Karpata ) trying to maximize the dive experience. Which we were suspicious that being further from development were more pristine. That seemed to be correct to me. We did dive "The Lake" which was just south of Delfins and it was a little on the stressed side with some red algae.
 
Funny, the steel/wood pier looked complete last Friday and there were people jumping off the end and a diver entered from that pier while I was eating lunch. Perhaps there are more modifications needed before they consider it truly "open" for business.
Delfins Bridge or our Pier - Delfins Beach Resort Bonaire
Start construction new pier - Delfins Beach Resort Bonaire

Looks like they intend on doing boat dives based upon their "plans" in the links above. I'm torn between Delfins and Bamboo Bali for my next trip!!!!
 
Hi @undrwtr1

So many good places to stay, many good operators. I'm a Den Laman/Dive Friends fan, including the gear storage building and the pier. My wife is an avid diver, even my two diving children made the last trip Bonaire: Den Laman and Dive Friends, Sept 28-Oct 12, 2019

Like many things on Bonaire, the Delfins pier has had a few delays. The Sand Dollar/Den Laman pier had its own delays for upgrade.
 
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