AI with a good house reef

[Doctorfish]

In that case, I would lean toward Buddy Dive, Bonaire
Great House Reef with stairs for entry
Excellent breakfasts
Fresh Water pool
Several restaurants in walking distance, on site or next door at Habitat
The accommodation is not upscale but adequate
Very good on site dive shop and reasonable boats

They offer a dive and drive package which includes, truck rental, accommodation, unlimited shore diving, +/- option boat dive package. If your first trip to Bonaire I would definitely do some boat dives in order to be able to experience Klein Bonaire.

Cobalt Coast on Grand Cayman would also meet your needs
AI with very good food
decent rooms and pool
Fantastic dive op and spacious boats
Very good house reef but long swim and weather dependent ( tends to be blown out in the winter )
On the - side, in the middle of nowhere

I've stayed at both and would not hesitate to return to either one.

Price point is about the same but easier and cheaper to get to Cayman than Bonaire

 

[scubadada]

Thanks for the replies, walking distance restaurants and a house reef are pretty high on the list, a decent house reef for easy afternoon diving is a big selling point.

When is your trip?

 

[Mason Gierke]

When is your trip?

Until we know the world is going to be open for travel we haven't set a date but at this point I would guess not until summer 2022.

 

[edwants2dive]

Looking at your requirements with give and take I recommend Buddy Dive Bonaire. We did a week there and it was great! The included breakfast is really good the rooms have a full kitchen (- oven lol) so that makes a nice option for meals without going out. The house reef is a great dive in either direction and it is easy to navigate it is also a great and easy night dive which in my opinion adds more value. The Dive and dive package gives you a rental car so you can dive all over the island and drive into Kralendijk for supper where there are many great restaurants. You can also drive up to Rincon and visit the distillery on your last day when you are waiting that agonizing 24 hr no dive period before your flight home. Just my $.02

 

[Janie88]

I agree with recommendations on Buddy Dive Resort. It has a wonderful house reef, so easy. You'd have to fend for yourself with lunch/dinner but places walking distance like others have said. I may get slammed for this but I'm not a huge fan of renting a truck and doing shore dives just b/c it is a lot of lugging equipment around and doesn't appeal to me. My husband and I are both nurses, work hard, and on our vacation we like more "valet" style diving.

To that end, Brac Reef Resort is wonderful valet diving. Shore diving would involve driving to the other side of the island but you could also just opt for an afternoon dive with them. Same with Little Cayman (although I don't know about any shore diving on Little?).

What about a liveaboard? Talk about ease of diving!! Up to 5 dives/daily (typically) and everything included. You never have to change your tank/set up after the first time. We love Aggressor Belize IV, Bahamas, Roatan, Turks and I hear Cayman Aggressor is a brand new boat and that would be my recommendation for Cayman Of course, it depends on how much you want to spend. Aggressor is not inexpensive, but if you catch a special, it is many times not more than going to an AI like Brac Reef resort or similar.

When we were in Bonaire and staying at Buddy's, we walked over to Captain Don's Habitat and checked it out. I thought the rooms were nicer, and I think you can get more meals included? Don't remember. I also think they share the same house reef with Buddy's but again it was several years ago and I may not be correct but something to look at.

 

[Altamira]

My wife and I are going to Sunscape Curacao for a lengthy stay when it is safe to travel per CDC recommendations. We selected this resort because it is AI, has a very good on-site dive op (Ocean Encounters) for shore or boat diving, plus The Dive Bus dive op is just behind and adjacent to the resort, the resort has a very large, nice beach which is sheltered by a rock sea wall, and an excellent reef just on the other side of the sea wall. I dove Pierbaii and Car Pile dive sites, right in front of the Sunscape sea wall, in 2019 with The Dive Bus, and could have spent a week or longer just rooting around those two dive sites. We stayed a week at the Capt. Don's in Bonaire in 2010, loved the diving, and would go back without hesitation, but did not find much else to keep us busy had we not been diving 3-4 dives a day. So, for a lengthy stay, with little interest in "diving until we drop", Curacao seems like a great relaxing post-Covid vacation solution for us.

 

[Janie88]

My wife and I are going to Sunscape Curacao for a lengthy stay when it is safe to travel per CDC recommendations. We selected this resort because it is AI, has a very good on-site dive op (Ocean Encounters) for shore or boat diving, plus The Dive Bus dive op is just behind and adjacent to the resort, the resort has a very large, nice beach which is sheltered by a rock sea wall, and an excellent reef just on the other side of the sea wall. I dove Pierbaii and Car Pile dive sites, right in front of the Sunscape sea wall, in 2019 with The Dive Bus, and could have spent a week or longer just rooting around those two dive sites. We stayed a week at the Capt. Don's in Bonaire in 2010, loved the diving, and would go back without hesitation, but did not find much else to keep us busy had we not been diving 3-4 dives a day. So, for a lengthy stay, with little interest in "diving until we drop", Curacao seems like a great relaxing post-Covid vacation solution for us.

@Altamira I agree with you about Bonaire. The diving is wonderful. But I would only go there for a dive-dive-dive vacation. The island itself is not very pretty in my opinion. But then again, I don't care for most islands. As far as being above the water, I prefer the mountains and that topography. Probably why I think St. Lucia is one of the prettier islands.

 

[tursiops]

@Mason Gierke Do you really want AI, or do you just want restaurants on premises so you don't have to go out?

 

[Blues Runner]

Grand Cayman - Lighthouse Point/Dive Tech. Outstanding house reef. At one time they offered a breakfast included option at the vegan restaurant located at Lighthouse Point.

Bonaire - Buddy Dive - Good House Reef. Breakfast included. IMO, the best Bonaire diving is shore diving.

Honduras - Coco View - Great house reef and AI.

For AI - Any of the Reef Divers locations. Cayman Brac (Wonderful experience - no house reef) Grand Cayman Cobalt Coast (no experience - house reef), and Little Cayman (no experience - not sure if they have a house reef.)

 

[Mason Gierke]

@Mason Gierke Do you really want AI, or do you just want restaurants on premises so you don't have to go out?

I absolutely do not need AI, but would like to be able to walk to dinner or hit up something easy after diving.