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Best place to stay in Bonaire March 6th, 2010
- Thread starter WaterDance
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helimvee
Contributor
I second Bonairepros.com I have booked my last 7 trips with them. Try emailing them.
Bellafonte is a good choice. Very similar to BelMar,but no pool or on-site dive shop. A wannadive location is right next door though.
Not sure what type of place you are looking for, but Happy Holiday Homes is a good budget location on the sourh end. VERY clean and a 3 minute walk to Belmar for a dive shop and Roomer hotel for a restaurant. Roomer Holtel is also an option, but I don't think they have kitchens.
Too bad BelMar is booked. It is very nice. I am there now.
Have a good trip.
Bellafonte is a good choice. Very similar to BelMar,but no pool or on-site dive shop. A wannadive location is right next door though.
Not sure what type of place you are looking for, but Happy Holiday Homes is a good budget location on the sourh end. VERY clean and a 3 minute walk to Belmar for a dive shop and Roomer hotel for a restaurant. Roomer Holtel is also an option, but I don't think they have kitchens.
Too bad BelMar is booked. It is very nice. I am there now.
Have a good trip.
drrich2
Contributor
By the way, here's a trip report thread from our '09 Bonaire trip. It includes some photos of the grounds and our 4 person unit at Eden Beach resort.
Again, I've not stayed at the other places, so I'm not trumpeting that the resort I'm used to is better than somebody else's. I'm just saying it worked for us, and judging from the ScubaNashville.com page on their Bonaire Trip (scroll to the bottom of that page), they've got quite a few vacant apartment slots to fill with this group trip.
Richard.
Again, I've not stayed at the other places, so I'm not trumpeting that the resort I'm used to is better than somebody else's. I'm just saying it worked for us, and judging from the ScubaNashville.com page on their Bonaire Trip (scroll to the bottom of that page), they've got quite a few vacant apartment slots to fill with this group trip.
Richard.
DiveMaven
Contributor
Have you checked with Liz at the Golden Reef Inn?? Sand Dollar might have some availability as well....
Another vote for Liz at the golden reef inn. Nice clean rooms with breakfast. Air on site. Very reasonable pricing. She can arrange everything.
OP
WaterDance
Contributor
So I am getting confused about a place to stay versus who we dive with. When I have booked in the past I get the room and it comes with X number of boat dives and X number of shore tanks. Also, since this is a place famous for shore dives, I presume we also need a rental car. Should I try and do all of the parts separately today, or wait until a travel agent can assist us with a package deal tomorrow?
DiverVince
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WD..You can do it either way. The general rule of thumb is chose a dive op based at or near where you are to be domiciled during your stay. An e mail or personal visit when on island will suffice.
As far as truck rental, there are numerous paces where this can be arranged.
See this URL for assistance if you chose to arrange your own.. Many folks (including me) have their favorites.
Info Bonaire - Car Rentals and Mopeds - Transportation Rentals on Bonaire
Bonaire is the home of shore diving, so this is what we normally do there. You can't beat the freedom of diving when & where you want. Once in awhile we'll take a boat and do a double tank dive off of Klein.
As far as truck rental, there are numerous paces where this can be arranged.
See this URL for assistance if you chose to arrange your own.. Many folks (including me) have their favorites.
Info Bonaire - Car Rentals and Mopeds - Transportation Rentals on Bonaire
Bonaire is the home of shore diving, so this is what we normally do there. You can't beat the freedom of diving when & where you want. Once in awhile we'll take a boat and do a double tank dive off of Klein.
momliz
Registered
try this - I did it just gathering info and got a bunch of responses.
Info Bonaire - One-Stop Shopping for Bonaire Hotels, Resorts, Condos, and Apartments
you put in your dates, what you need and your request gets sent to a lot of hotels, apartments, villas, you name it.
Info Bonaire - One-Stop Shopping for Bonaire Hotels, Resorts, Condos, and Apartments
you put in your dates, what you need and your request gets sent to a lot of hotels, apartments, villas, you name it.
You can do either but for your first trip it's a lot easier just to go with the dive op and truck rental company (you do not want a car) that the resort deals with. You do not need a travel agent to do it for you, most all of the resorts will do the complete package for you if you contact them directly, either by email or phone, I have not used a travel agent in years. I have planned a bunch of trips to Bonaire and have no issues doing it seperately but I usually let the resort handle it. Makes paying easier if nothing else because it's one bill as opposed to 3. Since this is your first trip I would either use a travel agent or just contact the resort and have them handle it. Personally, I would drop the boat dives on your first trip. It will knock off $120 or so off the bill and if you change your mind you can always add them back either as a package or al a cart once on the island. All of the package deals will drop them if you just ask. Other than being last minute, you are making this harder than it really is, a phone call or 2 and a couple of emails is all it really takes. One last thought, you do have airline tickets don't you? Air can at times be harder to find than a place to stay.
momliz
Registered
we will be at the Divi the week before your trip, and one of the reasons I chose them was that they had a good onsite dive op. not perfect, other dive ops offer some things they don't, but the whole package of decent place to stay and decent dive op looks ok for us. What you need to think about, also is what works for you - we will be on a vacation that includes diving, we love it but are not fanatics, so we are also looking forward to the land sailing thing, kayaking the mangroves and getting away from 2' of snow! so we wanted a resort closer to town, so we can go hang out and explore.
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