bonaire house reefs?

[searad]

My husband and I will be going to Bonaire in Oct 2011 for 2 weeks. We are trying to choose our resort by house reef. Which is the most beautiful? Most easily accessible from shore? Less crowds of divers? How does the Buddy Dive house reef compare to the Bari reef near Sand Dollar and Len Demen? If you were going for 2 weeks - where would you go to dive, off gas and relax in between dives (we are in our mid 50's and would like over water comfort and under the water beauty and accessibility). Thank you for your advice! Searad

 

[cardzard]

My vote is for the Plaza resort their house reef has it all. The night dives there are awesome with huge tarpon hunting by your lights.

 

[Warmwater Wank]

Welcome to SB! Hard to imagine being on Bonaire 2 wks and only diving the house reef so make sure to rent a truck ($174/wk from AB Car rental for one w/a/c & pwr steering) and avail yourself to some really splendid variety in your diving (Buddy Dive etc. also have truck pkgs available).

Places like Buddy's, Den Lamen, Sand Dollar etc. have dock access (ie--giant stride off, climb up a ladder on return) so no worries for shore access there--but make sure your choice has that sort of access. "Most beautiful" is an eye of the beholder thing, for which you will get lot's of varying opinions. Consider the resort itself and it's range of accomodations, amenities etc. more than just it's house reef. If you don't rent a truck at least figure to do some boat dives, so double check that aspect of where you will stay. (A quick search will give you loads of trip reports BTW.)

Guess my point is the entire island has a close in reef system that has great access in many. many places. It's the real reason folks come back to Bonaire. (Or is it the Amstel Light?? ) Focusing on the house reef is not the most important criteria for selection IMO. Ah but what the heck. If you are on Bonaire you'll be doing great! // ww

 

[gypsyjim]

Buddy, Sand Dollar, Den Lamen and Captain Don's are all on the same long stretch of reef. Various names for sights, but all it is Bari Reef. A lot to see there, and tons of exploring you can do on just this one reef. Every dive is different, and you COULD dive here all week, if you so chose.

I prefer the entries at Buddy, specially for the great night dives.

Having said that, as Dennis said above, the reef at the Plaza is another great dive, and the resort is a bit more upscale.

And I also agree that I would never think of doing Boanire and just diving house reefs, when the shore diving all along the western coast is so easy, and varying.

 

[searad]

I should have said that we plan to explore every dive site on Bonaire over the 2 weeks - we are planning on a "drive and dive" package and will take a few boat dives too - but having a beautiful easy house reef would be a great way to end the day(s) after the gear has been hauled and the truck unpacked, and the need for cold drinks and creature comfort arises! One of the resorts with a dock entry will probably be best for us as I doubt we would be comfortable with twilight and night dives outside of the resort for safety.

One other question - all sites say to leave no valuables in the truck when in the water - does this include tanks? Or do we need to return to the resort after every shore dive to get filled tanks?

Thanks for your help - thinking we will go with Buddy's for the dock entry.

 

[CountessP]

We just got back from Divi Flamingo and enjoyed the house reef diving there. We did 6 dives, including 2 night. We also drove to both Buddy's and Capt Don's, got permission from the dive shops and did their house reefs. They were both great but Capt. Don's in particular was a good dive with a small wall. I agree it should be a great night dive. Did not try diving the Plaza Resort, but it's close to Divi, so this is probably why they both have tarpon at night, which were pretty awesome to see. The Divi house reef is Calabas Reef, which Sports Diver recommends as one of the must do dive sights in Bonaire. We did different parts, south, mid, and north sections at different times. I can honestly say that Divi's diving set up, including lockers, tank availability, dive piers and ladders were a better set ups that both Buddy's and Capt. Don's. The marine life we saw on Calabas was pretty aweseome as well. Just as good or better than anything else we dove. Yes, we did shore diving off the beaches, both North and South, and while it is a must, beware. Some of the entries can be pretty tricky. Divi Resort itself is OK, similar in quality to Buddy's. Capt. Don's and Plaza are more upscale. The advantage of Divi would be proximity to town so you can walk it if you want, and the casino if you like gambling. The restaurants were not bad. Not great, but not bad. Hope all this helps. Have a great time!!

 

[H2ODoc]

Bellafonte has a nice quiet pier. Stair entry, nice "house" reef and upscale condos. Plus, about 1 block down the street is a dive shop where you can swap tanks.

Bellafonte is a much smaller place and un-resortish, though. So, if you were looking for on-site restaurant and bar, it's not for you. Otherwise, we really enjoyed the place.

Enjoy!

 

[KeithG]

As indicated above, there is a choice of 2 reefs: Bari (Capt don, dive buddy, sand dollar, den l) or Calabas (Plaza, Divi, bruce?). Since each set of resorts are so close together, they share the same reef. If you are a finner, then you will end up covering the reef in front of the next resort. Which one is more beautiful is your call.

Bari has a bit of a wall, Calabas is generally just a 45 degree slope. Both have easy resort dock access.

In our early days we stayed at the northern resorts (dons, Dive b & sand dollar), but we now stay at Divi (just got back from a week of real easy diving). The Divi is close enough to town to walk to restaurants for supper. We needed a rental vehicle from the other resorts, the walk to town was just too far.

The Divi also has a great set up for night dives - no curfew, tanks and gear locker access are available 24 hrs a day. I can not remember how the other resorts are setup, but i know some do have (used to have?) some type of night restrictions - other posters should be able to provide more details.

Our week of diving was:
a) eat buffet breakfast while watching the 2 tank morning day boat load up & leave
b) dock dive for an hour or so - we often saw 2 or 3 other divers gearing up
c) nap
d) eat simple lunch in room
e) wander down to dock for 2 oclock single tank boat dive to klien (they allow a 60 minute bottom time for the single tank dive) boat had 6 to 10 divers
f) have a nap
g) walk down to dock for 6:30 to start our night dive - only saw other divers on a few nights
h) wander into town to eat (5 to 15 min walk - depending upon restaurant)
i) sleep
j) repeat 5 more times...
k) get stuck in newark for 3 days on the way home due to a little hit of snow

We relax too much to do the rental truck shore dive thing. At the Divi you are actually "in town" and do not need a rental vehicle to enjoy the town.

Either way, it is a very easy place to relax and still get your fill of bottom time.

 

[gypsyjim]

Entries at the Plaza are sandy shore dives, while Den Lamen and Buddy are ladder entries. All are easy entries, and all have very good boat dive operations.

Leaving nothing in the trucks, is a valid precaution, but this does not apply to rental tanks. Tanks and water bottles seem to be about the only things that have no value at all to those who search parked trucks for items they can turn for $. Even things as simple as sunglasses and lunches have grown wings.

 

[searad]

WOW! Thank you all!!!! This was the most informative forum I've ever participated in! Thank you for sharing your experiences and helping us make the good choice - we will be looking into Divi and Bellafonte! Thank you again, happy diving in 2011!