Considering BONAIRE or COZ for Dive trip w Daughter - Advise?

[herman]

Also look at flying into Curacao - airport code CUR . There are good number of flights into it and plenty of island hoppers across. I happen to like Divi-Divi air. Small 9 seat plane that flies every hour or so and on occasion you get to fly copilot. Delta flies out of Atlanta directly to Bonaire on Sat which may be an option for you. You will want a truck but most places will do a package for you. All in all for a first timer, it is really hard to beat Buddy Dive. The cost may be a little more but they take care of everything for you, including have their own truck rental fleet. That avoids you having to get a truck at the airport, returning it or finding your way to the resort for the first time.

 

[diversteve]

All the ways to get to Bonaire are listed here. Info Bonaire - Airline Information and Connections

Also look at going thru Curacao and catching a puddle jumper over. Some of them are pretty small planes though. The timing works pretty well except that if you have an early return flight it can be an expensive overnight on Curacao since the first flight from Bonaire leaves after 8AM. The airport hotel in Curacao has been charitably described as a smoke-filled dump and the resort properties can run $100/nt or more. Plus a $30-40 cab ride to town. Insel also flies from MIA, Tiara Air from FLL. At one time someone flew from CLT also but that may've been DAE who recently went bankrupt.

If you want a full AI resort with all the amenities it's the Plaza Resort. Other resorts with dive operations and their own restaurant(s) included the Divi Flamingo, Harbour Village (upscale) Capt' Don's Habitat, Eden Beach resort or Buddy Dive. All have full resort amenities, including their own restaurant(s) and dive operation. Only the Plaza offers a full AI but Buddy's bundles breakfast. Due to ironshore on the north side, the only properties with a real beach are the Plaza, Harbour Village or Eden Beach - Divi has a small one also. Some of the others have sand over the ironshore but there's limited/no water access except via ladder.

Buddy's also offers a drive thru tank pickup at the street side of the property. Divi has the only (small) casino and is about the only resort that's walking distance to downtown.

Condo resorts with full amenities additionally include Sand Dollar Condos, Den Laman Condos and possibly one or two others - listed separately since both have dive operators and IIRC restaurants although I'm not sure of the recent status of Den Laman's. Den Laman has a tiny beach also.

Outside of these, some condo properties also have dive operators but may lack other amenities like food. Places like that would be Caribbean Club, BelMar condos, Windsock Apts. or Port Bonaire condos. PB is also in the flight path. If you find a nice condo/house for rent, chances are good they have an affiliation with a dive operator as well. Anything you find south of town in the Belnem area will require a five minute drive to the closest restaurants - either in south Willemstad or at the Plaza.

BelMar and Caribbean Club are also Buddy dive affiliated so you get use of the tank pickup. Dive Friends has a shop at Sand Dollar and another at Port Bonaire plus 3 more and you can exchange tanks at any of them.

hth,

 

[GaryT]

Diversteve thats a bunch of great info ...thanks so much. I will lookinto a Hartford to Mia flight with a Insel flight into Bonaire. That would be a real winner if I can do it

 

[diversteve]

Matrix - ITA Software should list just about all your options. Some of the local ABC carriers like Easy Air may not be on it.

 

[GaryT]

Ok. I booked delta from hartford direct to Atlanta. 1 hour layover and direct flight to Bonaire. It's 7 hours total travel but each ticket was 1k. That's steep but I didn't want all the layovers and 12 hours travel.

Now I gotta figure out the resort.

 

[dolesorchard]

My two cents. We love Bonaire for the freedom of the shore diving. We just returned from our first trip to Coz and there are definitely more sharks and big turtles, but Bonaire has way more fish. We were told that the currents were very mild while we were there, but we did two dives that the current was fast enough that trying to take pictures was a major chore. The other issue is when you would be going. We went to Roatan last December and a cold front came through about half way through the trip and the after the cold front the high temp was 70. For me, in Dec., Jan. or Feb. I would head further south than Coz. Or bring something really warm for surface intervals.

 

[diversteve]

Now I gotta figure out the resort.

We like Belmar. Nice people run it and it's very clean. 5mins. to all the good southern dive sites. The other Buddy dive is on-site and they'll give you a paper for your dash so you can use the Buddy drive-thru when diving north. Several times per week Buddy's sends a boat down - otherwise you'd have to drive up there. (10mins)

2BR condos are on the ground floor so you have a patio just off the pool. 25' past that is the dive dock. They're not on a named site but it's an extension of Corporal Meiss. Good dive, just not the best on the island. It's a bit compressed behind the building so if they're full parking is a little tight. Ground floor units have a private locked dive closet behind the back door - upstairs has lockers at the dive shop. Your key gets you into the public areas 24/7 for tanks or the nitrox analyzer. That's not always the case at other resorts - often you make arrangement to load tanks for off-hours diving during the day. Depends on how the dive shop facilities are set up.

One downside is food is a 5min. drive away. Hotel Roomer does breakfast - you can walk there. It was average.

Den Laman also looks really nice. It's on my short list for next time. They're on Bari Reef - one of the signature Bonaire dives - known for the largest counted # of species in the Caribbean according to REEF.org. And in the heart of "resort row" as I call it.

A lot of people like Buddy Dive also. New restaurant just opened there as well.

If you're looking to save some money, look for something not waterfont. http://www.infobonaire.com/hotels.html lists options in all price ranges - most have websites. There's also rental properties either along the main road downtown or 1 block back. None are waterfront so cheaper. One advantage that area has is walking to many of the better restaurants. Not the best diving there though since it's a working harbor. And if a cruise ship is in, that's about 100 yds. away. I'd want to be somewhere else then. There's also some private rentals listed on vrbo.com. Some aren't waterfront either. Sunbelt Rentals is another option for houses/condos.

 

[chauncy19]

Gary,
Try the Caribbean Club its owned by Buddy's so get access to their drops off etc. Seems like a better place than Buddy's. Have not stayed there but have stayed at Buddy's and Plaza. think having access to breakfast buffet is a good thing. Would personally stay at the Plaza before I'd go back to Buddy's. Other places diversteve mentioned I am sure are good to. Can't really go wrong, you're on Bonaire!

 

[tajkd]

One more for Plaza. We liked the breakfast and the availability of tanks.

 

[texas23]

We stayed at Caribbean Club and have already booked our second trip back there. Tanks, truck & breakfast are included with the dive & drive package. The people there were amazing. Unlimited nitrox fills & you can also refill your tanks at Buddy Dive so you don't have to drive all the way back up to CCB if you are going back south again. Like you, I researched the crap out of all the resorts I could & was happy I decided on CCB. Read the tripadvisor reviews & check out the pics. Its beautiful!