Honeymoon Advice

[WaterWolf]

Hi Everyone!
I am new to the board, not new to diving though. We are splittign our honeymoon between Curacao and Bonaire in September/October of 2009 and are looking forward to some coral spawning! In Curacao we are staying at Habitat Curacao because a friend of ours, and favorite dive master Clarck works there.

We are looking for some advice on where to stay in Bonaire though, as it's our first trip to the B island. Also - has anyone been to Curacao and stayed at Habitat lately? I heard it could use some sprucing up? Thanks!

Hi muzicgirl, welcome to the board.

I stayed at the Habitat in Curacao about a year ago and yes, It could use some TLC, however the excellent diving made up for any shortcomings. I've only been to Bonaire once and stayed at Carib Inn. It was nice and I would definitely stay there again. I am going back to Bonaire this weekend for a week but staying at Buddy Dive this trip. I will surely submit a trip report when I get back so check back. From what I've read so far, I'm sure I wont be disappointed at Buddy Dive either.

WW

 

[muzicgirl]

Thanks so much - yeah, we used to stay at the Hilton when we went to Curacao but they closed the dive shop and our dive master is now at Habitat, so we follow him! We are looking into carib inn and buddy dive and look forward to your report!

 

[avlena]

We liked the location of Divi Flamingo. It's within walking distance of town, and felt like a nice central spot such that diving north or south was pretty easy. They're in the process of upgrading their rooms, and they have some with private enclosed patios.

 

[muzicgirl]

is Divi flamingo close to the beach?

 

[reefdiva]

is Divi flamingo close to the beach?

Divi Flamingo is on the water. Not sure what beach you mean. Bonaire is not an island of beaches ... the shoreline is mostly coral rubble and ironstone. There are a few small sandy areas but not really beaches.

 

[muzicgirl]

I don't mean sandy beach with umbrellas, but I have this thing when we go on vacation in a tropical place = I need to stay near the shore/water.

 

[DiverVince]

Muzicgirl..Check this site out which lists many of the available accommodations on Bonaire according to price.
Enjoy your honeymoon!!
Info Bonaire - Hotels & Accommodations - Resorts, Condos, Inns, Apartments, Houses and other accommodations

 

[avlena]

is Divi flamingo close to the beach?

When we researched our trip, I was told that Divi Flamingo & Plaza Bonaire are the only resorts with a beach. We spent one afternoon in the beach area, and it was okay. Divi is on the water like many of the more popular resorts on Bonaire, so you can literally wake up, walk to the dive shop in 2 minutes or less (our room was a 30 second walk to the dive shop, so we were really spoiled!), grab a tank, walk to the end of the dock, and giant stride into the water. They also have a few bars/restaurants that are on the water, which is nice in the evenings.

Plaza has a bigger beach then Divi's, but they're also so large that it's a decent walk to get to your room from the water.

 

[muzicgirl]

We are looking for room with a water view, ocean within a minutes walk from the hotel, Dive shop right there on premise and ability to basicaly lounge in a pool, go to the bar and have a drink, gear up and stride off the dock into a house reef or get on a boat and do a dive...but not necessarily in that order!

 

[fisheyeview]

We did our honeymoon at Plaza Resort, and we loved it. Ask for the Honeymoon package. You get breakfast in bed one morning, a candle light dinner for two on the beach, and some other stuff that I can't remember.