Strategies for dealing with the Continental Red-eyes?

[speuci]

Looking to do a trip in late july - as far as flights go (i'm leaving from NY area), I can only find red-eyes into the island.

I'm curious what strategies people have used (other than paying for an extra night which seems like a lot of waste for a 6am arrival). Googling around, I see that some places offer (or maybe, offered) an early check-in for a modest cost. (Looks like Buddy's did this, as well as Plaza).

I'm pretty set on buddy dive because I think the combination of (i) strong house reef, (ii) 24 hour access to Nitrox, and (iii) 24 hour access to gear room, makes that the best place for my interests, so I'm particularly interested if people have been successful with early check-in at Buddy's.

Thanks!

 

[Mossman]

The way it worked when I stayed at Buddy a few years ago: they arranged a pick up at the airport that brought us to our room and we formally "checked in" and picked up the keys to our assigned rental truck a few hours later. That part worked just fine. My complaint was with the group transportation they arranged back to the airport upon departure. We were all told to assemble at a certain time, but a few people were running late so we all had to wait in the outside lobby at peak mosquito feeding time, not leaving until over an hour after our stated gathering time. They also forgot to make the promised coffee and didn't bring our promised breakfast (yogurt and pastry) until it was time to board the bus to the airport. If you're already part of a large group (and Buddy definitely caters to large groups), the group thing is OK. However, if you're independent travelers, getting herded into a group, having to wait for the late-risers in the group, suffering endless mosquito bites while waiting for the late-risers that are really part of someone else's group but you're still stuck waiting for them, that sort of soured us on a repeat. Now we book our own vehicle so at least we have somewhere to squat for a few hours if we can't get into a room right away, and we get ourselves to the airport a lot more efficiently than the Buddy group snafu.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I'm curious what strategies people have used (other than paying for an extra night which seems like a lot of waste for a 6am arrival). Googling around, I see that some places offer (or maybe, offered) an early check-in for a modest cost. (Looks like Buddy's did this, as well as Plaza).

I'm pretty set on buddy dive because I think the combination of (i) strong house reef, (ii) 24 hour access to Nitrox, and (iii) 24 hour access to gear room, makes that the best place for my interests, so I'm particularly interested if people have been successful with early check-in at Buddy's.

I've been to Bonaire twice. On both occasions, I simply asked the manager at the place where I was staying to store our luggage for the day prior to afternoon check-in. I was not charged extra for this service. After arriving at the airport, our group picked up the rental trucks, changed into bathing suits, grabbed our dive gear/dropped off luggage at the condo, ate some breakfast, and then made our way to the dive op for the check-out dive. We formally checked into our rooms after doing a dive and having lunch.

FWIW, I think that 24 hr access to nitrox and the gear room shouldn't be reasons to stay at Buddy Dive. Most dive ops will allow you to check out ample nitrox tanks for night dives and early morning dives. Dive gear can be brought inside the condo/apt. unit overnight.

You should know that Buddy Dive allows non-guests to dive their house reef. I've never actually stayed at Buddy Dive, yet the two times I've been to Bonaire, I've done a couple of night dives on the house reef. Nice dive. Well-lit topside with easy entry/exit.

For a small group, I never saw the value in going with Buddy Dive versus arranging my own truck rental, accommodations, and dive op. The last time I crunched the numbers, going with Buddy Dive would have more than doubled our on-island costs for the vacation.

Recently, there appears to have been an uptick in crime/theft on Bonaire. I would understand if this consideration led you to stay at Buddy Dive since there's a 24 hr security guard stationed at the gate to the resort. Smaller resorts will sometimes hire their own security guard(s) to walk the grounds at night.

 

[spectrum]

We did a similar trip to Buddy Dive a few years a go. (We wanted for nothing and would repeat in a heart beat.)

The Red-eye did give us a rough time for the first day. In hindsight...
Rest really really well during the preceding week.
Dress so you can be comfortable on the flight.
Bring an MP3 player with some soothing music and noise canceling headphones or good ear buds.
Avoid caffeine and stimulants leading up to the flight.
Take motion or other medications that may predispose you to a nap.
Bring one of those neck pillows. The inflatable ones take no space/weight. I did figure out after a while that they work a lot better lightly inflated.
If you can get into your room on arrival crash for a while. **
If you went light on hydration while flying definitely begin to replenish on arrival. That will benefit you in a multitude of ways.

** With the myriad of check-in check-out times and variable occupancy it's possible that your room will not be ready on arrival.

Pete

 

[reefdiva]

We have done the red eye many times and while we usually are able to get some sleep on the plane we are always thankful that we have been able to arrange to get into our room upon arrival as we find that a few hours of sleep really helps. I have not stayed at Buddy but have witnessed very tired folks hanging out in the check in area as they wait for their trucks and rooms to become available.

Have you considered flying American Airlines to Curacao? There are two AA flights from Miami to Curacao, one mid morning and one in the afternoon. Once in Curacao you could take one of several small airlines for the 12 minute flight to Bonaire. I fly from the northeast and can make a connection for the mid morning flight from Miami. It arrives in Curacao around 2:30 pm and I am then in Bonaire by 4:30 pm. Very civilized.

 

[DiverVince]

I'm curious what strategies people have used (other than paying for an extra night which seems like a lot of waste for a 6am arrival). Googling around, I see that some places offer (or maybe, offered) an early check-in for a modest cost. (Looks like Buddy's did this, as well as Plaza).

I'm pretty set on buddy dive because I think the combination of (i) strong house reef, (ii) 24 hour access to Nitrox, and (iii) 24 hour access to gear room, makes that the best place for my interests,

Thanks!

We've done the red eye to Bonaire at least 6 times. Of course it certainly helps with the traveling if you pay extra to get into the first class section.

However notwithstanding that, the red eye is tougher than folks imagine. For us, I pop 3 mgs of melatonin at about 11:00pm & find I'm able to catch some shut eye on the plane. My wife's preference is Zanax. Go figure...
So my first piece of advice is to try & catch some shut eye on the plane, better living through chemistry does have it's advantages. I do however caution you to drink plenty of water since it's easy to become dehydrated.

Secondly, it pays to have your own rental vehicle when you arrive. This way you can stop at the office of where you're staying & drop your gear off if your room is not ready.. Then go into town & have breakfast at the City & do a slow walk through town. If you're diving most places have orientation by 9:30 am. The operative words here is to "go slowly".
We usually catch an early dinner and it's crashing time shortly thereafter.

With respect to your reasons for Buddy, I do find them curious. There are many, many places that have "strong house reefs". Generally speaking the entire western side of Bonaire has great diving. With respect to # 2, this is also pretty common & if not 24 hr access, just throw an extra tank or two into your truck. No one will bother them.
#3, likewise. Every place I've ever stayed at had 24 hr access to where gear is stored.

At any rate, Buddy is one of the few places on the island where I've never personally stayed (although I have made many visits there and dives off their dock). There are a great many places to stay on Bonaire, each is unique & they all have their differences. Enjoy your trip and I'm sure you're in for a real treat.

 

[DiveMaven]

We also don't stay at Buddy's and get around the tank/gear room hours by taking our gear to our condo after dinner, and simply keeping 6 full tanks in our truck at all times. The house reef at our preferred place is Bari, which is just down from Buddy's reef, and is rated #1 for biodiversity in the Caribbean.

As far as the redeye is concerned, we've always found it worth it to pay for the extra night to get into our room at 6am, be able to sleep for a couple of hours before the orientation dive, and simply having access to our room ALL day on Saturday so we can go grocery shopping when we want, dive when we want, and sleep if we want. It sure eases the pain of the redeye IMO, and when we look at the cost of 2 weeks on Bonaire, an extra $100 just isn't that big of a deal for the budget.

If you can't get into your room early, be prepared to have a long, tired day until you CAN get into your room. You should be able to leave your bags in the front office and even be able to do the orientation and check-out dive if you want. It's better to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best, and that you can get into your space when you arrive.

 

[speuci]

Thanks for the comments guys - I guess I'm targetting Buddy's because it seems the easiest (setting aside cost) of being able to quickly get in and out of the water without lugging gear or tanks to far.

I've looked at other flight options, but the nearest I could find that would not be a red-eye would be similar to the suggested 3-leg journey on American/divi.

Definately going to do more research and also price out the extra night - I was initially looking at Buddy's / Den Lamen / Sand Dollar and Captain Dons, but of those four (after numerous reads on Trip Advisor) Buddy's seemed to come out in front for ease of use of diving facilities

 

[Mike]

We are doing the red eye thing in May and staying at the Plaza. We contemplated the choices involving dealing with the red eye and in the end decided to book the extra day. I'm under the impression the difference between being able to check in right away after arriving at 5:00am and napping, showering, relaxing, bascially being in control of your comfort and the sure nightmare of is it ready yet? is it ready yet? is it ready yet? all day long will be well worth the extra cost.

We spoke to them about the early check in and when all you get is a we will try to accomdate you but can't guarantee anything... well... that's pretty much code for "you'll be screwed"

 

[helimvee]

I have not stayed at Buddy's but have stayed at their BelMar location. Early access to the room and availability of the Buddy truck is a crap shoot. Sometimes it works and sometimes is doesn't. If you were renting your truck from one of the airport locations (A&B, Budget, etc) then it is not that much of an issue as you can at least drive into town for something to eat. Not having a room or a truck is not a lot of fun. For my June trip I paid for the early arrival. Yes it cost more but in my view it is worth it.