Bonaire - Buddy's Dive Resort Trip Report

[SouthSideScubaSteve]

As stated above, I have never been to Bonaire(& will never go)...but I can 100% guarantee you that LC or Roatan will be better in every respect........Heck, even Cozumel will/did probably beat it--------

Ok, I'm a newbie ... where is LC ??

 

[svs]

From what I visited so far, Bonaire is my favorite destination. And it is OK that not everybody loves it. It would be more crowded and expensive otherwise.

 

[tedj101]

My big concern is that many magazines and publications rate Bonaire as a great place to dive... rating it #1 even in many categories... such as shore diving (which it isn't,) and as best for newbies (which it isn't.)

Shore entries were a nusiance climbing over rocks, boulders and rubble and the surge was horrible (perhaps just a bad week,) but the rocks, boulders and rubble isn't going anywhere. New divers will struggle with these entries and exits.

To answer someon'es earlier question - YES, we dove Angel City... I was curious how it got it's name? My thought going in was that maybe we'd see a lot of Angel Fish... but we saw only one juvenile French Angel on the hour long dive - and that one wasn't until we were doing our exit very close to shore.

Best Sites in order of greatness:
1. Playa Franz
2. Old Blue
3. Small Wall
4. Buddy's House Reef (during day)
5. Buddy's House Reef (at Night)
6. Jerry's Sponge Reef (Klein Bonaire)
7. Karpata
8 - 17. All blah and lame... not even worth a mention

I did Bonaire just before the hurricane (October) with a small group (8). We stayed at Sand Dollar and did mostly shore diving (of 21 dives 2 were off of boats).

While the reef was undoubtedly in better shape when I was there, if you slow down and look carefully, the reef varies a lot from site to site -- even between Sand Dollar (Bari reef) and Buddy's (right next door).

There are a lot of good places to dive from shore. Some are easy entries, some are quite hard (a few appeared to be impossible!). I really appreciated the night dives. At Bari, the Tarpon follow you around at night (I mean they swim right with you - you can touch them - or to put it more accurately, they will touch/bump you in their zeal to stay in the light beam). Front Porch was the best night dive I have ever done. It is an easy beach entry and there is a sunken tug boat in 96 feet of water between the inner and outer reefs. The old anchor line leads right to it so navigation to it is easy. It was simply covered in arrow crabs at night -- none visible at all during the day.

After a week on Bonaire I was happy to head home thinking I had done Bonaire and wouldn't be back. I soon found myself suffering Bonaire withdrawal and now would be happy to return. (My daughter an I are doing Roatan again first, though.)

Just another POV...

<TED>

 

[Ursus]

I believe LC is referring to Little Caymans. I dove Grand Caymans on the north side at resort called "Cobalt Coast" Great dive shop and support. Accomodations were diving oriented, but with a good kitchen and decent menu selection. The house reef infront of resort had great life and nice drop off/ wall withing 200 yards of dock. The resort is removed from all the tourists and accomodates maybe 50 divers. It was nice and secluded without the crowd or tourist feel that you get near SUnset House. I would go back if I needed to unwind and didn't want to see anything but the fish. Renting a car made for fun sidetrips to isolated beaches nearby.

 

[oldschool]

I'm going to Buddy's in Mid July. It will be my first trip to Bonaire. I've been to Coz and Hawaii. I'm definitlly looking foward to the shore dives. That's waht we did mostly in Hawaii. I've certainly read more positive than negative about Bonaire diving. I'm hoping that any renovations/construction at Buddy's will be completed by then. I 'm counting the days.

 

[reefduffer]

Interesting discussion. We've been to Bonaire three times now, all at Capt. Don's. It's our favorite so far, with somewhat limited experience (FL Keys, Negril, Belize). We have not experienced any crime ourselves, that probably colors our perceptions.

I think there are very valid points being made, and I was trying to put a finger on why we like Bonaire so much. Then another thread on scubaboard just now made me realize one big one that hasn't been mentioned. See http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/advanced-scuba-discussions/272613-current-worst.html

In our limited experience, the current in Bonaire ranges from imperceptible to weak. I'm sure you can find strong currents in some places and times, but we haven't. That adds quite a lot to the experience.

I think we also enjoy the comfortable cosmopolitan feel of the place: dining out is for us, a big part of our vacation. That's a non-diving issue. The current, though, is a diving issue, and it's really a big deal, and it hadn't been mentioned.

 

[donooo]

I think this is a great post. Despite being one of the negatives at the beginning I wouldn't be surprised if I return. A couple of important points to be had. 1) That you can find positive if you are looking for positive and 2) My wife an I are seniors, I have bad legs. The miserable beach entries are killers. If I were in my 30's and healthy it would be a lot more fun. Now I fear for falling and breaking or loosing something. Yet there are still many great dives. Being a photographer would/will help.

I've spent lots of time on Coz. Never been to the Caymans, and my wife won't go to Honduras. So it's back to Bonaire and the search for the perfect trip, or maybe try LC or Belize.

adios don O

 

[donnad]

hubby and i are making our first trip to bonaire on july 3. According to my readings (many trip reports, comments , etc).......a lot of people fall in love w/bonaire and become repeat visitors, year after year. I'm sure the same can be said for other places too. Last summer we went to LC. We had a great time, and indeed the walls are terrific. I would have no problem going back there. I also realize that on any given week any given group can have a bad experience at any given resort on any given island. I'm very much looking forward to going to Bonaire, and feel like i have realiistic expectations about the island and the diving. I will report back mid-July!

 

[aquaman_06]

I am shocked to read these negative comments about Bonaire and the Buddy Dive Resort. I was in Bonaire last year at about this time. We had an excellent trip and the diving was fantastic. From a standpoint of bio-diversity Bonaire has some of the finest reefs in the Caribbean Sea considering that over 90% of Caribbean species are represented somewhere on Bonaire's reefs.

Buddy Dive when I was there was an excellent dive resort. While I agree that the rooms were nothing to write home about they were certainly clean and worked well for a group of divers. I am very shocked and question that a dive resort would tell divers that, "they didn't put gas in the boat" so they cannot take you to a certain dive spot. When I was in Bonaire we did boat dives for 6 days in a row and they were all excellent. By the last couple of days the boat crew would just ask us what site we wanted to go too.

If what you are saying has any validity and there were damaged/dying reefs on Bonaire my assumption is that is 100% hurricane damage. Bonaire is a model of conservation for the entire world when it comes to reef preservation. When you consider that just bringing a spear gun onto the island could result in being asked to leave it's clear conservation is the name of the game.

As for getting sick at Buddy's resteraunt, that could have easily been a case of a stomach flu and after traveling internationally through airports, IMO it is more likely a stomach/intestinal virus they food poisining. Bonaire has a reputation of having some of the best food (in addition to diving) in the Caribbean and when I stayed at Buddy's no one in our group became ill.

I hope to return to Bonaire again soon and list it as one of my favorite places in the Caribbean to dive. Employee dishonesty or robbery of personal items can happen anywhere you travel, Bonaire cannot be singled out for that. When I was there I found the people of the island - both the Dutch and the local islanders to be great folks. I keep in touch with Nels, Buddy Dive's bartender via email all of the time as we became personal friends during my stay.

Personally I felt your trip review contained a lot of unsubstantiated information and as for the construction that was going on while you were there; you were in the Caribeean diving and you had to listen to a jack hammer and a fork lift - wow how sad.

 

[seaducer]

Sorry you had such a bummer of a trip. I have never stayed at Buddy's, but I did not like their reef, what with signs pounded into it and all. In fact it is the only site on Bonaire I have been to that I feel no need to return to. The beer at the bar there I found really expensive, and the food at Lion's Den was slightly pricey, but also very good.

As for the rest, I read in this thread the room broken into was left unlocked? Well, I guess. I never leave anything unlocked where ever I go. Maybe cuz I am a Jersey guy...

Diving in Bonaire is the best I have seen, save one site I found else where. Maybe you had a bad week? Went to all the bad sites? I know there has been some damage, and some of the big name sites were pretty thrashed after Omar, but still reports are coming in that much of the reef structure is fine. I am going next week so I will check that out myself...

The key to diving Bonaire is to go slow and really look around. Much of what is there is small, so if you are looking for big animals that is not the place to go. However if you want to see an ecosystem at work, full of symbiotic relationships, I don't think you can beat Bonaire for price and what you will see.

As for the leg breaker shore diving, most all sites have an easy access point, you just have to look for it...