SBP Studios
Contributor
Wow. Where to begin!?!?
We love Bonaire. This was our first time there and our first time shore diving since our very first dives in Hawaii. We love shore diving much better than boat. Can't pinpoint why but id say the best part is not having to deal with the crowds on the boats and the independance of it.
If you have never been to Bonaire, go. Its simply divers paradise as everyone says.
When we would ask people what their favorite dives were most would say somethine like "they are all good!" that was a bit frustrating. Until we dove. They are right! So many great dives!!
Our favorite Dives: Angel City (going right to Hilma Hooker, Karpatha, Oilslick (in that order)
Now we were there for a WEdding in Aruba so we only had literally 3 days to do Bonaire, we managed to squeeze in 8 dives.
The Dive Operation
We stayed at Buddy Dive based on the reccomendations of many people here on the forum. I will admit that I think this place is HIGHLY overrated. Definately the worst experience of the entire time there was the staff at this place. The front desk was horrible, the rental truck situation was terrible and the Dive shop could not have been less accomodating. We were truly meant to feel the entire time we were bugging them with any question.
I forgot my Cert card at home, $15 to look it up! I guess the fact we were dropping $900 for 3 nights with them was not enough.
Nickel and Dime central! You order a rum and coke and you get charged for the rum, then for the coke. These are little things that bug us personally. Keep in mind we are also Americans and I dont think this bugged the European folks as much. We noticed there are very few americans there at this hotel.
The worst part about this place is that its like no part of the hotel has any clue what any other part of the hotel does or how it operates. The front desk knows NOTHING about the Dive operation, the Dive operation knows nothing about the Rental truck people, the Main restaurant does apparently not even belong to Buddy and you can't charge things to your room only at this place. So you will have to leave the restaurant and go back to your room and pay with a CC. They should really let people know this ahead of time.
The people here seem to just get off on NOT doing for you. For example the rental trucks. We got there and there was about 12 trucks avail for rent. They gave us the oldest and crappiest one. So I asked, do you mind if we take one of the newer and nicer trucks? "No sir, those need to go in for service." TOTALLY untrue.
We get to the restaurant
"Do you mind if we take the seat by the dock with the view?"
"Sir do you have a reservation?"
"no"
"sorry sir those seats are all reserved."
"But there is no one else here, its 5pm"
"im sorry sir".
So we take the terrible seat in the corner and by the time we are finished with dinner, not one of those other seats had been taken.
Tons of stuff like that all over Buddy, we truly hated it. Sucks when you feel like are are completely unwelcomed at a place like this.
Oh yea...no discounts for Scubaboard members on anything. Tried to talk to the manager about maybe making that happen, he had no interest.
The reef at Buddy was pretty nice. Thats a huge upside to just be able to jump right in and go.
All in all, we will DEFINATELY go back to Bonaire, definately for 7 days next time. We will definately NOT stay at Buddy Dive again. We talked to some other divers when we were out and about and we think we have some ideas for where to stay next time that will more to our liking. We like to be treated like we are appreciated when spending our money at a business, I don't think that's too much to ask.
FOOD
Last Bite Bakery! This place is great. Try the chicken burrito things and the apple crisp she makes. Its AWESOME.
DRIVE!
Take the drive north up past Karpatha and into Rincon. The people in Rincon are fantastic and friendly. Keep going all the way to the Wind turbines. That whole area is photographic and cool as hell. Can't recall the name of it.
Bonaire: A+!
Buddy Dive: D+
We love Bonaire. This was our first time there and our first time shore diving since our very first dives in Hawaii. We love shore diving much better than boat. Can't pinpoint why but id say the best part is not having to deal with the crowds on the boats and the independance of it.
If you have never been to Bonaire, go. Its simply divers paradise as everyone says.
When we would ask people what their favorite dives were most would say somethine like "they are all good!" that was a bit frustrating. Until we dove. They are right! So many great dives!!
Our favorite Dives: Angel City (going right to Hilma Hooker, Karpatha, Oilslick (in that order)
Now we were there for a WEdding in Aruba so we only had literally 3 days to do Bonaire, we managed to squeeze in 8 dives.
The Dive Operation
We stayed at Buddy Dive based on the reccomendations of many people here on the forum. I will admit that I think this place is HIGHLY overrated. Definately the worst experience of the entire time there was the staff at this place. The front desk was horrible, the rental truck situation was terrible and the Dive shop could not have been less accomodating. We were truly meant to feel the entire time we were bugging them with any question.
I forgot my Cert card at home, $15 to look it up! I guess the fact we were dropping $900 for 3 nights with them was not enough.
Nickel and Dime central! You order a rum and coke and you get charged for the rum, then for the coke. These are little things that bug us personally. Keep in mind we are also Americans and I dont think this bugged the European folks as much. We noticed there are very few americans there at this hotel.
The worst part about this place is that its like no part of the hotel has any clue what any other part of the hotel does or how it operates. The front desk knows NOTHING about the Dive operation, the Dive operation knows nothing about the Rental truck people, the Main restaurant does apparently not even belong to Buddy and you can't charge things to your room only at this place. So you will have to leave the restaurant and go back to your room and pay with a CC. They should really let people know this ahead of time.
The people here seem to just get off on NOT doing for you. For example the rental trucks. We got there and there was about 12 trucks avail for rent. They gave us the oldest and crappiest one. So I asked, do you mind if we take one of the newer and nicer trucks? "No sir, those need to go in for service." TOTALLY untrue.
We get to the restaurant
"Do you mind if we take the seat by the dock with the view?"
"Sir do you have a reservation?"
"no"
"sorry sir those seats are all reserved."
"But there is no one else here, its 5pm"
"im sorry sir".
So we take the terrible seat in the corner and by the time we are finished with dinner, not one of those other seats had been taken.
Tons of stuff like that all over Buddy, we truly hated it. Sucks when you feel like are are completely unwelcomed at a place like this.
Oh yea...no discounts for Scubaboard members on anything. Tried to talk to the manager about maybe making that happen, he had no interest.
The reef at Buddy was pretty nice. Thats a huge upside to just be able to jump right in and go.
All in all, we will DEFINATELY go back to Bonaire, definately for 7 days next time. We will definately NOT stay at Buddy Dive again. We talked to some other divers when we were out and about and we think we have some ideas for where to stay next time that will more to our liking. We like to be treated like we are appreciated when spending our money at a business, I don't think that's too much to ask.
FOOD
Last Bite Bakery! This place is great. Try the chicken burrito things and the apple crisp she makes. Its AWESOME.
DRIVE!
Take the drive north up past Karpatha and into Rincon. The people in Rincon are fantastic and friendly. Keep going all the way to the Wind turbines. That whole area is photographic and cool as hell. Can't recall the name of it.
Bonaire: A+!
Buddy Dive: D+
