We just came back from a week long trip to Buddy Dive in Bonaire.
Some comments:
Rooms are spartan but functional. AC wheezes along trying to keep up with the hot temperatures. Rooms have not much decor, a fridge, TV and stove. We shared a 3 bedroom suite overlooking the dive shop. Showers were adequate but be warned: All three of us in that room were on the receiving end of some bad bedbug bites. I read that Internet access was pretty bad in the rooms. Please understand that it is non-existent in the rooms. This is the worst resort I've ever been to for IP access. We went next door to Eddys to get a decent signal. Do not come to this resort if using Skype or getting email are important to you. You will not be happy.
We ate breakfast there and prepaid for lunches. Food was OK - on a par with a typical diner. We ate at Blennies for dinner only once - Ingridients is the other restaurant faux fine food at prices similar to a fine NYC restaurant. Ended up eating at Mona Lisa (very good), Eddys (twice and excellent) and a few others.
Our MO was to do two dives in the AM on a boat then take out the rust-bucket of a truck they rented to us and shore dive in the PM. Usually finished off with a night dive off the resort. We prepaid for 12 boat dives. The plan is that you sign up the afternoon before for the next days dives.
On Tuesday after lunch, we went to sign up for the Wed AM dives. No luck - the shop was using all of their boats for cruise ship passengers. "But", we said, "We've prepaid for two dives every day". "Sorry" the dive shop manager said, "you lose". We were not happy. We asked for a refund. After the buck had been passed around from Wed to Friday from manager to manager, they acknowledged that they had screwed up and would give us a refund for two dives. Just as they were about to credit our accounts, the dive shop manager re-appears and says that they can no longer do this and are prepared to offer us a token credit toward future dives. We declined.
Diving on a boat is a stupid idea in Bonaire. The format is identical from dive to dive. Drop down and dive along the slope at 40-60ft for 30 mins. Stop and turn around and dive back to the boat at 30'. One hour limits. I made a point of getting in first and out last in order to extend bottom time. That way, we got 70-80 mins because of the amount of time that it took to get the rest of the boat in and out. Yes, you do get to dive Klein Bonaire from a boat but the afternoon shore dives were waaay better especially when not timed. We did Alice in Wonderland, Angel, Invisibles, Pink Beach, Salt Pier, Larries Lair and a host of others from the shore. The buddy tank dive through is great - just pull up and take tanks and off you go!
Overall opinion of BDR is bad. Mediocre accommodations, overrated food and boring diving. Make no mistake, we loved diving on Bonaire just not the way that Buddy does it. My recommendation is to avoid the place, I'm sure that there are better places to stay on the island.
Some comments:
Rooms are spartan but functional. AC wheezes along trying to keep up with the hot temperatures. Rooms have not much decor, a fridge, TV and stove. We shared a 3 bedroom suite overlooking the dive shop. Showers were adequate but be warned: All three of us in that room were on the receiving end of some bad bedbug bites. I read that Internet access was pretty bad in the rooms. Please understand that it is non-existent in the rooms. This is the worst resort I've ever been to for IP access. We went next door to Eddys to get a decent signal. Do not come to this resort if using Skype or getting email are important to you. You will not be happy.
We ate breakfast there and prepaid for lunches. Food was OK - on a par with a typical diner. We ate at Blennies for dinner only once - Ingridients is the other restaurant faux fine food at prices similar to a fine NYC restaurant. Ended up eating at Mona Lisa (very good), Eddys (twice and excellent) and a few others.
Our MO was to do two dives in the AM on a boat then take out the rust-bucket of a truck they rented to us and shore dive in the PM. Usually finished off with a night dive off the resort. We prepaid for 12 boat dives. The plan is that you sign up the afternoon before for the next days dives.
On Tuesday after lunch, we went to sign up for the Wed AM dives. No luck - the shop was using all of their boats for cruise ship passengers. "But", we said, "We've prepaid for two dives every day". "Sorry" the dive shop manager said, "you lose". We were not happy. We asked for a refund. After the buck had been passed around from Wed to Friday from manager to manager, they acknowledged that they had screwed up and would give us a refund for two dives. Just as they were about to credit our accounts, the dive shop manager re-appears and says that they can no longer do this and are prepared to offer us a token credit toward future dives. We declined.
Diving on a boat is a stupid idea in Bonaire. The format is identical from dive to dive. Drop down and dive along the slope at 40-60ft for 30 mins. Stop and turn around and dive back to the boat at 30'. One hour limits. I made a point of getting in first and out last in order to extend bottom time. That way, we got 70-80 mins because of the amount of time that it took to get the rest of the boat in and out. Yes, you do get to dive Klein Bonaire from a boat but the afternoon shore dives were waaay better especially when not timed. We did Alice in Wonderland, Angel, Invisibles, Pink Beach, Salt Pier, Larries Lair and a host of others from the shore. The buddy tank dive through is great - just pull up and take tanks and off you go!
Overall opinion of BDR is bad. Mediocre accommodations, overrated food and boring diving. Make no mistake, we loved diving on Bonaire just not the way that Buddy does it. My recommendation is to avoid the place, I'm sure that there are better places to stay on the island.