Budget Trip Challenge - Bonaire

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World Trips - Atlas International for health insurance.

Hua Hua Restaurant on Kaya F Teresa Llario - it's on the road that's closest to the north side of the airport.

The other Chinese restaurant is next to the Liangxang Supermarket on Kaya Nikibola Zuid. It's across from the baseball field and the Bola fields.
 
What insurance did you get? It sounds like a good deal! Also curious about the names of the Chinese restaurants you enjoyed! My guilty pleasure is Kite City Food Truck.
Also the lunch buffet in Exito Restaurant. It's on the north end of the restaurant. You pick your meat and sides.
 
I've just planned and booked a 2 week trip for 3 to Bonaire for under $7000 for the three of us
-$1350 total for an Air BnB with a kitchen (I shall be serving as chef)
-$650 for manual transmission truck (2/3 of us can drive it, and I'm hoping to learn while I'm there)
-$1200 unlimited air from Buddy Dive (but I will price out some of the shops you mentioned because we are interested in big tanks for everyone but me)
-$500 for food (hopefully including a few trips to the Kite City Food truck, and to compensate, some spaghetti dinners)
-$950 for flights from Iowa on Delta, $750 for flights from Buffalo via Newark on United including 2 checked bags, $850ish for flight from Newark to Bonaire on United and from Bonaire to Iowa on Delta.
-$135 STINAPA for 3
-$195 for return to US COVID testing ($65 per test)

TOTAL: $ 6700

(And our AirBnB accomodates one more person, if the bed is wide enough to actually sleep myself and my partner.)
Where did you get a truck for 2 weeks for $650?
 
Bonaire is always a sweet dive trip, since I just fly there from Aruba, So a 2.5 dive trip is about $350 in air fare. $32 a day for unlimited air. $36 a day for a 4 door truck. About $80 a night for a place with a full kitchen, so I can cook. That makes a pretty cheap dive trip. Bonaire is the BEST!!!
 
Also you had to book your truck early. Now the trucks on Expedia, are double!!!!
 
I decided to compare some package prices for 2-person dive travelers staying and diving together, aiming for low season 2022, 7-day stays, shore-diving only, rental truck (left it manual, which is the default), going by posted rates (not sales or individualized quotes). Where I know an offering to have something 'special,' I aim to mention it. So, 7-day package price per person for 2 with cheapest accommodations I see offered, a manual transmission pickup and unlimited shore diving with nitrox (since Dive Friends charges $20 extra over the air package for this).

1.) Dive Hut: $680 (includes room max and CDW insurance and tax on truck). Option to add breakfast for $7.50/person/day.
2.) Tropical Divers Resort: $770 (Includes CDW insurance, tourist tax and late check-out).
3.) Aqua Viva Resort (using V.I.P. Divers, which has 100-cf tanks, a big advantage for some of us): $590 (includes airport transfers, taxes on room/diving/vehicle; I think CDW insurance on truck included but not certain).
4.) Hamlet Oasis: $760 (price 'per unit,' Studio, 1 - 2 persons; does not include $6.50/person/night tax, I did a fake booking 2-9 to 2-16-22 and got $924 for 2 people staying in a Studio). But all I see are accommodation offerings; no dive packages with rental truck! Not even as an add-on. Maybe I'm missing it. I know Dive Friends has a location there. But you might have to put your package together a la carte.
5.) Buddy Dive Resort: 2 People in a Studio: $1,124.35 per person (includes airport transfers and government taxes). Includes breakfast! This is a big deal; in the past I've seen it claimed at $15/day value, and some other places cost near that to add breakfast. I liked Buddy's breakfast buffet. I don't see mention of CDW insurance included.
6.) Sand Dollar Condo.s: Ride to the Reef Package with Nitrox add-on: $905 (but excludes $45.50/person government tax or recommended truck insurance), so with tax, $950.50 per person + CDW insurance on truck.

*In the spirit of not being 'penny wise, pound foolish,' a moderately more expensive room with full kitchen for those who cook and eat in can save some money.

A big issue in pricing packages is whether accommodations are priced per person (often assuming 2 people in the room) or per unit (in which case there may be a tax on extra people, but packing them in is still much cheaper). Each diver has to buy a $45 marine park tag to dive, at week's end filling the rental truck with gas is expensive (maybe $60+ IIRC), and food on Bonaire tends to be expensive.

Not all providers have a house reef, which if good makes for higher trip dive counts as diving, especially night diving, is so convenient. I tried to get these packages equivalent, but it's inevitably apples-to-oranges (e.g.: studio here, hotel room there, house reef vs. no house reef, location-location...), and I may've screwed up and made some mistakes.
Excellent thread, wow. Thanks for the research. I priced Buddy Dive as a solo diver, high season just under the 7-day package and it was $2171.00 ! Yikes. I ended up going with Tropical Divers Resort after reading lots of reviews. Much more budget-friendly and Prisca was a Godsend. I wish I would've read your thread one day earlier but time was not on my side anyway. Things are filling up fast for the dates I'm going.
 
I just booked a trip to Bonaire with my wife for next August. $400 RT air on United (out of Cincinnati), $265 all in on a rental truck for 8 days (Avis), and the condo for $1100 (Sand Dollar).
 
$400 RT air on United (out of Cincinnati), $265 all in on a rental truck for 8 days (Avis), and the condo for $1100 (Sand Dollar).
Wow. That sounds great! If I understand right, your trip cost might look something like...

$400 x 2 people = $800.
If you take 2 checked bags apiece round trip, maybe $240 or so?
Rental truck (all in = with CDW insurance? Stick, not automatic transmission) - $265.
Sand Dollar Condo. - $1,100.

Total - $2,405. There's also the end of week tank of gas that'll probably run $60-80+ or so? (Of course, most of us have to buy gas back home). And food for the week.

Do you still have to pay for the unlimited shore diving package for 2? Such tend to be pretty cheap on Bonaire.

If my understanding is accurate, even with adding food, gas and shore diving packages, the 2 of you are aiming for an 8-day trip price that beats what I spend on solo week-long Caribbean dive trips.

Richard.

P.S.: I expanded on the package price aspect because someone new to dive trip planning may run across this thread and need to know the total cost.
 
Wow. That sounds great! If I understand right, your trip cost might look something like...

$400 x 2 people = $800.
If you take 2 checked bags apiece round trip, maybe $240 or so?
Rental truck (all in = with CDW insurance? Stick, not automatic transmission) - $265.
Sand Dollar Condo. - $1,100.

Total - $2,405. There's also the end of week tank of gas that'll probably run $60-80+ or so? (Of course, most of us have to buy gas back home). And food for the week.

Do you still have to pay for the unlimited shore diving package for 2? Such tend to be pretty cheap on Bonaire.

If my understanding is accurate, even with adding food, gas and shore diving packages, the 2 of you are aiming for an 8-day trip price that beats what I spend on solo week-long Caribbean dive trips.

Richard.

P.S.: I expanded on the package price aspect because someone new to dive trip planning may run across this thread and need to know the total cost.
That’s about right. We tend to travel light and won’t need the extra bags, but still need to get our tanks for the week, which runs about $200 per at Dive Friends, since we picked up our condo through VRBO. There are cheaper places to get tanks, but Dive Friends is all over the island and it’s just easier that way.

Also, anyone planning a trip down there should remember to include the cost of Covid testing. There is always hope that by August we won’t need to anymore, but I wouldn’t plan on it. Currently required:

  1. PCR test no more than 2 days before arrival. Some places you can get a free test with a fast enough turn-around. Worst case, about $200 per person at your airport.
  2. Self-test on day of arrival (provided free of charge at customs)
  3. PCR test fifth day on the island. This runs about $125 and there are plenty of places to get it done.
  4. Antigen or PCR test day before return to US. $65 on the island. You can save some money bringing your own self test, but you need to be careful what you buy. A self test for this purpose must be administered/supervised via video by a medical professional and not all home tests offer this.
 

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