Sand Dollar vs Buddy Dive

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billmosel

Contributor
Messages
290
Reaction score
10
Location
Rockaway NJ
# of dives
500 - 999
I've narrowed down my options to these 2 places. I stayed at Den Laman in March and enjoyed it very much but the 1 problem that we had was that there was not a place to lay back (lounge chairs by a pool or beach) to relax or read during SI or after diving. I liked BDA and their setup. If I stayed at Sand Dollar I would still be able to use them and Bari Reef. I have read that both places are doing renavations on their units. Does anyone have experiences with either or both of them?
 
It has been a while but I have stayed at Buddy Dive a few times. Out of all the places I have stayed in Bonaire, Buddy is by far my favorite. Excellent tank set up, nice rooms, pool, good food and drinks, nice for night dives or pre-dawn dives if you want to stay close. I have been to 2 other places...but not Sand Dollar. If I was ever to go back to Bonaire again, I would stay at Buddy Dive.
 
We loved Sand Dollar..........

We had a 2 Bedroom unit and it was huge..........

As far as beach, my darling bride commented that SD was weak, but of course we were there to dive..............

Bari reef is awesome to dive, my son and I did a bunch of night diving there always impressive..........

Hope this helps........M
 
Buddy, hands down. They have 2 pools and a much better dive op. I like the rooms at Den Laman better but really would prefer another dive op, the only reason I use them is because they are on site.
 
Can't speak to Buddy. My wife and I have stayed once in a single BR and once in a studio at Sand Dollar, diving with BDA. We liked both units-space was ample. We also rather enjoyed the walk along the front wall when going to and from the dive op. Octopi in the rocks right in front of Sand Dollar. The rooms had full kitchens and we did most of our own food preparation. The "beach" disappeared between our first and second stays (victim of Omar). Maybe it's back by now, but is likely to still be deserving of the quotation marks. Our first time there, the pool was under repair; second time, it was open. We used it once, spending most of our "veg" time on the deck outside the room.
 
When we were on Bonaire in March we stayed at Sand Dollar and rented tanks from Buddy's. That worked out great for us -- the drive through tank pick up was very efficient and we stored our gear in their locked room at night.

We had an unpleasant experience with one of the owners of the BDA facility one day when we dove Bari Reef. We entered from the Sand Dollar beach next to the dock, never used any of their facilities at any time but did make the mistake of parking our truck in their parking lot way out by the road. We walked down their driveway and then back onto the Sand Dollar property before walking the rest of the way to the beach. We didn't realize we were doing anything wrong, but that was enough to prompt a rather rude encounter with one of the BDA owners. Needless to say, I will never give them any of my business.

On the other hand, Fish Eye Photo, the underwater photo shop on the premises, was terrific.

So my recommendation is:
Sand Dollar for lodging,
Buddy's for diving, and
Fish Eye Photo for photography.

Cheers!
 
Agree 100% about the recommendation of Fish Eye Photo! Tim (the owner) is a great guy and extremely knowledgeable. Spending time with him in a 1/2 day or longer course will improve just about anyone's photography skills, as he taylors the courses to his customers. :) We did a 2-day course with him last year and the difference in our photos is like night and day.

Although we've never stayed at either SD or Buddy, we spent quite a bit of time at Buddy's, mostly to check it out and see if we wanted to stay there for our next trip. After spending time in the dive area, hanging out in the pool bar, and eating at the restaurant, we realized that we felt the place was simply too big and crowded. There weren't many places we could go in the public areas where there weren't quite a few people already, including screaming kids a couple of times. We also witnessed a "traffic jam" at the drive up tank area...reminded us of waiting in line at a fuel station. :wink:

I'll definitely admit that visiting somewhere and actually staying there can be two hugely different experiences, so our impressions were simply snapshots of the time we were there, not a comprehensive review of someone who actually stayed there. :D
 
Been to Buddys 2 times. Been to Sand Dollar 5 times.....enjoy Sand Dollar much more......more quite, not as crowded, nicer units and cheaper. Yes we enjoyed the drive thru tank station but it is not a big deal to pull up to BDA and load tanks....going back to Sand Dollar for the 6th time in 6 more days.
 
We had a fantastic experience at Buddy's when we stayed there. The guys down at the pier, and the lady's at the dive shop were fantastic and always eager to please. They went out of their way to make us happy. :D We were there in June when the resort was full and never had any issues with it feeling crowded... I guess everyone was out diving when we were there. We had to wait for tanks only once or twice at the drive thru but it was no more than 10 minutes as the group in front of us was also rinsing gear in the wash tanks right there. The restaurant is very slow, but so was every other place on the island! That was our biggest issue with Bonaire - slooooow food service, waiters, and all food was expensive. Other than that we thought everything about Bonaire was perfect! :wink:
 
I have been to Bonaire twice and am returning for the third time on Sunday. The first time (our honeymoon) my wife and I stayed at Buddy's. The last time as well as the up-coming trip we stayed at Plaza. I would go back to Buddy's in a heartbeat, but the group is going to Plaza. We ended up taking a couple of classes while we stayed at Buddy's. The staff was great and always friendly. The diving at the resort was great as well.
 
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