How Congenial Is Buddy Dive?

[Randallr]

I have discovered wonderful places, notably Scuba Club Cozumel and Sunset House in Grand Cayman, thanks to the advice of Scubaboarders, so I'm turning to you all for guidance once again.

I'm planning a trip for the week of March 18. I'll be leaving from Miami, and I'm looking for a relatively easy flight to my final destination. I'm a year into underwater photography - still a relative novice, but loving it, and eager to do a lot of shooting, so a house reef or nearby shore diving is important to me. I'll be traveling alone, so looking for a place that's got a nice community feeling - where you can make some dive friends along the way. I'm wondering whether Buddy Dive is like that.

I absolutely loved the community feeling of Sunset House (as well as the Cathy Church photo op there, where I bought my Olympus rig and took lessons). I fell into a boat of fantastic people, and we ended up diving and dining together all week. Scuba Club Cozumel was a little less social, but I've never had a better dive experience - six of us on a boat, diving together all week, terrific sites, one of the best divemasters I've ever dived with.

On my first and only trip to Bonaire, I stayed at Bruce Bowker's Carib Inn. It's a remarkable place, with a great staff. But its virtue is its small size; it's like a boutique B&B with scuba attached. I was the only one there on my own, so it got a bit lonely. More to the point, there was no way to connect with people to take advantage of Bonaire's greatest attraction - its shore diving.

Buddy Dive gets great accolades on SB. I'm wondering from those who've been there and have experience with other AI dive resorts like SCC and Sunset House how Buddy compares. All details welcome - and all alternative suggestions, either on Bonaire or elsewhere, would be appreciated.

 

[redacted]

I don't believe I have seen many folks traveling & diving by themselves in Bonaire. Prices, including vehicle rentals, are so much better for small groups. In 5 trips to Buddy Dive, I don't think I ever saw anyone who was not part of at least a couple and often a larger group. But I have never done any boat dives so that may increase the opportunity to link up with other divers as often happens at SCC.

 

[Malene]

Hello to all. I am in a similar situation as Randallr. I'd like to go diving in Bonaire, but I always travel on my own. So any feedback to the OP would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Jersey]

As one who does some scuba trips alone, I hear you, (though I kind of like the isolation). As to Buddy and collegiality, part of it depends on how willing you are to put yourself out there to others. We travel as a couple not part of a group and one year we 'adopted' the solo diver in the next unit. Frank was newly certified, first open water dives. Once we found out his situation - traveling alone, first dives, etc, we scheduled boat dives together, give him tips to improve air and trim, took him on his first night dive, loaned him gear, invited him along on nights out for dinner or a trip for ice cream, shared adult beverages, snacks and dive stories at end of day. We ended up getting seats together on the flight back and sharing post trip emails and pictures. Frank was willing to put out there - hey this is my first trip, any suggestion I'd welcome, if you are shore diving I'd appreciate if I could come along, heard a lot about night diving, would you be willing to take on a buddy? (As an aside, I'll never forget his anxiety about his first night dive, we paired him with a DM w/ 20 years experience, gave him the brightest lights and he had a blast!) Buddy also has a single diver board next to the weight room where you can post your name, lookin for buddy and a dive.

 

[cardzard]

Join the ScubaBoard Invasion and finding a dive buddy is no problem at all. We have multiple members coming solo. This a diving/social event with members coming from all over.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/invade-bonaire-2013/437012-invade-bonaire-2013-package-deal.html

 

[Randallr]

The Scubaboard Invasion is a great idea...but unfortunately it's not taking place when I can go. So my original questions still stand.

Jersey, thanks for that rich response. So did you get the sense that that Solo Diver Board at Buddy indicates it's a place that draws the likes of me and Malene?

 

[DiveMaven]

On our last trip to Bonaire, we had a single diver walk up to us on the dock and ask if she could join us. We told her our dive plan, particularly that we go very slowly because my husband has a camera, and if she didn't mind the slow pace, she was welcome to join us. After our dive, she asked if we would be diving our house reef again the next day, so we told her we dive it everyday at about 3:30 and she was welcome to join us anytime she wanted. She met us on the dock every afternoon for the next 4 days and expressed such appreciation for letting her dive with us.

Although this wasn't at Buddy Dive, and instead Den Laman, I would venture to guess at a resort the size of Buddy's there would be even more opportunities for a solo, who is willing to ask, to find people to buddy with. Your biggest challenge is to find people for off-site dives who have similar air consumption and diving styles, particularly since you're a photographer. Boat diving might be an easier option for the solo diver.

 

[uncfnp]

I don't recall the specifics but there was a single diver on our first trip to Bonaire that was staying at Buddy Dive. The next time we saw him, he had partnered up with someone and was even sharing the truck rental.

 

[Jersey]

Jersey, thanks for that rich response. So did you get the sense that that Solo Diver Board at Buddy indicates it's a place that draws the likes of me and Malene?

Randall and Malene - all I can honestly say is your mileage may vary. Factors include yourself but also the wildcard of other guests. My take is larger groups are harder to infiltrate than small groups or a couple (which we are). Buddy will assign a larger group their own boat / dive schedule for the week and they tend to keep to themselves. Some weeks the place seems like a civilized frat house with everyone gelling together quickly, some weeks not so much. We stay for multiple weeks and see a difference week by week. The good thing about Buddy is it's big enough that you will more likely manage to connect with others, there is almost always something going on at the dock and the divers run the gamut from newly minted through tech/rebreathers/side mount.

Personally, I would have no qualms about going solo to Buddy. I would use the single diver board, try to get some boat dives early and keep an eye out for divers of similar style (ie - I would not ask to join the 6-man Brazilian side mount tech team or the let's go to 100 feet so we can see 3 digits on the dive computer and wonder why it beeps when we bolt to the surface - both were there at the same time last year) and then make my case. All they could say is no.

 

[DeputyDan]

Bonaire Talk has a "looking for a buddy section".

Another place to look for buddies is at the orientation....