Buddy Dive - Prepay extra boat dives or go a-la-carte?

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VicScubaVentures

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Messages
217
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61
Location
Victoria, BC
# of dives
200 - 499
A friend just returned from Buddy Dive and warned me that although they'd paid in advance for extra boat dives, once they got to the resort they were told to sign up for boat dives as soon as possible because the boats fill on a first-come first-served basis and any unused boat dive "credits" would not be refunded. Sounds a little harsh to me ....

The regular Buddy Dive package includes 6 boat dives, paying $105/per person adds another 5 for a weekly total of 11.

Let's not get into the "boat dive" vs "shore dive" discussion here .... but I'm wondering what people's experience is with using Buddy's dive boats and their sign-up process. Anyone ever come away without being able to use all the boat dives they paid for because of the sign-up routine?

We're going in early-mid September and our plan is to do 2 boat dives every monring and then head out with the truck for some afternoon dives.

Cheers,
C.
 
While I haven't boat-dove on Bonaire yet, I was at Buddy Dive 4-20-13 to 4-27-13, and as I recall from the mandatory orientation walk-around, we were shown the chalkboard and told to sign up for the boat dives if we wanted. I don't recall any mention of anyone having 'reservations.'

I also seem to recall that aside from one boat trip on a specific day of the week, the destinations weren't known in advance. If you're going with a group that unanimously agree on specific sites, you might have some 'pull' as to where to go. But I don't think you can reserve in advance for specific sites on specific days.

Richard.
 
I just got back from Buddy Dive and we had no issue signing up for extra boat dives. I signed up Friday morning before breakfast for an 8:30 2 tank trip.

90% of the boat dives we did were to sites you can't hit from shore.
 
The ONLY reason to do boat dives in Bonaire are to go over to Klein Bonaire (can't get there unless by boat) or to places like Karpata up north. I would only pay for 1 boat dive per day, and shore dive 2-3 more dives daily after that. You have to sign up for dive boat dives the DAY BEFORE as soon as they write them on the chalkboard or they might fill up. We liked doing the first boat dive of day most days, then shore dive at our own pace the rest of day.

We have been to Bonaire twice, stayed at Buddy's both times. Read my trip reports, watch my videos from my links below. Love the place and would go back again tomorrow... in fact, we are talking about going this summer possibly.

robin:D
 
Not sure the OP's question has been answered, and Im interested in the answer as well. Is there any advantage to prepaying for boat dives, and if you do are you insured of getting on said boat dives? Or do you prepay, and still have to make sure you sign up or loose the dive and the money?
 
A friend just returned from Buddy Dive and warned me that although they'd paid in advance for extra boat dives, once they got to the resort they were told to sign up for boat dives as soon as possible because the boats fill on a first-come first-served basis and any unused boat dive "credits" would not be refunded. Sounds a little harsh to me ....

The regular Buddy Dive package includes 6 boat dives, paying $105/per person adds another 5 for a weekly total of 11.

Let's not get into the "boat dive" vs "shore dive" discussion here .... but I'm wondering what people's experience is with using Buddy's dive boats and their sign-up process. Anyone ever come away without being able to use all the boat dives they paid for because of the sign-up routine?

Each dive boat obviously has limited capacity, so divers are required to sign up for any particular boat on first-come first-served basis. This is especially advantageous for divers who have favorite captains and/or dive masters. (I mean who doesn't love Murphyn? We did our first Bonaire dive with Murph in 1996.) This helps the dive op plan and schedule boats and crew ahead of time to match diver demand and capacity. This means that last-minute walk-ups may not find a seat on a dive boat if the currently scheduled boats are full. To my knowledge no advance sign-ups have ever been turned away because there was no room. If they know they need another boat they'll schedule it. That's why they insist you use the sign-up board. September is low season on Bonaire so there will certainly be plenty of space.

If you pay $105 for a 5 boat dive "package", you won't get a refund for unused dives. The alternative is to pay $26 per additional 1-tank boat dive, based on how many dives you actually do, as noted on Buddy Dive's a la carte pricing page. At this rate you'll pay $104 for 4 dives, so the package basically gets you a 5th dive for free... if you use it. I don't see anything harsh about these flexible pricing options.

We'll be on Bonaire the week of September 9th. We stay elsewhere nowadays, but still like to stop by the Buddy Pool Bar once or twice to say hi to Murph at Happy Hour. (Free rum punch and music by Moogie every Friday!) Maybe we'll see you there. Enjoy your trip!
 
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The more I read about Buddy Dive the more I like it for a first time trip to Bonaire.
 
Let's not get into the "boat dive" vs "shore dive" discussion here ....

Well, that didn't last long.

The ONLY reason to do boat dives in Bonaire are to go over to Klein Bonaire (can't get there unless by boat) or to places like Karpata up north.

I disagree.

We began with boat diving on Bonaire 16 years ago, then did a mix of boat and shore diving, then switched exclusively to shore diving about 10 years ago. So I GET IT, shore diving is fun, easy, and affordable. But that doesn't mean that boat diving isn't right for some folks, for a variety of reasons. Those reasons include convenient access to dive sites, guided dives, easy entry/exit, no need to lug gear around, no need to drive, and just the pure enjoyment of being on a dive boat in the Caribbean.

The shore dive sites and roads would be (even more) crowded if all the boat divers on Bonaire suddenly became shore divers. Yikes!
 
We had no trouble getting onto the dive boats with Buddy dive-- we generally signed up the day before, but I don't think the boats were ever completely full when I was there with my husband. I like the convenience of boat diving but I can definitely see both points of view.
 
We used a chalkboard-sign-up system in Honduras for boat dives too. If you sign-up the day before (as mentioned above) the scheduled boat dive, there wasn't any issues. The only issues I seen were those who tried to sign up at the last minute. But it sounds like Buddy Dive will schedule more boats if needed; and it should be understandable that this cannot me accomplished in less than one hour's notice, hence sign up ASAP.
 
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