Belmar or Bellafonte

[diva159]

We are really torn between staying at Belmar or Bellafonte. We have never been to Bonaire and we plan to dive and lay by the pool. Any recommendations on which place is better?

Thanks!

 

[DiverVince]

Diva..I've stayed at both on several occasions. The accommodations are better at Bellafonte but no pool & no on site dive op.
Belmar has the pool and an on site dive op.
If privacy is an issue, you'll have more privacy on the outdoor terrace at Bellafonte (unless you're on the fist floor).
You have to figure out what's more important to you.
One is not "better" than the other, they are different.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

We've stayed at the Bellafonte all 3 of our trips to Bonaire, so we can't compare it with Bel Mar. The first stay there was no 4th floor penthouse nor elevators, the second stay the penthouse and elevators were a construction work in progress 9and we got a discounted rate), and the third stay in July 2008 all the construction work had been completed.

We've preferred either the third floor corner units facing the sea (for more intimacy) but last stay the first floor unit right next to the on-site gear locker area so we tried that one. Less intimacy than the third floor units, but no lugging anything up & down stairs (although there were working elevators last time we visited).

Each time we've used Photo Tours / Dive Friends for a dive op. Last 2 times their Port Bonaire location at the opposite end of the beach was the closest. However, someone 2 doors or so down south of the Bellafonte now has an on-site dive op, and the underwater scene suddenly seemed 'crowded' because we had been spoiled rotten diving the Corporal Meiss reef all to ourselves or small groups of us & other Bellafonte tourists off the Bellafonte deck / dock.

I'm sure you'll have a great trip no matter which choice you make!

 

[helimvee]

We stayed at Bellafonte in Feb 2009 - all that was available was the studio on the back, so can't comment on the other rooms. The studio is a bit small, but functional.

The staff were great at dealing with minor issues such as a dead coffeemaker. There was always someone wandering around picking up litter or trimming branches off trees - they clearly take care of the premises.

The parking lot is a bit on the small side. Sometimes it was tough to drive a truck in if others were not carefull how they parked. There is plenty of parking outside the wall/gate.

We used Wannadive's shop next door for tanks and did several dives off the dock. Nice ladder for entry/exit (just repaied while we were there) Convenient rinse tanks and showers at either end of the front terrace.

As has been mentioned, there is no pool, but the front terrace and dock have plenty of room.

We would definitely stay there again.

We've since priced Bellafonte and BelMar and found that Bellafonte was a bit less expensive as a package deal.

I don't think you'll be disappointed with either place. Remember you'll be underwater most of the time.

Have a good trip.

 

[diversteve]

We stayed in one of the Classic Superior condos at BelMar. Nice, clean modern (in 04) unit. Literally steps from the pool and less than 100' from the divedock. The house reef there is pretty good, we did it twice. As is probably evident from the pictures, there's no beach there if that's of interest. One thing to know, the master bedroom is on the street side of the property so all the views are from the kitchen/living room. The 2nd bedroom is in the center of the unit so doesn't even have a window. Or if it did, it faced onto the hallway as I recall. We had the 2nd unit from the left and could watch sunsets from the couch.

Parking is just off the street and Buddy Dive is located on the premises. If you stay on one of the ground floor units, you'll have a lockable dive locker outside your back door. Upstairs you get a locker by the diveshop - you may need to bring a lock. The 1BR units are all upstairs.

I think I'd see if you can get DiverVince's place first though. It looks much nicer than BelMar. Vinibu, Bellevue #9, Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean--Welcome

We went to Port Bonaire once, nice condos but it's in the flight path from the airport. At BelMar we never heard anything at night except the occasional donkey. Downside of anything in Belnem is that except for one small restaurant nearby, everything is either back in town or at the Plaza Resort which is a drive around the lagoon.

As others have mentioned, after 4 dives per day, we mostly just slept there. All the really good southern divesites are 5-10mins. down the road, they start just past Belnem. For boat diving we used Toucan at the Plaza, they have several decent sized boats, took mostly smaller groups - I can't recall there ever being more than 10 - one afternoon it was us, a dutch couple and the DM. We went out to Klein and did a nice relaxing dive at Forest.

 

[song]

I considered both Belmar & Bellefonte (and Sand Dollar & Den Laman) for our first trip to Bonaire. If you want to "dive & lay by the pool" I'd recommend Villa Safir (Bonaire Villa Safir - B&B Intimate Hotel)

Got back yesterday. I can't rave enough about the owners Peter & Bianca, the service, the location, the hospitality, the breakfasts. Don't have to deal with a crowded dive shop either....they bring the dive shop to you.

Wasn't sure about their location before we went. It's in the hills just north of town, area called Santa Barbara (fabulous view & breeze). Bonaire is small enough that it's very easy to get around. We had friends staying south in Belnam...only about a 10-15 minute drive.