best pool on Bonaire

[Chocoholic]

So who has the best pool of all the places on Bonaire? i know this seems like a wierd question since most people will be in the ocean, but..... My hubby will spend most of his time in the pool while I dive and he will spend time in the ocean too. I am looking for the hotel/resort/motel/B&B with the nicest pool, or pool area. He will be partially on crutches too so that comes into play as well. A fridge or kitchenette in the room would be great too. We will hopefully be going there the last week of April. Is that a good time of year for diving and ocean tempatures?
Thanks, Choco

 

[WVDiver]

Buddy's has a nice outdoor pool and a good view of the ocean from it. Not sure how easy it is to get in and out of with crutches as I wasn't in it. Eden Beach has probably a nicer pool than Buddy's but you don't get a good view of the ocean and again I wasn't in it. Don't go to the Golden Reef, it is small and no where near the ocean. These are all the pools I have noticed on the island myself but I am sure there are others here on the board that can give you some more insight. I am not sure of any indoor pools. Good luck and have a great trip.

 

[Damselfish]

Sand Dollar's pool is out by the road not on the ocean side so not nearly as appealing.

 

[miesemer]

Plaza Resort has a nice pool and beach.


http://www.plazaresortbonaire.com/

 

[Scubasw]

Second the Plaza Resort. Beautiful Pool on the beach. They have one of few actual sand beaches on the island. I believe they imported their sand. Most of the rest of the island has roller coral or ironstone "beaches" The Plaza also has poolside and beach side drink service if I remember correctly. 3 restaurants on property. We're going in late July. My third trip to the Plaza.

 

[Damselfish]

The Plaza is pretty spread out. For someone on crutches might want to pay special attention to where you get a room, should you decide to stay there.

 

[herman]

Buddy has 3 pools, the nicest one is in the Lions Dive section. A first floor condo in the Lions Dive section would be pretty easy to access. The condos all have kitchens. The sea conditions really don't change that much throughout the year on Bonaire. The sea temps should be around 79-82 deg F.

 

[Cecil]

I recommend Eden Beach, shortest walks and a nice pool. Even the ocean is close by with stairs to get in. The Plaza is way to spread out, it wore me out without the crutches. The Divi, Buddy Dive and Captain Dons all have an up and down layout (multi level).

 

[Martha]

BelMar has a nice pool that is ocean-front and the apartments all have kitchens. It's a small property, so if you requested the first floor, everything would be easy for your husband to access.

 

[diversteve]

All the first floor condos at Belmar are two bedrooms. But they're priced the same as the one bedroooms. The master bedrooms are on the street side so no view, but they're spacious, even the master bath is large.

The only one bedrooms are upstairs. And the stairs are circular. Not too easy on crutches.

They have a nice pool though a little small - all tile bottom. It's about 20-30 ft. from the middle first floor condo patios. The ocean is 20-30 ft. past that, down about 7 or 8 stairs to the dive dock, then down 4-5 wide stairs into the water. It's pretty shallow there but there's some coral rubble mixed in the sand just off the dock so with something to protect his feet he could wade in the area. There's no beach there, BelMar sits on a low ironshore cliff. The nearest beach is Bachelors, about a block north. And not much of a beach, it's a named dive site also.

There's no restaurant or bar at BelMar if that's something he might want while you're gone. Their inhouse diveop is Buddy's so if you don't find someone to dive with at BelMar drive over to Buddy's where you'd be hard pressed not to find someone. I think they send the boat down from Buddy's to pick up also now for boat dives - It's not docked there, contrary to the picture on their website.

The good thing for you about BelMar is that the entire property is very compressed, it's only about 40' from the parking lot to your door. The diveshop/office is on one end of the property and the tank pickup is right off the street.

The first floor condos have their own dive lockers outside the back doors and they stock tanks on the dock so the gear hauling is kept to a minimum. There's a rinse tank and shower right on the dock. About the only time you have to go to the diveshop is to use the O2 analyzer for Nitrox.

The BelMar house reef has a gradual drop, it's one I'd do solo. Not the best dive on the island but better than what's at some of the other dive resorts. If you wanted to do it at night, they have lights in the water also.

It's a nice place and very quiet at night. I think it's one of the newest places on Bonaire, Den Laman being the other.