Bonaire 2009 trip report

[seaducer]

I am not sure, but I think BDA is out of line in this case.

I certainly agree with you there. He sticks out like a sore thumb since you can dive anywhere else with no hassle at all.

We have similar issues here with beach access in a few communities where home owners share a driveway, they refuse to allow people to walk down what appears to be a public road and then access a public beach. They cannot keep you off the beach, but they can keep you from going across their property to get to the beach.
The local townships punish these people by not providing services like snow plowing (big whoop none of these people actually live in these houses anyway) trash pickup, and they will not place those beaches on the list for beach replenishment unless they allow public access.

Anyway, there are so many great places to dive that I don't care if this guy wants to go on a power trip or not. His place is getting some negative advertisement here and a few other places, though I doubt he will notice, and I will have a good time elsewhere!

 

[vann evans]

My wife and I own a condo at Sand Dollar. I can answer a few questions noted in this post. After Hurricane Lenny in 1996, Bonaire Dive and Adventure was destroyed. Andre was essentially out of business. Sand Dollar Condos realized that a dive shop was essential to its operation. Individual Owners of Sand dollar condos(they are all individually owned)got together and created a corporation to build the dock, equipment room, changing rooms and baths. Bonaire dive and Adventure leases the space from this corporation . The retail shop is in the Den Lamen building and I don't know it's status.

The dock is private property and Andre can(and does) limit access to paying guests of Bonaire Dive and Adventure and those who sign the release. Bari Reef is public and can be freely accessed from the dirt road south of Bonaire dive and Adventure. It turns off of Kaya just south of the traffic circle.

 

[deeper thoughts]

Thnx for the report and also thank you for letting us know about this buffoon

 

[oly5050user]

Same issues at Habitat..only there they have you pay for the privilage to dive off the property..Buddy has no problem with giving access to visiting divers,as of my last trip there.Going back to Buddys end of May/1 st week June,I doubt that this has changed.

 

[dwilli10]

We saw the signs he posted (if I recall, the signs said only divers registered with BD&A may use the dock and facilities). We were using Buddy's so all we did was park in the lot, walk through the area and use the beach access, not the dock. Silly me, my interpretation of his signs was to not use the dock, rinse tanks, gear storage, etc. On the way back to the car, he stops me and asks if I'm an American. He then says he has signs posted in English (reading between the lines I guess he was asking me if I was literate). I then got in a circular argument about what was and wasn't acceptable. I wanted him to tell me what in his mind was OK (can I use the beach access? Is it OK if I stay on the other side of that fence?), but all he kept saying was I'm not allowed to be there. He never mentioned that all I had to do was sign a release.

We stayed at the Sand Dollar and really debated about using Buddy's or BD&A (mainly because we were in Bldg F and Buddy's seemed just as close as BD&A). I'm really glad I didn't give that guy one penny of my business. We tried to abide by what the signs said...he has crummy signs (in my opinion).

 

[Blackrock]

Perhaps he has changed the policy. Maybe he is denying access to all that don't use his shop and abandoned the waiver all together.

I imagine this is going to cause a major backlash effect on his business though. I have decided not to use them anymore (even if I stay at Den Laman). Several other people have decided not to use him because of his attitude and behavior. Perhaps eventually he will amend his behavior or be forced to sell to someone.

btw-I have emailed Den Laman and asked them what the situation would be if I stayed there but didn't use BDA. They informed that I could use the beach entry (and sidewalks leading to it with no problem) and that they would talk to Andre if necessary. The implication was that they have had problems like this before and had to "sort him out." The dock is under BDA control, however.

Bottom line for me is that Bari Reef isn't special enough overall to make such a big deal about it. Plenty of other cool sites to dive without a maladjusted man barking at me.

 

[lmorin]

This thread requires an update because of a new opportunity for Sand Dollar and Den Laman guests.

Divers staying at Den Laman and Sand Dollar are now able to dive with Dive Friends, well known for its several different diver friendly locations on the island. The new Dive Friends operation is actually right on the south end of Sand Dollar property. There is a new building next to the Sand Dollar main office from which Dive Friends provides tanks for shore dives elsewhere on the island. Dive Friends, as I understand, is also providing tanks down by the Sand Dollar frontage and will be building or have already built a floating dock attached to the floor platform of the former Green Parrot/dive shop that were both destroyed by hurricane Lenny in the late '90's. Only divers staying at Den Laman or Sand Dollar are presently eligible to dive from this facility which will also soon have (or, perhaps already has) a brand new good-size boat for boat dives from the same location. There is or will soon be a gear storage area near the new tank rental building.