Bonaire diving and resort

[rakay]

We are planning a trip to Bonaire in January.

Can someone please give us some advice as to where to stay?

Best airline to use from the US?

We are very experienced divers and Bonaire is next on the list of places to go.

Thanks.

 

[olmic]

You should dive with Bonaire Dive and Adventure, slightly north of Kralendijk: Bonaire Dive and Adventure - and you could choose to stay at Den Laman: Den Laman Condominiums Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, Dutch Caribbean which is practically on top of BDA - same buildings. We stayed at the Wannadive Hut which is 10 minutes on foot from BDA, and probably also a lot cheaper. But Den Laman would be very convenient for you, and it looks nice. We ate in the restaurant at Den Laman most of the days, and can recommend it a lot. For technical diving, talk to Benji Schaub, at Caribbean Gas Training - DIR/GUE logistics in the Southern Caribbean - also "associated with" BDA.

I (obviously, I'm from Denmark) don't know anythings about flights from the USA.

Good luck.

 

[diversteve]

Where in Texas are you? Continental has a weekly direct flight from Houston to Bonaire Saturday morning. It's a red-eye and technically departs on Friday night so that's the way you find it on their website. It arrives early Saturday morning so the resorts have arrangements to store your luggage or let you into your room early. After breakfast and the Bonaire Marine Park Orientation at nineish - you can be diving by 10AM!

We flew AA through San Juan. It's a lot more hassle, there's a 6-7 hour layover and the plane to Bonaire is tiny. From here it was a red-eye flight to San Juan also so we were traveling for about 18 hours.

Another option is to fly into Aruba or Curacao and then take one of the Dutch Antilles Express flights over. Leaving from Curacao is the closer/cheaper flight option.

North of town are the dive resorts, Buddy Dive, Capt' Don's Habitat, Sand Dollar Condos, Den Laman Condos, and others - all about the same price range/quality. Den Laman is the newest of the bunch - Buddy Dive seems to get the most praise here. I can't comment on the rooms but the resort/diveshop looked more than adequate.

The nicest dive resort on the beach is Harbour Village. Also the priciest.

Just slightly south of town is the Divi Flamingo, it's the only dive resort with a casino and you can walk to downtown from it.

Farther south is the Plaza Resort. Nice property but sprawling and the diveshop is located at the opposite end of the property from the divesite. So it's a little less convenient. Makes up for it somewhat with a nice beach/pool area. The SB sponsored trip stays there.

Most of the diveresorts have their own or are adjacent to restaurants and all have their own diveop onsite. Most are also located on named divesites on Bonaire so the shorediving is often excellent right off your resort. All of the north resorts with the exception of Harbour Village also sit on ironshore so there's little or no beach. Plaza and Divi both have a beach.

We stayed at BelMar condos south of the airport in Belnem. Really nice, on the water and quiet but they're a 5-10 min. drive to everything else, including any sort of food. The other Buddy Dive location is onsite so that makes it convenient for tanks etc. And you can use the northern Buddy Dive drive-thru tank pickup also since you're a guest of their properties - and book on their boats if you plan to do that. Good, not great house reef offshore also.

There's a forum here on Scubaboard for all things Bonaire: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/abc-islands/
Might ask a Moderator to move this post there...

Good general info sites are Info Bonaire and Bonaire Talk - a forum about everything on Bonaire. The Bonaire webcams are also found there.

Tip: Bring good treaded boots, you'll need them to get over the ironshore/coral rubble prevalent at the majority of the shore dive sites.

 

[rakay]

Steve,

That's a big help with the airline. I was getting concerned it would take forever and we would have to go through Newark which I did not want to do. We are in San Antonio so the Houston airport is a no brainer.

I was looking at Buddy anyway so all the information you gave me is just great. Thanks!

 

[oceancat]

You really ought to get this post moved to the Caribbean Diving Lesser Antilles section--the Bonaire posts are there, not in s. america. You will likely get more advice that way!

 

[dvrliz1]

Rakay,

A couple of hints. When checking prices on line, definitely put in a Friday night departure from Houston with a Saturday return date. The flight is a "red eye" and actually leaves at 11;55 pm on Friday night.

Also, regarding resorts; it all depends on pricing and what exactly you want. I agree with all that Steve says.

Bonaire does not have true "all inclusives", but you "really" don't need them on Bonaire. Everything is no more than 15 minutes from anything here. The restaurants are amazing, and you are going to be driving all over for the shore diving. Why not get out and explore the island? You will love your little paradise in the caribbean!

Liz

 

[Diverraygr]

I have been to Boanire 3 times and love there. Hoping to get back there in February if all works out. I stayed at Buddy's Resort twice and the last time was at Captain Don's. I looking to go back to Buddy's, I really like the package they have. Love the food done there, ate different places each time. Lots of great information on InfoBonaire and BonaireTalk

Ray

 

[xiSkiGuy]

I enjoyed my stay at Buddy's, but it is rare to hear anyone complain about where they stayed in Bonaire. They are too busy diving to care!

 

[WallDiver77]

Hey rakay,

I visited Bonaire for the first time in June 2007. My son, his G/F, and I stayed at the SandDollar condos and used BDA (Bonaire Dive and Adventure). The house reef, Bari, was excellent. On one of my solo dives there I spotted five new creatures that I had never seen before..... in one dive. This reef runs down a nice slope and bottoms around 135 feet (that was with my computer hanging a foot off the bottom).

WE did many dives all around the island, but I found myself doing many late afternoon dives right out in front of the Sand Dollar on Bari..... it was that good. Just grab a tank right there on the pier and jump. Geeze, that was fun diving!

The SandDollar and the Den Laman properties are side by side and share the same dive shop, pick one, it doesn't matter. Buddy borders the northern side of the Sand Dollar. I am not sure what the Bari is like in front of Buddy's..... never made it up (north) the reef that far.

We flew Continential's redeye out of Houston just like Steve is talking about..... it worked perfectly. I was wet by 10:30am Saturday morning after flying all night!

AS a first time vistor, I find it difficult to describe to others how much I enjoyed diving there! SCREW (can I say that on here? Sorry.) the hurry-up attitudes of the Dive masters that we have all been pushed by in other places...... they don't exist here while shore diving. I never set foot on a dive boat while down there and never had the inclination to do so.

I'm counting the days right now until I'm down there again. After you get back, ... when you need to talk about it to someone, Please do it here on ScubaBoard; There are people here who will understand your passion. Others just thing you've lost a marble or two.

Take Care,

 

[DeputyDan]

You are probably too late to have any choice about accomodations. Some book six to nine months out!