Bonaire in June

[El Orans]

Don't forget to write a trip report.

 

[ronbeau]

Hey folks! I am traveling with my family to Bonaire in June, we are all experienced divers. We have not been there before. Trying to decide on Captain Don's Habitat, Buddy Dive resort or the Plaza. Any opinions?
THANKS!

I have not been to either resort but the people in our dive club say that Buddy Dive is excellent and use it year after year.

Since my wife does not dive we opted for Curacao this summer so that there will be plenty for all three of us to do (daughter is getting certified now).

 

[SCUBAITEACH]

I have been to bonn several times ...although we stay at sanddollar i have looked into the others, they all are good ...we picked sandollar for the nitrox upgrade and the beach ....we are going again at the end of june ...any questions feel free to email me
scubatravel@comcast.net..i'm Gary

 

[kittyjg]

I'll be at Buddy's June 10-17th. Going with a group of 10-12. Our (my son and I) first time to Bonaire. Really looking forward to it.

 

[DeputyDan]

Buddy's is a good first time place to stay.

Everything you need is there.

 

[diversteve]

Never having stayed at either, but having been to both, I'd pick Buddy's over Habitat. I've read lately that Habitat has gone downhill some since Capt. Don sold out.

Also might consider Lion's Dive which is right next door to and now owned by Buddy's. When I was there in 2004, they were refurbishing the whole resort.

 

[deepocean1]

I would all so say Buddy dive shop, If you like I have pictures posted on a web site called webshots go to my community and at bottom were it says find member put deepocean4662 this will take you to my site it has a bunch of pictures of the island.

 

[Mark50]

Just got back from Bonaire last Saturday. We stayed at Captain Don's right next door to Buddy's. IMO Captain Don's was more laid back and casual. Staff was great, people were great. We decided if we ever get back there we'd stay at Captain Don's again and not Buddy's. We stayed in one of the oasis cottages which was great although not a water view.

 

[boulderjohn]

Just got back from Bonaire last Saturday. We stayed at Captain Don's right next door to Buddy's. IMO Captain Don's was more laid back and casual. Staff was great, people were great. We decided if we ever get back there we'd stay at Captain Don's again and not Buddy's. We stayed in one of the oasis cottages which was great although not a water view.

It just shows how individual the experiences can be. I could have written this post pretty much as is except I would have reversed the names!

If you do a search, you will find a couple of threads that displayed a lot of antagonism toward a couple of the staff members at Captain Don's. Several people writing independently--including me--had the same bad experiences with the same people. The rest of the staff were fine. Avoid the bad eggs and you will be OK.

The great thing about going with a group like yours is that you can do an excellent job with the shore diving, and the place you stay becomes increasingly less important the more you do that.

I went as a single diver (my wife is a snorkeler only), and I had to maneuver my way into established groups to get any shore dives in. I had a couple of bad experiences with that, as in the group deciding at the last minute not to go after all, and that was not a lot of fun. With your group, though, you are in a great situation.

 

[wilkie]

I just joined scuba board this mourning. Wanna guess what I've been doing for the last week?? You ain't gonna believe it, but I've been web searching 2-3 hrs. every day, to find this very information. I made reservations with the "Plaza Resort" this mourning, and was so proud of myself, that I joined this forum as a "good boy" treat!
Duh ? NOW I find you Guy's, all in the timing..."Wilkie-Wonder-search" dose it again by God !
Sincerley though, this forum is Wonderfull, I think I'm going to be up past my bedtime.