Bonaire - One Ocean, Belmar or Buddy's

[Eleonard]

I am hoping to go to Bonaire in March with my daughter. We are looking at these three places and are open to others. We want a pool by the beach, a beautiful ocean view, peaceful setting and a house reef that is good and easy to snorkel. I would greatly appreciate any input anyone has. Thank you!

 

[drrich2]

We want a pool by the beach, a beautiful ocean view, peaceful setting and a house reef that is good and easy to snorkel.

Some links that may be of use:
My Research Notes for Bonaire - My Research Note For Bonaire
8 Day Trip Report: Sand Dollar, Dive Friends
2022 Trip Report Bonaire Trip Report - V.I.P. Divers/Aqua Viva Suites

If by 'beach' you mean a shoreline with a gradual sandy slope into the ocean suitable for wading out...that's going to be a problem. Sand Dollar Condo.s has a small beach area beside their pier; Den Lamen does also, though a bit rougher looking to me.

In fairness, gradual sandy sloping beaches often aren't great for snorkeling. You need to underwater structure for that. A pier can liven things up a good deal.

Be mindful that an oceanfront resort doesn't automatically = an oceanview room for you. A nice view of the ocean from the grounds should be no problem; if it's a big deal to sit outside your room on a patio at stare at the ocean, you'll have to be more discriminating.

I haven't stayed at Belmar. I liked Buddy Dive Resort already, but I didn't have ocean views from the room.

Will your daughter dive? I ask because out of 10 visits to Bonaire, now that I think of it, I don't recall haven't gotten into any of the resort pools. Compared to the ocean, a swimming pool is like a featureless sterile box, and the ocean is right nearby. Plus after a few dives, the desire to be in a pool diminishes. Different strokes, different folks.

 

[tracydr]

We love to stay at a small place with apartments called Diver’s Paradise/ the rooms have all been refurbished in the past 10 years or less and the owner (John) is great. It’s also inexpensive and you have a full kitchen. Just a thought.

 

[Eleonard]

Thank you! Sorry, I meant by the ocean not beach. We are excited to snorkel when not diving so house reef is important. My daughter is a diver. We won’t use pool much. Just thought we might hop in it now and again. She is a D1 swimmer so loves any kind of pool but maybe we won’t use it. I think ocean view from balcony/patio is important. I’ll go home very happy in my heart if I spend down time soaking in the serenity of our view. That might rule out Buddy since I don’t think can guarantee ocean view.

 

[Eleonard]

Thank you!

 

[scuba127]

Belmar....it has everything you've mentioned. We've been staying there for years and have no plans to change. I've dove the house reef more times than I can count and never get tired of it. Disclaimer....most of my dives on the Belmar House reef are light deco dives at the bottom of the wall but I still would say the snorkeling is acceptable as long as you're willing to swim out from the dock area a bit. The shallows right around the dock are not as good as they were years ago but get out closer to the top of wall and its all good. Go left or right from there and you should be OK. Just follow the surface rope out. There are two docks. Pool is oceanfront and gets used quite a bit in my expirience. All apartment patios are ocean front.

 

[arew+4]

Eleonard,
Are you planning on doing many boat dives or primarily doing shore dives from a truck? If mostly all shore dives look into getting an apartment/condo thru VRBO or similar, and an unlimited air package with Dive Friends or similar. Trucks can be had for around $50 a day, unlimited shore dives for $30-35pp per day. So $55-60 a day per person for unlimited shore diving plus room and board for the week.

 

[mbs]

You might want to take a look at The Plaza Resort - Book your all-inclusive vacation at Plaza Beach & Dive Resort Bonaire . The new pool/area is really nice. They have some significant construction going on along side the resort, but we didn't find it to be a problem last May. One thing that seems to bother some folks here is that it is a big, spread out resort. So there is a bit of walking, especially dragging gear from the house reef to the dive shop.