Bonaire Trip Report ( June 21-29th ), Plaza Resort

[drrich2]

Nice follow on to your review. A few scattered thoughts of mine:

1.) I don't drink. Whenever I hear of an A.I. program, I wonder whether there's a cheaper option that doesn't including alcohol, because I know alcohol costs money and that said cost is factored into the price of the package. A look at their web site doesn't suggest that's an option, unless one of the rest of you knows otherwise.

2.) Buddy Dive includes airport transfers & onsite truck rental. On the other hand, the tank stations close at 5 p.m. and other than tanks provided for diving the house reef 24/7, if you want to get tanks, you'd better get them before 5 p.m.! Any idea whether you can get tanks after house at the Plaza for off-site diving? I ask because when staying at Eden Beach Resort years ago, we'd load tanks in the evening for the next morning's trip off-grounds. Couldn't do that so easily at Buddy Dive. Not a big deal, but be aware.

Richard.

 

[oly5050user]

Nice follow on to your review. A few scattered thoughts of mine:

1.) I don't drink. Whenever I hear of an A.I. program, I wonder whether there's a cheaper option that doesn't including alcohol, because I know alcohol costs money and that said cost is factored into the price of the package. A look at their web site doesn't suggest that's an option, unless one of the rest of you knows otherwise.

2.) Buddy Dive includes airport transfers & onsite truck rental. On the other hand, the tank stations close at 5 p.m. and other than tanks provided for diving the house reef 24/7, if you want to get tanks, you'd better get them before 5 p.m.! Any idea whether you can get tanks after house at the Plaza for off-site diving? I ask because when staying at Eden Beach Resort years ago, we'd load tanks in the evening for the next morning's trip off-grounds. Couldn't do that so easily at Buddy Dive. Not a big deal, but be aware.

Richard.

never had a problem getting tanks at any time at Buddys..tanks at the dock are available 24 hrs..did you not know where the "secret key" is to open dive locker and tank storeage area? tanks at the drive thru may be an issue,but easily solved by just keeping tanks in the back of the truck at all times.

 

[drrich2]

I knew where the key was, but on a prior trip to Buddy's a staff member explained to a buddy and I that the tanks down near the gear room/piers are for shore diving or loading the boats in the morning. We weren't supposed to haul them off to our truck for use off the resort. We were to use tanks from the drive through for that.

And yes, the answer is to get tanks for the following morning before 5 p.m. today if you want to 'just drive off' in the morning after breakfast.

Not a major hurdle.

Richard.

 

[tkaelin]

Thanks for the report. When I took my family to Bon for the first time and experienced "dive freedom", for me this is what I always wanted in diving and what will always bring us back. The freedom to just grab a tank and go is what I love about Bon and diving. I especially love dawn and dusk dives, usually solo on a house reef. It really is a perfect place for solo diving. I solo dived on some dives on our first couple of trips and completed a Solo Cert with Walt at Rek Tek on Bon on our third trip. Your report on your stay at the Plaza will also cause me to rethink what I thought about what a stay at the Plaza might be. Thanks again.

 

[Scubawankenobi]

Nice follow on to your review. A few scattered thoughts of mine:

1.) I don't drink. Whenever I hear of an A.I. program, I wonder whether there's a cheaper option that doesn't including alcohol, because I know alcohol costs money and that said cost is factored into the price of the package. A look at their web site doesn't suggest that's an option, unless one of the rest of you knows otherwise.

2.) Buddy Dive includes airport transfers & onsite truck rental. On the other hand, the tank stations close at 5 p.m. and other than tanks provided for diving the house reef 24/7, if you want to get tanks, you'd better get them before 5 p.m.! Any idea whether you can get tanks after house at the Plaza for off-site diving? I ask because when staying at Eden Beach Resort years ago, we'd load tanks in the evening for the next morning's trip off-grounds. Couldn't do that so easily at Buddy Dive. Not a big deal, but be aware.

Richard.

Re: tanks
So at the plaza I was able to get tanks most any time. At the shop (again, next to parking lot, next to lockers) there were tons of filled tanks just sitting there to grab.
There were also 2x locations at the house reef that always had stacks of filled tanks & next to it leave your empties (caps off).
I know there was someone always there after 5pm, think the latest I ever got a nitrox tanks was closer to 6pm. But if you just want air, just grab&go.
I honestly couldn't believe how casual it was. So I think you'd have no problem any time of day - if you're leaving for shore dives, grab tanks at shop(parking lot) load&go... for beach dives just walk to beach.
Again, caveat being nitrox - they lock the room that holds the nitrox tanks when they close. However, just do all your fills for the day whenever, slap a label on the tank (w/your name & 'location' - i.e. shore, or house reef name). When you label the tanks in the day & write the house reef destination ("pool" or "Tipsy") as long as you do this during open hours (again, I found before 6pm but might be officially like 5:30?) they'd deliver the nitrox tanks to the reef for you within 30min. (of course you could always carry the tank(s) yourself).

Re: all-inclusive
Hmmm... that's a good point about the rate/savings. When I'm on warm-water vacations I swim like a fish & (sadly) drink like one.
So any "savings" on something as (what can be!) expensive as alcohol could sure be lessened.
On the food side of things, we were all really happy with the food choices - 3x meals a day & snacks (hot&cold) at the bar in-between.
We only dined out once (10min walk into town), but the 2x restaurants, I believe slightly on the upscale end for the island, were quite pricey.
I understand there are plenty of dining options, probably plenty affordable ones.
So cost savings (convenience) on food vs staying at another place I couldn't really speak to.

For us - I did look at the other resorts, but since we found a really good deal/rate on Plaza ( just used expedia.ca, note: oddly I've found cheaper rates on expedia.ca than expedia.com...& not just for travel to/from Canada but also for states - I've told friends about this who have ran into the same & booked some travel from .ca ) we wound up realizing it saved us money (again, I'd venture w/o alcohol factored).
The rest, as I mentioned - rooms I stayed in (updated/recently remodeled) were really nice - nicest I've had for an all-inclusive & I'd venture a bit nicer than the traditional dive resorts. I was really surpirsed.

Lastly, one little catch/gotcha? We'd originally expected the unlimited tanks was included, however we learned that that's only if you book with Plaza online/direct (or through some resellers?). Since we booked (severely discounted?) through Expedia we had to pay for our air at the shop.
If you pre-pay, ahead of time, I think it's like $20-22(?) per day for your stay. Again, we factored that into our budgeting/decision making.
Again, no experience elsewhere, but I was really happy with the rate & the fact that nitrox was unlimited (same as air) - so that was icing on cake (wrote elsewhere bout my profiles/NDL whilst diving 4-5 per day against buddies on air).

So when diving elsewhere - grab 4x nitrox tanks & head out for the day. I think officially it's only supposed to be 2x at a time, but nothing would stop someone if they didn't want to come back to the shop to fill 2x tanks. I only took 2x at a time, but we had a full truck (usually 3-4x divers) but we always grabbed one extra "backup tank" - which came in handy one time when one buddy packed an "empty".

[ Again, don't want to sound like a commercial for Plaza - we just had a great experience, enjoyed the casual atomosphere, free nitrox delivered to shore, shore stocks of tanks for house reef, easy entry exit at reef, & excellent dive shop staff... YMMV ]
Recommendation - check rates/compare cost. Doesn't hurt to try different places. We might try elsewhere next trip, perhaps Buddy Dive, but unless I'd be saving a decent amt (budgeting food/drinks) I'm fairly certain I'd stay w/Plaza & dive with Toucan Diving again.

Last thoughts - tax was like $10 (5min from airport, didn't try the "hop the fence" trick<g>). Next time I think we'll pre-rent the truck & pick it up at airport. Otherwise, the rental company picks you up @ resort & takes you to get your truck (@ airport) - no big deal.

---------- Post added July 15th, 2014 at 04:42 PM ----------

Re: Free+unlimited nitrox

So just curious - is nitrox just treated the same as air in Bonaire?
This (at Toucan Diving, Plaza resort) was new to me - and much appreciated.

 

[drrich2]

So just curious - is nitrox just treated the same as air in Bonaire?
This (at Toucan Diving, Plaza resort) was new to me - and much appreciated.

Some big resorts tend to offer it as 'free nitrox upgrade' or some such. When I dove with WannaDive, and with Buddy Dive, it was like that. I remember some years back that Captain Don's tended to charge for the upgrade, but I don't know their current practices.

It can be different with smaller op.s. Bruce Bowker's Carib Inn, which I read good things about on the forum, I think only does air. Looking at Black Durgeon Inn online, I get the impression they don't do nitrox, either. If I'm wrong about either, somebody say so.

Bonaire's sloping wall reefs & natural multi-level diving lend themselves to profiles such that many people could skip nitrox and dive air without changing their dive day due to NDL's, but I, too, like diving Nitrox EAN 32 when it's handy at no extra charge.

Richard.

 

[chauncy19]

Richard,you're right no nitrox at either place. Black Durgon is affiliated with Capt Don for air. so you can pay extra and pick up tanks there (capt don's). maybe you can get them delivered to Black Durgon but that's a a reach. Like the two places very much personally but if Nitrox is important to you look else where.

 

[Scubawankenobi]

Bob & Richard,

Thanks for the info about nitrox availability.
So I would leave that one down as a "plus" for Plaza. Air/nitrox treated same - unlimited.
Only differences - obviously test/label your own tanks.
House reef dives - write which reef entry & your tanks are delivered usually within 30min (right away) by time I'd grab my gear/camera.
Shore dives - leave 'em outside. All filled tanks were left outside, immediately next to parking lot/locker area - so ready for easy loading (no schlepping big distance).
Boat (Toucan) - same thing. Just leave 'em there, either night before or morning/afternoon of dives.
Nitrox fills - during operating hours, room wasn't locked - just walk in & grab your desired # of tanks (test+label yourself) & set outside/load vehicle/whatever.

Air tanks - they were just everywhere. Stacks by the parking lot (grab any time), stacks by both beach entries, just show up & grab one with a cap on it (filled).

Re: Nitrox v air
As Richard says... very easy NOT do dive air, at least for all the dives I did. If it would've cost me extra, I'd not have spent the money on it. Well, maybe on the 5x dive days I would've dived nitrox in afternoon? So definitely not a *must* destination for EAN.
However... since it was free & just as convenient, dived every dive with it (Toucan's was 33%, usually readings ranged 32.8-33.1).
My slow days were 4x dives, busy days were 5x, & did notice some substantially diff NDLs by end of day diving with buddies on air.

 

[Brodydog]

Favorite is Buddy dive. Easy to get to dive dock, during check in at the front desk I get room key and truck key, never have to wait to get orientation/marine park tag, even if arriving on a late flight.

Does this mean that Buddy Dive does have an orientation? Is it offered at various times during the day? Does it involve a check out dive?

Booked for our first trip to Bonaire and Buddy Dive in a few months so not sure how it works.

 

[drrich2]

Buddy Dive has an orientation. I don't know how many times per day; I think it's been 9 a.m. when I've done it. As for a check out dive, basically they told us to do a dive on the house reef and see that our weighting was proper, and one of the staff was available if someone needed more weights. But no 'scuba police' got in the water and made us demonstrate neutral buoyancy or some such.

Richard.