Buddy Dive - Prepay extra boat dives or go a-la-carte?

[Doctorfish]

Not my experience. I was there last fall and they offered the choice of 2 tank and one tank trips every morning to all guests as well as one tankers in the PM. They also offered a 3 tank trip to the park 2-3 times per week in their large cat, at additional cost.

 

[robint]

MOST boat trip at Buddy's are 1 tank, but they do occasionally offer 2 tank trips. The 3-tank north trip is special and cost extra.

 

[diver 85]

I'm thinking the same thing for my first trip in August.

Same here.......a group of about 30, mainly from Louisiana, heading there in August(17th thru 24th I believe)...I need to figure out about this boat diving stuff, whether to book the 5 extra or not-----I don't necessarily enjoy getting pounded by surf----lol....Just might be getting too old for that stuff??..

---------- Post added May 16th, 2013 at 12:13 PM ----------

Boat Diving at Buddy is a bonus in that Klein is not accessible for diving any other way.

The Diving from the Boat at Klein is in most cases very close to shore; often dropping in at ~20-30 feet.

Sign up on the Blackboard at the doc is simple but don't assume that space will be available last minute.

When we were there I was quite disappointed that all the 3 Tank Dives to the Northern part of the island were cancelled due to the volume of groups visiting at the time.

The DM's at Buddy that manage the dives are excellent. Relaxed approach in most cases.

Timing of dives during the day is very nice. 8:30 for a dive back at 10ish allowing to join the next dive. Dive in the afternoon. Overall lets you explore the island and shore dive while at the same time get some off shore variety.

As I understand it staying at Buddies a certain number of boat dives are included in the cost. I've been told you can "trade in" these dives for alternate activities - caving for example but I have never explored this option myself.

All the dives we've done on Klein have been excellent. Buddy also does a dive to Hilma which saves the swim out which is a bonus from an Air/Gas perspective.

Buddies boats are in great shape and easy on and off with a good deal of room to "get ready" and they limit the number of divers I believe to 16.

Have I missed anything?

Is it valet diving--like they have @ Little Cayman & C Brac??......My wife( almost) only goes now days for that---except the whale shark dive @ Oslob, Philippines.......She had a different outlook on diving back in the 80's, lol

 

[boulderjohn]

My one experience with Bonaire is atypical, but it may have some value to a few readers.

I went there as part of a longer trip to several islands with my non-diving wife. Consequently, I was a single diver who does not like to solo dive with a wife who would be quite unhappy with me if I were to go solo. It was off season. I had a boat dive package, and I planned to shore dive the rest of the time. Boat dives were all fine, but I had a really tough time with the shore dives. I am uncomfortable just walking up to people and asking if I can go along with them on a shore dive. I did that several times, and about half the time the people I was planning to go with changed their minds at the last minute, leaving me high and dry (literally). I hung out at some supposedly popular sites playing the "dive slut" role, and no one showed. I wished I had signed up for more boat dives, and I vowed I would never return to Bonaire without a dedicated dive partner in tow.

 

[robint]

Valet diving.... no. The DMs will guide the dives, help you get on and off the boat, but not much else.

As far as getting "beat up by surf".... MOST shore diving sites this will not be a problem. There are some with zero surf issues, some with a giant stride entry off rocks and ladder exit, and some with challenging entries. The BEST thing to do is order the booklet "Bonaire - Shore Diving Made EAsy" which lists every dive site, a page per site, and gives all that info. There is also a website to check out - ShoreDiving.com - Your Shore Diving and Snorkeling Web Community! with a whole section on Bonaire, showing photos of many dive sites as well as comments on entries and exits.

The BEST dives sites sometimes have the easiest entries, like Oil Slick Leap (cliff jump), Buddy's house reef (stairs at a pier), Bachelor Beach (easy sand walk in), etc. Get the booklet... it is priceless!

Buddy's dock

Oil Slick Leap

Downtown - in front of Yellow Sub Dive Shop