Capt. Don's, Buddy Dive, Plaza Resort or Other?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Here's a response I posted to a similar question recently...

-------------------------
I really liked the Plaza Resort. Rooms were very large, comfortable, and clean. Decent sized mini-fridge. Our room was just refurbished (2008) with a giant bathroom, new tile flooring, and had pretty new furniture. We took a second floor room in the building nearest dive shop (same location that MBS mentions - possibly same room even) for "easy in, easy out" access to pick-up truck and dive shop. Also away from restaurants/bars from a noise standpoint. Sort of a hike to their beach/reef, but they have hand carts and tanks on the docks over there, so not an issue. (Unless you just want to dive their house reef all week!)

Second floor is key so you have a balcony to dry stuff on without tempting someone walking by. 2nd floor also has a cathedral ceiling, which makes room seem a little more "luxurious." (As much as you can get LUXURY in Bonaire.)

Breakfast buffet was good and plentiful in terms of both quantity and selection. We had two good dinners at their main restaurant and their two bars are sufficiently "lively" and "laid back" at the same time. Only downside I can see (and wasn't an issue for me) is that Plaza is not as close to downtown as Buddy, Divi, etc (not really walkable) but everyone rents a car anyway, so who cares!

Nitrox is not "technically" available 24/7 (air is) as the nitrox station is only open 8am-6pm or something like that. However, they have large dive lockers right next to the dive shop and my buddy and I would simply put a couple of Nitrox tanks in our lockers for our planned evening/early AM dives. They officially ask that you not take more than 2 nitrox tanks at a time, but one of the DMs told us not to worry about it as long as we we didn't stockpile the "empties" so we were regularly loading our truck with 3-4 tanks each to cover us for the better part of the day without needing to return to the resort. Definitely a boon if you're diving up north, especially in the park.

Can't think of anything else to tell you. Let me know if you have any/more specific questions...I'm happy to answer if I can.

-------------------------

There's also a pretty good deal being offered right now. Will append info in a follow-up post.
 
There's also a pretty good deal being offered right now. Will append info in a follow-up post.



Santa's Special
Christmas comes early this year!
Enjoy Plaza Resort Bonaire for $699 per diver.
(based on double occupancy)

Package includes
  • 7 nights standard suite
  • Daily breakfast
  • 6 days of unlimited shore with 11 boat dives
  • 7 day car rental (no ins/tax)
  • Welcome cocktail and Tuesday night beach BBQ
  • All taxes/service charges and energy surcharge
Travel Dates
Now - December 18th, 2009
April 10 - December 17, 2010
Sale Ends: January 15, 2010
Toll Free U.S.A. & Canada: 1-800-766-6016
Local: (781) 821-6016 / Fax: (781) 821-1568
www.plazaresortbonaire.com | usa@plazaresortbonaire.com

Restrictions apply:
Valid on new bookings only • 7 night minimum stay required • No refund on unused portions • Limited number of rooms available per arrival week • Room upgrades available from $45-$150 per person in our renovated guest suites • Subject to availability

 
Re: the Plaza rooms, etc... The 2nd floor room we stayed in (possibly the same room as RJP although not at the same time :D ) was recently renovated. Nice beds, cathedral ceiling, bathroom with separate tub and shower. Mini fridge and a wall safe large enough for my laptop and lots of other stuff. Nice balcony for drying gear. We had a truck, but the walk to town in the heat looked a little much for me. Must be 15-20 mins at least into town. Oh, one slight negative - the pool was so-so. Mostly being used by local kids on some summer program if I recall.
 
I had the opportunity to go along on a site visit at Divi in November.

Plan A Scuba Diving Vacation in Bonaire - Divi Resorts

It is a very nice, comprehensive facility, with a wide selection of varying accommodations. Their house reef was great and their dive boat crew were top notch.

They are located on the south edge of Kralendijk. Within easy walking distance of town center and the restaurants along the southern strand.

My LDS will probably be using Divi on their next Bonaire trip.
 
I stayed at Plaza and I won’t ever make that mistake again. The resort was absolutely disgusting, the staff was rude, and the food was terrible. Carrying your gear through the resort was a pain and trying to find a parking spot was ridiculous (all the spots were taken by the rental car place). I couldn’t hear the airplanes over the construction they were doing in the next room over. The dive shop was worthless. I normally prefer boat diving, but I’m not into cattle boats (20-25 Divers) especially in the shore diving capital of the Caribbean.

While we were there we checked out some of the other resorts and spoke with a lot of divers about their accommodations. We decided when we return we’re going to Den Laman and if that’s not an option probably Buddy’s.
 
I stayed at Plaza and I won’t ever make that mistake again. The resort was absolutely disgusting, the staff was rude, and the food was terrible. Carrying your gear through the resort was a pain and trying to find a parking spot was ridiculous (all the spots were taken by the rental car place). I couldn’t hear the airplanes over the construction they were doing in the next room over. The dive shop was worthless. I normally prefer boat diving, but I’m not into cattle boats (20-25 Divers) especially in the shore diving capital of the Caribbean.

While we were there we checked out some of the other resorts and spoke with a lot of divers about their accommodations. We decided when we return we’re going to Den Laman and if that’s not an option probably Buddy’s.

Oh well ... guess anyone can have a bad experience anywhere. I think we are going with Plaza. A lot of negative posts on the board about Capt. Don's, but we were fine with it, just looking for a different experice. Hope ours is better than yours! :D P.S. That's a big fish in your profile photo near the swim ladders!
 
Last edited:
Oh well ... guess anyone can have a bad experience anywhere. I think we are going with Plaza. A lot of negative posts on the board about Capt. Don's, but we were fine with it, just looking for a different experice. Hope ours is better than yours! :D P.S. That's a big fish in your profile photo near the swim ladders!

Very true! I hope so too!!! While you are there, check out Den Laman one day, we were really impressed by them. (GF) was in tears when she saw how the rooms looked there (coupled with the fact they were cheaper). Have fun and be safe. :coffee:

He's got a real thing for Fins too.....kind of odd.
 
We were at the Divi last year, and we're going back in three weeks. They have an excellent dive operation and a nice house reef. We enjoyed the two-tank morning dives and shore diving in the afternoons. Divi has a nice package that includes a terrific full breakfast, too.
 
Does anyone know about Divi? Any thoughts about it?

Divi has a great dive op with knowledgeable and helpful crew. Also, gear lockers are on the docks for your convenience. There have been several good trip reports about Divi on Bonaire Talk recently as well.
 

Back
Top Bottom