captain don's tank drive throughs

[Candiru]

Does captain don's habitat have additional drive through tanks sites? Or just the main shop?

 

[jimw]

No drive thru unless they've changed it in the last few months. No other locations I know of. There are a few parking spaces reserved near the dive shop to use to trade tanks--a short walk sorta like taking your tanks into the lds at home...........Buddy's drivethru looks really easy to use.

 

[Ray and Pam]

Been to Bonaire about 8 times in the last 10 yrs., stayed at Capt Dons the last 2 times and as far as I know that's the only place to pick them up.
But we just boat dive and do the house reef now.

Ray

 

[T.C.]

Buddy's drive through IS very easy to use. It baffles my mind as to why every resort in Bonaire (and indeed the world) hasn't copied this idea. That drive through is a major factor in considering Buddy Dive over another resort.

 

[drrich2]

One thing to consider is whether you dive air or nitrox. Nitrox is often included at no added charge in Bonaire dive packages, and lots of people diving Bonaire are nitrox-certified & use it.

Problem: The standard accepted practice is for the end user (diver) to use an analyzer on each nitrox tank. Which means pulling through a drive-through & having staff load your truck with tanks may be fine for air, but not an option for nitrox.

I've stayed at Buddy Dive twice, and I don't recall using the tank drive through for this very reason.

Richard.

P.S.: Candiru, this is only relevant if by 'drive through tanks site' you were talking about places to drive through & have staff load your tanks. If you just mean a place to stop, get out of your truck and load'em yourself, that may not be what others are thinking of as a drive through.

 

[herman]

One thing to consider is whether you dive air or nitrox. Nitrox is often included at no added charge in Bonaire dive packages, and lots of people diving Bonaire are nitrox-certified & use it.

Problem: The standard accepted practice is for the end user (diver) to use an analyzer on each nitrox tank. Which means pulling through a drive-through & having staff load your truck with tanks may be fine for air, but not an option for nitrox.

I've stayed at Buddy Dive twice, and I don't recall using the tank drive through for this very reason.

Richard.

P.S.: Candiru, this is only relevant if by 'drive through tanks site' you were talking about places to drive through & have staff load your tanks. If you just mean a place to stop, get out of your truck and load'em yourself, that may not be what others are thinking of as a drive through.

You may be confused on the proceedure at the Buddy Drive through. The proceedure at the Buddy drive through is pull up, choose a tank, analyze and log the tank if it's nitrox and load it in the truck. We also pressure check every air tank as well. The staff does on occasion assist you but it's not really part of the job, the drive through is self service. In all honesty, to speed things up we usually have one analyzing, one logging and one loading but we are long time buddies who trust each other, if I were diving with strangers I would analyze my own tanks.

 

[wwguy]

Problem: The standard accepted practice is for the end user (diver) to use an analyzer on each nitrox tank. Which means pulling through a drive-through & having staff load your truck with tanks may be fine for air, but not an option for nitrox.

I've stayed at Buddy Dive twice, and I don't recall using the tank drive through for this very reason.

I've used Buddy Dive and Dive Friends Bonaire (Hamlet) drive-thru tank stations on multiple trips. I've never seen staff offer or attempt to select or load my tanks.

 

[drrich2]

Ah, sorry about that. I almost always dive nitrox and so don't use the air part.

Richard.

 

[gypsyjim]

Herman beat me to it. There is an analyzer available at each location where Buddy Dive offer nitrox. I have not used their Caribbean Club location, but I would expect it to be quite similar.

Buddy Dive does not load your tanks for you, (unless you are doing a boat dive on air with them) and nitrox divers are expected to analyze and log each tank of gas yourself, before loading them. If you are doing a boat dive, and using nitrox, you analyze your own tanks, log them, label them, and bring them to the dock for loading on the boat. If you are just diving air, they do load the tanks, but they do not do this for nitrox.

If I am not staying at a resort which has it's own shore package, I always choose to use Buddy Dive's shore package because they have such an efficient, easy to use set up. Even late at night, after the drive through itself has closed, you can pick up tanks, and analyze your gas at their dockside locker area.

 

[edclee]

Buddy's drive thru is da bomb! Great resort and really great drive thru operation. Yes, you have to load your own tanks, but the tanks are 6 feet from your truck and the analyzer (two of them) is right there as well. Belmar has not been mentioned. They are affilicated with Buddys and are on the south end, south of the Airport just a bit. Buddys guests or Belmar's guests can use either place. Even when we stay at Buddy,s when we dive the south side all day, we load up at Buddy's the night before and then exchange tanks at Belmar. While not strictly a "drive thru" at Belmar, it is a "drive by". Same distance from tanks to truck, and analyzer right there as well. Belmar is a good place to stay, cheaper than Buddy's and all rooms on the ocean, but no breakfast.
Ed