Captain Don's

[Natasha]

Blawler1:
That is a good idea. The ferry leaves at 6AM and you must be there 15 minutes early to be allowed on. Unless you take the 3PM ferry which makes you lose most of the day.
Here's the ferry link.
http://www.chogogo.an/

 

[herman]

raxafarian once bubbled...
You have 4? not sure if you'd want the pickup truck... its either a toyota or chevy... s-10 size, with a crew cab. If the 2 kids aren't too big, it should be ok... then you can load gear and tanks in the back.

The pickups at Buddies are 4 door models that are plenty big enough for 4 adults......or me and the other 3 second childhood kids I travel with. The back seat is the same size as the frount seat and has about the same amount of leg room. One of our dive buddies is 6ft+ and has no trouble in the back seat. It's not a jump seat like some of the US pickups have.

 

[raxafarian]

the ferry takes around 2 - 2 1/2 hrs. We did this daytrip because my wife HAD to go check out the bargains. What a joke. She was done shopping in about an hour. So, we were then stuck waiting for the ferry for around 8 hours. There are no bargains. We looked at electronics (digital camera) and jewelry... you might as well shop at home, or on the net. I could get the same camera from Ritz photo for 100.00 less than the shops on Curacao. We ended up going to the airport and taking a puddlejumper (divi air) back to Bonaire instead of wasting the entire day.

I believe there are daily flights to Aruba now...that's probably a better bet. At least you won't be using up a day to visit an industrialized city...you can do that at home... go shopping in Miami or New York..... unless you're into that kind of thing.

If you have to go...take a plane... not much more than the ferry, and it's 20min. vs. 2+ hrs. The ferry ride back tends to be a little rough, if you're prone to seasickness.

Divi Air


Herman is right.... the pickups have regular back seats... I forgot about that.

 

[mchiapetto]

I know several people have recommended getting a pickup truck. One thing you may want to consider is insurance. If you pay by Visa, MC or Amex, the insurance on your card will not cover the truck rental. Your US auto insurance will not cover anything in Bonaire.

But if you rent a mini-van, your credit card will cover the insurance on the vehicle. That can save you some money with not needing to buy the CDW insurance from the rental agency (which can add up to a fair amount).

After doing the research on this with my credit card company, we have decided to rent a mini-van on our trip later this month. The rear seat folds down on the van and will acommodate all our gear (for two people). I have no idea if the vans will work well for four people.

 

[dleiss]

I suggest you stay at Habitat in Curacao and take their daily suttle into town for some great shopping. Habitat is in the middle of noware. We had a rental car and just loved the entire island (been there three times, all in the fall - outside the hurricane belt). Loved the diving at Habitat and the staff there is great. We want to go back to Bonaire also, but it is harder to get to. The house reef has a resident octopus 20 feet out from the dock!!

Have fun,

 

[jepuskar]

The diving in front of Capt. D's is excellent and the little reference rope they provide is great too. EASY!

The diving facilities are excellent and the staff is very helpful and knowledgeable. Rum Runners is the place to eat there, but I dont recommend it at all. Service is poor..this is not a reflection on Capt D's because they are not employees of Capt. D's, but it still sucks.

Captain Don does frequently hang out and I met him and took a couple pictures with him and Bs'ed for a couple minutes. He is quite a character..nice sense of humor.

On a another note..Captain Don's is one of the more expensive places to stay on the island. The lodging wasn't all that great, so if your picky about stuff like that then I would go somewhere else.

I am going back in about 3-4 weeks and am staying at Divi Flamingo...hopefully that turns out to be a little better.

good luck.

Jason

 

[DoubleBubbles]

Jason;

What do you mean by picky? I am going with my wife and 2 teenaged children. I anticipate having one of the cottages. Are the rooms clean? What was it that caused you to give it a not so positive review?

Scott

 

[jepuskar]

Well, we and a couple people in other rooms there had problem with water pressure. Actually, water pressure isn't the right word, sometimes we had no water at all. In the middle of a shower the water would just cut out and come back in like 10 minutes or so, one time it was an hour.

Since your are staying in a cottage you probably will have a better experience...dont worry about what I said. Besides, your there to dive.

I would go back there if they cut the price by atleast 500.00.

Enjoy your stay.