Caribbean Club Bonaire or Den Laman?

[scubamickey]

Going to Bonaire in June and I'm thinking about either the Honeymoon Cottage at Caribbean Club Bonaire or a 2 bedroom at Den Laman Condos. Does anyone have any experience with Caribbean Club? All I hear are good things about Den Laman but that honeymoon cottage is gorgeous and so romantic.

My requirements are simple. I prefer a condo or cottage that has a full kitchen and it has to be nice and on the beach. Trying to keep to under $1400 pp per week (lodging, diving, truck, Nitrox) since we are going for 2 full weeks.

Thanks!

 

[herman]

Can't help with CCB but we stayed at Den Laman last July. Nice ,clean, fully equipped rooms (full kitchen) on the water. Staff and reservations folks were helpful. If I have one complaint it would be the dive op. They do an excessive dive briefing....make that orientation- 2 hrs + is not a briefing and they lock up the tanks and gear room a little too early to suit me- 5pm on nitrox and 9pm for air and the gear room and don't reopen until 9 am. They do have gear lockers outside but I would not use them for anything except tanks and weightbelts. There were plenty of tanks and they pretty much left us alone so while not my favorite dive op, I did not hate them either. They are certainly not a deal breaker.

If you have not done so, check out Golden Reef Inn. They are a little off the water and older rooms but it is clean, quiet and a good value. Liz and Ed will take great care of you and Wannadivebonaire (the dive op they use) is one of my favorite operations anywhere.

 

[DiveMaven]

We stayed at Den Laman for 2 weeks this summer and found it extremely comfortable, clean, convenient, and nicely centrally located. Gorgeous view ON the ocean!

Our dive op experience was slightly different than Herman's as we only had a 60 minute dive orientation and they opened at 8:30am, not 9:00am. They do lock up the nitrox at 4:30pm and air tanks at 9:00pm, but there are lockers where you can stash tanks, or you can simply put a few in your truck for after hour dives.

I agree with Herman that for people who really love night diving the tank thing would be a big hassle. It was super easy to back up to the tank room and load the truck, and the property is laid out very nicely with short walks to gear, Bari reef, your room, the dive shop, the truck, and the tank room.

 

[DPJ]

In regards to the dive lockers, do you need to bring a lock to secure the tanks?

 

[DiveMaven]

Yes, if you want them secure you have to bring your own lock. There were people who left tanks in the back of their trucks. They seemed pretty secure there.

I forgot to add earlier that you can stay at Den Laman for much less than $1400pp/week with a dive/stay/drive package. Bonaire Dive and Adventure includes free nitrox upgrades with the purchase of a package, so that's taken care of. Heck, since we're staying in a studio at Den Laman next summer, we're spending less than $1400 for TWO per week.

 

[scubamickey]

Yes, if you want them secure you have to bring your own lock. There were people who left tanks in the back of their trucks. They seemed pretty secure there.

I forgot to add earlier that you can stay at Den Laman for much less than $1400pp/week with a dive/stay/drive package. Bonaire Dive and Adventure includes free nitrox upgrades with the purchase of a package, so that's taken care of. Heck, since we're staying in a studio at Den Laman next summer, we're spending less than $1400 for TWO per week.

The package I'm looking at is $1100 roughly. Over at Club Bonaire it's a little more for the honeymoon cottage. So hence my $1400 comment.

So how many tanks can we check out at one time? If they close at 5 and we wanted to do a night dive and maybe an early morning one--we'd need 2 or 3 tanks a piece. Is that doable?

What about during the day? If we are going to the North and planning on say 4 or 5 dives, can we take that many tanks at one time?

We are talking about Bonaire Dive and Adventure right? We will probably be renting some doubles and possibly Trimix from Caribbean Gas Training (GUE) which is affiliated with them.

 

[herman]

No problem getting enough tanks, just a hassel if you don't make the cutoff times. A lock on the "dive lockers" is pretty much overkill IMO, a snap would do. They are simple wood structures, very easy to break into by hand if something of interest was in it....and it would be easy to see if there were anything. I did not bother with a lock after the first day, the only thing I was willing to leave in them was the tanks and an old weightbelt, nothing worth stealing. We finally got smart and avoided the locked up tanks by storing our own stash of nitrox tanks in the lockers and only using them off hours plus keeping a few in the trucks. No big deal but still a hassel. Plan ahead and tanks are not a problem.

 

[scubamickey]

No problem getting enough tanks, just a hassel if you don't make the cutoff times. A lock on the "dive lockers" is pretty much overkill IMO, a snap would do. They are simple wood structures, very easy to break into by hand if something of interest was in it....and it would be easy to see if there were anything. I did not bother with a lock after the first day, the only thing I was willing to leave in them was the tanks and an old weightbelt, nothing worth stealing. We finally got smart and avoided the locked up tanks by storing our own stash of nitrox tanks in the lockers and only using them off hours plus keeping a few in the trucks. No big deal but still a hassel. Plan ahead and tanks are not a problem.

Sounds like a good plan. Thank for the heads up. Pretty sure that I am going to go with Den Laman condos.

 

[ScubaSteve]

What can I add. I can only add to the Den Laman part and no other place. I have stayed at DL twice and found the room to be great. They are inexpensive compared to some other places. I stayed in the Studio at $595 per week (diving/nitrox/truck/room included). The rooms have newish appliances and are well kept. Not all rooms have an oven. The studios have a stove top and I believe the 1/2 bedroom units have full fledged stoves/ovens.

BDA....my first experience has the Manager labelled as a trmendous B TCH but since she was like that with many others, I believe it was just a bad couple days. This last time (3 weeks ago) she and everybody else were great. Word to the wise....when you are asked if you have taken the briefing in the last twelve months....lie if you have to and say YES. Even the short briefing can be 30-40 minutes but they do not shut up in the long one. Just lie and ask other divers questions if you need to.

Tanks.....put 4-6 of them in your truck if you need to. Do not take 10 tanks to head North. Unless you are inside the park, it takes 10 minutes to get back to the resort to swap tanks. This can be done on your SI. I hate to say it but if you put 10 tanks in your truck, you would become the reason they tell you not to hoard tanks. It is a hassle as Herman says, but it is easily managed. Do not put tanks in the wooden skimpy lockers unless you are going to lock it. They get stolen and used. We were up and ready to jump in the water at 6:30am to dive one morning only to see our tanks were taken. That was not a nice surprise. I had 6 tanks in my truck for 3 days (for one night dive and two early AM non-house reef dives) and never had an issue.

Depending on when you fly in, they typically are not around to book you into your room until 8:00'sh and there is no where to get coffee. You are stuck waiting. This last time Monique was in early (by accident she said) and we were able to be in our room by 6:30. That was a great surprise. Go into the grocery store either Saturday afternoon or Sunday because that should coincide with their deliveries (a local can tell you when they get shipments). Just before deliveries....slim pickings.

By the way....the beer tastes GREAT in Bonaire.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Recently booked a two-bedroom at DL for a week for two divers and the total due was $2,730.00 including the unlimited dive package and truck rental.