Caribbean Club Bonaire or Den Laman?

[BonaireDan]

I have never stayed at Den Laman but their new restaurant is great. The dock and reef are simply great to dive. The dive shop and photo shop are very good. Reports as you see above are very good for the amenitites staying as a guest. Caribbean Club in my mind has only one advantage and that is the connection with Buddy's for tanks, truck and such. I did not have a great experience at Caribbean Club Bonaire. No one was around for check in early Sat morning arriving on Continental from IAH around 5 am. That was a pain. Their room A/C was funky and would only work if you were in the room so it was hot when you returned to your room. Food was adequate, not bad but not special. It is adjacent to Oil Slick Leap dive site which is great. If I had a choice I would try Den Laman instead of Caribbean Club but my fav is still Buddy's by far.

 

[scubamickey]

Thanks BonaireDan. I will go with Den Laman. The overall reviews everywhere are way better than CCB for all the reasons you mentioned. Too bad, that honeymoon cottage they have looks fantastic.

 

[DiveMaven]

When are you going in June? We'll be staying at Den Laman at the end of June/first of July for 2 weeks.

 

[sw2]

Just a quick note on the check-in for early flights. If you pay for the night before and tell them your flight information they will meet you in the office at 6:00 AM (or whenever the flight lands) to get you in your room. In my opinion is was money well spent. I dont sleep on planes so the ability to have a short nap after arrival is really nice. If your room was occupied the night before it could be 2PM before you get into your room.

 

[scubamickey]

When are you going in June? We'll be staying at Den Laman at the end of June/first of July for 2 weeks.

Looking at arriving Sat 20th and departing 5 July. It's going to take us over 24 hours to get there from Alaska. We leave on 1:00 AM flight and don't get there until 5:00 the next morning :depressed:.

 

[DiveMaven]

You've got mail!

 

[blawler1]

We stayed at BCC back in 2000, but not in the "honeymoon cottage", bottom line, it is fairly isolated with the house reef, Oil Slick Leap, being about a quarter of a mile down the road and I heard the waves just took off the ladder there. Den Laman is great, right on the water and above Bonaire Dive and Adventure who has the best deal on tanks on the island (free nitrox upgrade for about $105 a week)

 

[scubamickey]

We stayed at BCC back in 2000, but not in the "honeymoon cottage", bottom line, it is fairly isolated with the house reef, Oil Slick Leap, being about a quarter of a mile down the road and I heard the waves just took off the ladder there. Den Laman is great, right on the water and above Bonaire Dive and Adventure who has the best deal on tanks on the island (free nitrox upgrade for about $105 a week)

Thanks for the info. Definitely seems to be the consensus. I intend to make reservations at Den Laman. Their dive package is a pretty good price and you're right, the location is important to me.

 

[blawler1]

Every time we go, we do not prepay for diving as it is not always the best deal. BDA always has room for walk ups, even if you have to share equipment hangers as we had to last February. You can open an account for unlimited diving and show up for orientation, either morning or afternoon. Then if you happen miss a day of diving due to ear clearing problems, staying too late at Karels or getting a cold, they will only charge you for the actual days you take tanks out, which when we were there this July was still only $20 a day for unlimited nitrox and weights. Either way it is basically the same money as it would be prepaid, but you don't pay until the end and only pay for what you use. There are usually no refunds on the pre-paid packages.

 

[DiveMaven]

BDA charges $24/day for unlimited diving, $140 for 6 days of unlimited diving, so basically you save $4 by prepurchasing. By booking a stay/drive/drive package through Den Laman, the 6 days unlimited diving is only $122, which is a savings of $22, so nearly 1 "free" day of diving over purchasing ala carte.

I totally agree that I'd not recommend someone prepurchase boat diving and instead do it ala carte. That can be an expensive mistake if you don't use the boat dives.