Curaco vs Bonaire?

[Natasha]

3) Buddy dive is awesome- IMHO far better than the Plaza as it is less fancy-pants and more aobut diving.

LOL. I don't think it's a fancy pants place. It's just nice, and comfortable with large rooms, and a decent beach. Two excellent shore dives behind the resort too.
Anyway, in case you didn't know, both Buddy and Plaza are owned by the same man. I have met him several times.

 

[TomG]

Thanks to everyone for you replies. I really appreciate all the input. Maybe I will meet some of you in Bonaire. Going to be there 8/21-28/04 with my wife, son(16) and daughter(15 going on 22). We all dive, but my daughter does look forward to the shopping side of things as well. ;(

Tom

 

[TedJ]

Well I'll be a troublemaker and recommend Steve Listman's Jewelery shop in town. He's from the Philadelphia Listman's and has a great selection. He was also kind enough to make dinner reservations for me at Carpaccio's last time.

Also the restuarant at the Lighthouse, run by a German/Bonairian (I can't remember his name, unfortunately)was outstanding.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

We will be vacationing on both Bonaire and Curacao around Memorial Day, and several days will have my diving wife's non-diving parents joining us. I'll post some sort of trip report when we return. Currently looking at staying at the Bellafonte on Bonaire and Papagayo on Curacao, and I plan to have a scuba-friendly as well as in-law (I hope) friendly vehicle rented for both islands.

We had better luck with Air Jamaica when we visited Jamaica in 1999 (absolutely no problems!) than we've had with Air Tran, Delta Connection, and Northwest Airlink domestically (BY FAR!). We'll be flying a combo of Delta and Air Jamaica for our Netherlands Antilles trip, and personally, I can hardly wait!

Thanks for all the suggestions here - just thought I'd join this thread instead of start another on the same topic.

 

[kevink]

Just got back from a week on Bonaire at the Bellafonte. This was the third trip to Bonaire and the second trip to the Bellafonte.

Once again our group was the only group of divers at the Bellafonte. Got to love the peace, quiet, and gorgeous accomodations.

Sjeord at the Bellafonte has a 'shop ahead' service that will stock the fridge for the day you arrive. Coming in on Air Jamaica you usually only have 45 minutes to hit the stores before they close up. Definately take advantage of this little perk.

Rented tanks from Toucan Diving. They have a satelite shop at the Bel-Mar which is only 1/8 mi. south of Bellafonte. You can pull up and pick up tanks from the shop 24 hours.

Unless you have a big group they will not pick you up for a boat dive from the Bellafonte, you would have to travel up to the Plaza resort for that.

 

[JWJ]

My family (4) are planning a week long trip in August to either Bonaire or Curacao. I have looked at web sites, talked to other divers and have mostly received positive input. Two problems do come up a few times with Bonaire. The first being the "reliability" of Air Jamaica and the sometimes problems with vehicles vandalized/stolen at the shore dive sites.
Specifically I am looking at Habitat in Curacao and Buddys in Bonaire.
Thanks in advance.

If all of you dive, my preference is Bonaire and like a couple of previous posts, I prefer Plaza Resort and Toucan Diving. My wife & I prefer Plaza for a variety of reasons, but largely because we can easily walk to town if we want and we do not need a vehicle.
Curacao offers more to do if you are not all divers. I would suggest Habitat Curacao, as the shore diving is more easily accessible in front of the resort. Remember that Habitat is remote. A vehicle is essential to do almost anything, but I think that's true of Curacao, in general.
We've been using AJ, since it started service to Bonaire. Our experience is significantly better than, the now defunct, ALM and at least as good as most US carriers we've been on.
We also get on the ground early enough to have dinner after our arrival.

 

[sharon]

Hi, I thought I would add in my thoughts. Been to both, loved them both. Great shorediving on both islands. Want to return to both. Bonaire is so laided back, it's great. Curacao can be a little busy down around the main town of Williamsted, the west end of the island, where we always stay, is very laided back. We always use the leave nothing of value topside approach and have had no problems on either island. The best shore dives on Curacao are out on the westend of the island. Eastend I understand are mostly boat dives. We always stay at a little place in Westpunt, Allwest Apts and Dive Center, but have been on the Habitat property and it looked like a nice place to stay. Good luck on deciding, pick one for this year and do the other next year. We did Bonaire first, then due to our schedules and the flight schedules in and out of Bonaire, we went to Curacao so we could enjoy a longer stay. Curacao offers much better shopping than Bonaire and both islands are rich in natural beauty and places to explore. We have flown AJ a few times without any problems. The best thing about your decision is that you cannot go wrong with either island. Hope you have a great trip.

 

[cstreu1026]

My wife and I spent a week on each island last year for our honeymoon and it was great. There was nothing to complain about with Bonaire and very little with Curacao. We stayed at Buddy Dive in Bonaire and would go back right now if I could. In Curacao we stayed at Sunset Waters. The resort itself was in need of a little attention and the staff was not great as Buddy's (our wake up knock's were either late or never happened) but the wonderful staff at the dive operation really made up for it. They were a very new operation for the resort (at elast new owners of the operation) and everything went as smoothly as possible and I look forawrd to visiting with them again in the future.

 

[RussL]

My family (4) are planning a week long trip in August to either Bonaire or Curacao. I have looked at web sites, talked to other divers and have mostly received positive input. Two problems do come up a few times with Bonaire. The first being the "reliability" of Air Jamaica and the sometimes problems with vehicles vandalized/stolen at the shore dive sites.
Specifically I am looking at Habitat in Curacao and Buddys in Bonaire.
Thanks in advance.

Be aware, it is very very hot in the ABC islands during the summer. I made the mistake of going to Bonaire during May one year and almost found the temps untolerable.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

Interesting hearing this from someone in Arizona. My wife & I spent two weeks in the Cayman Islands in July 2000. We were living about an hour south of San Antonio at the time, and I grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast a few hours north from the Rio Grande. Air temperature was close to 90 degrees F. There were two gentlemen from New York on our dive boat on Grand Cayman who were absolutely astonished when I turned to my wife to remark "Pretty day today - and about 20 degrees cooler than back home yesterday on the news." They told us they had never heard of someone vacationing in the Caribbean to cool off before!