first time Bonaire travelers

[jf3193]

Good evening.
We are looking into traveling to Bonaire during either Thanksgiving week or the week after. Bonaire was looking good due to it being out of the hurricane belt (and also due to it being on my list of overdue dive spots).
We've been looking at buddy dive, and its pretty renowned for diving. It just seems a bit high on the food. I was wondering if anyone knew any decent hotel/resort (or even better a VRBO) that had good shore diving.
Also, is food reasonably priced if we stocked and cooked ourselves? We don't mind paying the prices, but were not 'foodies' so it just seems wasteful to pay for high priced food if other options are out there. We love the VRBO experience, and the feel of living in our own place (especially if its available for shore diving). Are tanks and rentals readily accessible throughout the island like they are at Buddy dives famous drive through?

Any advice would help.

 

[drrich2]

You can save money 'eating in.'

How many people are included in 'we?' That has a big impact on the economics of various places to stay.

I suggest reading over some of the more recent threads about crime in Bonaire (it'll take awhile; they get contentious); while petty theft from parked rental trucks has long been an issue with well-known workarounds, home/apartment burglary reports have become more of a concern in recent years, judging from forum discussions. Some have put forth the idea that staying in a sizable 'dive resort' (e.g.: Buddy Dive Resort) might make this less likely; if you stay in a private residence, you may be in a neighborhood where locals quickly recognize you're a foreigner likely in for a week who won't be around to press charges, and getting to your unit off the street might be short and fast.

How much risk you face either way (resort vs. VRBO) I can't quantify for you, and how vulnerable various VRBO offerings are is reasonably expected to vary.

I'm not trying to talk you out of it; I just want you to be aware of the situation, do some follow up reading then make an informed choice, no matter what you do.

In other news, sunburn can happen real fast down there, and rental trucks are generally manual unless you specify (& pay for) an automatic transmission truck.

Richard.

 

[jf3193]

You can save money 'eating in.'

How many people are included in 'we?' That has a big impact on the economics of various places to stay.

I suggest reading over some of the more recent threads about crime in Bonaire (it'll take awhile; they get contentious); while petty theft from parked rental trucks has long been an issue with well-known workarounds, home/apartment burglary reports have become more of a concern in recent years, judging from forum discussions. Some have put forth the idea that staying in a sizable 'dive resort' (e.g.: Buddy Dive Resort) might make this less likely; if you stay in a private residence, you may be in a neighborhood where locals quickly recognize you're a foreigner likely in for a week who won't be around to press charges, and getting to your unit off the street might be short and fast.

How much risk you face either way (resort vs. VRBO) I can't quantify for you, and how vulnerable various VRBO offerings are is reasonably expected to vary.

I'm not trying to talk you out of it; I just want you to be aware of the situation, do some follow up reading then make an informed choice, no matter what you do.

In other news, sunburn can happen real fast down there, and rental trucks are generally manual unless you specify (& pay for) an automatic transmission truck.

Richard.

thanks DRRICH2.


It'll just be me and my wife.
Yea ive read the recent posts on break ins. Like you said, you never know the 'chances' of that, especially in several places in the Caribbean.
When you travel to a shore diving destination, how likely are you to find other divers and vehicles at the site? (my thought is more divers and vehicles mean less chances of a vehicle break-in in public).
Manual drive vehicles are no problem, as we were both raised driving them (small-town Texas folks, lol).

 

[wildbill9]

Look at Sand Dollar condos, vrbo, great location, easy shore dive entry, dive shop on property, many dive shop locations, full kitchen . This is our go to place. Been 4 times and looking forward to our next trip. Bill

 

[diversteve]

There are very few smaller 2 person places with kitchens also on the water at a decent dive site Many of the smaller rentals are across the street or further inland by a couple of blocks.

Possibly Eden Beach but IDK what size unit will have a kitchen. Wannadive is on-site there - keeps their boat there and has a 2nd shop location south for tank exchange.

Most of the Den Laman units do but are as pricey or pricier than Buddy's with less on-site food options since they're condos. If of interest Dive Friends has the concession there now and they're on Bari Reef - arguably one of the better shore dives. . Dive Friends is also next door at SandDollar condos - abd has another shop a little farther north at the Cliff site - also sort of a dirve-up/pick-up tanks location. DF also has a shop on the north end of Kralendijk and at Port Bonaire condos south of the airpoort. I'm sure they're now using the Den Laman dock for boats and also at Port Bonaire. Maybe the shop in town also - it would be possible there.

One other option might be BelMar condos south in Belnem. They're the other Buddy Dive location and there are a few 1 br condos (upstairs) Decent house reef, snall pool but NO food onsite - the nearest is at the Plaza a few minutes drive away.
Staying there you get to use the Buddy's drive-thru and they'll either have a Buddy's boat on-site or send one down for you - mostly the former afaik.

Nice condos, tight parking and they have a night watchman. The shop is at the south end of the small parking area and your room key gets you into the public areas 24/7. Being upstairs your locker is in there as well as wetsuit hangers and the nitrox analyzer. Also tank pickup is just thru the streetside gate - IMO easier than the drive-thru.

Not the cheapest though altough they do offer truck/condo/dive packages. We stayed there - if you dive the south sites - you;ll pass it often. We started leaving extra gear in the condo mid-week since none of hte dive sites were more than 15 mins. away. What worked for us was to dive south, swap tanks etc. then drive/dive north - usually that plus lunch was our surface interval.

 

[Kharon]

I would check Hamlet Oasis. The house reef is "Cliff" - arguably one of the best sites on Bonaire. Dive Friends Bonaire is on site. The apartments have full kitchen and all amenities - wifi etc. The location coudn't be more convienient. Both for diving and grocery, etc.

 

[diversteve]

I didn't think there were any smaller condos at Sand Dollar but if there are - another good option. Their "beach" is the other entrance to Bari Reef and they have a pool. Dive Friends there is in the parking lot but they built a small dive storage/change shack waterfront just north of Den Laman's fence when both were operated by different operators. They're literally 50' apart.

For groceriss there's a small market nearby but for most things people go to Van Den Tweel or Warehouse Foods in town - both near each other. On a map both are about a block or two inland on the road that bisects the Divi Flamingo Resort.
You'd be driving there from Belmar also.

As expected on a small island where everything is imported - food is very pricey.

 

[herman]

As a first time traveler to Bonaire, Buddy is a good choice. You can go a bit cheaper but all in all, the experience is worth it IMO. Small things like you get your rental vehicle at Buddy as opposed to getting it at the airport are a big help to a new comer. You don't need to worry about how to rent the vehicle or how to get to the resort.
I will agree that food at Buddy is high and frankly the new rest there (forget the name off hand) is way overpriced. That said, there are a couple of great places to eat within walking distance from Buddy and plenty more down town. For such a small island, Bonaire has a lot of good places to eat. I often see post complaining about the price but I compared to here in Raleigh NC, they are not much more. On average, $20-25 per person for an evening meal is about average on Bonaire which is a little more than here but not that much- Mexican last night was $17 for example. Breakfast is a wash for me, while the breakfast at Buddy is a bit on the high side (around $100 for the week), it's really nice to set by the water every morning, but if you are a coffee and bagel kind of person, you can easily make that in the room. Great omelets I might add. For lunch, go to the grocery and stock up on sandwich material. All the room have a kitchen so eating in is not a problem

Crime is a much debated issue, IMO some want to make more of it than it really is. I won't debate it, but I will say in 30 plus trips since 99 (2 this year) I have never had a problem. Don't take anything to the dive site worth stealing (I leave old shoes, towels and tshirts all the time), leave the windows down and unlocked. Odds are way in your favor.

One last tip, the shore is coral rubble and ironstone with very few sandy places. Take HARD soled booties for shore diving. The soft beach shoe type are not up to the task- think tennis shoe soles.

 

[herman]

I didn't think there were any smaller condos at Sand Dollar but if there are - another good option. Their "beach" is the other entrance to Bari Reef and they have a pool. Dive Friends there is in the parking lot but they built a small dive storage/change shack waterfront just north of Den Laman's fence when both were operated by different operators. They're literally 50' apart.
.

This has changed. Bonaire Dive and Adventure which use to be at Den Laman ( connecting property to Sand Dollar) closed about a year ago and Dive Friends has taken over the operation. They now have their offices and tanks where BDV use to be. Much nicer setup than it use to be.

 

[diversteve]

Maybe it wasn't clear but that's what I meant - both properties are now served by Dive Friends,