looking for rental house for 6-8 people, early Nov 2014

[Lorenzoid]

Any recommendations for a house/villa to rent for a group of 6-8 divers for the first week in November? The core people in this group go to Bonaire almost every year. In previous years, the group has stayed mainly at the Belmar, but last year they (minus my wife and me--we've skipped the past two years) gave a rental home a try and liked it a lot. It was within walking distance of Andrea II if I recall what they said. However, discussions here of home burglaries makes me wary of picking a place based solely on what I read on a site like VRBO. I would like to hear from someone with firsthand knowledge of the place whether they thought it had good security and otherwise recommend it. Last year's rental house apparently had an alarm, but our friends stopped using it after inadvertently setting it off a couple of times. Ugh.

As much as having a place with a private pool and all that sounds wonderful, I'm leaning toward NOT renting a property. Note only do resorts and condo properties like the Belmar have a security guy on patrol but I like the convenience of tanks on site and a dive site right off the dock.

We lean more toward "economical" than "luxurious." Our friends did rave about the private pool and bbq, though, so maybe we have determined that spending a bit more can be worth it. I'm on the fence with the rental house idea.

Thoughts?

p.s. I have seen this relatively recent thread. Some good suggestions there.

 

[boat sju]

Sounds like you don't want a VRBO but there are some new condos right up adjacent to the Caribbean Club that looked interesting to us. The sites seemed to be relatively secure with walls/fences. I don't know if there is a security guard at night or not. Anyway, it's a little further out of town but you could get your gear through CC/Buddy Dive. Oil Slick would be your house reef with Witches Hut, Jeff Davis, etc. right there too.

I can't remember the name of the subdivision but maybe some others can comment.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Thanks. My group is really having a difficult time deciding on a place. Today has been a flurry of e-mails flying among the seven of us, with links to properties on VRBO, Sunrentals Bonaire, Sunbelt Realty, Homeaway, and others that we've found. We're so confused and aren't sure how best to compare them with each other. Some of us really like the villa idea and the idea of a private pool. At the top of my own list is a convenient on-site dive, where you just go down some steps and you're good to go. A pool is less important to me personally. But we're trying to find a compromise solution. The villas we have found so far that have a pool and a convenient on-site dive are fairly expensive and/or don't (on the face of their advertisements) sleep more than six people. We would like to keep the cost to under $100 per person per night for eight nights. There are seven of us on this trip. We have paid as little as around $80 per person per night on previous trips.

An issue is that many villas sleep only six people, and a villa that sleeps eight is apparently rarer and generally more than proportionately higher in price. We're reluctant to ask the 6-person owners if an extra bed is available, but we may do that next.

At this point, the security concerns I initially had about renting a villa are getting lower on my list of what's important.

Someone suggested Coral Paradise, which has eight 2-person units, each with a kitchen. I'm not sure how that gives us any economy of scale, though. You'd think that with seven people splitting the cost of lodging we could do better.

 

[t4e]

Thanks. My group is really having a difficult time deciding on a place. Today has been a flurry of e-mails flying among the seven of us, with links to properties on VRBO, Sunrentals Bonaire, Sunbelt Realty, Homeaway, and others that we've found. We're so confused and aren't sure how best to compare them with each other. Some of us really like the villa idea and the idea of a private pool. At the top of my own list is a convenient on-site dive, where you just go down some steps and you're good to go. A pool is less important to me personally. But we're trying to find a compromise solution. The villas we have found so far that have a pool and a convenient on-site dive are fairly expensive and/or don't (on the face of their advertisements) sleep more than six people. We would like to keep the cost to under $100 per person per night for eight nights. There are seven of us on this trip. We have paid as little as around $80 per person per night on previous trips.

An issue is that many villas sleep only six people, and a villa that sleeps eight is apparently rarer and generally more than proportionately higher in price. We're reluctant to ask the 6-person owners if an extra bed is available, but we may do that next.

At this point, the security concerns I initially had about renting a villa are getting lower on my list of what's important.

Someone suggested Coral Paradise, which has eight 2-person units, each with a kitchen. I'm not sure how that gives us any economy of scale, though. You'd think that with seven people splitting the cost of lodging we could do better.

this is where we stayed in Heaven Can Wait cottage and where i will go back again, its across the road from Captain Don

i can give you more details if you're interested

Bamboo Bali Bonaire boutique resort

 

[uncfnp]

Lodging in Bonaire || Netherlands Antilles || Paradise Rentals

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Id-DeKUXTHE

One is a six bedroom and the other is a five bedroom villa. I am not familiar with the villas themselves but we stay in Hamlet Oasis Villas #11 at least once a year and really like that area. The Villas are just north of Captain Don's and Buddy's with Dive Friends Hamlet location just a few doors down and The Cliff as the "house reef." I don't think they have a private pool but there is a community pool though I have never used it. In Bonaire, if I'm wet, I'm diving!

Edit: I found the trip report I remembered seeing on Hamlet 10
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bo...-10-dae-dive-friends-bonaire-restaurants.html

 

[Lorenzoid]

Thanks, uncfnp. Looks like Hamlet Villa #10 is not available our week, but #9 is. How is the "access to shared pool"? I can't find any pics of the pool on the web site, which makes me suspicious. A couple of us in the group are pool people. My wife and I, on the other hand, prefer to spend all the time we can diving. A convenient on-site entry/exit is a real plus for us for night dives. The Cliff gets good reviews. Is it really convenient/easy? Sometimes what's referred to as the "house reef" can involve a serious trudge.

This is one we're looking at as well: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1649140?checkin=10/31/2014&checkout=11/08/2014&guests=7&s=ljEY
Shared pool. It doesn't say, but my guess is this is the San Dollar condos, just south of Buddy's.

 

[diversteve]

I'm pretty sure what you're looking at is Hamlet Villa #2. Sand Dollar Condo's don't look like that and they're all 2-3br. SD condos are all clusters of multiple units not detached.

It's just north of Habitat along the water. There's ironshore in front of the the water from there so one option is to walk 50'? south and use Habitat's dock. Or to Dive Friends on the north side. I think there's paved walk near the waterline that leads to Habitat but I'm not positive if it extends onto their property. I'd use Dive Friends because you can exchange tanks with them at all their locations - Sand Dollar, in town, Port Bonaire south of town. (there's one more...) It's a lot more convenient for shore diving. Plus is you arrive early enough, they'll do the BMP orientation anytime so you can start diving the next morning. Habitat's is probably around 9-10 AM as is typical. It used to be that at Habitat you had to carry Nitrox tanks up the hill to your car - yet they provided air on top. And unless they've redone it since they added the new units, it was more of a turn-around than drop/pickup point.

Here's an overhead. I got it here - same property some different pictures: Bonaire Villa Rental: Oceanfront Villa Ocean Blue, Walking Distance Of Dive Shops, Restaurants | HomeAway To give you an idea of how close it is to Habitat, the dock/boats in the second photo are theirs. We used that dock to swim north to Cliff so that villa must be just about in front of the start of it. I think the vertical part is still a little more north of there.

 

[wwguy]

Looks like Hamlet Villa #10 is not available our week, but #9 is. How is the "access to shared pool"? I can't find any pics of the pool on the web site, which makes me suspicious.

This is one we're looking at as well: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1649140?checkin=10/31/2014&checkout=11/08/2014&guests=7&s=ljEY
Shared pool. It doesn't say, but my guess is this is the San Dollar condos, just south of Buddy's.

The "shared pool" is Hamlet Oasis Resort's pool. This is also the same pool pictured in the property referenced in your link above. We enjoy this same pool when staying at Beachcomber Villas at Hamlet #11

For future trips I suggest you consider Bonaire Sunset Villa (Hamlet #13.) The owner, Lambér, lives on island and is a friendly and attentive host. The previously mentioned shared pool is just across the driveway, access to The Cliff dive site is immediately outside a private gate to the ocean, and Dive Friends Bonaire's Hamlet dive shop is just a few steps away. It has 5 bedrooms and can accommodate up to 10 people. November accommodations for 8 people are about $56/person per night. Unfortunately they appear to be booked for part of your preferred week.

Here's a panoramic view from the rooftop. You can see a dive boat moored at The Cliff's buoy on the left, and the DFB dive shop and public entry to The Cliff on the right. This villa, and the private entry, is situated conveniently between them. If you pan 180 degrees away from the ocean you'll see Hamlet Oasis Resort. The pool is located under the palm trees, immediately across from this villa.

And here's a panoramic view from DFB's Hamlet shop. The villa's white steps to the ocean can be see to the left, just past the gazebo. There's a great place to enter for diving right where these steps meet the sea. The dive boat is moored to The Cliff's buoy.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Anyone familiar with this one? Bonaire Villa Rental: Spacious Beachfront Design House. The Place To Relax On The Caribbean | HomeAway. South of the airport, looks like it would be near the Belmar, where we have stayed several times. Four bedrooms, pool, ladder to the sea, reasonable price--on its face it meets our group's wish list. We put an inquiry in by e-mail today.

 

[diversteve]

I haven't been to them but you know just south of Belmar how the main road jogs slightly inland before going towards Lighthouse Beach resort and the Hooker?

There's that one road to the right with about a block of houses - it's right there - Punt Vierkant I believe it's called.

So you could get tanks at Buddy's except they apparently have someone delivering them also. Maybe Dive Friends or Wannadive. WD has a tank pickup at Windsock Beach and DF at Port Bonaire - those condos off the end of the runway.

It's that same drop down from the ironshore as Belmar except Piet Boon villas seem to have ladders. Probably the same house reef also.

It's this guy - been on my short list for a while. Piet boon I think they're only about 3-4 years old.

That's a really good price, that villa appears to be $6500/wk. on his site.