Planning a trip!

[Gonz]

I'm really torn, and not sure what to do! I'm an ardent supporter of the "read more, post less" and "Use the search function!" mantras, but the board itself is telling me that I haven't posted in a while and I need to be more active! So I'll just settle for both.

I'm planning a trip in August for my wife and I (kids are staying home) for our 10th anniversary and would like to go somewhere in the Caribbean where we can relax, get some great diving in, and make a best effort at avoiding any hurricanes. So naturally Aruba, Bonaire or Curacao are my first picks.

I'm leaning towards placing our first priority on a nice place to stay, then finding a dive outfitter elsewhere. As opposed to finding a dive resort that caters more to diving than the accomodations. (unless there's one that meets both criteria) So with that in mind I'll take any recommendations that you all have.

Otherwise I'm off to search the forums for the other 459 people that have already asked this question!'

Thanks!

ps - Or just consider this another opportunity to talk about diving and what great times you've had down there.

 

[luckydays]

I was in Aruba last year, September. it was beautiful. I did not go to dive. I was not certified but I did snorkel. We stayed at the Marriott compound (3 resorts in one) on Palm Beach.

I was a great place to go, outside of the hurricane zone and perfectly warm weather. It is windy though but it did not affect my trip at all. I found that the dining, grocery and liquor store prices were not that unreasonable compared to Hawaii or other tropical places. We rented a car for one day to just drive around but took cabs if we could not walk where we wanted to go.

The Marriott is luxury and luckily I stayed at my friends timeshare so it was not that expensive for us. And we won at the casino so that paid for our drinking. I will definitely go back and now that I dive, I am so going back soon.

Good luck in your planning!

 

[diversteve]

Nicer places to stay with convenient diving options:

Curacao:

The Marriott in Piscadera Bay. Nice newer Marriot, diveshop on-site, shorediving on-site and there's also a lot of better shorediving within about 15mins. drive. There's a casino onsite, a nice on-the-beach restaurant, nice pool complex with an outside bar. I didn't see any of the rooms.

Lodge Kura Hulanda in West Punt. One of the Leading Small Hotels of the World. About a 45min drive from Willemsted and civilization. I've been in one of the suites, they're very nice. It's an AI resort but there are a few other restaurants nearby in West Punt. Ocean Encounters West is the on-site diveshop and several of the better dives on Curacao are easily accessible from there including Watamula and Mushroom Forest.

Bonaire:

On Bonaire you might consider BelMar condos. They're very nice, clean, relatively new with decent diving off their dock, a pool and the other Buddy Dive facility onsite. Which means you can use the drive-thru tank pickup at the main Buddy Dive location north of town - which is a dedicated dive resort. BelMar has no nearby food options though, you'll have to drive (5mins.) to Kralendijk for both food and places to eat. It's convenient to all the southern dive sites and they also have streetside tank pickup. It's a very compressed property and there can't be more than about 20 or so condos so although it was mostly full when we were there, nothing was crowded. It sits on a low ironshore cliff though so the nearest beach is a couple hundred yards down the road.

Harbour Village is the nicest resort on Bonaire. The diving isn't so great off their property but they have one of the few nice strips of beach. They're on the south end of the string of dive resorts so in addition to their diveop, there are several close by to choose from. Nicer restaurant on-site and it's also adjacent to the yacht harbor. About a 5 min. drive south to town from there.

hth, I've only mentioned nicer, newer properties that I've seen/visited. There are a lot of other options on both islands obviously.

 

[SweetsUnderwater]

Sunset Waters In Curacao, you will love it. It's romantic too and they will cater to you.

 

[robint]

I'm really torn, and not sure what to do! I'm an ardent supporter of the "read more, post less" and "Use the search function!" mantras, but the board itself is telling me that I haven't posted in a while and I need to be more active! So I'll just settle for both.

I'm planning a trip in August for my wife and I (kids are staying home) for our 10th anniversary and would like to go somewhere in the Caribbean where we can relax, get some great diving in, and make a best effort at avoiding any hurricanes. So naturally Aruba, Bonaire or Curacao are my first picks.

I'm leaning towards placing our first priority on a nice place to stay, then finding a dive outfitter elsewhere. As opposed to finding a dive resort that caters more to diving than the accomodations. (unless there's one that meets both criteria) So with that in mind I'll take any recommendations that you all have.

Otherwise I'm off to search the forums for the other 459 people that have already asked this question!'

Thanks!

ps - Or just consider this another opportunity to talk about diving and what great times you've had down there.

look at the packages on Caradonna Dive Adventures - Dive Travel and Vacations for both Bonaire and Curacao.

 

[diversteve]

Personally I thought that both Sunset Waters and Habitat Curacao were pretty tired looking when we dove/ate there in spring 2007. And I believe I recently read that a storm washed away part of Sunset Water's beach last year. Shame because it was a nice one.

 

[Gonz]

Just an update, flying out of Minneapolis/St. Paul kills me. Both Curacao and Bonaire can only be reached via overnight flights unless I'm willing to pay over $1k a piece for the tickets. For that reason alone I'm tempted to only consider Aruba since the airfare is so much more reasonable and I can leave in the morning and be there by 3:30 in the afternoon. Is that crazy?

 

[helimvee]

Gonz We just got back from Bonaire and celebrated my SO's 50th BD there (My 5th trip and her 3rd). Yes it is a bit of work to get there, but it is worth it. While we will go to other destination, we will continue to go to Bonaire.

IMHO it is not just the diving that makes Bonaire such a great place but the ease of diving, the weather, the people, the relaxed atmosphere and the terrific restuaurants. It really is a great place to spend a week with your SO.

This trip we stayed at Bellafonte - very nice.

PM if you want specifics.

P.S. As an ex-Manitoba resident I feel your (cold) pain.

 

[nicnac]

Bonaire really is worth the effort, the diving is wonderful and there are lots of really good restaurants in which to spend your evenings. Accommodation wise, I can 100% recommend Deep Blue View, intimate resort. Dive Bonaire in the Dutch Caribbean, they only have 5 (very comfortable rooms) so it isn't a dive factory and the view, the pool and the hammocks are just wonderful. The couple who run it (Esther and Menno) are very friendly and helpful and boat diving is available as part of a package if you want to dive Klein Bonaire. They just won the Trip Advisor 2009 Travellers' Choice award and I really can't find enough good things to say about the place. We're saving up for our next trip!

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

Or, fly to Aruba and since you'll arrive in the afternoon, over to Curacao or Bonaire.