Plaza Layout (BT cross post)

[doctormike]

Hi...!

One more question. We need a place with a good house reef, and a real beach for my non-diving girlfriend (NDG). I had stayed at Buddy Dive before and loved it, but we want the beach this time.

We were all set to stay at Divi, but it turns out that the accommodation that we want (2 bedroom condo) is only available at the Plaza. The only problem that I have with the Plaza is that it looks VERY spread out. I notice that the dive shop is nowhere near the ocean, and it looks like about 300 yards from the villas to the water.

Any ideas how much of an issue this is? Is the dive shop being so far from the ocean a problem? Are there gear lockers closer to the ocean? I don't mind a bit of a walk, but this looks pretty spread out, enough so that it might be a problem...

Thanks!

Mike

 

[Scubasw]

I've stayed at the Plaza resort 3 times in the last 10 years, last year the latest. The 2 bedroom condos are about a 2 minute walk to the beach, walking slowly. The pool and daytime bar are right on the beach. Plaza resort has one of the nicest beaches on the island. Soft fine sand, palm trees for shade and plenty of loungers to lay in. They also have showers next to the pool to rinse sand/salt off so your not all sticky. If your in the Jr. suites then your 30 seconds from the beach if your on the ocean side. a minute if your on the marina side. There are gear lockers at the pier but I never left my gear in them. Bring your own lock. They leave full tanks both next to the pool and at the end of the pier for you. Just carry your dive bag down, gear up and walk into the ocean. They have a fair house reef right in front. Swim out to the bouy and turn right. If you go left you'll swim into the channel where the reef has been cut. Depth to 100 right in front of the beach. The dive shop is on the marina side of the jr suites. You can walk anywhere within 3-5 minutes. I've attached a Google maps view. Click the thumbnail. You can see the beach/pool. Pier at the lower left, Dive shop is the buidling with boats in the upper right. The main office/breakfast restaurnat is the large building at right center.

 

[doctormike]

I've stayed at the Plaza resort 3 times in the last 10 years, last year the latest.

Thanks so much! That's very useful information... it looked very spread out on the map, but I don't mind an occasional walk..! It's good to know that it's not so bad.

Is the house reef and snorkeling at the Plaza as good as anyplace else (i.e. Divi)..?

 

[lmorin]

In the above Google image of the Plaza, we stayed in a suite/condo approximately where the "08" in "2008 Europa Technologies" is. That's as far away from the dive shop as you can get. Personally, I did not mind the walking except for when I forgot something and had to go back from the shop to get it in a hurry. Then, it was a pain. The dive shop was very helpful with moving gear. As was said above, tanks were made available at the two shore entry points. If you used Nitrox, tanks were available at the entries. The choice was to haul your own tank or let the shop folks do it. They would happily put gear plus tanks in a golf cart and trundle it over to the entry site, but only if the shop was open. After hours, you had to haul everything over (tank could be left at the entry location when the dive was finished). Yes, Plaza is spread out relative to most of the other Bonaire establishments. Not really bothersome, in my view, and has some beneficial characteristics. We have since been to the Sand Dollar Condos and had a fairly long walk that was not as pretty or as interesting as that at the Plaza.

 

[doctormike]

After hours, you had to haul everything over (tank could be left at the entry location when the dive was finished).

OK, great... so you really wouldn't need to actually move tanks and weights unless you decided late at night to go for a night dive without planning it during the day? Can you leave your stuff in the gear lockers by the water without any worry? (I usually bring my regulator into the room with me).

Thanks again for your advice!

 

[TINKER BELL]

How does the house reef at the Plaza compare to the house reef at the Sand Dollar (Bari Reef)?

 

[doctormike]

How does the house reef at the Plaza compare to the house reef at the Sand Dollar (Bari Reef)?

Well, this all just became a moot point, since the room that I though that we had at the Plaza disappeared! I guess we waited too long to book.

SO, I'm going to get a quote from Harbour Village today, and will decide between that and Divi, since those two seem to be the only options left which would have a beach for my non-diving girlfriend and a good house reef for me and my sons...

 

[diversteve]

The house reef at Harbour Village isn't that great. It's coral rubble left over from the last hurricane. Interesting diving in among it though if you like that kind of stuff.

Considered Eden Beach? They have 2BR Apts. (condos). And a nice beach/bar area.

If you somehow can get in at the Plaza, the dive site there is 18 Palms. It's a named site.

 

[doctormike]

The house reef at Harbour Village isn't that great. It's coral rubble left over from the last hurricane. Interesting diving in among it though if you like that kind of stuff.

Considered Eden Beach? They have 2BR Apts. (condos). And a nice beach/bar area.

If you somehow can get in at the Plaza, the dive site there is 18 Palms. It's a named site.

Yeah, I got the sense that Harbour Village is for people with a lot of money who aren't that obsessive about the diving.. any downside of Eden Beach? Good house reef?

 

[lmorin]

How does the house reef at the Plaza compare to the house reef at the Sand Dollar (Bari Reef)?

That's hard for me to answer because I only had about 20-25 dives under my belt when staying at the Plaza. Rank newbie with poor air use and too many things on my mind during each dive. That's actually one reason we went back--we wanted to re-experience Bonaire diving from a more tranquil and knowledgeable perspective. Unfortunately, the reality is that I have little clear memory of 18 Palms at the Plaza (in April, 2006), compared to the memory of Bari (in March, 2008). I did see my one and only frogfish at 18 Palms. Also, Bari is sort of an exception to the extent that more fish species have been seen there than any other place in the Carribean (or so they say). One nice thing about the Plaza is that you can do 3 different shore dives: north from the north entry; south from the north entry and south from the south entry.