Questions on a couple of hotels

[PARADISE HUNTER]

My wife and I have finally purchased tickets in March to Bonaire. It's our first time there and we're really
excited about it. We've been looking at the island for the past few years and have always ended up in Cozumel.
We've spent a few days looking over the different hotel options and have narrowed it down to four. Eden Beach
Restort, Den Laman, Bellafonte and Belmar. We've got a few questions for those who've stayed at them and
would appreciate any feed back.

1. How far is each hotel from down town and are there any good restaurants close to them?
2. How are the on site dive ops? My wife probably won't boat dive, but I will.
3. Do any of them have a security (theft) problem? I understand how to be careful on the shore dives, but
I would like my electronics (and anything to big for a safe) to be secure.
4. What are the house reefs and how are they?
5. Does Den Laman have any common area to relax and socialize with other guests?
6. Are the cruise ship passangers an issue at Eden Beach?

Thanks again and feel free to add any other comments about the hotels.

PH

 

[midas6t6]

We were at Eden Beach this past September. To answer you're questions
1) It's a mile or 2 from downtown. Good restaurant nearby that we've eaten at are Bistro de Paris and Pasa Bon Pizza. Also close are Patagonia, Sunset Grill, (heard good things on both) Eddie's, Elle's Deli (good breakfast and lunch) Probably 1 or 2 more as well
2)Wannadive is the onsite dive operator. I only did shore diving but they are highly regarded.
3)They have onsite security. They allow the staff's family to use the beach and pool so that could be a concern - I dropped my mask on the way to orientation (about 50 yards from my room) When I set my gear on the table and realized it was missing I went back to pick it up, it was gone within 2 minutes, never saw it again. Items left in the room should be fine, we had no issues nor did we hear of any.
4)House reef is pretty pathetic but Bari Reef is just north and is very good.
5)don't know, unless you count the Sunset Grill's bar
6)no cruise ships when we were there but since they have a beach I'd assume it could be an issue but not many cruise lines call on Bonaire.

We had an issue with the first room (A/C blowing warm air) so were moved. Another issue later (wet bed, roof leak?) so we wound up being placed in the Eden Suite. First rooms would have been fine to stay in, the suite was very nice other than the hot tub not working properly. We reported it but no one even came to check it out all week. They were finishing up construction of the bar area so that should be done by now. The restaurant/club will probably be a while yet. My wife did have lunch there a couple times and said the food was good but we ate off site majority of the time.

Check out these links for more info on Bonaire

Bonaire / Diving
Best Caribbean Diving Island | Top Caribbean Beaches | Bonaire Vacations - Home

 

[diversteve]

Some answers:

The north side dive ops - Eden Beach, Den Laman would be a pretty long walk (or short drive) to north downtown. There's a restaurant at Den Laman, Rumrunners at Habitat nearby, Buddy's has the Lions Den next door and there's a deli in the plaza inland walking distance - also an ATM, internet cafe, ice cream place and mid-sized market.

The shore dive at Den Laman is Bari Reef - it has the highest counted fish species of any reef in the Caribbean. Nice dive also. Bonaire Dive & Adventure is the on-site diveop. Jerry Ligon works there as a naturalist. I sat in on part of his orientation while waiting one morning it was a lot more complete than what we received.

I've stayed at Belmar, they're nice, were newer about 6 years ago and are oceanfront - all the units face west. Nice patios on every one. The dive there is an extension of the Corporal Meiss site, we dove it for our orientation and once more late one afternoon. It's not the best diving you'll do on Bonaire. They have a nice dive dock that was lit u/w at night. Buddy Dive is their on-site dive operator so you get privileges at Buddy Dive - including the drive-thru tank pickup.

When I was at Belmar, they had a night watchman - afaik he's still there. If you have a late arrival, he'll show you into your apt. He mostly helps you park as their lot is small and streetside - it's a pretty compressed property. Ground floor units have a dive closet outside the back door, the upstairs have lockers outside the diveshop. You'll have key access to the public diveshop area 24/7 afaik - at least we did. The Nitrox analyzer and wetsuit drying room mostly. Bring locks for the lockers if your apt. is upstairs. The diveshop is at the south end of the property - shoredive tank pickup is streetside also. And I've read that Buddy stores tanks on the divedock also, there's also a rinse tank and palapa for shade. There's absolutely no beach at Belmar, the property sits about 15' above the water on ironshore. Nice smaller pool. I've read that sometimes Buddy picks up/has a boat at Belmar, other times you'd drive to Buddy to board.

It's in a very quiet neighborhood. We didn't use the safe, in fact we often left both doors open for the breeze at night. IDK if they're all the same but our ground floor 2BR had the master in the back so no view. As is typical with some properties - the only A/C is in the bedrooms. All the plugs were dual so no problems with chargers etc.

There was one small outdoor cafe about a block away in another smallish apt. complex - we ate breakfast there once. All other food is a drive to the Plaza Resort/town area - about 5mins. by car past the airport and around the lagoon. Plan to drive to everything from there. You'll also pass Belmar every time you go between the south sites and town. I'd stay there again.

Other info: www.infobonaire.com

hth

 

[lmorin]

Just out of curiosity, you have Den Laman on your list of 4, but not Sand Dollar which is right next to it. Why not Sand Dollar, too?

 

[PARADISE HUNTER]

Thanks for the replies Mida and Steve. Both are very helpful. Not having been there, makes it tough to get a feel for the island and distances.

Just out of curiosity, you have Den Laman on your list of 4, but not Sand Dollar which is right next to it. Why not Sand Dollar, too?

Nothing against Sand Dollar. But from the website rates, SD is more expensive than DL. It also sounds and looks like DL is newer with a little bit nicer condos. JMHO

PH

 

[DiveMaven]

We've stayed at Den Laman for 2 weeks each trip, 3 years in a row, and when we go back to Bonaire, we'll go back to Den Laman. There are many reasons we choose Den Laman including: keyed entry into the stairway leading to the condos, the condos are on the 2nd and 3rd floors (meaning you can leave gear on your balcony), ocean-front and very spacious 1-bedroom condos that are very quiet, tile floors throughout for easy cleaning and no worries when wet (though it can be a bit slippery), excellent diving on Bari Reef in front (though there aren't any "bad" house reefs that I've heard of), good service through Bonaire Dive and Adventure, nitrox included free, security on sight at night, close to downtown and easy to navigate from, and Fish Eye Photo on sight (the owner, Tim is fantastic!).

Only negative IMO is Bonaire Dive and Adventures limited hours they're open and when nitrox is available, but we easily got around that by always have 6 full nitrox tanks in the back of our truck, and we took our gear up to our condo after dinner so we could go dive early in the morning.

We never worried about leaving our electronics or valuables in our condo as the only way someone could have broken in would be through the front door of the condo, and we've always found the staff to be extremely respectful. Den Laman does not have a place to hang out and congregate per se, but you'll meet and greet folks on the dock before and after dives.

Also, if you're a photographer, do yourself a big favor and take a class from Tim at Fish Eye Photo. Not only is he an amazing photographer, but he's an excellent teacher and will take you from where ever you are in your photography and help you improve. Also, the Naturalist course with Jerry Ligon at Bonaire Dive and Aventure is well worth a 1/2 day. Jerry knows the reef better than just about anyone and will teach you about fish behavior, enhancing the diving you'll do the rest of your trip....and every subsequent trip.

Dang, I can't wait to get back to Bonaire!!

 

[scubamickey]

Hi DiveMaven!

Den Laman now has Nitrox available 24hrs and the gear room is also now available around the clock.

 

[PARADISE HUNTER]

Thanks again for the replies. We decided to stay at Den Laman, partially from the feedback and partially from the lack of availability at Belmar. We'll be there the middle of March for a week and look forward to seeing an island we have heard so much about.

We know the house reef at DL is a good one. Does anyone have any suggestions on the sites that are close to DL? Being our first trip there, it will all be new to us. We obviously won't be able to dive all the sites, so why not start with some close ones.

Thanks everyone.

PH

 

[DiveMaven]

We didn't go to Bonaire this year, but last year and the year before, we thought the far southern sites were the best ones (Margate Bay, Vista Blue, Atlantis, etc.). Since this is your first trip, I'd recommend you buy "Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy" to help guide your decisions about where to dive. On our first trip, we used it like a supplement to our log book and wrote notes on the individual dive site pages with our impressions, recommendations, etc. Because it was so personalized, it became an amazing resource to use for that trip, as well as subsequent ones.

 

[diversteve]

They're all pretty good. In addition to Bari Reef off your property we liked the Cliff/LaMachaca sites at Habitat nearby. You can do both as one dive if you swim north to Cliff and drift back (assuming the current cooperates) Other good dives north of your area: 1000Steps, Karpata, Rappel (boat dive) Witches Hut - I'm sure others will name their favorites.

South of town we liked Angel City, Invisibles, the Salt Pier (DM accompanied) and Vista Blue. My buddy thought VB was one of the best we did all week but the current was ripping in the afternoon. And there's the Hooker wreck, we didn't dive it but many people do. None of the south sites are more than 10-15mins. drive away.

We also did several boat dives out to Klein, Forest and Hands Off were two favorites.

hth,