Roatan or Bonaire?

[tiki_bill]

We want to take a week vacation in October to Bonaire or Roatan. I was told that Anthony's resort in Roatan was nice, but Buddy Dive in Bonaire was too. During that time, what is the better place to go? Are the places I listed nice? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Both of those places are nice ... as are other resorts in both Roatan and Bonaire.

I've been to both Roatan and Bonaire. Would return to either in a heartbeat ... but if I had to choose one over the other, I'd take Bonaire. I think the diving's easier, more available, more options for doing things other than diving (not really a lot at either place ... but Krajlendyk is bigger than that little village near Anthony's).

Buddy's has a fantastic house reef that you can dive over and over without getting tired of it.

FWIW - if I were going to Roatan, I'd take CocoView over Anthony's. It's not as fancy, but the "front yard" offers better diving (IMO).

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board.
Never been to AK but spent several weeks at Cocoview and many weeks on Bonaire, most at Buddy. I like both places for different reasons.
CCV is a brain dead week for me, zero decisions except wheather to go on the boat or not. I like that as a pure vacation. The down side to CCV is 2 of the 4 dives each day are the same dive. There is a lot to see and as a photographer who prefers macro thats not a huge down side. Others disagree but I find the food at CCV to be industrial....out of a can and on the plate, high school food if you will. It's not bad and there is plenty of it but it's not great IMO. Roatan is mostly a place where you stay on the resort and don't travel around the island.
On the othe hand Bonaire is all about the shore diving. More work but also more places to see and differnet sites to visit with no boats needed. Food on the island is very good and there are plenty of places and styles to choose from. The down side is you have to decide where you are going to dive and where your going to eat. This can be a PITA, esp if your with a large group. The diving and eating are somewhat more hectic. Traveling around the island and mingling with the locals is a lot easier on Bonaire than Roatan.
I would change to CCV but otherwise your will not go wrong with either place as long as diving and relaxing is your main objective. If you need night life or shopping neither island is for you.
I have trips planned to both places this year.

 

[tiki_bill]

Wow. Thank you for the advice! There's 4 of us going on this trip. Is there anything else we should do in Bonaire? What are some good restaurants and hang outs?

 

[ronbeau]

Wow. Thank you for the advice! There's 4 of us going on this trip. Is there anything else we should do in Bonaire? What are some good restaurants and hang outs?

For Bonaire:

Depending on your tastes you might find the donkey sanctuary and the butterfly farm interesting.

You could try wind surfing or kite boarding in Lac Bay.

 

[Trixxie]

Went to Roatan last year. Stayed at Coco View. Went to Bonaire last week. Stayed at Buddy's.

Do you want boat dives and shore dives or shore dives?
Roatan you get plenty of both, but boats are additional at Buddy's.

Do you want to decide 100% what site you will dive next?
You can decide (for the most part) 100% at Buddy's, at Coco View you can with limitations. You can go on the boat so they make that decision of what site to dive for you or you can shore dive (coco view wall, the prince albert or newman's wall) some decision making but not as much as Bonaire.

Do you mind Rocky shore entry's with surge and surf?
Coco View has no Rocky Shore entry's. Only smooth sand. You can choose not to dive Rocky Shores at Bonaire but that strictly limits your choices of dive sites.

Do you want to make plans for meals?
Don't need to carry extra cash at coco view unless you want to go into town. Only meals provided at Buddy's is breakfast.

Do you want to drive to dive or just walk in or on a boat?
Driving can eat up a lot of time if you have a big group like we had - we had a 3 BR apt w/ 6 people. had to go back for tanks a lot. at Coco View you just walk to the dive locker grab a tank walk back into the water or get on the boat (if it's time for them to go).

They really are worlds apart (in my opinion) depending on how much planning you want to do. I agree in a good way with Herman. It's kinda brain dead, but in a RELAXING sorta way at Coco View. I want to go back there next year... or maybe FIJI!

 

[herman]

Wow. Thank you for the advice! There's 4 of us going on this trip. Is there anything else we should do in Bonaire? What are some good restaurants and hang outs?

I go to dive but there are a good many things you can do, wind surfing, biking, mangrove kayaking, horse back rides and others but I don't really keep up with them. I go to dive, eat and sleep if I must.

You can find pretty much any kind of food you like on the island. If you stay away from the resorts the cost runs about the same as most any larger US city and if you seek out the local "snacks" the cost is less. There are dozens of favorite restaurants threads on the board, everyones taste varies but some from my list are Casa Blanca, Cactus Blue, City Cafe, Bobbie Jans and Pasa Bon Pizza. This is just a few. I would also suggest you contact Liz at Golden Reef Inn (aka dvrliz1 on this board) and go to the Monday night BBQ. Lots of good local food and fun, it's always on my must do list.

Hangouts are kinda slim, Karls bar is about the only one I know but again, my idea of the perfect hangout is a beer on the dock watching night divers.....only on the nights I'm too pooped to dive.

Grab a beer and do a search on Bonaire on the board, you will find hours and hours of reading and most any question you have will be answered. If that fails, ask. There are several of us on the board who know the island well and at least 3 who live on island.

 

[vladimir]

In addition to Herman's excellent advice, Bonaire Talk - The place to discuss everything and anything about Bonaire! is an excellent resource.

 

[BDSC]

I too have been to both Bonaire and Roatan several times and if I had to pick, I'd go to Bonaire. I like both places but I think the diving is a little better in Bonaire and I really like the shore diving. No schedule to follow. Get up when you want, eat when you want, DIVE when you want and as much as you want. No time limit on dives. No be back at the boat at a certain time. Hard to beat that.

Buddy's is hard to beat. I don't think there is a better place to stay than Buddy's. It's designed around diving and that's why people keep going back. The food is good there also. But check out Casablanca and Richards for some great dining in Bonaire and don't miss the beach cookout at Buddy's on Friday night. All you can eat fish, ribs, steak, etc.

If you do go to Roatan, I'd highly recommend staying on the Anthony's Key/Bay Island Beach Resort side. I have stayed at CCV and liked it but I think the overall diving is better on the AK/BIBR side. And I know the food is far superior at AK and BIBR as opposed to CCV. The food at BIBR is the best I have found of all three places.

That's my take on both places.

BDSC

 

[BDSC]

One more thing to consider that I failed to mention.

You say you are going in October. Why are the rates cheaper that time of the year? The possibility of hurricanes is one reason. While anything can happen as we all know, because Bonaire is so far south in the caribbean, you would be much less likely to be affected by a hurricane there than in Roatan should one rear it's ugly head.

BDSC