cjames
Contributor
Ratings:
Overall Trip: 4.5 out of 5 (This is a very high rating for me)
Diving: 4.8 out of 5 (Lembeh and Palau still the only 5)
Diving Photo Opps: 5 (Come on, it is Bonaire)
Dive Shop (Great Adventures): 4.8 (Would be a 5, but I always like to leave room for improvement
)
Hotel Overall: 4
Hotel Room: 3 (See details below. Without the issues we had, would have been a 4.5)
Hotel Beach: 4.2
Hotel Bar (very important to overall rating): 4
Hotel Food: 3.8
Island Food:
It Rains Fishes: 4
Casablanca: 3
Patagonia: 4
Norcas: 4
Blue Mekong: 4.5
Flight: 3.5 (Continental)
Rental Car: 4
Photo Gallery: Facebook
Details:
Our flight was from Austin, Tx. to Bonaire through Houston via Continental. We used points to upgrade to first class, which doesn't suck. The flight leaves around midnight which isn't the most fun, but the good news is you arrive around 6 in the morning and you are ready to start your day. Getting through customs at Bonaire is easy. You don't have to fight through the crowds of folks trying to sell you transportation as you do in a lot of other Caribbean destinations.
We were met by somebody from Harbor Village and taken straight to the hotel (15 minute ride tops). If you've never been, Harbor Village is one of the nicer properties on the island. The big draw for my wife is the fact that they have a nicely groomed, sandy beach for her to relax on. Even though we were there early in the morning, they put us into our rooms right away. That scored points because at Buddy's we had to wait until later in the day to get in. The property is big and generally very well kept up. They were making upgrades to their beach side bar and restaurant that week, but we got a couple of good meals / evening drinks in before they shut it down. The wait staff was all very good and very friendly.
I had arranged for a rental truck through the hotel. That was delivered the next day and was pretty nice compared to what we had at Buddys. That said, I had to pay extra for the rental car, where at Buddys it was part of the package (extra $250).
My issue with Harbor Village is that the water heater in our room was out and basically wasnt fixed for most of the week. The room also had a funky smell. They later moved us to another room, but for the money, I wouldnt expect to even have been put in the room. That said, I would go back.
The dive shop at Harbor Village is Great Adventure Bonaire and is run by Mark and Muriel Spychela (sp.?). They are located on premise. To be honest, I wasnt expecting a lot when we got there and was very nicely surprised. The facilities are well organized and clean. They have two boats and both were comfortable and very well run. All of the staff was friendly and competent. We dove with Nick and Alfosnso who were great and watched them do some open water checkout dives. I would definitely feel safe sending students to them. Mark and Muriel are great folks and were a pleasure to talk to. Muriel is a fantastic photographer, so if you go, get her to show you some of her shots. They have UW camera rigs (Ikelite) for rent that a number of other guests took out.
The house reef off Harbor Village is an interesting one. My first impression was that there was not a lot of living coral right off the resort. Frankly, I wasnt that excited about it. That quickly changes as I started finding all sorts of critters in the coral rubble that I hadnt seen elsewhere and that I could easily photograph without worrying where my fins were. Our first dive out we found two huge sea horses, yellow headed jawfish, and I got one of my best shots of a juvenile and adult drum. The other nice thing is that it is a 5 minute swim from the entry point at Harbor to the Something Special dive site which is one of the best on the island.
For the rest of the week, we usually did one or two tanks on the Great Adventure boats, then one or two off the beach somewhere.
I strongly endorse the island, hotel and dive shop. If youve never been, youre missing one of the best spots in the Caribbean.
Overall Trip: 4.5 out of 5 (This is a very high rating for me)
Diving: 4.8 out of 5 (Lembeh and Palau still the only 5)
Diving Photo Opps: 5 (Come on, it is Bonaire)
Dive Shop (Great Adventures): 4.8 (Would be a 5, but I always like to leave room for improvement
)Hotel Overall: 4
Hotel Room: 3 (See details below. Without the issues we had, would have been a 4.5)
Hotel Beach: 4.2
Hotel Bar (very important to overall rating): 4
Hotel Food: 3.8
Island Food:
It Rains Fishes: 4
Casablanca: 3
Patagonia: 4
Norcas: 4
Blue Mekong: 4.5
Flight: 3.5 (Continental)
Rental Car: 4
Photo Gallery: Facebook
Details:
Our flight was from Austin, Tx. to Bonaire through Houston via Continental. We used points to upgrade to first class, which doesn't suck. The flight leaves around midnight which isn't the most fun, but the good news is you arrive around 6 in the morning and you are ready to start your day. Getting through customs at Bonaire is easy. You don't have to fight through the crowds of folks trying to sell you transportation as you do in a lot of other Caribbean destinations.
We were met by somebody from Harbor Village and taken straight to the hotel (15 minute ride tops). If you've never been, Harbor Village is one of the nicer properties on the island. The big draw for my wife is the fact that they have a nicely groomed, sandy beach for her to relax on. Even though we were there early in the morning, they put us into our rooms right away. That scored points because at Buddy's we had to wait until later in the day to get in. The property is big and generally very well kept up. They were making upgrades to their beach side bar and restaurant that week, but we got a couple of good meals / evening drinks in before they shut it down. The wait staff was all very good and very friendly.
I had arranged for a rental truck through the hotel. That was delivered the next day and was pretty nice compared to what we had at Buddys. That said, I had to pay extra for the rental car, where at Buddys it was part of the package (extra $250).
My issue with Harbor Village is that the water heater in our room was out and basically wasnt fixed for most of the week. The room also had a funky smell. They later moved us to another room, but for the money, I wouldnt expect to even have been put in the room. That said, I would go back.
The dive shop at Harbor Village is Great Adventure Bonaire and is run by Mark and Muriel Spychela (sp.?). They are located on premise. To be honest, I wasnt expecting a lot when we got there and was very nicely surprised. The facilities are well organized and clean. They have two boats and both were comfortable and very well run. All of the staff was friendly and competent. We dove with Nick and Alfosnso who were great and watched them do some open water checkout dives. I would definitely feel safe sending students to them. Mark and Muriel are great folks and were a pleasure to talk to. Muriel is a fantastic photographer, so if you go, get her to show you some of her shots. They have UW camera rigs (Ikelite) for rent that a number of other guests took out.
The house reef off Harbor Village is an interesting one. My first impression was that there was not a lot of living coral right off the resort. Frankly, I wasnt that excited about it. That quickly changes as I started finding all sorts of critters in the coral rubble that I hadnt seen elsewhere and that I could easily photograph without worrying where my fins were. Our first dive out we found two huge sea horses, yellow headed jawfish, and I got one of my best shots of a juvenile and adult drum. The other nice thing is that it is a 5 minute swim from the entry point at Harbor to the Something Special dive site which is one of the best on the island.
For the rest of the week, we usually did one or two tanks on the Great Adventure boats, then one or two off the beach somewhere.
I strongly endorse the island, hotel and dive shop. If youve never been, youre missing one of the best spots in the Caribbean.
