Trip report to Buddy Dive Bonaire - August 2013

[Alexandra]

One week trip to Buddy Dive Bonaire - August 2013


Travel
Delta flights were ok. Left super duper early from DCA, 2hrs transfer in ATL where I met up with the rest of our group coming from NY, and got to Bonaire around 2pm. No delays and luggage got there so can't complain. For the departure, we had to leave the resort at noon, and then waited a good 2h45m before boarding flight to ATL. $25 luggage fee each way and chose not to pay to upgrade my seat.


Accommodations
Buddy Dive resort condos were ok - nothing special but comfortable. Apparently I was lucky to have a fully functioning A/C unit in my room so I slept well. No internet access in the condo at all and in fact the overall internet network, whenI was able to connect by the bar, was spotty at best.
The condo had a basic kitchen with an electric stove top and full fridge, dishes and some cookware there too.


Huge advantage of staying at Buddy Dive is the reef in the back that is great and easy for night dives. The restaurant is good for lunch but overpriced and super slow service for dinner. Happy hour includes a few specials and free popcorn.


Note- I stayed in condo 513 and right in front of it is a rocky area with a landscaped patch of earth and palm trees. Not clearly visible is an irigation tube which I tripped over as I was pulling my dive bag through to get to the dock to do my first check out dive. I had a nasty spill right on the rocks and kind of shredded my knee. Besides the fact it hurt quite a bit. So if you stay on that side which doesn't have direct access to the walkway to the bar/dive dock/breakfast area, watch your footing!


Meals
Breakfast was included at Buddy Dive resort and was pretty good too. It included fruits, cold cuts and cheese, pancakes, potatoes and onions, scrambled eggs, sausages and bacon. There were also some incredibly good croissants and other breads and an assortment of juices, and coffee. There was also an omelette station or you could order fried eggs. We ate a few meals at Buddy Dive but for the most part packed our lunches after doing a shopping trip the 2nd day there at the new supermarket. Totally worth it as we had exactly the food we liked and didn't have to wait to be served. Dinner wise, we ate a lovely meal at At Sea on our last night and had a delicious and inexpensive pizza dinner at Paza Bon Pizza.


Diving
Bonaire is just an extraordinary place to dive be in shore diving or boat diving, on Bonaire or Klein Bonaire. Dive sites are all of the place and marked quite well on the side of the road by yellow painted rocks. If shore diving, I highly recommend the local dive site book that explains a bit about each dive site, the entry, and depth. It helps you plan your day. We did 11 boat dives out to Klein Bonaire which was great but I think I prefer to do fewer and manage my own time doing shore dives. The water was about 81 degrees, overall mild conditions with a rare small current on some dives. Entry was the only thing that was a bit tricky on some of the locations due to slippery rocks. Most of the dives were between 30 and 70 feet, except for The Lake which has a double reef which tops at 60-70'.


25 dives total to the following sites:
Buddy Dive Reef
Mi dushi
Keepsake
Corporal Meiss
Buddy Dive Reef - night dive
Sharon's Serenity
Knife
Carl's Hill
Buddy Dive Reef - night dive
Forest
Sampler
Weber's Joy
Oil Slick leap
Something Special
Joanne's sunshi
Jeannie's Glory to Salt Pier
18 Palms
Something Special
The Lake
Tori's Reef
Buddy Dive Reef - dawn dive
1000 steps
Karpata
Tolo


Nitrox was around 30-32% and Buddy Dives fills were not consistent - some tanks were only filled to 2800 and some days the Nitrox was quite low. Tank pick up was pretty easy at Buddy Dive, and although some tanks had issues (small leaks) there were plenty of tanks there. Theoretically you are only supposed to grab 2 per person but one day we took 3 and no one said anything.


Let me know if you have any questions about the sites I dove while I was there.


https://plus.google.com/photos/109594787951670682311/albums/5918999043593005857

 

[tkaelin]

Thanks for the report. If you stay at Buddy's again swim further past Capt Dons and try small wall and cliff sites. Like the juv damselfish pics and video.

 

[Ray and Pam]

Was this your first trip to Bonaire? Four dives a day must have kept you busy although I've heard of people doing 6 a day, we average about 2 1/2 a day. We've stayed next door at Capt Dons our last 2 stays of 2 weeks and will be again later this year. Had thought about trying Buddy Dives sometime because we hear alot about it but you didn't seem like you felt it was anything special so I guess we'll continue staying at Capt Dons. Maybe it's just their drive thru tank pickup that everyone likes. We like their happy hour and the house reef is the same which we really enjoy and lately we only do boat and house reef dives so tank pickup doesn't matter to us.

 

[Doctorfish]

Buddy Dive and Captain Dons are pretty much at the same level apart from the convenience of the drive through tank pick up and rinse tanks. I marginally prefer the boat dive op at Buddy Dive and particularly like one of the senior divemasters, Murphin.
Rumrunners restaurant at Capt Don's tops anything at Buddy Dive but you can just walk across. Don't need to stay there to enjoy.

We usually do 4 dives per day on Bonaire. 2 AM, one PM and one night. Sometimes we manage to sneak in an additional afternoon dive at the house reef as well.

 

[diverjen]

Thank you very much Alexandra for the trip report. We are trying to plan a two week return trip for our 10th anniversary this May/June. We have not yet booked our air but will close in on dates soon and need to decide at that time where to stay and who to dive with. I really appreciate that you took the time to give a detailed report - it is VERY helpful for those trying to decide about accommodations and dive vendors.

We only got 3-4 boat dives to Klein last time, but are looking forward to trying to hit more spots next time - what where your favorite Klein dive spots?

 

[diver 85]

(Let me say up front, this was my 1st trip to Bonaire)............Thanks for the report......we were there the 17th thru the 24th of August & all(party of 31--25 diving) found the diving to be for the most part very mundane.....It was OK but glad I've not spent any more time/money there......Needless to say, it was my 1st--& last--trip there......My pics that I have uploaded so far(maybe ?20% of them) will show that--as did yours...thanks again, we found the place(rooms & food service) to be about the same--were in condo 208 & were all full board(3 meals a day furnished)....

GEAUXtiger's photosets on Flickr

EDIT---------lol, I got in only 18 dives......

 

[flots am]

Accommodations
Buddy Dive resort condos were ok - nothing special but comfortable. Apparently I was lucky to have a fully functioning A/C unit in my room so I slept well. No internet access in the condo at all and in fact the overall internet network, whenI was able to connect by the bar, was spotty at best.
The condo had a basic kitchen with an electric stove top and full fridge, dishes and some cookware there too.

I've been to Buddy's a few times, but won't go back because it's too "random".

You can end up with an awesome room or an awful room and there's no way to know before you arrive.

If I'm going to plan a vacation 6 months in advance and schedule time off from work, I'd like to at least know that the room will be clean and comfortable.

flots.