Am strongly inclined toward Bamboo Bali (the beds have me sold, diverjen!).
I see Bamboo Bali is associated with WannaDive… any thoughts on WannaDive? As I mentioned this is our first visit. Thanks all.
As a 2nd resort? You know it's basically across the street from Coral Paradise right?
Wannadive has a good reputation for years. They're at Eden Beach which is just south of Den Laman/Bari Reef also have a shop in town and another tank exchange at Windsock Beach south of town.
If you walk south from Coral Paradise, Habitat is your dive operator as mentioned previously. Buddy Dive is past it, they have the drive-thru tank pickup. They also have a shop at Belmar condos south of town. Past Buddy Dive is Sand Dollar Condos, Den Laman, a big field then Eden Beach.
The best choice for that though is probably Dive Friends. Their shop just north of Coral Paradise (I think it's north) is a shore dive location only (the Cliff dive site) but they have about 4 others also. One on the north side of Bari Reef at the Sand Dollar, one at Port Bonaire south of town and another I can't recall. They do tank exchanges at any of them and their shop at Sand Dollar is streetside at the entrance to Sand Dollar.
If I was looking for something different on Bonaire, I'd stay somewhere south of town. It's much quieter, all the better southern shore dives start five mins. (or less) south of Belnem. There's virtually no food in that area though and I've just named all the dive shops that are south of town in this thread. More condo style resorts on that side also. Coco Palm/Casa Oleander is one option, small villas that are affordable since they're across the street from the water. And a little older. Buddy Dive at Belmar is walking distance.
Maybe BelAir condos is an option for you. It's only about a dozen? condos waterfront.
Belair Bonaire oceanfront condo's They are all 2br's though. Or possibly Windsock - across the street from Windsock Beach/Wannadive's tank exchange. Also 2 BR..
Windsock Beach Resort Bonaire Apartments – Holiday homes accommodation - The apartments | "comfortable | cozy | apartments." | apartments | bonaire | accommodation | cottages | bungalows
---------- Post added June 9th, 2015 at 01:11 PM ----------
Here's a thirty second summary. With pictures.
Most stores/restaurants are in Kralendijk. Most dive sites are north or south of town - there's a couple sites in town but they're not the best ones. There's a cluster of dive resorts within a mile or two of town to the north - the ones I listed in my previous post sequentially. Almost all the dive sites run along the west coast, there's also about 25 surrounding Klein Bonaire - a small island you can see from just about anywhere. From the Coral Paradise area it's just across the channel. The northern sites often are rougher entries, sometimes over ironshore paths. The two "Leap" sites really are. And 1000 Steps is 64 stone steps down to the water - I counted every one. As you move farther north the sites spread out a little more - eventually leading to Karpata. Continue north and you'll get to Slagbaai Park - the north end of Bonaire. There's about 3-4 dives there but they're advanced. And a long ride on a bad road. Buddy Dive goes up there weekly on a boat trip.
Before you get there, you'll have to commit to a one way road that requires you to circle back thru the small town of Rincon inland first. About a 20-30min. depending on where the goats are. Add 10mins. if they're moving them when you go thru.
South of town is a lagoon. It used to be more wild, now Waterlands has reclaimed part of it for villas. Past that is the airport then Belnem - the condo/villa area I mentioned. The southern dive sites start just south of Belnem, there's the Hooker wreck, probably a dozen+ sites, the Salt Pier, another 1/2 dozen sites then the slave huts. Past there most of the dives are considered advanced due to current. They continue down intermittently all the way to the south end of the island where you'll find the Lighthouse. There's also a Flamingo Preserve, sometimes the birds are there. Other times they're in the Salt Pans near the pier or most often at Gotomeer Lake on the road to Rincon.
You can get a pretty good sense of Bonaire both above and below water here:
Bonaire Panoramas Reference his map to see where the Panoramas were shot.
One you might find useful: View Rooftop View on page 2. When it opens zoom over the tall palm tree slightly to the left. The flat green island is Klein Bonaire. Now move slightly more left - just before the block wall construction the boats in the water are at Habitat Dive Resort - the closest operation to Coral Paradise. Continue to left to the the clump of trees in the distance - just to the left there's a light green 2 peaked building with a red roof. Pretty sure that's Coral Paradise. Continue around to the north and line up on the third tallest peak in the distance. I'm reliably sure the light tan building directly in front with the gray roof and small extension on one side is Dive Friends. The dive site Cliff is off their property.
