What all can I do in BONAIRE????

[marisa-t]

Bonaire it is, I have decided BUT......
Okay so now I have decided its BONAIRE!!!!!!!!

My boyfriend is so excited about my decision but now where to go and what to do. DIVE DIVE DIVE is what we love but I alsohave to be on a beach. We still have not decided which is the best place for our money! We want to do a lot but make sure it is worth our money as well. I hear that Lions, Habitat, and Plaza are right ther together so which one? I am not in the mood to see any sharks but anything else will go! I don't do night dives but my boyfirend will, I am still trying to get over the darkness problem. So thanks to all that helped make a decision in this, but now what all do !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have to make reservation very soon so please give me all you thoughts and opinions a.s.a.p.
List all dive sites you can think of along with anything else~

Thanks
yissak


Last edited by marisa-t on 01-10-2003 at 08:49 AM

 

[Scuba Barbie]

My daughter and I went to Bonaire December 2002. We stayed at the Divi Flamingo and would happily return.

1) Divi has a nice beach
2) Within walking distance of downtown.
3) good restaurant
4) house reef for shore diving (Calabas)
5) good room, nice people, good service

We drove mopeds around and saw the other hotels you mentioned. They looked very nice as well.

Have you tried a search on this board as well as the bonairetalk.com site?

Have fun!
DD

 

[raxafarian]

if you need/require a more upscale place to stay , then the Plaza is your only choice. The plaza is not close to the other 2 you mentioned.

The Divi Flamingo is decent. Clean rooms. Usually good prices. Small sand beach. Good breakfast. Walking distance to town. Good diving right off their pier. Grab a tank and go... anytime. You can even walk down the steps at night time and "ease your way" into night diving... stay close to the steps until you get more comfortable.... the lights from the pier mean you won't be in total darkness... plus it's a sandy bottom... only 10-15 ft. deep.

Have you seen Bonaire Talk yet? Will answer many questions.

I prefer the dive sites south of town... there is a double reef system. But you could jump in just about anywhere and have good diving.

 

[herman]

marisa-t once bubbled...
I hear that Lions, Habitat, and Plaza are right ther together so which one?
Last edited by marisa-t on 01-10-2003 at 08:49 AM

Sand Dollar, Buddy Dive, Lions Dive and Capt Don's are all together (in that order heading out of town). The Plaza is located at the other end of town. None of the resorts on Bonaire have big sandy beaches. I hear that the Plaza has a small one, the other SD/BD/LD/CD have raised areas that have some sand but that's about it. If you must have a big pretty beach Bonaire is not the place. Where ever you stay, you will want some type of vehicle. Some include one, others do not so keep that in mind when compairing prices. We have stayed at Buddy the last 3 years and have been happy there but I would not hesitate to stay in any that have been mentioned. There are lots (80+)shore dives on Bonaire, all of which are good but my preferences are Salt Peir, Helma Hooker (a wreck) and "Alice in Wonderland". You may find it helpful to do a search on this board on Bonaire and look at some of the hints from past post. By all means, go to Bonaire talk and check around over there, lots of good info and people.

You may find this site interesting as well, 360 deg pictures of some sites on Bonaire http://www.VirtualBonaire.com/

 

[Natasha]

Hi!
I'm sure you know, we all agree with your choice of BONAIRE.
Most of us that posted love it, have been back and are going back again this year.
You really can't go wrong with any of the resorts you posted.
What month are you planning on going?
Do you want big rooms with deluxe newer accomodations, or do you want an older resort with an in kitchen type room?
Could you tell us about what your budget is, and is it for one week?
Like Herman said, go to the top of the page and search Bonaire. We have posted our favorite dives and restaurants!
Have fun.

 

[marisa-t]

okay I don't have to have to have sand then water but some sand with the drop off to the ocean is fine and that is what we have looked at. Now prices???? I liked the Plaza but it's not a have to, so Buddy's is what we have pretty much decided. We love boat dives but want to know if we will get more out of the boat dive or just doing off shore dives and then doing a boat dive a couple of times or what. Money wise we want to spend somewhere in the range of 1200 may a tad more for other things, plus I am sure I may be off on the sum a little. So please tell me what to spend it on and I want to know more about what I will see when diving, Types of Fish, what is the most seen thing or things, and of course the coolest of the cool. I love stingrays, are there any? Are there sharks? eels, will I get to see any seahorses, etc? Everyone please advise.


Yissak

 

[raxafarian]

I don't know if Buddys has sand.

Sharks: not likely. I think they are infrequently seen on deeper (200ft or so) dives and dives on the east side (rarely dived).

Rays: I've seen some eagle rays.

Eels: TONS of eels. Green, spotted, goldentail, and others.

The biggest fish that you are likely to see are tarpin and barracudda. Lots of small fish: parrotfish, trumpetfish, angelfish, etc.

Are you looking at a package deal with airfare? A weekly room rate runs anywhere from 599 PER PERSON and up. Airfare seems to be 400-700 per person.

I'd guess a reasonable weekly rate with diving and including air should be around 1100-1400 per person.... 2200-2800 total.

 

[raxafarian]

hotel rates seem to go down after april 15th....


Best rates I've seen are sunoceanfront apts... 599pp including unlimited shore diving AND a rental car. Only good for may-june and aug-oct.
Plus air.

 

[herman]

Think you will like Buddies, the staff are great, both the resort as well as the dive op. Rosa cooks a mean omlett for breakfast while you set looking over the water. We drop all of the boat dives off the package, saving us $100pp, because we much prefer to shore dive. The boats for the most part, exept for Klien Bonaire, go to the same spots you shore dive from. I like being on my own sched and don't have to worry about missing the boat. If you want to add boat dives, you can do so by simply signing up on the board at the dock with your name and room#, they just charge it to your room bill--$20pp/dive if I remember correctly. Granted, they are a little higher but not that much.
I have yet to see any sting rays but there are eels all over the place. I have seen 6 ft green morays free swimming during the day and a couple of eagle rays swimming by. Seahorses are there but hard to see. Turtles are common as well. There are not too many big fish, other than tarpon but there are clouds of med to small fish. Under the dock at Buddies, there are usually schools of grunts and snappers. I have seen schools of blue tangs that look like a VW sized mass of dark blue moving in the water. Sharks are very rare on the leaward side of the island where almost all of the diving is done, consider yourself very lucky if you see one.
We usually spend somewhere in the $1500pp range. That includes EVERYTHING right down to parking at the airport. We get the "Dive and Drive" package at Buddy (4 of us). We eat breakfast at the buffet (included), PBJ for lunch and a good evening meal at any of a number of good restaurants. Supper usually runs us $10-15USD/pp. Now you can go a lot higher if you want and my bar bill is usually no more that 1 beer, add a bunch of drinks and the bill can skyrocket.

 

[marisa-t]

Okay, How did you get that deal for so Cheap, I think it was 500 something?

So the boat dives are they necessary hey? That would make it a tad cheaper, any of you done night dives? Here is something I will also have to work with! I am about 110 and small framed my boyfriend is bigger than me, so you see I can stay down longer but he can't. What to do about that? I know I can't be without my buddy. Next what type of food, is it pretty much like Grand Caymans, and what are they know for like food wise, or drink wise. What can I not leave without taking before going back home, like shirts, alcohol etc? We have a digital camera (Cannon S40) We loved what we got in the Caymans but our flash did not work half of the time and the battery life always stinks. So I have used so throw aways and I have been amazed with the turnouts. I love water pictures and plan on taking a bunch. This time we will be taking the computer to download and the charger for the battery, but please more hints, ideas, etc from all of you! I got some pic and they are great. I want to go NOW, but if any of you have any more please send them my way.

Thank you so much for all that have replied to me.

Yissak