What's the Deal Breaker for picking between shore-side resorts and off-shore?

[deco_martini]

Trying to figure out what to book for a trip in Mid September.

Looks like using the two most popular choices, (Buddy vs GRI), the difference come out to almost 500 dollars for the week.

At GRI you get free nitrox fills, so that expands the raw difference even more.

Is being shore-side that important? Especially for a first timer to bonaire? Is it 500 dollars or more important? Is there a factor I am missing? For the trouble of not having a house reef, I get 500+ bucks to blow on chow/etc.

I guess the other factor is that the Buddy package comes with 6 boat dives which I guess could be used to see "white hole" or some other hard-to-shore dive?

What say you...

 

[diverrex]

Nitrox is also included in Buddy's package I believe. White Hole is on the east side, Buddy's boats don't go there. The convenience of a good house reef is a difference I think. I'd pay $500 a week to be on the ocean, but that's me, and my wife making sure I did it.

 

[gert7to3]

Inclusive nitrox upgrades seem almost universal in Bonaire.

Since you will have a vehicle, there is no absolute reason to stay at an ocean front facility. I didn't check, but one of your GRI dive packages may include boat dives. Sites out at Klein Bonaire (an island) are boat access only. You could always book just a couple of boat dives.

There is a factor of convenience with the ocean front resorts. The entry off the dock is easy; there might be a sand entry; your tanks and gear are right there; storage and set-up are right there; finally lights on shore can ease night diving for beginners.

The only boat going over to the east side and the blue/white hole is the independently booked Wild Side crew. None of the resort boats go that far around. There is a full day (I believe extra cost) boat package, available from Buddy (I think) which does a three tank dive trip off the National Park sites to the north. This avoids a several hour land excursion.

Get the book: Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy. Do a search for favorite dive threads here to get some ideas about where to go.

 

[DiveMaven]

To me the only differences are accessability and view. We prefer ocean front since it's nice to be able to almost literally walk out of our condo and into the water whenever we want. Especially convenient for early or late diving. We also enjoy sitting out on our lanai and watching other divers down on the dock, or the lights of night divers in the water. It isn't appealing to us to have to load gear into the truck every time we want to dive, thus our choice of water front.

I believe that free nitrox is pretty universal on island as well, so that's a non-factor. Basically it comes down to money or convenience....what's more important to YOU?

 

[DiverVince]

Is being shore-side that important? Especially for a first timer to bonaire? Is it 500 dollars or more important? Is there a factor I am missing? For the trouble of not having a house reef, I get 500+ bucks to blow on chow/etc.

What say you...

Deco..Obviously this is PURELY a personal preference. IMHO, the sine qua non of Bonaire is the ocean...PERIOD. Therefore I want to be by it, I want to wake up to it, have lunch by it as well as view it with before dinner drinks while watching the sun set into it. To me, that is what Bonaire is all about. Others may very well have different priorities.

For the privilege of an ocean/beach front accommodation, undoubtedly you will pay substantially more to rent for a week. This price difference is also reflected in the underlying price of real estate on the island. There's a tremendous difference in the price of real estate directly on the water as opposed to the other side of the street which provides "a view" of the water. Plain & simple, those are just the facts of life.

So, it's your choice. For me, the choice is crystal clear, but I certainly understand the position of others who chose more economical accommodations. It really comes down to priorities and available funds earmarked for your vacation.

Regarding the cost of diving air v nitrox, with Buddy Dive no difference. Whatever you decide, enjoy your trip!

 

[DeputyDan]

Also, consider who else is in your group. If there are non-divers an ocean view is better than a parking lot for a week.

Do the ocean on your first trip. Then for later trips you will know what you like!

 

[crewchef]

We just did our first trip to Bonaire 2-weeks ago and choose to stay in a villa across the street from Sand Dollar / Buddy's. I didn't think we missed out on anything. We saw the water as much as we wanted to that's for sure. Diving of course but then driving the coast, dining most nights, etc. Most of the shops let you use their piers for entry/exit, in fact I did my first night dive off Buddy's.

We stayed in the Perla Boneriano complex (google it) it was small (7 villas), quite and very nice. Gated/fenced so no security worries. Drive right up to villa and park by the outside shower and wash tank. Ours had a dive locker too so we could rinse, hang it up and leave everything with no worries.

Not saying the other locations aren't great but don't think it's the only way to go. When we go on a beach vacation we stay on the water and pretty much stay around the resort. In Bonaire we were driving to a bunch of different sites anyway. Just my .02, you'll have a great time either way.

 

[RJP]

I always ensure that I have ocean-front sleeping accommodations when I go to Bonaire...

:d

But seriously, a $500 price swing is significant. That kind of money can cover a week's worth of Bright's, easily. (For most folks, anyway.)

Are you talking about "ocean front room" or an "ocean front resort" where your room may or may not be on the ocean? If ocean front room you're making an "apples vs oranges" comparison.

My buddy and I stayed at Plaza Resort (highly recommended) which is on the water, but our room was by the dive shop (by our choice) so it's not like our accommodations were "ocean front" in any meaningful way. We knew we'd be spending all of our time shore diving (5-6 dives per day) so where we slept and ate breakfast was far less important. We left our room daily at 7am for breakfast and didn't return to it until after dark, so didn't really matter where it was or what was outside the window. That said, it is nice to have a place with a great house reef where you can do a night dive or early morning dive a few steps from your bed. We didn't use the boat dives included in our package, but if one was inclined to do so (Klein Bonaire only reason to do so, near as I can tell) it would be good to have the boat right there.

Further, I'm surprised to hear there's that much price difference between the two - unless you're talking total cost for multiple people.

Plaza was recently running a special for roughly $700/person which included a week of unlimited shore diving, some boat dives, breakfast daily, nitrox, and a truck. They also are currently running a "2 for 1 Diving" special where you pay for 1 diver package & receive the 2nd same diver package free. Runs through September I believe.

 

[deco_martini]

I think the current GRI package is 650 for that week, and the BDR package is 1128 (per diver).

By the way RJP, don't stop posting that picture. Because its awesome, and is a great poster for all that's great about an island diving vacation.

 

[msubryan]

I think the current GRI package is 650 for that week, and the BDR package is 1128 (per diver).

By the way RJP, don't stop posting that picture. Because its awesome, and is a great poster for all that's great about an island diving vacation.

My .02 is just like crewchef....the resorts are just that resorts...they cost more becuase of location and ammenities...If i go back with non divers, I will probably choose resort...with divers, i will definately choose an off the water ammenity...

this was my typical day last week when I was there:

Wake up 7:00 - Eat breakfast/load truck (Literly 3 steps from my room door/tanks were 6 steps)
7:30 hit first dive site
Noon - get lunch on or off water
Swap out tanks (Wannadive had 3-4 locations around island)
Afternoon - DIve
Eat Dinner- We ate at local resteraunts as well as resorts. We ate at Don Lemons/Plaza twice.
Night Dive - Yes it is convienient to have a house reef...but, you wont want to dive that reef more thatn 2-3 times ( or I wouldnt) We dove eden, sanddollar, buddy, and plaza at night...all resorts would letyou dive

9:00 return to GRI/unload gear (10-15 steps to wash bins) clean gear
9:30 take shower and go to sleep....

30 dives - 24:09 under water - less than 5 non sleeping hours in room

We went to shore dive - I can boat dive any where