Where to stay for easy boat & shore diving

[glazeddonut]

Hey all -

I'm setting up a trip for a small group (6-8 people), and need recommendations for a resort/condo that would be convenient for both shore & boat diving. Most of our diving will probably be shore-diving, but we'd like to have a few boat dives for some of the Klein & Slagbaii sites.

I stayed at Divi a couple years ago. Their gear lockers were right on the boat-dock, so boat-diving was super-easy. But to go shore-diving, you had to carry your gear quite a ways out to the parking lot or to a back-street behind the dive shop, and their air-shed wasn't always well stocked with full tanks. I visited BuddyDive briefly on that trip...the drive-thru tank station looked great. I didn't locate the gear lockers though, and assuming that they're down by the water somewhere, my impression is that you'd have to schlep gear uphill a ways to load it to a rental truck. Is this right, or am I not remembering correctly?

Any suggestions on places that are fairly convenient to just toss gear in the truck and go???

 

[diversteve]

You might consider: Belmar Oceanfront Apartments Bonaire - First Class Accommodations

It's down in Belnem south of the Airport. The ground floor - 2BR condos have a personal dive closet outside the back door.
20' to your truck parked behind the building. Parking can be tight there if it's full - you back directly onto the main street but not like it's a busy road...if Butchie still guards there he'll help park at night.

The other Buddy Dive shop is at the south end of the building. If you have an upstairs condo you get a locker by the dive shop. Tank pickup for shore diving is 20' from the parking lot at a streetside gate at the dive shop. Your condo key gets you into the public areas 24/7 for access to tanks/nitrox analyzer etc. Also they'll give you a paper to be able to use the Buddy Dive drive-thru. I think Buddy's sends a boat down several times a week - not sure on those details.

From the patio in front it's 50' past the pool to their dive dock. Part of the Corporal Meiss site - nice dive. At one time they had u/w lights under the dive dock but it's been rebuilt recently so IDK about now. Bachelor's Beach is also just north of there. All the good southern sites start 5mins. drive south. Nice condos, full kitchens, all face west. Nice pool, it's a very compressed property so nothing is too far away.

Downside is you'll drive at least to the Plaza - or downtown - for food. Hotel Roomer across the street does breakfast (and dinner) we ate there once. A/C in the bedrooms only and they have WiFi. In the 2BR's downstairs the master is streetside, not oceanfront. With your group you might see if one of the upstairs penthouses works for you, they're 2 story, 3BR and have a great outdoor deck space.

North of town I think Den Laman may be most of what you want also. http://www.denlaman.com/ It's the property just past Sand Dollar - south of Buddy's. They also have a drive up area for shore dive tanks. Bonaire Dive/Adventure is on-site and it's on Bari Reef. It's on my short list of places to stay next time. It's all flat there IIRC. IDK if they dive Slagbaai but we saw their boat coming back from Klein one morning - they're probably about the closest to it - just across the channel.

Buddy's does a 3-tank Slagbaai trip now also on Weds? I read it books up quickly.

 

[lmorin]

glazed--I own a condo at Sand Dollar. Last fall, I rented it to a couple who were part of a group of 6, the rest also staying at Sand Dollar. When their vacation was over, renters wrote me (with accompanying photos) that all 6 met in our condo for breakfast each morning in our screened-in porch. I don't remember which dive shop they used, but there are now two within just a few steps. Dive Friends is right out our front door and Bonaire Dive and Adventure just a few yards further. The locker situation at BDA is probably better than Dive Friends. DF is less expensive and has 5 locations on the island from which tanks can be obtained. BDA also has a dock and dive boats, although boat availability can be questionable if there are insufficient divers. DF also offers boat diving, but not directly from Sand Dollar (from one of the other DF sites). Both shops allow trucks to park very close to the tank storage area, so schlepping is minimal. And, of course, the house reef for both is Bari Reef. PM me, if you have questions.

 

[reefduffer]

Depends on what you mean by shore diving. I've stayed at Captain Don's a few times.

If you mean the house reef, it's a giant stride off the smaller dock in front of the resort. There's a bench for final gear-up, and two wide wooden staircases with handrails up from the sand bottom to get out. The boat dock is just south. Both are the same level as the lockers, which are between them. Tanks are a level up, on the main road level of the resort, but there's a ramp as well as stairs, and they have handtrucks around the fill station.

If you want to shore dive elsewhere on the island, there's a truck loading area not far from the tank fill station, and again, they have handtrucks. You'll have to carry, or handtruck I suppose, the rest of your gear up a level from the lockers.

You can get packages with one boat dive a day, or buy them a la carte. Destinations are posted the previous afternoon, and plenty go to Kleine.

 

[Doctorfish]

Buddy Dive has a good boat diving operation and the dock is right on a great house reef as well for on site shore or night diving. As far as going out by truck, they have a dive and drive station so you can pull up your truck to load or unload tanks and there are dip tanks there as well. The gear storage area is right at the dive dock but you can drive your truck right down there to pick up or drop off your stuff. ( just can't park there ) Doesn't get much easier.

 

[robint]

Buddy Dive.... Buddy Dive - Eat, Sleep, (Buddy) Dive!


check out my shore diving video from the resort:
[vimeo]22313769[/vimeo]

you get the same basic shore diving area if you stay at SandDollar, Den Laman, BuddyDive, and CaptDon's as they are side by side. We loved diving there at least once each day, going north one dive, going south another dive, or going deep, etc. Then a night dive several times a week right there. Charlie, the tarpon comes to dive with you at night and he is HUGE. Really fun to have him hunt by your dive light.

more videos: https://vimeo.com/album/1573578
and https://vimeo.com/album/18778

 

[jimw]

Depends on what you mean by shore diving. I've stayed at Captain Don's a few times.

If you mean the house reef, it's a giant stride off the smaller dock in front of the resort. There's a bench for final gear-up, and two wide wooden staircases with handrails up from the sand bottom to get out. The boat dock is just south. Both are the same level as the lockers, which are between them. Tanks are a level up, on the main road level of the resort, but there's a ramp as well as stairs, and they have handtrucks around the fill station.

If you want to shore dive elsewhere on the island, there's a truck loading area not far from the tank fill station, and again, they have handtrucks. You'll have to carry, or handtruck I suppose, the rest of your gear up a level from the lockers.

You can get packages with one boat dive a day, or buy them a la carte. Destinations are posted the previous afternoon, and plenty go to Kleine.

One small correction which was BIG for us---the air tanks for shore diving in front of Capt Don's Habitat are now down in front of the lockers. Nitrox is still upstairs or up a ramp. Nitrox for boat dives is in the shack on the boat dock, aka Papa Dock! The dive entry dock is Baby Dock!! We were there last week. One of the sets of wodden stairs into the water is now steep with narrow steps--I wonder why?? The narrow steps are useless IMO. Air and Nitrox tanks are also up a level for easier access for truck loading. The tanks downstairs stay there and are filled there.................One of my favorite dives on Bonaire is Cliff which is just north of Habitat and can be accessed staying at Coral Paradise or the Dive Friends shop at Hamlet Oasis.

 

[glazeddonut]

Thanks for the tips, guys. We're looking into your suggestions, and should be booking soon. Thanks again!