Where to Stay in Bonaire

[CareyinFL]

I'm looking to book a dive vacation for two couples in Bonaire and am torn on where to stay. I've looked at an all-inclusive that gives you unlimited shore diving plus 11 boat dives. But the idea of a private residence sounds good, too.

Do you have somewhere you've stayed that you'd recommend? A particular area or dive shop that is preferred?

Thanks so much!

 

[Rand]

I highly recommend Deep Blue View. You can read my recent trip report here. Also, take a look at their reviews on TripAdvisor.

It was so relaxing. It is run by a husband and wife team. Esther handles the breakfasts and Menno runs the dive operation. Both were awesome.

You can customize your dive package to include as much or as little (or no) boat diving as you want. I would at least do the 3 tank trip to the northern park dive sites. It was great having the boat to as few as 4 of us. The most you will have on the boat is 10, as that is all the resort can accommodate. I can't wait to go back and DBV made it an awesome trip. PM me if you have any questions.

 

[MegaBMan25]

I've heard good things about Deep Blue View. They place i went last year and heading out to next week is BUDDY DIVE. The trips have been organized through the LDS is use. I think almost regardless of where you go, it will be hard to find a bad dive operation on the island. Do some research and compare and figure out which place you want to stay. Good luck and good diving

 

[DiveMaven]

Check out the 2-bed/2 bath condos at Den Laman. Bari is the house reef, security is excellent since the condos are on the second and third floors, and you have 24-hour access to tanks and gear. They have a nice dive, drive, and stay package and the condos have full kitchens so you can make meals if you want.

I'd recommend that unless you have a specific reason for wanting boat dives, don't spend your money on them with a package. We bought a boat diving package our first trip to Bonaire and only used ONE. We thought shore diving was so much easier that we simply haven't bothered with buying boat dives on our subsequent trips, and won't for our next trip either.

 

[diversteve]

We like http://www.belmar-bonaire.com/. They're waterfront condos south of town. Belnem is more of a quiet residential area at night - not that anywhere on Bonaire is loud. It's a pretty compressed property, just about 20 units total, every one faces west. All have patios and good kitchens. As is typical in a lot of Bonaire rentals, AC only in the bedrooms. The pool is 30' from your patio and the dive dock is 20' past that. Decent shore dive but there's better nearby - good for your BMP orientation and maybe to get wet one afternoon. They also light the dock underwater at night. It's on an ironshore cliff so there's no beach - most shoreline resorts on Bonaire are similar.

If you get a ground floor (2br/2ba) unit, there's a gear closet just outside your back door - your truck is parked 20-30' past that. Upstairs units get lockers near the dive shop at the south end of the property. There's a night watchman but it's pretty dead there at night - we often left our doors open till late. The 2br's have the master at the back of the property with the 2nd bedroom in the center so the inside view is from the living room/kitchen area. They have wi-fi now also as do most resorts on Bonaire.

At the south end of the property is the other Buddy dive shop so it's easy to pick up tanks. Your room key gets you into the public areas 24/7 for tanks, use of the nitrox analyzer, wetsuit p/u etc. Also you get use of the Buddy Dive drive-thru tank exchange when diving north of town. About 5 minute drive to all the good south dive sites and 2-3 mins. drive north around the lagoon to Kralendijk. One of the Buddy Dive boats picks up there a couple times a week - if you wanted to do more boat diving - most don't - you could drive to Buddy's north of Kralendijk. We did 8 boat dives - it was 4 too many.

The downside is there's no food onsite or nearby - probably the Plaza Resort is closest - from there you may as well drive another 1/2 mile into town. It's far enough from the airport that you don't hear the planes - the only place that's an issue is Port Bonaire condos nearby as they're in the flightpath. Warehouse Foods and another market are within a couple miles.

I've heard good things about Deep Blue also but they're not waterfront if that's a concern.

 

[CareyinFL]

Thank you so much, everybody! I clicked on the link to Deep Blue View and it looks pretty nice.

Has anybody stayed at this resort? I just find it appealing to have air and everything right onsite. But the prices at Deep Blue are so nice that it's awfully tempting!

 

[diversteve]

Plaza is pretty nice. I haven't been in the standard rooms but I have seen one of the villas - some friends stayed there. The only downside to the Plaza is it's a big resort. The restaurants/pool are located more towards the north side and the dive shop/storage lockers/boat dock is at the far south end on the lagoon. So shore diving there means a 5+ min. walk with gear to their dive site - 18Palms. They stage tanks there with a golf cart if that gives you an idea - I've heard they'll also give you a ride if asked. For shore diving tank pick-up, you can park pretty close to the tank fill - your gear is stored in a locker area just past it. Someone suggested we drive from there thru the parking lot, leave the resort, park in the employees lot on the north side and walk back in to 18Palms to dive it - it would be easier.

They do have a decent (good for Bonaire) beach protected by a breakwater and a beach bar. The mid-week BBQ was good. Toucan Dive on-site is a good operation, we've dove with them. If you're looking for that roll-out of bed and fall of the dive dock experience, that's not it. Places like Den Laman, Sand Dollar, Buddy's, Eden Beach, the Divi Flamingo are. The Divi is also walking distance to downtown - Plaza would be a long walk...from any of the north side resorts you'll want to drive.

 

[CareyinFL]

DiverSteve - I'm still checking out sites for those resorts / apartments and each one is better than the last. THANK YOU for your help!

 

[diversteve]

Prettty much all your options: Info Bonaire - Hotels & Accommodations - Resorts, Condos, Inns, Apartments, Houses and other accommodations - the price range listings at the bottom have website links also. You probably don't want to stay in Lac Bay unless you plan to kitesurf instead of diving.

I've found some house rental options on vrbo.com. SunRentals Bonaire - Caribbean Vacation Rental Agency also lists some.

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board Carey. I really don't know of a bad place in Bonaire, it's mainly depends on what you prefer. I do however have a couple of suggestions/comments. Where ever you stay, don't get an all-inclusive food package. There are way too many places on Bonaire to eat to lock yourself down to one place or resort. A breakfast is fine but otherwise skip the meal packages. Also, at least until you get here and dive a day or 2 drop the boat packages. Most of us never used all the dives we had in our packages and never get them after the first trip. You can always add them back once on island or if you like add just a few during your stay, dropping them will save you $120+ per diver. When comparing packages, be sure to compare apples to apples. Some packages include an airport transfer, some do not. Some include a truck ( and you will want a truck- don't get a car or RAV4 type vehicle) and some don't. Then there is resort size. The Plaza is pretty big, esp by Bonaire standards while Den Lamen is very small, Buddy, Sand Dollar and Capt Dons are somewhere in the middle. By the way, Sand Dollar has some nice little efficiencies that are reasonable. As for dive shops, I don't know of a bad one but I do tend to prefer the use the one associated with the resort I am staying at, it just makes things easier.