windsock beach resort
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I did not stay at the windsock resort, but we were at their property often as we dove with Wannadive and one of their 'service points' was at the little beach area that Windsock owns/manages??
It basically is a pick up/drop off for tanks, they have 80's in both nitrox and air for divers but no weights or staff on site. My daughter liked the smaller tanks (63's which they didn't keep at Windsock) so we always had to go to wannadive's main location for tanks - but dropping off empties at Windsock or swapping out an 80 with a bad o'ring from a southern site was very convenient. One day the location was 'closed' for a private event, and the bar staff (when there were any) were not overly friendly and they did not know anything about the diving there. There is a shower and rinse tanks (always were empty when we were there) and you can use the gear locker if you are so inclined. The shore dive looked fine (most likely not too different from others in the area) and the entry was down a steel ladder and the swim out looked very short.
The rooms are across the street and set back a ways so it didn't seem practical that you would keep your gear at the room then walk for a shore dive. I would think if that was your 'house' dive, you'd keep your stuff in the gear locker and just walk down, gear up, and jump in.
Here's a cool panorama of the beach area.... Bonaire Panoramas - Bonaire Map (if the link doesn't work just look at the first dot south of the airport Windsock Wannadive).
The resort's location is south of the airport and VERY close to the start of the great southern sites like Angel City, Alice, Hooker, Salt Pier etc...the resort is across the street from the water. It's a bit far from town and I think you'll find that most if not all of the Klein boats leave from their respective shops downtown (including Wannadive which is actually up north of town at Eden beach).
If I were to go back to Bonaire again, I would most likely stay at one of the bigger resorts in/near town (Buddy, Don's) as the house reefs and docks are amazing at both properties, and I missed being around other divers (we stayed at a guest house which was beautiful, but we felt secluded and wished we could fall off a pier into the water instead of having to drive). Bonaire is awesome and I hope you enjoy!!
It basically is a pick up/drop off for tanks, they have 80's in both nitrox and air for divers but no weights or staff on site. My daughter liked the smaller tanks (63's which they didn't keep at Windsock) so we always had to go to wannadive's main location for tanks - but dropping off empties at Windsock or swapping out an 80 with a bad o'ring from a southern site was very convenient. One day the location was 'closed' for a private event, and the bar staff (when there were any) were not overly friendly and they did not know anything about the diving there. There is a shower and rinse tanks (always were empty when we were there) and you can use the gear locker if you are so inclined. The shore dive looked fine (most likely not too different from others in the area) and the entry was down a steel ladder and the swim out looked very short.
The rooms are across the street and set back a ways so it didn't seem practical that you would keep your gear at the room then walk for a shore dive. I would think if that was your 'house' dive, you'd keep your stuff in the gear locker and just walk down, gear up, and jump in.
Here's a cool panorama of the beach area.... Bonaire Panoramas - Bonaire Map (if the link doesn't work just look at the first dot south of the airport Windsock Wannadive).
The resort's location is south of the airport and VERY close to the start of the great southern sites like Angel City, Alice, Hooker, Salt Pier etc...the resort is across the street from the water. It's a bit far from town and I think you'll find that most if not all of the Klein boats leave from their respective shops downtown (including Wannadive which is actually up north of town at Eden beach).
If I were to go back to Bonaire again, I would most likely stay at one of the bigger resorts in/near town (Buddy, Don's) as the house reefs and docks are amazing at both properties, and I missed being around other divers (we stayed at a guest house which was beautiful, but we felt secluded and wished we could fall off a pier into the water instead of having to drive). Bonaire is awesome and I hope you enjoy!!
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Check with gypsyjim, he just took a group there a few weeks ago.
For boat dives on their package deal you'll have to drive up to Eden Beach north of town - the main Wannadive (and only one with a dock) facility. It's pretty close to Klein.
Dive Friends at Port Bonaire just north of Windsock runs 2 tank boat trips in the mornings. Dive Friends Bonaire, our location at Port Bonaire They're also located pretty near the airport flightpath if you aren't set on Windsock resort.
You could also boat dive with Buddy Dive at Belmar just south of Windsock as they send a boat down several days per week. Buddy Dive at Belmar - Boats The other days you can boat dive from Buddy Dive but it's (slightly) farther north than Eden Beach. BelMar is pretty nice, waterfront and you get use of the Buddy tank drive-thru when diving north.
Or drive around the lagoon and boat dive with Toucan Diving at the Plaza. It's about 5mins. away from Windsock. We dove with them and went to Klein several days. Also Rappel which is one of the best main island dives that's inaccessible from shore. They do an afternoon dive at 2PM - not all the other operators do. http://www.plazaresortbonaire.eu/en/toucan_diving/diving_activities/boat_diving
For boat dives on their package deal you'll have to drive up to Eden Beach north of town - the main Wannadive (and only one with a dock) facility. It's pretty close to Klein.
Dive Friends at Port Bonaire just north of Windsock runs 2 tank boat trips in the mornings. Dive Friends Bonaire, our location at Port Bonaire They're also located pretty near the airport flightpath if you aren't set on Windsock resort.
You could also boat dive with Buddy Dive at Belmar just south of Windsock as they send a boat down several days per week. Buddy Dive at Belmar - Boats The other days you can boat dive from Buddy Dive but it's (slightly) farther north than Eden Beach. BelMar is pretty nice, waterfront and you get use of the Buddy tank drive-thru when diving north.
Or drive around the lagoon and boat dive with Toucan Diving at the Plaza. It's about 5mins. away from Windsock. We dove with them and went to Klein several days. Also Rappel which is one of the best main island dives that's inaccessible from shore. They do an afternoon dive at 2PM - not all the other operators do. http://www.plazaresortbonaire.eu/en/toucan_diving/diving_activities/boat_diving
FWIW we didn't use Wannadive for our boat dives (even though it would have been cheaper as we were on their unlimited air package). They only had one boat and it was taken up by a large group that was in town. We went with Dive Friends for two days of two tank trips and LOVED them! The folks at Wannadive were great, but the location was not in the center of where we were staying, and the Eden Beach location isn't exactly drive up (you can use wheelbarrows to load and unload) but both the Dive Friends locations we used were awesome, convenient and had docks if we had wanted to shore dive. I would use them again next time for our entire package.
I was with Jim in July. I did not see too many of the rooms but ours was nice. As is common on Bonaire, just the bed rooms have AC, the rest of the house does not. Our room had a nice kitchen/living room area that had large glass doors, one side opened up to a open air breezeway to the bed rooms. The other side opened onto a covered deck. With the breeze and ceiling fans the living area was warm but not unbearable, esp after a day or 2 of getting use to it. The kitchen was nice and well equipped and the living area comfortable. The biggest issue we had with the condo was one of the bed rooms had a full bath but the other one just had a shower and sink....it's toilet was in the breezeway outside the room so getting up at night meant leaving the BR and crossing the breezeway. Not a big deal but somewhat inconvenient. The resort has some "odd" customs, from what we understand it's a European thing but some things that Americans expect are not provided....like toilet paper..you get enough for a day but you are expected to supply your own. The grounds are nice but while we were there they had some construction going on....nothing big or noisy but there were a few trenches that had been dug but otherwise clean and well kept. There is a nice pool on site with a nice grill. The dive site is across the street. Your room keys will unlock the gate and you are given access to the gear room so you have 24/7 access to your gear and tanks. There is a gear storage room, showers, toilets, rinse tanks and nice sandy beach to relax on when not diving. You can park a few feet away from the tanks/gear room so moving your gear to and from the truck is easy. The house reef is OK, not great but not bad either. We did quite a few dives there. I have stayed at Buddy, Sand Dollar, Bel Mar, Den Laman and several smaller places so I have some point of reference. All in all, a good value and I would stay there again. Some places are a little nicer or have a better house reef but still WS is a good choice, esp if price is an issue.
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Service point means no staff on-site. Quoting Tunaman above:
IIRC the Windsock check out dives (which are an orientation session and then 'go do a dive') was done only at the Eden Beach location while we were there. There is a schedule for the orientations, and we ended up having to wait an hour +/- and come back. The DM (who was a sweetheart) helped us wheelbarrow our gear down the beach to where she said the reef was better and we'd see more stuff with less swimming.
It was all basically to give you an explanation of the island, the marine reserve rules, checking your cert cards, getting your id tag, explaining how the tank lockers work, and then answering any questions you might have. Other than being hot and the Eden beach dive not being one of my favs, it was really no big deal.
We came in on the red eye and got our truck early, but after getting settled at our place (which was available for us first thing in the morning which was nice), the bed called for a few hours so we didn't do our check outs until after lunch.
Have fun!!
It was all basically to give you an explanation of the island, the marine reserve rules, checking your cert cards, getting your id tag, explaining how the tank lockers work, and then answering any questions you might have. Other than being hot and the Eden beach dive not being one of my favs, it was really no big deal.
We came in on the red eye and got our truck early, but after getting settled at our place (which was available for us first thing in the morning which was nice), the bed called for a few hours so we didn't do our check outs until after lunch.
Have fun!!
It may depend on the amount of divers that are staying at WS (we had the entire place booked with 26 divers) but the week we were there, there was a staff member there all day every day. He did on occasion handle dive classes so he was in the water for an hour or so but otherwise and informed up that he was going to be gone for a little while. Tanks and gear were always available so I really don't see the need for staff anyway. We arrived on the 2pm Delta flight and did the orientation that afternoon- just 2 of us.
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