ACCOMODATIONS:
This was the sixth time we stayed at Buddy Dive Resort. Everyone has their own needs and desires, and Buddy's is just right for us. It's big enough where there's plenty of other divers to meet, but is very compact and not as spread out as a few of the bigger places. The front desk, dive team and other staff are all GREAT, and it's always nice as repeat guests to get a warm greeting from so many nice people when we return. Even when the resort is booked to capacity, it doesn't seem so because everyone is always off doing their own thing. The options for shore diving right there at Buddy Reef, or one of three boat dives during the day, or taking the truck out on your own for shore diving are all as easy and well thought out as is conceivable. The apartment has a stove, microwave/oven and fridge. The dock/gear room/rinse tank/dive shop area is designed to make everything as easy as possible.



WEATHER, WATER, etc:
Ah, Bonaire weather is pretty predictable: sunny, 85-90, never anything more than an hour long shower, right? Well, there are exceptions. We experienced an almost all day long rain that's pretty rare for this time of year. Didn't change any plans, though: just keep diving and consider that the rain eliminates the need for gear rinsing, and, for some, may even qualify as a shower for the body! The boats kept running, so we opted for boat dives that day rather than deal with driving around in the rain. I think they got about an inch of rain that day, and a lot of the roads were quite flooded for a day or so after. We did notice that quite a few flowers blossomed a few days after the rain, which was quite nice.

Water temp was around 81 degrees. I've notice over the years a huge discrepancy between different computers digital thermometers, as well as analog ones and those built into dive watches. Personally, I think that anything worn on the wrist reads several degrees high also, and my old Sherwood Source computer always reads at least 4 or 5 degrees high. I was fine in just a lycra skin, but Gale had her usual two piece 3mm suit, giving her 6mm over her core body, and she still slips on a beanie for some dives. Everyone is different, and being comfortable is what it's all about.

I would say that vis at most sites was in the 50-70 foot range, sometimes less when the sand was churned up. I've never found Bonaire to have the 200-foot vis that I've seen elsewhere, but, hey, I'm definitely NOT complaining.

DINING:
Buddy's breakfast buffet is always adequate -- certainly not remarkable, but fine for fueling up for the day. In the past, we've usally eaten lunch out, but after a real long wait for lunch at the Lost Penguin (over two hours for a couple of plates of nachos -- yeah, I know dining is supposed to relaxed, island time, European tradition and all that stuff that's been discussed here before, but two hours in the middle of the day was a bit much for us) we switched to picking up stuff at Cultimara and eating lunch on the patio at the room. Besides cold cuts and stuff, Cultimara has a very good bakery with great bread (check out the cheddar/onion loaf) and pretty good pastechi's (kind of like a turnover filled with meat, fish, or cheese). They also now have a separate area where you can buy roasted chickens, although we did not get a chance to try this. Dinners were eaten out at some of our favorites and a few new ones. We once again did not get to try Bobbejan's since they were closed for the week -- guess we'll have to book another trip soon so we can check them out. Some highlights were: pizza at Run Runners; lobster pasta and island smoked wahoo at Capriccio's; another lobster pasta and a tasty wahoo dish at Donna and Giorgio's; excellent rare tuna, barracuda and wahoo at Mona Lisa's; felafel, fattoush salad and snapper with tahini sauce at the Garden Cafe; and of course BT Night at Gibi's. Gibi and his brother and the rest of the staff treated us royally with excellent, VERY low priced food. I had conch stew, Gale had a great whole red snapper, and others there had goat stew, fried chicken and several other dishes. Platters of rice, funchi (a cornmeal dish not unlike polenta) and fries were served family style. Jake and Linda (whom we had met this summer at the NE BT BBQ) and their kids showed up and were superb hosts. We also stopped at Lover's Ice Cream for desert more than a few times; their ice cream is okay, but their mango sorbet is particularly yummy.

PEOPLE, SUMMARY, etc:
As always we met tons of kind, nice people, islanders and visitors alike. We were VERY fortunate to be at Buddy's the same time as John and Annie Aylesworth, whom we also had met at this summer's NE BBQ. Super nice folks, and John and I kept each other laughing with our slightly perverse senses of humor. We stopped in at the Cinnamon Art Gallery where Linda was hosting a bit of a celebration honoring one of the artists she's showing there. The gallery is real nice, a little bastion of culture in Kralendijk. We stopped over at Lac Cai for the Sunday party there; we were there from about 2-3pm, and not much was happening, but it was still pretty cool to see where the locals go on the weekend -- sort of like a no frills state park crossed with a beach party. We also chatted for a while at Oil Slick Leap with a local teacher who had his kids out on a field trip. Quite interesting.

I'm very happy to say that in light of all the conversation on this board regarding the "state of Bonaire" these days, we found our stay to be at least as wonderful as any other, nothing but wonderful people, good dining, outstanding diving...and while I realize that our experience in no way can sum up what's going on in Bonaire, it seemed to me that there was, if anything, LESS in the way of things like annoying kids on motorcycles or hangin' out on the streets in town at night. When we parked our truck at the dive sites, we never left anything other than a crappy t-shirt and towel and water bottles behind, windows down, and never once had anything disturbed. Then again, we've probably done over a hundred shore dives this way on Bonaire, and have never been robbed (cut to image of me knocking on wood......). On the other hand, we never once saw anything resembling a police presence anywhere, although Buddy Dive Resort's security guard was always around each night.

While I'm not naive enough to be blind to some of the problems that Bonaire is experiencing, from the perspective of this tourista (or gringo, as one poster is always referring to us) it is still an incredible, beautiful, warm, fun, safe destination -- and, yes, a Diver's Paradise.

Excellent, excellent. Great report and pictures, thanks for taking the time. I knew at the party you guys were going to have a great time. I glad you were there with John and Annie. I see you got the housing for the camera, pretty cool, huh?

Ooo, Lovers has mango sorbet? Gotta check that out next trip...

LOVED the shot of the tiny seahorse in the other thread!! The fingernail in the pic was a great size marker...

Faith

Scott, Great report! Glad that you folks had a good time.

Again, Great Report!!

Great report Scott! You are making my PBD much worse! I couldn't agree more about what a lovely place Bon is and what nice experiences are to be had there Nice pics too!

Hi Scott,
I loved your report and will be trying to copy your focused format. :-) I kept a diary the whole time with hopes of a cohesive report, but after we went through Ivan there and coming back to work with a TON of crap to do...i am sending my report in dribs and drabs. The Lost P. was closed the whole time, as was Richards, lucky for them since the hurrican kind of messed up the month...they were "gone fishin"
Caio, Bonaire Claire