Can someone tell me if Lion's Dive Hotel has been reviewed in an earlier report? If not, can someone tell me about it? It is on our timeshare list thru RCI. Would like to know about the on-site dive facility as well. Thanks.

I don't know if it was been reviewed recently, but I can provide you my impressions. The general grounds and facilities have undergone a upgrade over the last two years (thanks to Lenny in 99). Lions is an attractive quiet, facilty that has just added an excellant restaurant/bar, the Lions Den. I had dinner ther just after it opened and was impressed with the menu, the food, the service and the wine list. The Dive shop, Bon Bini Divers, has undergone a total rebuild with new docks and new facilities. It offers an experienced staff that really caters to the divers. Its kind of a relief to dive with an experienced group that knows what they are doing and have fun doing it. The diving in front is great, lots of tarpon and a beautiful reef.. The overall location is nice as you can walk to other near by resorts such as Buddys and Capt Don's tp vary your dining..

have a great time

Just got back from Bonaire in June and we looked at places in Lions Den...the rooms are nice but a little small ....If you book you would like a room with a balcony..cause they seem to have more room to "hang" than the rooms with no balcony's.... We usually stay at Sandollar and still have not found rooms that are comparable ,,space wise....but Lions Den is a very nice outfit...the restaurant is run by Kirk who use to manage the green parrot from Sandollar...he has (as usual!) done a wonderful job with the place and food is tremendous! it has a nice dive operation(although we have never used it....) but we have heard they are going through a new makeover....the grounds are very appealing...and I personally after coming to Bonaire for the past 6 years....can not imagine having a bad time here.....

I used Bon Bini Divers on my trip and found them to be excellent. The food at the Lions Den was of equal excellence. Because I was diving there, I hung around their "beach" quite a bit. It is a raised area above the water that is filled with sand. It looks out over the sea was a good place to spend some time between dives, get some shade, warm up........

I did not stay at the facility, although I did check them out when I was looking for a place to stay. I felt that for square footage and price, there were better deals to be had elsewhere on the island. That being said, if I were looking for a dive outfit and a place to eat, Lion's Dive has got them both covered.

Hope you have a wonderful time!

Dear Karen, I would be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding diving at the property. Please feel free to email me at susan@bonbinidivers.com.

If you have any question regarding your RCI exchange, it's best to contact Peter (the resort's manager) at info@lionsdivebonaire.com.

Hope we get to meet you soon!

Susan

Jason, David, thanks for you nice comments! {:-)

Thanks everyone. Sounds like a really good choice when we are ready to trade in our timeshare.

Hi Karen

Like some of the others, I have not stayed at Lions Dive but I have been on the property several times, including a tour of the rooms 2 years ago and I walked around the property last July. I will have to agree that the rooms did seem a bit smaller than at Sand Dollar or Buddy Dive but they were by all means acceptable. The property is clean and well kept and usally if the rest of the property is kept up then the rooms are as well. I would have no problem staying there. Now if I can just get my diving Uncle to trade his time share.....

Karen
Check out their website, it is very informative. I have not stayed there but last December we stayed at Buddy's and went over to check out Lion's Dive and ended up buying a timeshare because we were so impressed. We toured all three room options and chose the middle one with one bedroom and a patio. The Lions Dive grounds are beautiful and the dive facilities were very nice. It is a small resort but top quality in our estimation. The website is www.lionsdivebonaire.com. Whereever you end up. enjoy!

Just back from a June 30 to July 7 trip to Lion's Dive Bonaire. We were in an upstairs 2 bedroom. Both bedrooms had king beds and connecting bathrooms. Lots of room. We had plenty of room in the living/dining room for 5 to hang out and the balcany had plenty of room for the 5 of us to eat outside. We had a full-size fridge/freezer, microwave, oven/stove, and enough plates, cups, pots and pans to make most of our breakfasts and lunches. The pool, deck, and beach areas were nice. The resort had a quiet and relaxing feel.

They were in the process of replacing the sliding glass doors with some nice looking french doors.

The Bon Bini Divers staff was first rate. Very helpful and friendly. The gear storage room, rinse tanks, and tank storage, and doc for shore diving were all convenient and easy to use. Back by the road was a second tank station for picking up shore tanks. Very convenient. The staff and shore earned a A-/B+.

I would not recommend their dive boat. It was slow and small. With 8 divers, it was OK, with 12 (which we had on 3 of our 6 dives), it was crowded and disorgaized. The boat was a D+.

We have been to Lions Dive for the past two years and will be returning again at the end of July. I agree that the small rooms are 'small' but the next size up gets you a lot more floor space. We like the fact that it is very easy going but obvioulsy well organised behind the scenes.
We love BonBini Divers, plenty of good advice and help whilst letting divers get on with diving.

We have traded into Lions Dive twice, but many years ago, once before and once after Lions Dive bought the resort. Nice place and location, and BonBini Divers is a very good operation. Located between Buddys and Captain Don's. Easy walk to at least three resorts and their restaurants.

A/C only in bedroom !!! 95+ in living area during the day.

Very hard to trade into. Lions Dive doesn't want to have timeshare owners and they have used their lawyers to screw many owners out of their units; we met three of them on our last stay there.

We consider Bonaire the best of the Caribbean and have been trying to trade in again for four years.

My friend Russ stays at Lions Dive on Curacao several times a year.