My husband and I are planning for our first time diving in Bonaire in July. We're looking for a nice place to stay with a good dive operation. We like the accommodation at Harbour Village and Plaza Resort. Where should we stay?? Or any suggestions of other places that have a good combination?? Diving will be our first priority for this trip. Thank you in advance for all the suggestions.

As a direct answer to your question, I'd suggest Plaza...however, indirectly have you considered Buddy Dive? They are a smaller operation than Plaza with a great dive operation. If you go Plaza, take your hiking shoes..the resort is spread out.

Gregg, thank you very much for your quick post. After I did some research on my side it's looks like I'm leaning towards Plaza. I narrowed down to 2 types of room that I might stay during my 1 week vacation. One is Standard Suite (I think they used to called Jr. Suite) and another one is 1 bedroom villa. I know that villas have a full equipped kitchen facilities but Standard Suites have mini fridge and coffee maker. How big is the mini fridge? Is it big enough to keep all drinks and munchies for 7 days? Anyone know which one seem to be a better room and better ocean view?

We stayed at the Plaza in a Standard suite and it suited us just fine. Although we requested an Ocean view, we really had a Palm tree view from our balcony(we were on the second floor). We sat out there every evening to "relax" after relaxing all day. :-) The rooms are really large and ours was very clean. The closet was huge so it doubled as a small pantry. We got some stuff at Cultimara like granola and yogurt, some cheeses and crackers and H20. The mini fridge held the yogurt, some cheese, juice a sixpack of Amstel and a bottle of wine that replaced as needed. If you are really going to buy of lot of perishable food it's probably not going to suit you - otherwise, think of it as a really big cooler you'd use to tail gate with.
Michelle

Bun Bun at the Plaza, the ocean front grand suites are the best, they are right on the beach and if you request a second floor suite the view from the deck can not be beat (high numbers are better). The fridges at the Plaza are the medium size (larger than the small fridges but smaller than a standard fridge). The size was fine for us on an 11 day stay.

The villas are on the other side of the bridge and I really don't know much about them.

One trick is to get two large bottles of water, use half of each and put in the freezer. Then fill with cold water on the way out the door. The block of ice at the bottom will keep the water cold a long time.

Here's a link to my trip report, there is a lot of info and pictures of the Plaza. Here.

One thing I've come to know since our trip is that you really can't go wrong on Bonaire. All of the accommodations and for that matter restaurants are great and you will enjoy any of them.

We stayed at Harbour Village for ten days in September '03 and at the Plaza for two weeks in January '04. If the difference in price is not a problem I would stay at the Harbour Village without giving it a second thought. Harbour Village is truly a five star resort with beautiful rooms, beach and the general property grounds. The Plaza is very nice but it is a notch below the Harbour Village. But, when you factor in the price, the Plaza becomes very attractive. The Plaza is also a nice resort with large rooms, large clean beach and nice staff. When we returned in Jan 04, the oceanfront one bedroom suite at the harbour village would have been double the price of our ocean front room at the Plaza. I would stay at either resort again in the future. Would prefer the Harbour Village but will be very happy at the Plaza.

Cecil, thank you very much for a link to your trip report. What a wonderful report!! I'm so glad I found this board prior to my visit to Bonaire.

Bun Bun, I would recommend the Plaza as we have stayed there our last two visits. Harbour Village is a beautiful resort but we thought it looked a little too fancy for us. We stay in the Grand Suites ocean view (request a second floor room close to the Tipsy Seagull restaurant) and the room is very large, 2 queen size beds, dining table, fridge. Don't be fooled by the "coffee pot" description. It is really a hot pot and they provide instant coffee each day. I brought a french press along this year and it worked out great. Also, if you are use to wash cloths you may want to bring some along as they only have disposable ones that are a little hard on the face. The restaurants at the Plaza have excellent food but there are so many great places to eat that you need to venture out for some wonderful dining experiences. Good luck. Cindy

Harbour Village really isn't "fancy" - just very quiet. It is considered a "boutique" hotel because of the small amount of rooms. The beach front suites are probably worth it. The Garden and Marina rooms are way too tiny for the price and do not have a fridge or hair dryer. This is not exactly portrayed on their web site. However, the dive facility is super. Because there are so few guests, you have only a few people on the dive boat. They run 3 boats a day and there might be only 4 of you diving. Very personalized.

Hi Nadine, and others,

My brother and I are also looking at these 2 locations during a first visit to Bonaire over Labor Day Week in Aug - Sept. How is the shore diving at each location? And how are the beaches at each? How crowded does H V become with the Marina crowd? How easy is at each place to charter a couple of boat dives instead of needing to follow their boat schedule? We are novice divers who are drooling at the possibility of diving in Bonaire. Thanks....