Can anyone confirm that
a) Buddy Dive is now running the dive operation at BelMar, and
b) that boats do leave from the BelMar pier?

Hi Paul,

Yes, Buddy Dive is running the dive part at Belmar and you can get in touch with them at diving@belmar-bonaire.com

We stayed at BelMar last month. If you wanted to dive by boat you had to drive to Buddy. BelMar still has tanks if you're shore diving.

David, are both piers back up or just the one?

Thanks,

Cynde

Cynde,

Both piers are open. The stairs on the North pier were extremely slippery and after several people (including me) fell on them they were closed but the pier was open. You could enter with a giant stride and exit via the south pier. The stairs seemed to have a downward cant, and that combined with algae made it virtually impossible to stand on them without slipping.

With regard to diving with Buddy the onsite shop remains excellent and shore divers will be unaffected by the change. Erika is still there but Monique stayed with Toucan and Rob is now the second staff person at Belmar. Both helped us out with some minor equipment problems - which were the theme of this trip for us.

With regard to boat diving with Buddy, we went to sign up for our one boat dive of the week the day before and they were full. We dove with Sand$ instead and were the only ones on the Sand Penny & had a private trip to La Dania's. Our neighbors at Belmar had a pre-paid boat dive package with Buddy but were told that AM boats were full and they would have to dive in the PM. They cancelled their package. Keep in mind this was during the busy Xmas week.

Management at Belmar has changed and Irene is no longer there. She really ran the place incredibly well, is a lovely person and was missed (she's now at Port Bonaire).

-David

David,

Thanks for the info. Last time on island I used Buddy's but was house sitting. We signed up for a package with 6 boat dives, but found the same thing, by the time we got there to sign up each day, they were full for the next day. We ended up just switching to the unlimited shore dive package. And that was in July.

I'm sorry that Irene isn't there anymore. It's our first stay at Belmar, and I'd heard so many great things about her, and she was great with the answers to all my emails.

I stayed at Belmar in December and did 12 boat dives with Buddy Dive. Buddy dive has some pretty strange scheduling methods and they don't much care if the boats are full even if you pre-paid. However, all is not lost. Just show up each day and sign up for the next day. They always start sign up just before the current days boat leaves so its not too bad. I only missed the first day because we didn't understand the method but after that everything went smoothly.

For my money, would rather go with sand$, they were more accommodating, will let you sign up in advance, and can request site if you are 1st to sign up. Also will go out even if only my wife and I are on the boat.

-David

Chuck, we knew the system, and were actually there just after they had put the schedule sign up for the next day, and they were still completely full. We're taking our kids this time, and if we can't get on a boat there, we'll definitely go somewhere else (probably wannadive in support of the cams When we stayed at Sand$ a few years ago, they didn't have their dock back then, and last time we did get to dive Bari a couple times (my favorite reef), and I know the folks at the dive shop are great

One thing to note is it was no problem doing our checkout and getting tanks for shore dives at belmar and going to another operator for boat diving. They just asked if we had paid the park fee and had our orientation and 'checkout' dive, then took a card imprint, checked c-cards, did releases and we were done in 10 minutes.

We just got back from Belmar, they use to have boats that pick you up at the dock..but this time we had to go to Buddy's..not a big deal. you can still dive from the dock on your own. Please feed the iguana's for us!