My wife and I hope to visit Bonaire in June for 10 days to 2 weeks. We have only been diving for 4 years, and almost all of our ocean dives were in Grand Cayman, mostly shore diving at Hepps' Pipeline. We are not party people, like the peace of an uncrowded beach. We are on a limited budget and looking for a place with a kitchen. I've seen that there is a Dive Fest going on in June. Is everything crowded then? We want to stay close to the water, probably getting a vehicle at least part of the time to do some of the more distant shoredives. I keep seeing that lots of people like Capt. Don's Habitat and Buddy Dive Resort. Is there any other places that we should also check into that fits the bill?
Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated. You can e-mail me at Deacon911@msn.com

Darrell,
You might find what you need at Lagoen Hill, a property which I own with my
husband, Ton. Take a look at http://www.lagoenhill.com for more details.
http://www.lagoenhill.com/guestbook.html
Monique

Hi Darrell,

4 of us will be staying at Buddy June 8 to 15 if you need/want some diving buddies. Lions Dive is between Capt Dons and Buddy's, it's a nice place as well. You can't go wrong with any of them, all are nice places. Both LD and Buddy have condos with full kitchens (CD may as well, just never stayed there so I can't be sure), there are others I am sure.

Hi Herman and Darrell, yes capt. Don's does indeed have units with full kitchens. we stayed there in dec. and were pleasantly surprised. We had two bedrooms, living room, TV, phone.A/C, kitchen and a wonderful covered porch. and of course a lot of Kitties and Iguanas to keep us company.

Hi Darrell, If "close to the water" means within walking distance rather than beachfront, check out these links. Lots of privacy, reasonable cost and very nice. If you have any other questions about Bonaire feel free to send an e-mail. I'll answer whatever I can.

Bert

http://www.vrbo.com/vrbo/2971.htm
For more details, see
http://web.clark.edu/evenme/webpages/Bonaire/KayaVenus19.htm

We stayed at Lions Dive in June 01 and this month. Nice and easy going. You wont find much "wild partying" in most of Bonaire. And the beach is very quite. You will love the diving.
steve

Whilst it's not on the water (about a km away), you might want to consider Bonaire Town Homes. I'm actually there now, for the fourth stay. We love it. Small, quiet, and inexpensive, but very clean, very well equipped kitchen, hammocks and shady outside seating area -- everything you could ask for --- and wonderful owner/managers on the premises. They just have two units (one one bedroom and one two-bedroom one) on their property.

As an example of how helpful they are, yesterday I was scheduled for my first night dive, and I forgot to get a tank. I told Benny, the owner here, and he drove me all over trying to find a dive operation to get one from, without any luck. The point is, he wanted to make sure I got what I wanted, even when it was out of his personal control. (Ended up I was able to get a tank from a friend here, so good ending for the evening.) You can check their website at: www.bonairetownhomes.com, or email them at: info@bonairetownhomes.com.

If you can live without being right on the ocean, this is a wonderful spot.

Darrell, save a few bucks and stay right on the water(30'from it) at the Black Durgon Inn. This is a 10 room resort directly in front of the Small Wall, on of the top dive sites on Bonaire. You can actually see the fabulous pier(extending 60' out into the water) of the Durgon, by viewing the North Beach Cam and enlarging the image. The water in front of the Durgon is ideal for scuba, snorkeling or swimming. The pier is great for sunning. And, best of all there is lots of pricacy. Most of the rooms are perched about 15' above and open onto the water. The view from the Black Durgon is spectacular, and one of the very best on Bonaire. Look into the archives at this site for more details. For overall ambience, dive friendly owner(AL) and a reasonable price, the Black Durgon would be hard to beat. Contact them at: blackdurgon@bonairelive.com

I have been to the Black Durgon many times. Very quite, clean and on top of the best reefs in Bonaire. I have been to Bonaire 7 times and stayed at a few of the popular places (Buddy, Cpt. Dons....) Those are all great places but I like Black Durgon for the secluded and quiet atmosphere. There is a nice outside kitchen for guest use, dock for dive entry and sun tanning, sea kayak for a trip to Klien Bonaire if you want some exercise. The owner has a few horses if you want to go for a ride. The place does not look like much from the street, but the property on the water is a little paradise. Cordial, friendly, laid back and quiet. I have over 1000 macro exposures on the reef (Small Wall) in front of the Black Durgon. Never run out of photo ops there.

Joe
San Jose
California