we will be in Bonaire April 22-30.This our third trip and we will be staying at Sun Oceanfront.Has anyone stayed there recently. If so I was trying to gather info on the resort as well as the diving in front of the resort.Any info will be appreciated.
Thanks Bobby

We just stayed there a week in February. We enjoyed our stay there. If you think your flight will bring you into Bonaire after 5pm make arrangements with them because we just about missed the office gals who were closing for the day. We would have been stuck without a place to stay for the night. We were on the second floor and the steps are very narrow. If you are a diver or it has been raining, be very careful on them as they will be super slippery and there isn't a hand railing. Bert is the dive master there in the little dive shop. He worked for Buddy Dive before working at Sun Rentals. The shop is basically a tiny satellite of Buddy Dive. Bert switches out the tanks every day at the Buddy Dive resort. He seems very knowledgable. You will be given a key to get into the tank room after hours. Bert will have you do your check out dive in the harbor right out in front of the apartment complex. The actual divesite on the maps is called Something Special, and we dove it many times because of the convenience. Just watch out for boats overhead! Read my trip report and look at the pictures to see what all we saw right out front of our apartment while diving. We even dove there at night twice. I think you will enjoy your stay at Sunoceanfront. It's nothing glamourous, but everything worked well and the kitchen was well stocked with cooking equipment and utensils. The maids come and clean daily. Look out for the hot water in the showers too.....it gets way too hot. We barely even turned the hot water knob. Well enjoy your vacation.

Shelly

My husband and I rented the Penthouse at Sun Oceanfront Apartments for 2 weeks over the Christmas holidays. The apartment itself had a pleasant layout and a nice veranda, but we were unpleasantly surprised by a couple of things. Let me start off by saying 1) that I grew up on Bonaire and know what is possible on the island, and 2) that both my husband and I have traveled extensively all over the world and we have no qualms about staying in the most basic of accommodations, but when you're paying international rates, you expect not to have to think about certain things. So here goes...

We arrived on December 26th to find that the fridge was unplugged so the groceries/beer/wine we had asked Sun Rentals to purchase for us were less than enticing. There was also a large puddle of water near the fridge's transformer, which was a bit disconcerting (more on that later). The bedding was literally threadbare with a random assortment of pillows barely 2" thick. (After two uncomfortable nights, we bought new pillows at Centro and just left them behind. I overheard another guest negotiating with the front office about a credit because she had bought lamps for her apartment). One set of sheets was noticibly stained with what looked like it might have been blood. We had a regular supply of fresh towels, but they were often ripped or full of bleach spots. The airconditioning unit in the bedroom was set not to go below a certain temperature, so our nights were often uncomfortably hot and sleepless. We had planned on, and were looking forward to, cooking and eating in, but had to go out and buy glassware, a cutting board, and some cereal bowls. Not exactly the well-equipped kitchen we had expected. As other visitors will attest to, it rained quite a bit the first week in January, and every time it rained, the apartment would flood with water. I'm talking about HUGE puddles in the front hall, kitchen, and the open dining/living room, flowing out onto the veranda. It simply poured in through the front door due to lack of gutters and the awkward slope of the front stair landing. This was clearly a known problem because there was a giant squeegee in the front hall closet. Over the course of several days we spent hours shuttling water out of the apartment--often as the Sun Rentals staff looked on, not once offering to help out!! The best thing I can say about the place is that it is right around the corner from Bobbejan's BBQ. Not only is it the best and most reasonably priced food on the island, they supplied us with plenty of cold Amstel and bags of ice that first day so we could unwind on our veranda and look out at the sea.

I could go on about having fully pre-paid Sun Rentals/AB for a jeep that wasn't available (the credit we were owed was posted to our account several days after our return to the US--and only after I had sent a follow-up email), so we spent part of our first week tracking down transportation, but why bother.... Stay at the Belmar, if you can. It's a beautiful, well-maintained place that is good value for the money.

We didn't have problems with flooding during the rain because we were on the second floor. I will say they installed new air conditioners while we were there in February.

Wow Amy, what a report! I'd be screaming bloody murder and demanding to move.

Gee Amy, we stayed in the penthouse for two weeks in August and there were plenty of items in the kitchen. The AC worked fine, too, once I figured it out. (not very swift with celsius) The place was a little dark, but we had them replace the burned out bulbs and all was ok. Boy, you never know; something must have gone wrong in the months between our visits. Hope your trip was nice despite the problems. Jeff

We have stayed at SunOceanfront Apts three times in the last two years and we actually love it - not because it's a perfect hotel room or anything - it isn't, but it is clean, incredibly convenient (restaurants and stores within walking distance, dive shop/rinse tank/gear storage/tank supply on premises, half way between north and south dive sites, diving right in front), secure, has a pool and BBQ, and run by Queen Josie, a wonderful, thoughtful person. And, we always ask, how much time does a dedicated diver spend in his/her room? Any time we had a problem (always minor) or a specific request, Muys (Josie's husband) would take care of it quickly. We're returning in October. Our remarks pertain to one and two bedrooms - never stayed in the penthouse. By the way, Bert is one of the best DMs we've ever met, and a quality person all around. We recommend Sun Oceanfront Apts.

As to the diving in front - very, very easy - walk with your gear on past the pool, across the narrow, unbusy street, down the ramp and into the water. Visiting yachts are in a long spaced-out row (moorings only, no anchoring) so you don't want to surface out there if you can avoid it, but the dropoff is maybe 40 yards out and full of life night and day - really handy to come out of the water, walk maybe 60 seconds and you have an outdoor shower, rinse tank and gear storage. We had a hawksbill turn and come back to pass within touching distance during our checkout dive there (with Bert). We've seen 6' cornet fish, needle fish, and all the usual suspects there too. No current. Super easy...