My wife & I are making our planning our third trip to Bonaire over May 8-16. We are intending to stay at Lions Dive and I have two questions.

First, I read a comment on another website posted about a person being moved to different rooms on several occasions during their stay. It's my understanding that Buddy Dive took Lions over, and from what I know about Buddys, they are a class act, so I'm a bit confused. Does anyone have any information about the current state of affairs at Lions?

Second, does Lions have a "house" dive site?

Thanks, Mark

Mark, Welcome to Bonaire Talk.

The reef just in front of Lions Dive is incredible. Go straight out it is called Buddy's Reef. Go to the left and you are on Bari Reef. Go to the right and you are quickly on Reef Scientifico then La Machaca.

I used to stay at Buddy's, it was a class act then and in many people's opinion still is.

Others will provide you information on the current status of Lion's Dive, I am sure.

I hope your visit is filled with good times.

We stayed at Lion's Dive 3 times-our next time, we're going somewhere else, due to some comments about the changeover made on BT. I would suppose it was transitional problems.

The reef is WONDERFUL there-my favorite place to dive! Enjoy.

Thank you guys so much for your input! We got cold feet this morning and were able to change hotels to Sand Dollar. I would just rather place my bets on a sure thing, knowing that changing rooms does take away from bottom time. And, Buddy's and Scientifico will just be a stone's throw away.

Between what I read about Lion's and Air Jamaica, I'm holding my breath and keeping my fingers crossed till I get there the week of July 4th!

What kind of problems are people having at Lion's Dive?

Edward,
If you want to see the review yourself, just go out to tripadvisor.com. I don't know anything about the website, but stumbled across it earlier in the week. The person had numerous issues, but the one that stuck out for me was his having to change rooms several times during the stay. As the site says, the review is a subjective opinion...

Mark,

I can't comment on Lion's Den, but we just came back from Bonaire having stayed eight days at Sand Dollar. The accommodations were perfect for our family of four. Large, well equipped, quiet. We had a two bedroom condo with a large living room, spacious balcony/porch and a full kitchen.

The only criticism that I can make of Sand Dollar was that the landscaping was a bit sparse compared to Buddy Dive or Lion's Den. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

When we were there, the Sand Dollar pool was out of service, but the Buddy Dive pool was available. Sand Dollar did provide vouchers for rum punch at the Buddy Dive bar to compensate for any inconvenience. (The Buddy Dive bar makes a very good rum punch.)

Bari Reef, directly off the Bonaire Dive dock is marvelous, with an incredible array of fish, coral and sponges.

Again, I've heard nothing bad about Lion's Den, but I doubt you will be disappointed in Sand Dollar.

Rick,
Thanks for your post. I'm glad to hear that your stay was good and that you enjoyed Bari. After seeing another couple's trip report, I think we are going to take an UW naturalist course there at the resort so that we can really appreciate the reef (and the rest of our dives).

Sorry to beat this to death, but I received an email pointing out that the tripadvisor post I found was from March 2004. Sorry, my bad! Just wanted to clarify that & would encourage anyone to share their recent experiences while staying at Lions.

I stayed at Lion's last July and was very pleased. I know this was a fluke but my dive buddy and I ended up with a 2br 2ba! The rooms and baths were all clean, and cleaned every day. I am returning to Lion's in July and hope that the negative experiences of others are the exception, not the rule.

Can anyone offer and info on Lions Dive in Curacao?