We're heading back for our 6th visit to Bonaire and Buddy's and have always followed the advice to recharge our batteries and electronics at the dive shop to prevent a power surge damage.

Is this really necessary? Has anyone had experience using the juice in their apartment?? Thanks. Just 12 more days....

I was at Buddy's in April. I charged my Olympus camera battery without a problem in my room. I did use a surge suppressor. And your charger MUST be a universal power rated device. Look on the charger or power adapter to see if it is rated for both 60 and 50 cycle power. Many newer electronics are rated for both. My adapter from Radio Shack for my portable CD player was not rated both ways and I was forced to use only batteries.

Last year I recharged my camera's batteries using a surge protector and the regular charger which was rated for 50 to 60 Hz and 110 to 240 v without any problems.

Thanks for the responses. I have a surge protector I can bring along.

Here's another question: Are the outlets at Buddy's three prong??

A surge protector is fairly useless for solving the problem which Bonaire electricity presents. A surge protector traps very high spikes such as are caused by lightning ... once. They will not save you from a close by lightning strike either, nothing will. A good powersupply will not be affected by most of these spikes anyway.

I have made many trips to Bonaire charging stuff without mishap ... without a surge protector or any magic device. I am lucky. Though, I'm sure that my day will come. Other than not plugging things needlessly and watching for over heating ... there is nothing you can do but pray. I do think that chargers rated as 50/60 and 110/240 are more likely to survive. Chargers are better made than they used to be too.

I know of one unhappy Bonaire resident who told me her house was incorrectly hooked up to 220, blowing everything. She had surge protectors.

At Buddy's,the bathroom plugs were three prongs. Thats the one I used. The rest of the rooms were 2 prong and would need an adapter.

Ahhh ... but is the third prong actually grounded? I'd check.

Thank me for an excuse to return. :-)

3rd plug is a safety neutral and I bet it's not attached to anything. Doesn't matter unless you get in the tub with the radio or have a broken ground.

At Buddy I just used the outlet in the kitchen area to charge up the camera.

Like everyone has posted, read the label on your charger. I'm looking at my little Sony unit as I write this, It clearly shows AC IN - 100-240V, 50/60Hz.

I'm thinking that most modern chargers will show something similar so Bonaire's currents should pose no problems.

Universal disclaimer - I ain't no electrician or computer guru, void where prohibited, slightly higher west of the Rockies, batteries not included, many men smoke but Fu Man Chu.