We are planning our first trip to Bonaire in August and our research has raised a couple of issues about prospective hotels:

(1) Plaza - Is it really too close to the airport (we're light sleepers)?

(2) Belmar - Is it too small? Would we miss the campus-like atmosphere of the Plaza?

(3) Buddy? How does it compare to the accommodations at the Plaza?

At any of these places, we are interested in staying in a place with a full kitchen (1 bedroom) and doing a dive, drive and stay package.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Belmar for sure. It is small but very nice. Dive shop on site. They do have a dive/drive/stay packages available. Have not stayed at the other two so will not comment on them. We prefer smaller resorts because the staff learns who you are and know you by name not a room number. And if you have a truck you can go to the restaurants at the other places and also dive their house reefs, you just have to let them know you want to. Hope this helps some.
Any

Kim...the Plaza is directly across the street from the airport. You can walk to the Plaza from the airport and some of the villas look directly at the airport. Bonaire does not have the night restrictions on flights that several countries have, so if you are a light sleeper you will hear the KLM, the Continental Red Eye, and any other plane that comes in while you are sleeping.

Welcome Kim, agree to the above, if you can afford Belmar that is the best choice. Buddies and the Plaza are also nice.

Plaza is about 5 to 10 minutes from the airport. When we go to Bonaire , we always stay at the Plaza. You might hear the KLM flights in the middle of the night, but we did only once. Also the red eye flights, we never heard. When we were on the beach , it is neat to see the big KLM flights at 1:00 and at 3:00 landing.

My vote is for Buddy's. We recently made our seventh trip and the personal service is the best.

We typically request specific accommodations and frequently have requested and received special considerations. Our trip in February we arrived late (I hate AA) and the van driver called ahead and arranged for Lions Dive to keep the restaurant open for the four of us. On our most recent trip earlier this month I arranged to dive the day of arrival but our plane was late (I still love AJ) so we didn't arrive till a few minutes after the dive shop had closed. However, Augusto opened the shop back up to get our weights.

These are just two of the most recent examples of the personal service and attention to detail that is the Buddy Dive experience. The only problem is that once you have experienced it, you can't bring yourself to even consider anywhere else.

Truth in advertising...the front entrance to the Plaza may take 5 minutes to drive to because of the roads; but the resort itself with the villas and the back entrance are situated directly across from the airport. We know people who have actually just walked their luggage from the airport to the Plaza. Here are two pics in case you doubt me.

This was taken from the stairs by villa 25 and 125.

This was taken from the living room in villa 117 (or maybe 017, forgot which floor is which, this is in the ground floor villa that ends in 17). The bedroom in this villa had the same view...those poles you see are at the airport.

We have stayed several times (years) at Buddy Dive. Last trip being June 13-28, 2006. Good resort/good dive shop/convenient/helpful staff. It has been our experience that if a problem/issue exists, personnel are available and willing to assist.
Comfortable place to stay/easy place to dive. With five boats available, many choices exist for ease of boat diving, along with shore.

We just left the Belmar and was seriously considering Buddy's before our trip. We checked out Buddy's several times during our trip and all 4 of us agreed that our decision to stay at Belmar was best. It is quaint and wonderful! The staff is very nice and the accommodations were beautiful! Each of the rooms had incredible views of the ocean... it did not look like you could say the same for Buddy's. And since they are apparently "sister" properties you can use Buddy's for additional diving at no extra cost.

It was really a wonderful stay at Belmar - I would not consider going anywhere else.

I vote for Belmar. When my husband and I stayed there last October, we walked up the steps and through the door and both had to catch our breath! The view was amazing, the room was HUGE and the air conditioning was rockin! Loved every little last detail of our stay at Belmar. Quaint and wonderful to second Beth's comments!

Plaza has always been great for us, Toucan diving and the divemasters are first rate!! We always get the ocean front rooms. With all the diving we do, we never hear any planes at night.........The airport is somewhat close, but the guy taking the photos of the airport has a very nice telephoto lens on his camera!

Well, I'm not a guy and I didn't use a telephoto lens. Nice try though. I used a cheap digital, Fuji S3000. And why would you even think the interior shot is a telephoto? You can see the living space quite nicely as well as the airport across the road.

Yes Toucan is nice, but stop deceiving people. The airport is across the street. For someone who is asking for honest feed back and has admitted they are a light sleeper, be fair! We heard every single flight when we were in our rooms, on both trips.

Makes you wonder. If the Plaza has so much to offer, why do so many people feel the need to hide the fact that the airport is directly across the street?

Can you tell this is annoying me? This board is supposed to help people make good decisions, not to receive bogus information. You can walk, with your luggage, across the street and go in the back entrance of the Plaza, which is right by the villas.

Moderators...is there an accurate map we can post so this incorrect information is no longer an issue?

OK...using The Plaza's map, because I have stayed there twice and am a pack rat and keep everything, you can see the villas as well as get a feel for the size of the resort. Now, this isn't to scale; but, neither are any of the road maps I have - in fact, the road maps I have don't even list the Plaza, they just have a marina marked and the beach where the Plaza is located - so it doesn't even look like there is a resort there when looking at these maps. I am hoping that someone out there has an accurate map they can post. The circled villas have direct view to the airport. The two X's are where those above photos were taken from. The arrows point to the airport.



If you love the Plaza, then sell people on the good points. But please be honest. If they are light sleepers they need to know in advance about the villas. My first trip I didn't know and we didn't get much sleep. My second trip I did know, still chose the Plaza and brought ear plugs. If you know, you can be prepared. If you don't know, you might be too tired out for all of the wonderful shore diving Bonaire has to offer. Divers need rest, at least I do.

OK..just received a PM while posting the previous message. Some of the villas' views of the airport might be blocked because there is new construction going on "between the road and the guard house." Maybe someone would be so kind as to post a picture of that?

For now, I'm tired and need my rest. See...even when I am not diving I need my rest.

Hi Tribs,

Here is a section of the map of Bonaire showing the Plaza Resort and the airport.

OOPSIE!
When I cropped the map, I neglect to put the north indicator back in.

On the map above,

North <-

Thank you Mare! I thought someone out there who loves Bonaire as much as I do (if not more ) would pull through with a map! Too bad the back entrance is not marked. There is a road on the left, with a Plaza Resort sign, just after you pull out of the airport parking lot. I think it is 50 feet or so from the airport parking lot entrance (might be closer to 100 feet - my distance guessing is not too good). If you take that road, you go in the back way to the Plaza instead of following the main road around. The back parking lot is right there and there is a turn around that goes past all of the villas for loading and unloading your truck. The back entrance is great for coming and going if you are in the villas.

So where do people staying at The Plaza park - I have just been to the beach area and Toucan?

Is there a guard at the back entrance?

I am planning a large group trip and may split the group up between The Plaza and another resort. Would people not staying at The Plaza be able to visit those staying at The Plaza easily (parking)??

Thanks

Hi Russ. The two times I stayed at the Plaza there was indeed a guard at the back gate. If you are staying at the Plaza you either park in the back lot (the very light grey area in front of the top "X" on the Plaza map posted above) or use the front lot (which is where you would have found Toucan and their drive up tank service). We were never stopped coming in or out. The guard just waived at us and let us in. On both trips, we avoided going to the front and just cut right into the back lot before even checking in and had no problems. On our second trip, we noticed that the guards at the main entrance were writing down license plate numbers when we would pick up tanks, but they never stopped us.

I would guess that since the casino is now open, your group would have no problem with visitors coming in and out. There should be traffic in and out from people just using Toucan as well as those just coming to the casino (not to mention the restaurants on site). Maybe someone who has been there since the management change went into effect could tell you more about parking. I do think it would be a disadvantage for them to make it difficult since they have people not staying at the Plaza using facilities at the Plaza.

I hope your group has a blast!