My husband and I went to Bonaire for the first time last year and loved it. We are going again in a couple of weeks and again staying at the Plaza.

I am starting to plan a family trip for June 2007 to include my sons who will be ages 11 and 8. I have been reading everything I can on this site and looking at hotel websites and have narrowed our choices down to four places:

Eden Beach
Belmar
Buddy Dive
Capt. Don's Habitat

Please only comment on these because I have ruled other places out for various reasons. We want a pool for the kids and a 2 bedroom place with a kitchen. We plan to rent a truck, so an onsite restaurant is not needed. We are going to stay for two weeks.

What I would appreciate comments on is this:

1. Our 11 yr old plans to be certified (Jr. Open Water), so we want a dive shop with good instructors and ones that are good with kids (this doesn't necessarily have to be at the hotel).

2. We want a place with a good house reef making it easy to dive with our one son and a place where the 8 yr old can easily snorkel.

3. Do any of these hotels stand out as far as overall accomodations and service?

Thank you so much for any input you can provide.

Janet given your requirements my first thought was Eden Beach but it slightly miss your requirement for easy diving and good snorkeling. At times there is a current at Eden Beach and there is not the wide sand flats for snorkeling. There is a nice ledge right at the water's edge which is pretty cool for snorkeling. The lack of a sand flat also make the diving a little tougher. It drops off to deep depths pretty quickly.

All the other things, Eden Beach does very well. Nice pool, nice beach, great dive shop, two bedroom rooms with kitchens, reasonable prices and everything is right there. No long walks (something that can not be said for the Plaza).

The other choices are also very nice each in their own way.

I know you said please keep to the four you have mentioned, but I believe you should consider Sand Dollar Resort, condos with a great house reef & dive shop

Janet,
Read my trip report for my choice.
http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/1022/31140.html?1021997999
Capt. Don's meets all of your requirements. This report was from our first visit. We have stayed there now five times. Excellent!

I called Sandollar and apparantly their pool is currently not operational, but they plan to have it by next summer. Since I already had 4 good places to pick from and the pool is really important for the kids, I didn't want to take a chance incase their pool is not up and running by June.

Linda,

Thanks for the link. I had actually read your report and it was one of the factors in keeping that as one of our choices. This site is great, I have learned so much.

Janet, I have stayed at both, Eden and Buddy Dive. Over the years I have visited Captain Don's and was impressed with the operation there. That said, I think either Buddy Dive or Captain Don's will satisfy all of your needs. Both of these resorts also have decent on site restaurants.

Belmar is a beautiful smaller resort, I have several friends and a couple of clients (with children) that love it. The house reef there is also a wonderful dive/snorkel.

The location of BelMar's pool allows you to watch snorkellers in the water at the same time. (can't do that at Capt Dons or Buddys).

Given the small size, you will get personal attention from the office & dive staff.

Belmar would be my choice. I don't have young children but having seen a number of them at Belmar they seemed to really enjoy themselves. The pool is a nice size and there are two docks (one set up for diving/snorkling with steps into the water),condo's are 1-2 or 3 bedrooms with fully furnished kitchens. All of the ground floor condos open right on to the pool area. All of them front the ocean. Dive shop on site which is a great help. Hope this helps some.
Andy

We visted each hotel I had listed and decided to book the Belmar. It is the best fit for our family. I can't wait to get back to Bonaire!

Have to agree with Jim. We love Sand Dollar and their dive operator. Very quiet, spacious condos. Their dive crew is accommodating and fun. No cattle diving here!