Hi all -
My sister and I, along with our guys, are planning another dive trip to Bonaire. Last time we stayed at Buddy Dive with varied results (we were happy, they weren't). So - we are shopping for a different place to stay next trip. We have each put in our requests - house reef, set up for divers, unlimited shore diving, air conditioning in the rooms, food available nearby, and it must be a quiet place, as the guys are not 'kid friendly' or 'noisy party friendly'.
Aside from leaving the guys at home, what would you suggest for our next Bonaire vacation? We are planning for May 2007.

Hi Connie! I see you have a great sense of humor there. Since the men will be joining you, why not consider a private house? It is random luck at any resort regarding noise and kids. One trip, we didn't have a single kid in sight....the next trip at the same resort we were over run by European families on vacation. What a shocker! We went from being able to take a nice leisurely dip in the pool to dodging running and screaming kids. A private house would ensure that you had no kids and no other rowdy people on the property. But then....there are the neighbors.

Connie, I suggest the Divi Flamingo for your next trip. It should meet all of your needs and not be over run by children. Either an ocean front hotel room or better yet try a time share condo. I think you will be very pleased.

Connie,

We enjoyed our previous Bonaire trip at the Bellafonte, and we've made reservations there for the return trip. The noisiest things we encountered there last trip were the donkeys and the airport traffic, but neither interfered with our vacation. My wife's parents who are non-divers joined us for part of the trip, so we had a Grand suite which accommodates 4 people easily. How 'nearby' the food availability requirement is for you may not make this property work for your party.

I should think either the Oasis cottages or a Villa Suite at Captain Don's would be a good fit. The Habitat cottages are set just behind the dive shop, while the Oasis are behind the Ocean View rooms. See the map here:
http://www.habitatdiveresorts.com/bonaire/property_map.html#property_map

It's definitely geared towards diving (they're the home of diving freedom, after all) there's a great restaurant on-site, the house reef is quite nice, and although there's no guarantee kids won't be around, it still tends to be pretty quiet - even the bar seems to settle down after around 9:30 or so.

Connie..Resorts with pools can/may be a magnet for kids. If this is a problem & you wanted to ensure no screaming kids, Bellafonte would be a good bet. We've stayed there twice & the accomodations are excellent. They do not have a pool but a small hot tub. All rooms are oceanfront & great diving right off the dock.
No restaurant on premises (hence it's quiet), located in Belnem a quiet area & great eating is within 5- 10 mins by car.

Try pelican reefhouse, we loved it . E mail me if you want more info.

Hi,

See the post for silent accomdations, or email me separately. Lydia

You should check out www.deepblueview.com
My husband and I are staying there in November and I believe they do not cater to children 12 and under... There are only 5 rooms so it may seem like you have rented out the entire facility. I guess one thing they might lack that you want is not being right on the beach... but all rooms come with a truck rental and I guess you can't have everything!

Good Luck!

Jenn

Thanks so much for the suggestions, everybody!!! Now I have so many places to look into, maybe its a good thing we aren't going until May! I certainly miss Bonaire, though.
Love to you all!
Connie

Debbie Babcock has a very nice townhouse at Light House Beach Resort with a pool, quiet, ac in the two very large upstairs bed rooms, fans down stairs with great breeze through out when front and back windows and sliders are opened. We highy recommend it! You can check it out at http://bonairevilla.com/

for the third time! Does anyone know of a resort making accommodations for the new direct flight on continental? Overnight flight every sat night will deliver 150 exhausted travelers to bonaire on sunday mornings at 5am. Check in time is usually 3pm, is any resort allowing early check ins? Thanks.

Odd that you should only have one post Linda but you are asking for the third time.. Yes, most resorts will accommodate the early traveler. You best bet to REALLY find out if this is true or not is to contact your resort or at the very least ask your travel agent...

Linda

We fly KLM and usually arrive between 3 and 4am so we book a room for that night. Bonaire is used to this as KLM passengers arrive every night at this time.

I would cast another vote for Deep Blue View.

It's not on the water and you have to drive down from the hill to get food but it meets your other requirements. It has a beautiful view overlooking Klein Bonaire, downtown Kralendijk, and all the way down to the Cargill Salt piles. The gardens are fantastic and give the place a very private feel to it. Jennifer is correct, they don't take kids under twelve so there's no screaming kids or noisy parties to deal with. One of the things they pride themselves on is the peaceful setting of the place. There's a pool, hammocks and lounge chairs for relaxing in, and the rooms are air conditioned and spotless.

DBV is definitely geared toward diving. Menno and Esther are both instructors, and good ones too. Our son (20) did his OW class there last week which turned out to be a private class with two instructors. There are secure gear lockers with large rinse tanks and the tanks are filled offsite so there's no noisy compressor running nearby. You can come and go as you please with respect to access to tanks for night or early morning diving. If you like boat diving they have a very nice new RIB that is fast and comfortable with a good ladder for easy entry. They don't have any fixed schedule as to where the boat will be going or when it will be going there. They prefer to do it more in tune with what their guests want. You let them know what you're interested in doing during your stay when you get there and they find a way to make it happen if it's at all possible. If they can't accommodate your request they will do their best to make arrangements with someone that can say for you want to do the east side but the weather is too rough for Menno to take his boat. They will help you make arrangements with Larry's Wildside so you can do it. Menno and Esther are also very knowledgeable dive guides too. They seem to be able to find the stuff you're looking for more often than not. They can also arrange trips to the piers if that's what you want, and if the conditions are right Menno will take the boat around to the east side. They are associated with Caribbean Gas Training if someone in your group wants to take a DIR-F course. We met Benji from CGT, as our DM for a trip to the east side while Menno ran the boat to pick us up on the fly and he was a great guy to talk to and dive with.

So as for diving DBV has pretty much got all the bases covered.

We just came back Tuesday from our second stay at Deep Blue View, and it was even better than the first. What we really like about it is the feeling that your staying with friends. Yes of course there is a business relationship going on but they make you feel like they care about your vacation. Not like you're just another guest in room 118. They really understand customer service in a way that is refreshing to see in today's world.

In addition, where they only five guest rooms you get to know the other people staying there and it becomes a friendly little group. The weekly BBQ dinner had more of a family cookout feel to it as a result.

Check them out. If you decide to give them a try I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Divi fits 100% of your requirements, either the waterfront, garden, or timesharte rooms.

Also, they will hold luggage and give you place to change if arriving that ungodly early, so you can enjoy the place until your room is avaialble. Even do your orientation before you hagve your room.