OK, I am sure that this topic has been "done to death" -- but as a Newbie to scuba as well as this site, I figured that I could become better acquainted by starting with my own initial posting.

After reviewing all of the different places to visit for a dive trip, I have targeted Bonaire as the first one on my list.

My first question to all of you is quite simple: Where should I stay? I've heard differing opinions about several places and have read numerous reviews. The site that comes up the most seems to be Buddy Dive.

I would appreciate any feedback about places to stay and perhaps the top two or three reasons to stay/not to stay at a particular place.

Thank you in advance to all who reply and I look forward to becoming a more frequent contributor to this site!

We've stayed at Lion's Dive twice and are going on the third trip in November. They're right next to Buddy's. Highly recommend them and Bon Bini Divers.

You have to have really bad luck to not have a good place to stay or a good outfit to dive with. Some of the absentee owner places to rent have occasionally generated complaints, but except for noise problems in some of the Plaza units every one has been happy with their 'homes' on Bonaire.

Bon Bini to BT and be prepared for PBD upon leaving Bonaire.

You have to have really bad luck to not have a good place to stay or a good outfit to dive with. Some of theabsentee owner places to rent have occasionally generated complaints, but otherwise except for noise problems in some of the Plaza units every one has been happy with their 'homes' on Bonaire.

Bon Bini to BT and be prepared for PBD upon leaving Bonaire.

If you are a new diver and new to Bonaire, you could not go wrong with Plaza, Buddy Dive or Lions Dive....they all have very nice facilities and good dive operations...choose whichever offers the best deals...suggest contacting WORLDDIVE.COM for air and land packages...other brokers are good as well

You might also want to look at Sand Dollar Condo resort. They have very complete studio,one, two and three bedroom condos, all with very complete kitchens. This summer their brand new dock and dive facilities will be completed. Bari reef, the house reef in front, has some of the best fish life in the world! Like everybody else said you can't go wrong with any place you pick on Bonaire. Have a great trip. Let us know if you have any other questions.

And it should be noted that Alan & Jane own a condo at Sand Dollar too :-)

Jake

Divi always gets my vote, but we're timeshare owners there so I tend to be one sided. It's an easy walk to town, no need to rent a car, but if you do ,unlimited air is available on premises too. Newly renovated hotel rooms, dive shope with several boats on the premises.Frendly competent staff. Jump right off the dock to see tarpon. They have studio timeshares to rent too.

I am with Lorraine. I love the Divi with it's great location and the fact that The Woodwind sails out of there for guided snorkels make it even better for me! I stay on the hotel side and have been very happy in there ocean front rooms.

I have been reading this board for three years now and I think that no matter where you stay, you will be happy! That is the charm of Bonaire, the people of Bonaire do everything they can for you to make you happy!!!! You will have a great time where ever you stay!

I agree with Linnea, you'd have to try hard to find a bad place to stay. It's more of a matter of what you want from a place. The first two times we went to Bonaire we stayed at the Sand Dollar. Then we found Happy Holiday Homes on the south end, and this year will be our sixth stay there. The bigger resorts provide more services, thier own dive shops, restaurants, photo shops, and etc. While smaller places have lower prices and are usually more quiet and less touristy. But then with smaller places that are off the water, you deffintely need a vehicle. Which you would need with the bigger resorts if you were going to do shore dives. You're going to love the island and the people and I'm sure you'll be back many times, as most os us, to find what's just right for you.

We stayed at Buddy Dive in February. It was acceptable. The one thing I really didn't like was there is only air conditioning in the bedroom. We knew this before we got there, so we were not caught by surprise, but I think some people are. Had there been screens to keep the bugs out, not having air conditioning throughout the unit would have been more acceptable. But as there were no screens, we had to close the windows and doors at night so we had no breeze to help cool us down. I like my air conditioning. The only two resorts that I know of with air conditioning throughout the units are the Plaza and Caribbean Court. We have decided CC is the way to go for us next trip based largely on this reason.

Divi's timeshare studios and hotel rooms all have airconditioning too.

My experiences at the Divi in oceanfront rooms have always been excellent! (4 years in a row) and sounds like they are even better now that they have been up dating the place (it did need it) rooms on water are great, restaurant very good, dive operations/staff are awesome.

Thank you all for your advice. It seems as if I just can't go wrong with whichever place I choose to stay at. Cross referencing your feedback with what I've read elsewhere, I'd have to say that the front-runners for my stay are Buddy Dive, Lion's Dive, Captain Don's and Divi.

If anyone cares to comment further on these four places, I'm sure the in depth analysis of each would be helpful!

Happy posting. I'm looking forward to becoming a more active contributor to the different areas of this board. Thanks again for your feedback...Tim.

e-mail me if you need detailed info on Lion's Dive. mkp2@earthlink.net

We've stayed at Captain Don's 3 times now - twice in the Villa Superior Suites and once in the Junior Suites. We found them all very comfortable and clean, and everyone very helpful and friendly. The dive masters are great - informative and friendly and fun; the boats are fast; and tanks are available 24hrs a day for shore diving. The house reef has many very cool critters in residence. The restaurant is good, with very good food in a range of prices, and if you want great but fairly expensive you can walk next door to Lions Den. We'll be going back there our next trip, too.

Check out Divi at http://www.diviresorts.com/destinations/bonaire/overview.shtml

I'm another timeshare owner who wishes she had a year-round house on Bonaire. Definitely a Bonaire addict.

Capt. Don's was our choice. We stayed in the newer cottages...peaceful, tranquil, private and yet close to everything the resort has to offer. We really felt that we stayed at three resorts (Buddy Dive, Lion's and Capt. Don's) since we could freely walk through all three and snorkle back and forth. We enjoyed the staff at ALL THREE. Don't let the fact that these properties are a tad north of town deter you. We walked to the town piers every morning just because...it's not far. Having wheels is always a must for us as we enjoy exploring off the beaten path, Shore dives, trips to the grocery and windsurfing in Lac Bay.
Have a great trip!

I'd be curious to know why so few people have recommended Sand Dollar. Price, or layout or what?
Michele

Michele,
We've (wife Jean & I) have been staying at Sand$ for the past 5 consecutive years (and have reserved year 6 for 2 weeks Feb/March 2003). This will be our 3rd consecutive year renting directly from the Zales (Alan & Joan), a really great two bedroom unit on second floor, with great view. Have also stayed in Studio (a bit 'cramped' by the end of two weeks) and one bedrooms. All have fully equiped kitchens with plenty of storage and counter space, large living room area, and porch area; some, like the Zales unit have screens on porch area.
A couple reasons we don't post recommendations every time someone asks:
1) I'm lazy when it comes to typing,
2) We've posted recommendations several times and archives searches will find many, by many people,
3) We've looked at several of the other popular accomodations, and all we've looked at have the basic comforts, but without details of the type of accomodations prefered (kitchen facilities, room size, view, dive facilities, price range), its difficult to address why one place would be far better than any others.
Some reasons we keep returning to Sand$:
1) By comparisons to several other places, it seems that the rooms at Sand$ are larger,
2) We like dealing with the same people, condo and dive shop, each year
3) Have not found any other dive sites that can beat Bari Reef for probable fish diversity.
4) Ice Cream shop, bank, and small grocery all right there.
Conclusions/Recommendations:
Do topic/word searches on this site for the various accomodations, ask specific questions, pick almost any of the popular resorts/rental homes that meet you basic needs, and then look around while on-Island to see if there is someplace better suited to you for your next visit (you WILL more than likely be going back).
Chet

Are we really confusing you now Michelle? Like
Chet said, it's a matter of preferences and you'll most likely be back with your own. That's one of the things I love about Bonaire, it's so "easy to be" anywhere on the island, know matter where you stay, you can make your own way.No cattle boats scheduals, everyone is usually happy to help you, friendly faces no matter where you stay.The hardest part is deciding where. You can be adventurous that way without the fear of being dangerously wrong. Gather the info and take it all in, then try to decide. You'll love it on Bonaire!

We stayed at the Plaza the first time and have been at the Caribbean Court since. We will be back again in July 2nd time this year. we are trying to stay 6-10 weeks per year on the island. We decided not to stay at Plaza again because we had to have a room change due to a flood (Plugged A/C drain)and the management refused to offer a room credit or pay for our clean clothes (still in the suitcases) to be laundered and the cost was high compared to many of the apts and rooms available back in 99 and 2000. However we do like the PLaza staff at the beach and club and rent lawn chairs each time we are in Bonaire from the French couple.

Caribean court is walking distance to the Plaza beach.They just lowered their prices to $110/night (including all taxes and fees) for one bedroom apt. They are among the nicest cleanest and centrally located places to stay and they staff (Lenny, Clark,Bert and Pascal) are top notch! We will continue to be regulars there until we buy a place. If you have four people in a two bedroom we think it is one of the best values around. They have stayed late for us (when the American eagle was 2.5 hours late and arrived around midnight) to make sure our room was ready and we were checked in okey. We are able to make business calls from our room at reasonable rates. The Photo Tours dive shop there is wonderful! Also checkout bonairepros.com if you haven't purchased airfare.He has several reasonable packages.

Hi, 1st time visiting this board. My husband is planning our 1st trip to Bonaire. We are considering 2/03 or 3/03. We planned on traveling with local dive shop but they had to switch plans to 4/03. So, we are on our own. It was to be Capt. Don's but I'm now wondering about Buddy's. Any suggestions? I really like traveling with a group just for the friendship when planning for a week. No one mentioned this time of year, is the weather decent?
Thanks, Dawn

Dawn:

Hmmm... if you really prefer the group thing, it all depends on how big of a group and how creative you want to be...

Lots of dive shops in the U.S. also operate as travel agencies, organizing group trips to popular SCUBA destinations, like the one you mentioned that switched dates on you. My research into them tells me that there is not much of a savings versus what you can get planning your own "group" trip. If a few friendly folks all decide to go on the same trip at the same time, voila!, instant group trip! (and with no agency commissions or profit margin added to the total bill, either)

Bonaire is such a vistor-friendly place that there is little need for organized agendas or tour guides (other than an occasional divemaster).

My suggestion is to go the "Bonairetalker way" (no, not the backpacker way, that's a whole different thing): use the message topics here on BT during the month or so before your trip to set up a whole gaggle of rendez-vous events, group dives, dinners, etc., all to occur during the time you are in Bonaire. You'll meet people you wouldn't otherwise ever run into if you are just sticking with a group/package deal, and it'll be like vacationing with "new old friends".

If you follow that path, you can pick any place as your "home base" - but my personal favorites are Coco Palm Garden / Casa Oleander for lodging and Dive Inn as a dive shop. Key reasons are low cost compared to the usual resorts and the wonderful personal attention from the proprieters of each establishment. I actually like not having a T.V. in the room when on vacation in Bonaire - who needs it? I don't put a premium on having a beachfront room, either.

And the weather is "always" great in Bonaire, especially at -20 meters.

Good luck - we all know you'll enjoy the experience!

-LS