We will be heading to Bonaire on July 1st and staying at the Divi for 10 nights; this will be our first trip to Bonaire. We too purchased the "777 special" however, decided to add on three additional nights.

Since booking our dive trip, I have read many mixed reviews about the Divi Flamingo, so this has me a little concerned. What can we expect when we get there as far as our accommodations are concerned? I believe we reserved an ocean front room.

Any information, must do's, etc. would be much appreciated. I've only just begun to research our options; I believe we have two tanks in the am. Any suggestions as to what to see or do when we're not diving would also be much appreciated.

One more thing about our flights. We will be coming via San Juan on American, and have heard that lots of people are finding that their luggage is not making it on the plane. It eventually gets there the next day. Has anyone here had this happen?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Suzi

Divi has done a complete renovation on the ocean front rooms and the hotel part of the resort. The ChibiChibi restaurant and the Calabasas buffet both serve good food. There are many restaurants nearby to eat at also.

The salt pans, the donkey sanctuary, Washington-Slaagbai park on the north end, Tuesday nights at Gibi's, put sugar or fruit out where the ChibiChibi's and Troupials can see it and watch them come eat it, snorkel, laze around at pool side and drink Amstel Brights, if you are so inclined, do a little no pressure shopping and enjoy the wornderful people.

p.s. take copies of your confirmation(s) with you. The island people rarely mess up, but the head office in S. Carolina often does.

Hello Susanne and welcome! I love the Divi, we are staying there again in November. We have an oceanfront deluxe room, and love it. The food there is good and it's a short walk to downtown. The house reef is great and easy diving too.

I will be on the island with Cynde from this board from July 4-13th, and we are having a get together at Gibi's Terrace Restaurant on Tuesday, July 8th, at 6:30 pm... it's a chance for Bonaire Talkers to get together and meet face to face. We
would love to see you there!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me directly.

Kelly

Susanne,
Did the San Juan route in Feb '02 & Feb '03:
Last year ('02), 2 of 4 suitcases arrived with us, other 2 on next flight (and several people were there at the airport when our flight got there picking up their luggage from the previous day),
This year, all four bags arrived with us.

Hi Susanne,

I stayed at the Divi in 2001 and my ONLY regret was not planning ahead to stay for ten days instead.

Serge runs an excellent dive shop and operation, the house reef is very nice and available 24/7 as are all the other reefs and shore diving sites on the island. The reefs at Buddy,Lion's, Sand $$ and the Capt are fantastic and only the Capt. charges a fee ($5) for non-guests to use his steps into the water.

Check out all the headings on this website for ideas on where to dive, eat and explore. The two tank package you have only refers to the boat part, you also have unlimited tanks available for the wondrous shore diving off resort.

BEWARE the casino. I found it has an unbelievable appetite for my $$$. lol.

You will just love your adventure.

Dive Safely

Thanks for everyone's quick response!

You have a great message board here with lots of excellent information. I indeed plan to check out the other areas.

Thanks also for the July 8th invitation...hopefully we'll see you there.

My husband and I have been debating whether we should rent a car, since our package includes boat diving. We will, no doubt, take advantage of some shore diving. However, we're not sure how much we would use a car, if we rented one. Is there a place where we could rent a car on short notice if we so decide? What do most people do, if they stay at a resort with a dive package?

We were in Roatan a while back, but we didn't spend much time away from the resort. I have a feeling we will be out more exploring the island.

Thank you again for your input!

Suzi

Suzanne,
Sounds like a duplicate of our trip. We did 10 nights with the Divi on the 777 special in March of this year. The Ocean front rooms are on the small side but clean. You can't get much closer to the water. There is a room safe, nice bathroom, good water pressure for showers. You're going to love the Dive package. Two tank morning boat dive leaving at 8:30a sharp and back by 11:45a. They only went to reefs that are in great shape. The drinks are pricey at the Divi bar. So What! The breakfast that's included is awesome. We went with some apprehension too and by the end of day two we were Divi disciples. No one approached us about timeshares..Now I kind of wished they did. You made a good choice.

Hello Suzanne,
I visited Bonaire for the first time in Sept.'02.
I didn't stay at the Divi Flamingo but ate several times at the ChibiChibi restaurant which is right on the water. You get to gaze at that crystal clear visibilty while you dine. The food was excellent and usually had reasonably priced entrees. That location is close to town so there are many wonderful restaurants to try that are close to you. Think of me as you try an Amstel
Bright!
Happy Bonaire Experience!
Dan

Those of you utilizing the dive package at the Divi, did any of you rent a car also? In order to get the most out of our trip, is having a car a must?

We booked our trip through "Bonaire Pros" aka Great Southern Dive Vacations. The TA we spoke to had no recommendations one way or an other. I was just curious what most people do in our situation. I am aware lots of people come to Bonaire, rent a car, and do nothing but shore dives. However, since boat diving was included in our package, I wasn't sure if we "needed" to rent a car as well.

Suzi

Susanne,
We rented a car for the last 7 days of the 10 day trip from Netty's car rental. In hind site we could have done daily rentals from the Hertz office located on the Divi Property for shore diving and not missed a beat. The morning diving boat schedule and and occasional afternoon dive covered enough diving for us. We only did a few independent shore dives using the truck. When we go back to Divi we will also take the afternoon boat dive option too. The center of town is very close and offers the opportunity for a nice walk with your buddy. One thing we wish we had brought was a full 3mm wet suit. The water is in the high 70's to low 80's range and gets cool after a while.

Susanne, you can reserve a car through Great Southern in advance. If you decide you want a car, I highly recommend you do, because it's getting harder and harder to find available cars on the spot if you don't have a reservation. Especially if you want a truck to use for shorediving.

Susanne,

I think this board has given you the answers to your questions. I just returned from 6 weeks at the Divi If you have other questions, feel free to write me privately. I highly recommend a car. There are many places to see and other restaurants (than the Divi). I usually rent a PU truck from ABCarrental. Depending on your diving stamina, you may want to make afternoon shore dives. Besides, you will need a car to drive to the street cam site to get your picture taken. As Marc says above, if you don't have a reservation, you may not be able to get a car...I saw some disappointed folks during my stay.

Marc's been humble as well - his real job (when he's not on BT) as of a couple of weeks ago is working for AB Carrental as the reservations manager (did I get that right, Marc?) - so he would definitely know about last minute availability issues. :-)

Jake

Congrats, Marc! Joe and I will be picking up the White Toyota RAV 4 on May 24th at the airport! Hope to see you while we are on Bonaire. Ayo. Carole

Really Carole? I don't see a reservation for you...
Just kidding . You won't see me at the Airport unless it's by coincidence; my office is at Captain Don's. Maybe we'll see eachother at a BT-dinner though.

You got it right Jake . I didn't mention it because Great Southern works with other carrental companies as well and I didn't want to influence or make it seem like I was advertising. I'm still a private person when I'm on BT . (More or less, anyway)

Susanne - We have a group going to the Divi July 5 - 12. Look for people wearing a "Wet Soots" shirt (or other marked clothing) and ask for Jeff (that's me!). Maybe we'll see you on one of the boats.

Jeffrey, feel free to join the group at Gibi's Terrace Restaurant on Tues. July 8th at 6:30 pm!

Hi Jeffrey:

Where are you from and how many will be in your group? Just curious.

We'll be there July 1-12, 2003; counting down the days! I have a hunch we'll run into you, as we too have boat dives included in our package.

Suzi

Carole:

We are from MD and TN.

There may also be a couple from Canada (but they will be last minute, if at all).

There will be 12 - 14 people in our group (including 4 kids that are PADI certified). We are dive CrAzY ... probably will be doing 3-4 dives per day.

Feel free to send me a personal e-mail for more detailed information.

Jeff.

Oops - Suzi (not Carole ... what was I thinking??)

We are from MD and TN.

There may also be a couple from Canada (but they will be last minute, if at all).

There will be 12 - 14 people in our group (including 4 kids that are PADI certified). We are dive CrAzY ... probably will be doing 3-4 dives per day.

Feel free to send me a personal e-mail for more detailed information.

Jeff.

No problem, Jeffrey! Nice to meet you anyway! LOL. We will be at the Divi this week for two weeks....can't wait to get into the water with the critters. Sounds like you and your group will have a great time! Carole

Suzi,

We stayed at the Divi last year and loved it. I would recommend asking for a fridge in the room. The have the small dorm size ones. That came in really handy.

Shelly

Shelly:

Is there an extra charge to have a refrigerator? I was assuming there would be one in our room - I didn't think of asking for one at the time we made our reservations. I believe we have a deluxe ocean front room.

Thanks for the tip.

Suzi

The timeshare side has full kitchens (no dishwasher or microwave, tho) but the hotel side does not have a fridge unless requested and available. There is a charge for the mini fridge, but I don't know the rate offhand. Good luck! We arrive on the timeshare side tomorrow. Carole

Suzi,

There was a charge for the fridge. I believe it was $5.00 - $7.00. But it was worth the extra charge. We certainly saved much more than that by eating in. Feel free to email me if you have any more questions I can help out with.

Shelly

Hi Suzi,

I just got back from Bonaire last week and I would recommend renting a car. We were not able to get a car for the first four days of our two week trip. We had reserved one at Netty's, but they didn't have one for us when we arrived.

Two reasons I would definitely have a car/truck.

1. Bonaire really is diving freedom as they say and we found that for us, we didn't want to be tied to a boat schedule. We went out every day and dove where and when WE felt like it. We explored and re-explored the whole island and loved it.

2. Availability. You might have a hard time getting a truck unless you reserve in advance. The truck is more comfortable than the little vans they rent if you are at all large. I am 6'2, so the van seemed a bit small for my taste.

We did a couple boat dives the first couple days we were there because we weren't able to get a car, but the rest of the time it was such fun to explore the rest of the island and it's many dive sites.

By the way, I was on Roatan a bit over a year ago. We spent one week at CoCo View, and another week winging it on the West End. Bonaire is a much better place to be at for cleanliness and friendliness. Diving was different on Bonaire, but I wouldn't say it was all that much better once you got underwater. Might have actually been better in Roatan. And the food on Bonaire is so much better than Roatan.

But one of the best things about Bonaire if you have been to Roatan is no Sand Fleas!!!!! Heck the silly birds can barely fly in the wind, so the insects certainly can't.

I would love to hear how you would compare the two after you get back from Bonaire. If I could go back to either place it would be an easy choice to go back to Bonaire. I wonder how you will feel.

Have a great time!!!!