We'll be at Buddy Dive for 8 days in about a month.
I read the Buddy Dive House Reef thread and a question comes to mind about the reefs next door at SandDollar and CaptDons.
If you're at Buddy Dive, can you just walk over and do those or do the ops get all hissy and want you to rent a tank from them?
Or maybe it's an issue mid-day, but not so much at night...

My advise: Rent a truck and dive all over the island. Don't just stick to the house reef.

You definitely do not need to rent a tank from Sand Dollar or Habitat but they may charge you for using their dock.

Frankly, if you want to do either SD or Habitat, just follow the reef crest left or right and you're there before you know it.

You can dive in at the Hamlet #5 and go one way back to Buddy's.
Habitat and Coconut Beach (plaza) now charge $5 dollars to dive. But worth it if you want to stick to REAL EASY shore dives.
I agree with Bas though,,,so many nice dives that are not house reefs.

This is my 3rd Bonaire trip and yes, we'll have the truck included in the Buddy Dive packages. I've already started a list shore dives around the island that I'd like to do.
But some times of day it may be fun to stay local as well, so I'm just allowing for that.
6 November soon come!

Buddy's,Don's,Hamlet,Bari,Coconut Beach(Plaza),Carib Inn,Yellow Submarine,Windsock,Weber's joy (witch's hut),Oil slick,Ole Blue, 1000 Steps,Tori's, Hilma...are all close and great sites.
Bonaire is not a big island..they are all close! and great...enjoy.

Sand Dollar does not charge you to dive from their docks. they do ask that you stop into the dive shop and fill out some paperwork and it is easiest, to bring your tanks from Buddy's and don your gear at Sand Dollar's dock or by your truck and then enter the water at Sand Dollar/

I'll begin by admitting that I haven't dived every shore dive possible but I have dived most; many several times. Although I do have a few favorite sites the house reef at Don's is definitely worth diving, IMHO. I will qualify that by adding that I am not talking about a dive just following the rope. If you go to the right from Don's rope there is a very nice little wall (Cliff), worth exploring at all depths. Going to the left from the rope and continuing almost to Buddy's; the reef is varied and in (very)good shape. On the way back there is of course the little wreck, La Machaca. I do however, agree that there are so many good sites you do need to rent a truck to find your favorites but these three house reef's are worth diving. They are especially nice to dive in the night since they make night diving really, really easy. Just watch out for all the sharks that come out after dark (lol)

Wreck Question... What is the name of the wreck at the bottom of the wall off Capt Don's at 130 feet? La Machaca is the upside down one at 40 feet. Since there are a lot of garden eels adjacent to it I would call it Garden Eel Wreck!!! Any ides of the name of that wreck?

Also - Buddy's offers a great location to do multiple sites on one entry. From Buddy's go right (north) and on one tank, depending on current, you can cruise through La Machaca, Reef Scientifico, Habitat's House Reef and all the way through to the north end of Cliff. One can also go deep on one tank from Buddy's to the wreck at 130 which is straight out from Habitat's dock with the garden eels. One can also go left (south) from Buddy's to Bari Reef and Sand Dollar up to Den Laman and back on one 80. Some of the best night diving is off Buddy's, left or right.

This is good to know, thanks.
We'll be there for 8 nights starting 13 days from now!

Hi Tom, Oil Slick is one of my favorites. I heard the ladder was taken by Omar, I don't know if it has been fixed yet. It would be worth a look.

I did Swim over to Capt. Dons and dive that wreck I think it straight out from the ladder. We snorkeled over and then down to the wreck and followed the wall back. It is especially good at the end of the day as the sun is setting...