O.K. here it is...Bonaire trip report...

[boates]

I was waiting to get pics ready 1st, so this is without pics for now

We traveled to Bon on the 11:55 flight outta Newark, arriving on the island at 4:30 am. We stayed at Buddys, and the shuttle was waiting for us.
Continental lost my bag that had all my camera accessories in it! I filed a missing bag report and sure enough it arrived the next evenng on Am Eagle. However that's not the end of this story!

The reception desk at Buddys was a task, as we arrived on board with a large group, and 3 smaller ones. But we got checked-in quite effectiently once we got near the desk! Some rooms were ready, ours wasn't. This was NO big deal, we left our luggage at the desk and headed off to check the dive area then to breakfast. The buffet starts at 6:30am. It was very nice, with eggs and waffles made to order, as well ample other selections of fruits,breads,meats etc.

I then headed out to find our room, and found it just as the ladies were finishing up the great cleaning jobs they do daily. We had a 1bdrm apt, very nice and complete. The water was not only hot, but actually had kick-a water pressure(a first for us at any dive resort!)

We had previously decided to attend the 9am orientation. It consisted of a video about the Island, a presentation from the camera center, and tour of the facilities. Then the check-out dive- grab a tank and go.

The diving:
Great dive right out front, massive schools of fish right off the ladder! Probably 6 or more species! Follow the rope out to the drop-off and go! To the left we could make it to Sand Dollars front dive, to the right we went to Dons front dive. So we dove the home dives of SD, Den L, Buddys,and CD's, every day. On Buddys there's 3 resident seahorses 40', octopus 30' and 4 tarpon that appeared (at least1 during day dives) every dive. On the night and dawn dives the tarpon hunt in your dive lights, and follow extremely close, and come right into your face when you cover your light. Cool! Also I found baby squid (about 3 doz) daily every dive, hanging under a swimmers rope! Very cute. Huge school of horse eye jacks always(except at dawn) under the a boat moored at SD.

We did do the boat dives, we really enjoy boats, some were 1 tank and some 2, great dive staff, smooth going, went to Rappell, the most beautiful dive I've seen, looked like the way a British book would draw the ocean for a fairy tale. Stunning, Knife, Lenores, MiDushi,Bonaventure.

The food there is at best over rated, and in the case of the Lions Den(not owned by Buddys), over-priced, but can expect some serious attitude there.

Our room was on the old Lions Den property, Buddys bought it a while back. I suggest requesting this section, it's very nice and more private, also closest to the dive operation.

We had the good fortune to meet-up with Defman, nice guy and great to dive with! We did a night, dawn, and boats together.

Anyway this is my take on Buddys, it was our 1st time there, 3rd to Bon, and we're planning a return possibly this fall....fingers crossed!

Another suggestion, if you arrive on the 4:30 flight, register, eat, if no room yet, grab a lounge and some zzzzzzzzzzz's, then do the 2:00 orientation.

Oh, and their trucks are new, 2 or 3 months.

We had NO problems with "theft", in fact left our room unlocked most of the time, except at night. No problems in town either.
Theres a ton of building going on there. Apparently the big companies are hiring off island for the majority of jobs, and this is part of whats causing the unrest there. What a shame. Anything else? Just ask, and if I can, I'll answer!!!
Hope you found something useful here.

[TX1Chica]

Thanks. When diving in front of a hotel that you are not staying at, is their a fee? Is it a pain? Does anyone care?

[Defman]

I got there a couple of days before them and left a couple of days before... I would pretty much echo her comments. Dunno if I'll go back though, there are places closer to me that I like more.

Mostly did boat dives and the only shore diving I did was at the Buddy Reef too, I agree that Rappel may be one of the nicest dives ever. No photo's from me at Rappel though, as soon as the DM said it was his favorite spot I knew I didn't wanna mess with the camera, I just wanted to enjoy the dive!

I liked The Lion's Den very much and ate there most nights, Kirk was always cool to me, YMMV. It is a bit pricey though. Pasa Bon Pizza was awesome and a good Sunday night choice since most the island is closed on Sunday! Food at the Pool Bar was OK but not spectacular. Note that the hamburger patty more closely resembles a semi flattened big honkin' meatball and they take liberty with some of the recipes, the Caesar Salad had lots of "non-traditional" ingredients to put it nicely.

My room (a Studio) was a few doors down from them and very nice, and was decorated very similarly to their apartment. Water was hot, pressure was good. Like most places, no wash rags so I just took the one out of the kitchen. King bed was two twins shoved together, not comfy if you like to sleep in the middle.

Thanks to 'Boates' for taking me on a dawn dive, never done one before. VERY cool to see the reef waking up!!


Here's my pic's, eagerly waiting for her pic's!!
Bonaire

[Defman]

Originally Posted by TX1Chica

Thanks. When diving in front of a hotel that you are not staying at, is their a fee? Is it a pain? Does anyone care?

Not if you swam there from Buddy's!

[TX1Chica]

I'm staying at Carib Inn. So will it cost if I want to go to the other resorts reefs? How does that work?

[boates]

Originally Posted by TX1Chica

I'm staying at Carib Inn. So will it cost if I want to go to the other resorts reefs? How does that work?

Yep, if you want to dive other resorts, there generally is a charge. At Dons it's $5. Now thats if you access the sites from their property!!

[harb99]

thanks for the trip report - I added a link to it from your other post about the crackberry

[dinger340]

Thanks for the report, my wife and I leave for our first trip to Bonaire on May 13 and the wait has been almost unbearable...Really looking forward to it and your descriptions eased some apprehensions...

[gthomas]

We have a large group going in Aug, so we need all the info we can get. Thanks

[Zenagirl]

You'll need to check with each dive shop to find out if there's any fee for diving the reef. I believe many of them simply ask you to check in with no charge for using the facilities. I was told that Bonaire Dive and Adventure doesn't charge to dive Bari Reef for instance.

Susan's Bonaire shore diving book tells which shops charge a fee.