Bonaire Trip Report

Stayed at Buddy's Dive Resort Sept 2-9.

Accomodations: Adequate - clean, good AC, beds a bit hard though. Deal
included breakfast - very good: fruit, breads, sliced deli meats & cheeses,
bacon, potatos, omelet bar, cereals, milk, juices (never seen brown orange
juice before) - enough to fill up on before a morning dive.

Pool-side bar. Two restaurants on-site. If ordering a hamburger, get it
well-done unless you like raw meat.

Great sunset views from bar. No beach at Buddy's, just chairs and umbrellas
along edge of cliff above water.

Dive Shop at Buddy's: Drive-thru tank fill station. Nitrox fills averaged
about 31% (ranged from 29% - 33%) - no 36% available. Unlimited fills all
week.

Boat Dock: Rinse tanks at dock, walk-in gear storage room. Diving right
off dock - steps or giant stride entry. Reef about 40 yards from dock. Two
boats can dock at same time. Dock is one flight of stairs down from room
level.

Dive Boats: 14 to 24 passengers - as typical with cattle boats, can be
crowded at times. Giant stride off rear platform or back roll off side,
fins-off ladder. Had to ask for trot line once when current was running.
Captain did not drop spare regulator over side since most dives are shallow
(40 to 70 feet). All boats had emergency O2 on board.

Dive Masters: Not intrusive, but not helpful with donning or doffing gear,
and did not set up gear for passengers. Expect you to turn around and
return to boat when tank is at 1500 psi.

Diving: Some of the clearest water I've seen outside my faucet. Viz
usually 70 to 100 feet. Reefs very healthy and colorful (better than
Cozumel, comparable to Caymans and Belize) No big fish, but plenty of small
stuff - frog fish, a few eels, couple of turtles, few rays, rew octopus.
Easy to make dive back to 15 fsw along slopes.

Boat rides were never more than 20 minutes. Seas were mostly calm or slight
swell.

Shore Diving: Plentiful - access can be tricky over iron shore - wear
hardsole booties - did I say HARD sole booties? Some shore entries via
ladder or giant stride if you got big cojones. Reefs 20 to 50 yards off
shore.

Currents: Usually slight or non-existent, but did change 180 degrees during
several dives. Drift diving is not available.

Night Dive at Town Pier: Kinda nasty. Save your money.

Night Life: Lame.

Off-site Restaurants: None were disappointing, most were good or better -
not too pricey considering Bonaire is a vacation destination.

Beer: Heineken and 3 types of Amstel available. What's with the 10 oz
bottles?

On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 23:18:33 GMT, "jim frei"
<jdfrei@ZZearthlinkZZ.net> wrote:

>Stayed at Buddy's Dive Resort Sept 2-9.
>
>Accomodations: Adequate - clean, good AC, beds a bit hard though. Deal
>included breakfast - very good: fruit, breads, sliced deli meats & cheeses,
>bacon, potatos, omelet bar, cereals, milk, juices (never seen brown orange
>juice before) - enough to fill up on before a morning dive.
>
>Pool-side bar. Two restaurants on-site. If ordering a hamburger, get it
>well-done unless you like raw meat.
>
>Great sunset views from bar. No beach at Buddy's, just chairs and umbrellas
>along edge of cliff above water.
>
>Dive Shop at Buddy's: Drive-thru tank fill station. Nitrox fills averaged
>about 31% (ranged from 29% - 33%) - no 36% available. Unlimited fills all
>week.
>
>Boat Dock: Rinse tanks at dock, walk-in gear storage room. Diving right
>off dock - steps or giant stride entry. Reef about 40 yards from dock. Two
>boats can dock at same time. Dock is one flight of stairs down from room
>level.
>
>Dive Boats: 14 to 24 passengers - as typical with cattle boats, can be
>crowded at times. Giant stride off rear platform or back roll off side,
>fins-off ladder. Had to ask for trot line once when current was running.
>Captain did not drop spare regulator over side since most dives are shallow
>(40 to 70 feet). All boats had emergency O2 on board.
>
>Dive Masters: Not intrusive, but not helpful with donning or doffing gear,
>and did not set up gear for passengers. Expect you to turn around and
>return to boat when tank is at 1500 psi.
>
>Diving: Some of the clearest water I've seen outside my faucet. Viz
>usually 70 to 100 feet. Reefs very healthy and colorful (better than
>Cozumel, comparable to Caymans and Belize) No big fish, but plenty of small
>stuff - frog fish, a few eels, couple of turtles, few rays, rew octopus.
>Easy to make dive back to 15 fsw along slopes.
>
>Boat rides were never more than 20 minutes. Seas were mostly calm or slight
>swell.
>
>Shore Diving: Plentiful - access can be tricky over iron shore - wear
>hardsole booties - did I say HARD sole booties? Some shore entries via
>ladder or giant stride if you got big cojones. Reefs 20 to 50 yards off
>shore.
>
>Currents: Usually slight or non-existent, but did change 180 degrees during
>several dives. Drift diving is not available.
>
>Night Dive at Town Pier: Kinda nasty. Save your money.
>
>Night Life: Lame.
>
>Off-site Restaurants: None were disappointing, most were good or better -
>not too pricey considering Bonaire is a vacation destination.
>
>Beer: Heineken and 3 types of Amstel available. What's with the 10 oz
>bottles?
>
>

Well they are only a buck.

jim frei wrote:

> Night Life: Lame.
>
> Off-site Restaurants: None were disappointing, most were good or better -
> not too pricey considering Bonaire is a vacation destination.
>
> Beer: Heineken and 3 types of Amstel available. What's with the 10 oz
> bottles?
>
>
Hey Jim,
Sounded like, overall you had a pretty good time. I don't recall us
eating downtown but once, and that was at a really good Italian
restaurant in downtown Kralendyke (think it was Croccantino).

The LDS always goes to Buddy Dive Resort each Thanksgiving.

"jim frei" <jdfrei@ZZearthlinkZZ.net> wrote in message
news:dnERg.2087$o71.1872@newsread3.news.pas.earthl ink.net...
> Stayed at Buddy's Dive Resort Sept 2-9.
>
> No beach at Buddy's, just chairs and umbrellas along edge of cliff above
> water.
>

When the vacation is too bad the cliff has a purpose.

Good report, thank you.

"ben bradlee" <NoWay@Way.Bite.Me> wrote in message
news:GoGdnVy3KsYPW4rYnZ2dnUVZ_vidnZ2d@centurytel.n et...
>
> "jim frei" <jdfrei@ZZearthlinkZZ.net> wrote in message
> news:dnERg.2087$o71.1872@newsread3.news.pas.earthl ink.net...
>> Stayed at Buddy's Dive Resort Sept 2-9.
>>
>> No beach at Buddy's, just chairs and umbrellas along edge of cliff above
>> water.
>>
>
> When the vacation is too bad the cliff has a purpose.
>
> Good report, thank you.

I doubt a vacation to Bonaire would go bad...in fact Bonaire is a great
place for newbies, and since its south of the hurricane belt (OK, they got
hit once in the 90's) - anytime of the year is good.