Instant Reader Report on Diving
Buddy Dive resort in
Bonaire/na in
2003/08

by
Mark Y. Yamanaka, CA, United States
Report Number 030903013252621

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 Maui
Kona Coast, Hawaii 

no grwater than 130 ft.  

[None]  

Overall Rating

 After reading nearly every reader report in Undercurrent, we finally
decided to make our first real dive trip to Bonaire with the Buddy Dive
resort. We read so many glowing reports about Buddy's, and after diving and
staying with them for 9 days, we can now enthusiastically say that we are
100% satisfied customers. The all inclusive Dive/Drive special includes
everything - 1 boat dive/day ,unlimited tanks for shore dives,
accomodations, breakfast, airport transfers and a rental truck. The
breakfasts at the Dock of the Bay restaurant have fresh fruit, French
toast,pancakes, meat, and eggs and they will make your omelette while you
wait in line. The 1 room condo we stayed in had a full kitchen, A/c in the
bedroom, a shower, cable tv  and while it wasn't luxurious, everything was
clean and modern.
 Staff was excellent in every way. Dive masters Alex, Zoo and Martin all
gave good briefings and could spot stuff in the water that we'd never be
able to find on our own. Most boat dives went to Klien Bonaire or sites on
Bonaire that were hard to access from shore, like Rappel. 
 But most of the diving can be done from shore and it couldn't be easier.
All along the main road there are yellow/orange stones that mark the  dive
sites and for most of the sites you pull your truck up to the shore (or
very close to it) , gear up  and walk into the water. That's it. We went to
the Salt Pier, Oil slick leap, which now has a ladder that makes
entries/exits very easy and Andrea 1 and 2. We also dove on the beach in
front of the old Sunset beach hotel, which is now abandoned. But there's a
little tugboat wreck about 20 yards off the beach at about 75 - 95 feet
that is getting covered with sponges and coral now, and is an interesting
litle dive. 
 Before we left, we had read some readers complain of crime, but we
followed the instructions posted on our rental truck "Leave all
windows open and doors unlocked" and we just kept some old beach
towels, my old $10 sunglasses, our flip flops and a bottle of cold water in
the glove compartment. We didn't have a single thing stolen. We talked to
some of the locals after a few shore dives who had been hanging out on the
beach while were diving and they were all friendly people. Hopefully the
crime problem is a thing of the past.
  The coral and fish life were abundant - we saw many parrotfish, yellow
tail snapper, some Tarpon, Barracuda, frogfish, sea horses and even a
scorpion fish - watch out for them!
 We met alot of good people while we were there , but especially a couple
from Ohio, Eric and Becky, who had been to Bonaire 5 times before and gave
all kinds of great advice on the best dive sites, places to eat and were
just really nice to us. I hope our paths cross again.
 The staff, from Doroty at the main desk, to Sandra, Martin, Arturo (or
was it Alberto) at the dive shop, to Franklin (he's a young guy that
everyone calls  Fred) at the drive up tank fill station, are top notch and
very helpful and friendly. Fred especially helped us pick good shore dive
sites and was a lot of fun to joke around with. When we left, we gave him a
tip for all his hard work and when we went to the airport, we were greeted
by  Fred's girlfriend and she wanted to tell us how much he appreciated the
tip. When was the last time you had someone go to that much trouble to
thank you for a tip?! 
 But it pretty much sums up our experience with Buddy dive resort- great
accomodations, great diving and most of all, great people. 

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