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Dive Review of Buddy Dive Resort in
Bonaire

Buddy Dive Resort: "Nice resort but too crowded", Feb, 2017,

by Todd Lichtenstein, NJ, US (Contributor Contributor 12 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 9487 has 1 Helpful vote.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 5 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments My wife and I stayed at Buddy Dive in January. There was nothing drastically wrong with this resort, but for us it was way too crowded. The hotel itself is very nice. The grounds are pretty and the restaurants were very good. I really liked the breakfast buffet. We had a one bedroom suite. It consisted of a separate bedroom, bathroom, kitchen area and living room. The room decor was spartan. They could have used some more artwork on the walls. One especially bothersome feature was the sliding glass door to the patio which took brute force to open. The handles on the door were broken off and the aluminum door track was corroded and needed lubricating. I called the front desk to alert them of the problem but nothing was ever done about it.

The dive operation was well run but again very crowded. If you didn't want to do shore diving (as we didn't) there were dive boats that went out at 8am,10am and 2:15p. In order to reserve your space on a particular boat you had to put your name on a blackboard. Sometimes we couldn't get on a particular boat because there were so many people wanting to dive. Dive gear was stored in an enclosed area and every couple had to share a locker. We have a lot of gear as divers so we had to shove all of our gear into a small locker. Buddy Dive needs to rethink their gear storage so that there is more room for each person. We hung our wetsuits up in this gear storage area. There were not enough hangers or space and sometimes we had to hang our gear up far away from where our locker was. Also I was so afraid that someone would take my wetsuit and dive skin by mistake. There should have been some sort of tag system so that one could easily identify one's wetsuit and other hanging gear.

The boats, crew and dive masters were very good. The dives ran very smoothly except for one boat dive which left more than a half hour late.

With our package we had a truck to do shore diving and drive around the island. The condition of the truck left a lot to be desired. The suspension was shot and it was incredibly hard to get the manual shift into reverse. I also suspect that the tie rods were going because sometimes when I turned the wheel there was a clunking sound.

To sum it all up Buddy Dive is great if you don't mind being with a lot of people. It is crowded but well run. It was not the place for us. Next time we will try and find something smaller and more intimate.
Websites Buddy Dive Resort   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Lembeh, Maldives, Galapagos, Cocos, Dominica, Cayman Brac, Little Cayman, Papua New Guinea, Andaman Sea, Raja Ampat, Blue Heron Bridge, Philippines
Closest Airport Bonaire Getting There Non stop on United from Newark

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy Seas calm, choppy
Water Temp 79-81°F / 26-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-75 Ft/ 15-23 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions 1 hour time limit
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles None Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish N/A
Large Pelagics N/A

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities 4 stars
UW Photo Comments [None]There is no photo room at the dive dock. There are 2 rinse tanks dedicated only for cameras.
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Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

Subscriber's Comments

By Greg Bruce in WA, US at Feb 17, 2017 08:24 EST  
Next time, go with Den Laman condominiums. In the same vicinity as Buddy Dive. A bit south from Buddy, just off of the roundabout. It is exactly what you are looking for.
By report author: Todd Lichtenstein in NJ, US at Feb 17, 2017 08:36 EST  
Thanks. We stayed at Den Lamen a year ago. We loved the place. We didn't like the dive operation. I have since learned that the dive operator there has changed. Dive Friends now run the dive operation.
By Greg Bruce in WA, US at Feb 17, 2017 08:42 EST  
We were not fans of the dive op either and it was the one thing that had me second guessing returning there. We are mostly shore divers though, so not as affected, but we still hated their lengthy orientation talk on day 1 that ruined 1/2 a day and their tanks always leaked and had bad o-rings and I could go on. We loved the condos though. We stayed in a 2 bedroom waterfront with another couple. Now that Dive Friends is the new dive op, we will definitely return.
By Lynn Thorne in NC, US at Feb 25, 2017 17:33 EST  
We like Belmar Oceanfront Apartments. Small resort with great house reef. We mostly do short dives though.
By Lynn Thorne in NC, US at Feb 25, 2017 17:33 EST  
We like Belmar Oceanfront Apartments. Small resort with great house reef. We mostly do short dives though.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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