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Dive Review of Buddy Dive in
Bonaire

Buddy Dive, Apr, 2008,

by Jim MacKenzie, WA, USA ( 1 report). Report 4439.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity 4 stars
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving 5 stars
Snorkeling 4 stars
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Fantastic, easy shore diving. Boat dives were a mixed bag. The sites we went to on Klein Bonaire were a little disappointing - decent, but not as good as the other dives. Buddy's system was easy and quick to check out cylinders with EAN32 nitrox at no extra charge. Their pickup trucks were in great condition. Favorite dive sites were Invisibbles, a double reef with two fields of garden eels and a school of little barracuda that hung out with us, and Karpata, a great wall dive. Salt Pier with the big tarpon and the Town Pier night dives were definitely worth the price of the dive guides. Good idea to reserve as soon as possible upon arrival because of limited space and not always available for diving. The house reef was nice and extends way beyond the property both north and south. Susan Porter's Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy and Lonely Planet's Diving & Snorkeling Bonaire were definitely worth bringing. Five of us stayed in the three bedroom apartment and found it in good shape. Care had to be taken when using the showers though as there were no shower cutains. The food at the resort was good at the pool bar and excellent and expensive at the Lion's Den Restaurant. The breakfast buffet was also good. I would recommend E Terras for great local food at very cheap prices - and they were the nicest people. After a night dive and not finding anything open they made us dinner after the kitchen was technically closed. The goat stew was great. They are off the beaten path by the stadium, but worth finding. Garden Cafe on the main drag into Kralendijk is also recommended, having an eclectic menu with a chef who has done it all and does it fantasticaly. Nice jazz sundtrack when we were there too. Mi Banana was also good. The Buddy negatives were how long it took to be able to move into our room with not very good communication about what was going on, and the large number of tanks with bad orings that would then leak (although dives averaged over an hour). We didn't dive with them, but I think next time I would check out and make reservations with LarrysWildsideDiving.com to dive the windward side of the island. We were referred to them by Buddy's, but didn't get around to it. They board on that side of the island, make a quick rough crossing out of the bay into the open water and are quickly at the dive site.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 101-250 dives
Where else diving Puget Sound, Cozumel, Akumal, La Paz, Jamaica, Maui, Kauai, Lanai
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm
Water Temp 78-80°F / 26-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 1
Water Visibility 60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions [Unspecified]
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 2 stars
Large Pelagics N/A

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

Subject Matter N/A Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments [None]
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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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