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Dive Review of Caribbean Club - Buddy Dive Resort in
Bonaire/N/A

Caribbean Club - Buddy Dive Resort: "After some reflection, we'd return to the Caribbean Club", Nov, 2016,

by George Constantino, AK, US (Contributor Contributor 14 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 9293.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 2 stars Food 1 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 3 stars Shore Diving 5 stars
Snorkeling 2 stars
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments The good is that the Caribbean Club Resort is part of the Dive Buddy Operation. It is located close to many great dive sites north of town. Our dive shop arranged a package deal that included an air conditioned room (well just the bedroom); a small pickup; a free breakfast and nitrox; reasonable access to tanks from 9:30a - 5:00p. We got all of this and the chance to dive our faces off on a number of marvelous Bonaire dive sites for a little less than $1,000 plus airfare.

The bad was that we often found the tank locker nearly empty every morning; the gear locker was small and dirty; there was no light over the rinse tanks, so cleaning up over a late night dive was aggravating, the maid only came every other day and left the room dirty, and the food and drinks were marginal and over priced,the regular waitress was grouchy, and the tiny gnats extremely bothersome.

In summary, staying at the Caribbean Club is much cheaper than at Dive Buddy. You get a comfortable conditioned 2 room apartment with a kitchen; a free breakfast that will fill you up and provide the makings for a sandwich for lunch; a decent stick shift pick;access to both 60 cc & 80 cc yoke tanks at both this resort and the main Dive Buddy Complex during the day; the dive shop has a friendly staff and is well equipped with rental gear an guide books. If you want a better appointed and more modern resort go to Dive Buddy or Captain Don's.

It took some time to master shore diving at some sites when the swells were high. We loved diving on Bonaire and couldn't get enough of it from dawn to night dives. The health of the reef system was amazing. We found small groves of large and healthy Staghorn Coral and amazing patches of Elkhorn Coral (some 50' in diameter and 6' tall) at several sites. Many times I would just swim way out from the wall and admire the health of the ecosystem and abundance/diversity of the reef life. Our group encountered yellow frog fish, spotted eagle and manta rays, green and hawks bill turtles, octopus, three varieties of eels, the list goes on and on. We truly enjoyed diving Kapata, Cliff, Coco Beach- easiest shore access), 1,000 Steps, the Himalaya Hooker Wreck, Salt Pier, and the Dive Buddy House Reef for night dives as the huge tarpons that swim with you are impressive.

Final thoughts. Buy one of the local dive site books. You can rent a DIN to Yoke converter for very reasonable price. Most of the dive resort vehicles are stick shift, so talk to the resort before you go if you need vehicle with an automatic transmission. Get the extra tanks you need for a night or early morning dive well before the tank shop closes at 5pm because you'll like only find a sea of empty tanks after 6pm. They have to hot fill hundreds of tanks every day so consider yourself lucky if you get one with over 2,800 psi at the dive site. It may read 3,000 psi when you pick them up but after they cool down it will read 2,700 - 2,800.We also found many tanks with small to large air leaks so check every tank for leaks, psi level, and nitrox percentage before you put them in your truck.

I have to be honest getting into the water from the shore from many sites can be extremely challenging for older folks with creaky backs or knees or those with mobility challenges. We over came that by having these those folks use 60s and we carried their kits down to and back up from the site and in/out of wave zone so they could get their BCs and fins on in the calmer waist deep water.
Websites Caribbean Club - Buddy Dive Resort   [same]

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Alaska, California, Georgia and Florida Coasts, Keys, Bimini, Bahamas, Philippines, Mexico, Red Sea, Fiji
Closest Airport Flamingo International Airport Getting There Easy Flight from Atlanta, GA

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy, cloudy Seas calm, choppy
Water Temp 82-84°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Your on your own unless you hire a local dive master so plan your dive and dive your plan
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities 2 stars
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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