Dive Review of Buddy Dive Resort in
Bonaire

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Buddy Dive Resort: "A large Dive operation that comes up short.", Nov, 2024, by Jack Ray, GA, US ( Reviewer 3 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 13239 has 1 Helpful vote.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	[Non Jack Ray <nsswe1@gmail.com> 10:00 AM (23 minutes ago) to me I wrote this as a guide for Buddy to improve there operation. Large groups are clearly better taken care of than couples and small groups. This is what we found after arriving at Buddy starting at the check in process. Need to separate groups at the dive shop check in. One line for people who filled out forms on line and one for people who have not. They also need 4 to 5 employees working to check guests in. At times there were 4 and 2 would leave and 10-15 mins later they would return to help. The shop had an A/C system that could not keep up due to all the people standing in the shop waiting. I would suggest splitting the groups up for dive the orientation . One group for new people who have never dived on Bonaire. And one for people who have dived on Bonaire ( we have been here around 20 times our first time at Buddy)we don’t need to hear the drill on no gloves no touching take only pictures and leave only bubbles etc. After that concluded I went to get weights I use 4 twos to balance out my BC I was told they had limited twos. I was told because guests take them home well if that’s the case buy more you are a dive resort you should replace missing equipment. We made a reservation for a two tank morning boat dive, we were told to be 10-15 mins early so as not to delay the boat leaving we were on Big Buddy. We watched as all the other dive boats loaded up and left close to 8 am. Our captain showed up at around 8:05 and swims out to the boat then he makes the required checks engine oil etc. Around 8:15 he starts the boat and mills around waiting for the last boat to leave which all had the tanks already on board. He docks the boat at around 8:30 and they proceeded to load more tanks at that time for all the divers. After that they start loading gear first then divers. I personally would like to handle some of my equipment getting on and off the boat I was wearing my BC I was told I had to take it off to board the boat “Buddy policy” I complained to the boat captain about it but I took it off as requested he then placed my BC on a tank next to where he was standing and proceeded to ignore me letting everyone get on the boat before me. I tried to explain I wanted to be set up next to my wife. They told me I could set up in another area of the boat this prevented me from assisting my wife which infuriated me. They left the dock at 8:38 completely wasting our dive time totally unacceptable your Supervision is letting Buddy dive down . At dinner on Monday night in Blennys restaurant my wife and I ordered Hamburgers mine was under cooked raw in center I have a picture. Our friends ordered fish with a calamari appetizer it was brought in around 30mins shortly after our burgers arrived. They ate there calamari and we waited an additional hour for there fish to come out we almost got up left without receiving the fish unacceptable performance for an enjoyable meal it was last time eating there. The breakfast was good I would suggest getting bigger glasses I have to make at least 4-5 trips for refills. The good part The drive thru tank station is a great idea and worked well. The guys working there at round 5:00pm are great they helped us unload our tanks and assisted us with our new ones great service. The only bad to the drive thru service is there lanes are not wide enough to open the truck doors or pass by with empty or full tanks. The house keeping staff was wonderful and took good care of us. Now back to bad part. We stayed in a three bed room 310 was the number it had no internet signal at all we were told we could go to the front desk or the restaurant area. We have never had a problem getting internet in other places we have stayed unacceptable it’s 2024 get some IT people to add some mesh routers easy fix. There truck fleet consists of Peugeot trucks. Who ever made that decision should be fired. We had a relatively new truck it’s rusted so bad in the tailgate area I was afraid it would fall off. The tailgate would not set level so setting up gear was a chore. Have maintenance add few chain links to get the tailgate level it’s an easy fix you should complete this task ASAP and its smaller than a Toyota so it was a tight fit for 4 people. I had a lot of wind noise on the drivers door then Noticed it did not have any weather stripping on that door none not all.
Websites	Buddy Dive Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Little Cayman, Roatan, Keys, Bonaire, Turks and Caicos, Cozumel, Curacao, Panama city beach, Clear Water and Tortola.
Closest Airport	ATL	Getting There	Delta airlines no issues flight waited 15-20 mins for late passengers.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	calm
Water Temp	86-87°F / 30-31°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-60 Ft/ 12-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	when boat diving they require you to hand all of your gear to the crew when boarding.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Bonaire's reefs are clearly suffering they are replanting coral but the decline is bad.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

Subscriber's Comments

By Garth Peterson in OH, US at Jan 04, 2025 18:37 EST

Good written report. As a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) process improvement specialist I always also try to give constructive criticism to orgs. too. I appreciate the level of detail you included (including gory experiences) and find it interesting as we are trying to plan a trip to Bonaire in 2025. People doing future writeups on Buddys it will be interesting to see if mgmt. has embraced and implemented improvement suggestions. Having been at Coco Roatan view last month it seems polar opposites for their great operations in roatan

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Dive Review of Buddy Dive Resort in Bonaire

Buddy Dive Resort: "A large Dive operation that comes up short.", Nov, 2024,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Buddy Dive Resort in
Bonaire