Dive Review of Captain Don's Habitat in
Bonaire

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Captain Don's Habitat: "Relaxed diving on your schedule", Mar, 2023, by Joel Snyder, AZ, US ( Top Contributor 31 reports with 31 Helpful votes). Report 12395.
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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	We spent two weeks at Captain Don's Habitat on Bonaire in February. Over the years, we've tried other options, but the ease of Habitat's 3-boats-a-day schedule pulled our party back to Habitat. We rented one of the two 3-bedroom villas they control, giving us a very large private patio and living room with a poorly equipped kitchen, along with three bedrooms and baths and two parking spaces. Diving on Bonaire has not significantly changed in decades. Marine life is plentiful and generally unafraid, making for good photography. Hard and soft corals are abundant and healthy. While there are a lot more people on the island, we never felt crowded in diving. The one-boat-per-mooring rules mean that we rarely saw other divers. Water temperature was an absolute solid 78 or 79 F at every depth and currents were nonexistent for all but one dive--and even then not strong enough to be a cause for concern. This time of year the weather was quite mild, and while we ran the air conditioning for a few hours each day, we didn't feel the need for it most evenings. Habitat's dive operation has become smoother with time, which is both good and bad. For experienced hands who've stayed there before, we had a minimum of hassle and a maximum of easy diving. For divers new to the resort, the first briefing was disorganized, incomplete, and difficult to understand. The team running boats and the shop are some of the same faces that we've seen for decades, and were always available to help or offer advice when asked. Some of our group took off for shore diving which is one of Bonaire's strengths. Again, nothing much has changed: find a yellow rock, back up your truck, and search for the best entry and exit points. We had the usual warnings about petty theft and leaving trucks unlocked while underwater, along with the usual "but I've never had any problems" disclaimers. The island has changed, a bit for the better and a bit for the worse. Once overrun with American tourists, now there is a mix of even more tourists, including Dutch, American, and some of everything else. This huge influx makes dinner reservations at the 'famous' restaurants mandatory, sometimes days or weeks in advance. Prices are high. On the other hand, there are now many more restaurants serving mostly locals with inexpensive delicious food, giving you more options--you just won't find them searching through TripAdvisor. Cruise ships are now a regular daily fixture, dumping thousands of guests during the day who clog up the small downtown area, rent small electric carts to tour the island, and create traffic congestion as one of their main sports. This growth, though, has brought more options for food shopping---an entire row of grocery and liquor stores at every price point is just south of downtown towards the airport---and more housing and diving opportunities. While much of Bonaire would be recognizable to someone who hadn't visited since the 1990s, there's a lot more building and growth. Restaurant-wise, we have promoted some new ones on our list and demoted a number that are not really that special. Two standouts, not even restaurants really but great for takeout: Bobbejan's (weekends only, takeout only) and Doner Station (outside tables or takeout). Bobbejan's is a Bonaire institution, but the quality on the short menu is still fantastic. Plan for a 30-40 minute wait between ordering and pickup, which is plenty of time to drink a beer and walk the shore downtown. Doner Station---yes, it sounds like a greasy kebab shop, and yes you can get a greasy kebab, but these are serious guys having fun with Turkish street food. Portions are large, meats are grilled when you order, and everything is savory and delicious. Posada Paramira, in Rincon, is a bit of a drive and only open up until about 6PM---so good for an early dinner or lunch, especially after diving Karpata, but delicious and authentic local food. The menu is short, and what's available is an even shorter list, but it's fresh and served without pretention. Irie Jamaican, downtown near the hospital, same deal: the menu is "whatever is available" and the atmosphere is basic but the food is well-flavored and reasonably priced. Bon Tapa, a 'small plates' restaurant downtown, continues to get good ratings. Part of the appeal is that you can order many different things and come back to whatever you liked best. The tourist location puts prices up, but a talented bartender and wide ranging menu make it a good choice, especially for groups of 6-8. Compare, for example, to Mezze, where the food is also excellent 'tapas-style', but the more elegant atmosphere and stratospheric prices make it a less interesting choice. We tried It Rains Fishes for the first time. People have been trash-talking this restaurant for a while---if you go to Donna & Giorgio's, Donna seems to make complaining about IRF a part of every table's order. Yet the quality and service were good, and there were non-fish options as well. Prices are 'normal' for that location and that target audience, which is to say "high," but it's worth a try. The last restaurant on our "want to go back" list is Joe's Restaurant, south of town. Informal outside seating, a Dutch-driven menu, but reasonable prices and a good mix of dishes highlighting local products. Not inexpensive, but a good balance. A number of restaurants got demoted to "not really interesting" anymore and we don't plan to go back: Ingridients, which wants to be cool but is suffering from being stuck with Buddy Dive Resort and can't get out of the funk of being a hotel restaurant. Sebastian's, once famous for their incredible pier table, continues to underwhelm with the food. The pier table is back, although there are now several tables, but the kitchen has never really been up to snuff. We forgave them for years, but really at this point, enough is enough. And finally Eddy's, Mexican/Latino food, so underwhelming that it looks like a Dutch chef is trying to make it.
Websites	Captain Don's Habitat
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Asia; Carib; Mexico; Hawaii; Red Sea
Closest Airport	BON	Getting There	Travel to and from Bonaire for US travellers is very difficult. Direct flights from Atlanta, Newark, Houston, and Miami come in on Saturdays early and leave late that same day (United to Houston is the exception, with one flight out on Sunday). That means that West Coasters have almost no option to arrive or leave the same day. American does run 3 flights a week from Miami, and if you're willing to fly through Amsterdam, there are two flights in and out every day. Connecting through Curacao
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	78-79°F / 26-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-60 Ft/ 12-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Habitat ran 3 boat 'slots' a day, 2 AM & 1 PM, with as many of 3 boats. Most went out with 5-10 divers on them. In a few cases, things were more crowded. DMs had few rules other than "go in the same direction," to help find lost guests. DMs requested 60 min, our average was 67 min.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	1 or 2	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	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Subscriber's Comments

By John Hill in NY, US at Apr 11, 2023 08:16 EST

We were disappointed in Capt Don’s last year. Some surly DMs, poorly maintained boats and tanks. Prefer Buddy Dive. We had great meals at Joe’s and Sebastian.

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Dive Review of Captain Don's Habitat in Bonaire

Captain Don's Habitat: "Relaxed diving on your schedule", Mar, 2023,

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 Captain Don's Habitat in
Bonaire