Dive Review of Plaza Resort Bonaire in
Bonaire

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Plaza Resort Bonaire: "Chilling on Bonaire", Jul, 2019, by Nick J Monaco, MD, US ( Reviewer 5 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 11266.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation	N/A	Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We enjoyed another fantastic two weeks on Bonaire in early July. Once again we stayed at The Plaza Resort. We have been to the resort many times and it's always great to see familiar faces. Norin in the Reservations Department has been our friend since our first trip back in the mid-1990's. She has a great smile and is always very helpful! The staff at Toucan Diving, the house dive shop, knows us well and are quite knowledgeable about 18th Palm, the "house reef." Hagen is the manager at Toucan and has done great things, including adding the Scubar, a friendly little place to grab a quick bite to eat on your way to the dive boat or grab a cold beer and chat afterwards. The resort is continuing to improve and update their property. In July of 2019, they were completely replacing their pool and deck area. They offered a partially submerged, inflatable temporary pool in the meantime. It was large enough for about 10 people – sufficient for a quick dip to cool off. Unfortunately, we did not know about the pool situation until about a month before our trip. It didn't affect us significantly (we spent most of our time in the sea), but those with small children were certainly not happy about not be notified in advance. The resort is an "all inclusive," meaning food and drinks are part of the package. Once again we were delighted with the quality, variety and freshness of foods offered during all three meals of the day. The Chefs (award winning in the 2019 Caribbean challenge!) put out some excellent soups, among which the seafood chowder and oxtail soup were our favorites. Quincy, one of the servers at The Tipsy Seagull, is always interacting with guests and ensures that you don't run out of your favorite adult beverage. All of the servers engage with customers, making you feel like you’re part of a big family. We did most of our dives at 18th Palm as its entry is one of the easiest on the island, and we've seen everything there. This trip we saw several Ocean Triggers, Octopus, Lobster (one of which was at least two feet long), Frog Fish, and Tarpon, along with the usual suspects. Because Toucan Diving was catering to several large dive groups during both weeks of our trip, we opted to do a few boat dives, with Div'Ocean ([divoceanbonaire.com link]), which is right next door to The Plaza. They go out with small groups (6 max) and we have used them several times before. All of our boat dives this trip were on Klein Bonaire, and one unexpectedly turned into a drift dive when the current picked up. Two Southern Stingrays made a delightful fly-by!
Websites	Plaza Resort Bonaire [same]
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Florida Keys, Bahamas, Roatan, Statia, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Crete, Tortola, Rhoades, Capri (Italy)
Closest Airport		Getting There	BWI Baltimore through Atlanta to Bonaire
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	2
Water Visibility	60-75 Ft/ 18-23 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
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	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Underwater photography is very easy on "a diver's paradise," that is if your camera doesn't die. Mine did after taking just two pictures of an elusive Frog Fish. I had to make another visit to the very knowledgeable Tim at Fish Eye Photo, [fisheyephoto.com link] Years ago when I purchased my camera, my wife and I took an underwater photography course from him. A couple years later when I was having other issues with my camera, he quickly resolved it. In 2017, my strobes died. Tim came to the rescue again. He's a good man to know if you need technical assistance, or just want to learn to take better pictures under the sea. We’re convinced he has a voodoo doll of our camera, though, since there always seems to be some need to visit him! He diagnosed the problem I had this year, basically declared the camera DOA, and talked to me about some options based on how we travel and what we like to photograph underwater. I ended up renting a camera from him for three days. Boy has camera technology made things easier in the 14 years since I bought my last one.

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Dive Review of Plaza Resort Bonaire in Bonaire

Plaza Resort Bonaire: "Chilling on Bonaire", Jul, 2019,

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):

Dive Review of Plaza Resort Bonaire in
Bonaire