Dive Review of Buddy Dive in
Bonaire

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Buddy Dive, Mar, 2005, by Colleen Kabat, WI, USA . Report 1813.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was our first trip to Bonaire. I searched the internet and "Trip Advisor" for comments on where to stay. Buddy Dive seemed to have what we needed. Upon arrival, the office staff seemed "scattered." We never found continuity with personnel. The resort has pretty shabby looking grounds and a moss covered pool. Their rooms are getting old, but they are huge. We had a beach front room with a kitchen & living room and nice walk out patio. We were told by other guests that the resort was recently sold and that the owner is not on the premises. This is obvious. The staff is not very friendly and don't look for many smiles among them! We soon realized that a lot of the resort's guests are return customers and meet up with the same people year after year. This was a hassle when it came time to putting our names on the board for boat dives. Some people were there as soon as they could sign up and filled most of the spaces. Watch for this! Get down to the dive shop early! Find out when they set up the roster and BE THERE! My husband and I had only 6 boat dives each and had a hard time getting on the lists! The resort is located next to Captain Don's and they are virtually on the same reef. The restaurant between, Lion's Den, is excellent! We think it's the best restaurant on the island. Next time we're there we will probably eat there every night. The diving in Bonaire is awesome. We've been all over and have never seen schools of fish like we did there. Klein Bonaire was okay, but they had just had damage from a storm, so the reefs weren't as spectacular as we thought they would be. We actually liked the house reef at Buddy better. The night dives there were great. We were accompanied by "Charlie," a 6-1/2 foot long tarpon that lives on the reef and likes to "hunt" with the aid of divers' lights. I had heard about him, but my husband hadn't - was he shocked when this huge, silver, mirror-like fish came swimming between us! He followed us back to the pier and when we went up to Lion's Den for dinner, divers were all excited that they saw a huge tarpon and some divers - we cracked up and told them it was us. They were amazed and several of them had never done a night dive. I think we sold them on that idea! We did take our truck to other shore dive locations and we LOVED those dives! We went down to Invisibles and found the eagle ray down there. We had a close encounter with him and got nice pictures. Make it your goal to look for the frogfish on the shore reefs. We found a pink one after about an hour's search! Some very nice, wise divers told us something that really made an impact on our diving in Bonaire. They said "Let the reef come to you." We did - it worked! We saw more turtles, eels, scorpion fish, sea horses, shrimp, etc., than we could count. Guess where we're going diving next? You guessed it! Bonaire!!!
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	10 years diving. Cozumel, Akumal (ocean & cenotes), Grand Cayman, Belize, Aruba, Curacao, Grand Cayman, Roatan, Florida Keys
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	dry	Seas	noCurrents
Water Temp	78-80°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	75-125 Ft/ 23-38 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	None - shore dives are shallow, permitting 2 or 3 dives each day, including 2 night dives.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	1 or 2
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	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Separate dunk tanks at dive shop for cameras.

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Dive Review of Buddy Dive in Bonaire

Buddy Dive, Mar, 2005,

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 Buddy Dive in
Bonaire