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Dive Review of Buddy Dive/Caribbean Club Bonaire in
Bonaire

Buddy Dive/Caribbean Club Bonaire, Oct, 2007,

by Dan Root, oh, USA ( 2 reports). Report 3705.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 3 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 1 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving 5 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments We've been to Bonaire at least 1/2 dozen times. Every time except the first visit we have rented a car and strickly shore dived. Can't write enough on how nice it is to NOT be on a boat dive schedule. It's a real vacation when you can dive as much or as little as you want - whenever you want. We've never had problems with crime, but we listen to the local recommendation on not leaving anything in your car, and leaving it unlocked with the windows down. We love Bonaire for the reasons stated above!

We tried for the first time the Caribbean Club Bonaire, one of the northern most places to stay - it's right next to Oil Slick (dive site). With better management, I would recommend this place.

The good: Very good breakfasts, and great kitchen/bar staff. A very nice pool. Excellent location for northern dive sites (Oil Slick, 1000 Steps, Karpata...). Excellent local dive shop representative (Rita). Good security. A nice Dutch atmosphere.

The bad: Paid extra for an Ocean view - which means your patio faces the ocean and you can see (barely) a small bit of water over the top of the nearby vegetation and buildings. Their Kitchen are very modest. Hot plate, broken toaster, 1/2 fridge. Was told by manager that house keeping came ever other day, in 10 days we saw them on the 2nd day, and not again till the last day. Asked for them to replace our patio light, and our light outside the front door - they told me no problem, and never did replace them. The wall tile in the bathroom was literally about to fall onto the floor, it was detached from the wall and barely staying up. I showed the manager this, and he told me maintenance would be there tomorrow - tomorrow never came I suppose.

In general, with a manager who would do what he said he would do, and follow-up on his own staff (house keeping), I would recommend this place (keep in mind their were two managers and these problems were only reported to the one manager). However as is, I am not recommending this place. Bonaire has many nice places to stay, at reasonable rates.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Red Sea, Palau, Truk, Lots of Caribbean
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm, noCurrents
Water Temp 83-84°F / 28-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 2
Water Visibility 40-75 Ft/ 12-23 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions All shore diving, no restrictions.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

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

Subject Matter 3 stars Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities 2 stars
UW Photo Comments After first couple of days, they lost the garden hose to fill the camera bucket. For the next 8 days they never found it, or filled the camera bucket.
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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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