Dive Review of Buddy Dive resort in
Bonaire/na

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Buddy Dive resort, Aug, 2003, by Mark Y. Yamanaka, CA, United States . Report 637.
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	After reading nearly every reader report in Undercurrent, we finally decided to make our first real dive trip to Bonaire with the Buddy Dive resort. We read so many glowing reports about Buddy's, and after diving and staying with them for 9 days, we can now enthusiastically say that we are 100% satisfied customers. The all inclusive Dive/Drive special includes everything - 1 boat dive/day ,unlimited tanks for shore dives, accomodations, breakfast, airport transfers and a rental truck. The breakfasts at the Dock of the Bay restaurant have fresh fruit, French toast,pancakes, meat, and eggs and they will make your omelette while you wait in line. The 1 room condo we stayed in had a full kitchen, A/c in the bedroom, a shower, cable tv and while it wasn't luxurious, everything was clean and modern. Staff was excellent in every way. Dive masters Alex, Zoo and Martin all gave good briefings and could spot stuff in the water that we'd never be able to find on our own. Most boat dives went to Klien Bonaire or sites on Bonaire that were hard to access from shore, like Rappel. But most of the diving can be done from shore and it couldn't be easier. All along the main road there are yellow/orange stones that mark the dive sites and for most of the sites you pull your truck up to the shore (or very close to it) , gear up and walk into the water. That's it. We went to the Salt Pier, Oil slick leap, which now has a ladder that makes entries/exits very easy and Andrea 1 and 2. We also dove on the beach in front of the old Sunset beach hotel, which is now abandoned. But there's a little tugboat wreck about 20 yards off the beach at about 75 - 95 feet that is getting covered with sponges and coral now, and is an interesting litle dive. Before we left, we had read some readers complain of crime, but we followed the instructions posted on our rental truck "Leave all windows open and doors unlocked" and we just kept some old beach towels, my old $10 sunglasses, our flip flops and a bottle of cold water in the glove compartment. We didn't have a single thing stolen. We talked to some of the locals after a few shore dives who had been hanging out on the beach while were diving and they were all friendly people. Hopefully the crime problem is a thing of the past. The coral and fish life were abundant - we saw many parrotfish, yellow tail snapper, some Tarpon, Barracuda, frogfish, sea horses and even a scorpion fish - watch out for them! We met alot of good people while we were there , but especially a couple from Ohio, Eric and Becky, who had been to Bonaire 5 times before and gave all kinds of great advice on the best dive sites, places to eat and were just really nice to us. I hope our paths cross again. The staff, from Doroty at the main desk, to Sandra, Martin, Arturo (or was it Alberto) at the dive shop, to Franklin (he's a young guy that everyone calls Fred) at the drive up tank fill station, are top notch and very helpful and friendly. Fred especially helped us pick good shore dive sites and was a lot of fun to joke around with. When we left, we gave him a tip for all his hard work and when we went to the airport, we were greeted by Fred's girlfriend and she wanted to tell us how much he appreciated the tip. When was the last time you had someone go to that much trouble to thank you for a tip?! But it pretty much sums up our experience with Buddy dive resort- great accomodations, great diving and most of all, great people.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	26-50 dives
Where else diving	Maui Kona Coast, Hawaii
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	81-84°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	no grwater than 130 ft.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	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	[None]

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Dive Review of Buddy Dive resort in Bonaire/na

Buddy Dive resort, Aug, 2003,

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 resort in
Bonaire/na