Dive Review of Captain Don's Habitat in
Bonaire

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Captain Don's Habitat: "Still our favorite on Bonaire, warts and all...", Nov, 2014, by Larry Eggert, UT, US ( Reviewer 5 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 7923.
No photos available at this time
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 just spent a lovely 2 weeks scuba-diving in Bonaire. We stayed at Captain Don’s Habitat, as we often do. Our first trip was in 1998 and little has really changed on the island or at the resort. We’ve been in an “Ocean View” room by the pool. It has not been updated in the time we’ve been coming here. The electrical outlets are so worn out that I could not get a charger to stay plugged in. Had to get maintenance to come by and replace one of the outlets so we could at least plug a power strip in. Recommendation number 1 – bring a power strip – you’ll need it! The first time we tried the shower we discovered the hot and cold water were plumbed backwards!!! Just about scalded my wife when she thought she had cold water turned on. Maintenance came and re-plumbed the shower water. Really? How long had that been a problem… The maintenance guy told us they are scheduled to tear these rooms down to studs and totally redo wiring, plumbing, etc in about 3 months. Hmmm, we’ll see. We didn’t come here to watch TV, but of course the 20 year old TV hooked up to analog cable was a poignant reminder of the past. At least I could watch a bit of sports on the weekend after diving. The wifi and internet access sucks at the resort and on the island in general. Welcome to island living. I could usually get to email once a day. Good luck trying to stay connected long enough to do anything over a VPN. Just tell your friends not to expect to hear from you and relax… And the Rum Runner restaurant still has very good food. But the service continues to be on “island time” – leave yourself lots of time to leisurely meals if you eat here. In all fairness, that can be said for most all restaurants here on Bonaire. Now for the good stuff. The AC worked in the room – yea! The balcony deck was spacious and comfortable with a wonderful sunset view over the pool. The in-room safe was digital and spacious enough for several laptops, tablets, passports, etc. Captain Don’s dive operation advertises “diving freedom” and for the most part it delivers. My wife and I are older with joint issues and we prefer to do boat dives or go off the dock to the house reef. We’re both pushing 1,000 dives, so we’re “experienced”. That said, you still have to go through the orientation for the nth time, buy the Marine Park tag, do you house reef “checkout dive”, and then you can get down to seriously enjoying the Caribbean diving. Netto and Sherman have been dive guides here for as long as we’ve been coming and are wonderful to dive with! Karin and Martijn are new to us this trip and also delightful. Most dives we were in the water quickly, dived along at our own pace taking video and enjoying the healthy reefs. My wife was usually back in the boat by 60 minutes and I usually came up with the last group of divers, often getting 70-80 minutes of relaxing diving. It’s the typical Caribbean diving with parrot fish, angel fish, schools of smaller colorful fish, a few seahorses, 1 frogfish on the house reef and lots of tarpon – especially on night dives. Unfortunately the lion fish are still here and the Marine Park is not doing a very good job clearing them out. The infestation is better than our last trip 4 years ago, but still needs a lot of attention! This is a political issue with the Marine Park – enough said. We still love the “feel” of Bonaire and the diving at Captain Don’s, and we’ll be back. I’d give the resort a 3.5 rating if I could, and the dive operation at least a 4+. The restaurants are good, the town is safe to wander around, you can drive the countryside and sight-see, the climate is delightful and the sunsets are outstanding. If you like to shore dive, there’s no better place. Bonaire, we’ll see you again in a while. Now off to Indonesia and awesome equatorial Pacific diving this spring…
Websites	Captain Don's Habitat
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Indonesia, Philippines, Solomons, Fiji, Galapagos, Roatan, Palau, Hawaii, Cayman
Closest Airport	BON	Getting There	Delta, direct from Atlanta
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	83-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	4
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Had to do a Marine Park orientation. Had to do a checkout dive.
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
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Very inadequate camera tanks on dive boats. Only 1 per boat. Too small. Universal complaints from photographers!

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Dive Review of Captain Don's Habitat in Bonaire

Captain Don's Habitat: "Still our favorite on Bonaire, warts and all...", Nov, 2014,

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 Captain Don's Habitat in
Bonaire