Dive Review of Dive Friends Bonaire/Delfins Beach Resort.com in
Bonaire

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Dive Friends Bonaire/Delfins Beach Resort.com: "Dive Friends a good Dive OP, Delfins Resort does NOT cater to divers!", Nov, 2024, by Rick Bates, ON, CA ( Contributor 19 reports with 8 Helpful votes). Report 13209.
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	Travel to Bonaire from Toronto at this time of year involves a stop over in Curacao. Then DiviDivi flight to Bonaire which was an hour late departing. We were a group of about 12 and we found out half our bags were left behind. They arrived later that night on a subsequent flight, stressful and inconvenient but they got there in time for next morning dive. Returning, half the bags were left behind, but arrived just in time for our flight to Toronto. We spent two weeks in Bonaire, after a week at Plaza Resort with Toucan divers, we stayed at Delfins with another group of friends, and dove with Dive Friends Bonaire. Our room included a truck from AB Rentals and picking it up, then dropping it off could not have been smoother. AB staff were prompt, friendly and the whole rental experience one of the best I’ve experienced. The Delfins rooms are nice and well kept. There are three restaurants on site, one for the included breakfast and two others near the beach. The operation did not seem to cater to divers in any way. There is a shop on site, tanks, rinse facilities etc. but boats depart from a marina 10 mins away. Therefore gear had to be loaded every morning and driven to the boats. We were diving at 7:45AM every day but the breakfast location didn’t open until 7AM. So it was a rush every morning to get something to eat, load trucks and get to the boats in time. They wouldn’t even let us in early to get a coffee while we waited for them to open. In fact a very rude manager shouted at us that they were not open when we walked in at 6:55 to sit and wait. Another day they kicked us out at 6:55 because “if other people saw us sitting there they would think they were open”. So 9 of us had to sit outside the open air seating area to await opening. Even then those who wanted eggs had to wait at least another 5 mins for the cook to set up and take orders. Other staff were very friendly, but this one person spoiled it for all of us. That person continued to snarl at us every day for a week. Only after ordering food and eating at one of the other restaurants for dinner, did we learn that to charge it to our room, we had to install their special App on our phones. I refused to do so, and had to walk some considerable distance to get a credit card from our room and go back and pay. Towel service was through the front desk ONLY, about a 5 min walk from our room. No exchange service at either of the on-site pools for some reason. Dive Friends was a good operation, nice boats, staff and DM’s nice to deal with. However, our group of 9 was on a different boat every day with different DM’s and sharing the boat with other divers. This made it impossible to organize our dive sites to avoid repeats, and honour requests for our favourites. However, on the last day we were back on their smaller boat with a DM we’d been with before and they did their best to accommodate our site requests. DM’s were very good about lifting my tank out of the water for me every dive which was much appreciated. Their boat dock, rinsing area and drying racks were a little worse for wear. Often flooded parking lot and rinse area made things difficult and frankly unsafe for walking around. Most of us took our gear back to Delfins, rinsed and hung up gear there. Overall, the combination of Delfins and Dive Friends is not something I would recommend or do again. There seemed to be a disconnect between the two operations. Delfins seemed to only tolerate divers, even though they are probably 75% of their business. Because of the way we were treated in two of the three restaurants, I would never return to Delfins, nor recommend them to anyone. As for the diving in Bonaire, it was good, but not great. Damage due to bleaching from increased water temps (86F up from 80F a few years ago). Also, visible damage to hard corals from Stoney Coral Tissue Loss Disease was evident on all dives.
Websites	Dive Friends Bonaire Delfins Beach Resort.com
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Indonesia(Wakatobi), Indonesia(Misool), Komodo Islands, Papua New Guinea, Australia(Melborne/Sydney/GBR), Fiji, Florida (east coast), Florida Keys, Bahamas (Abaco), Curaçao, Roatan, Bonaire, St. Maarten, Belize(Ambergris Key), Turks & Caicos, Cozumel, Great Lakes, St Lawrence River, North Carolina, Fiji
Closest Airport	Flamingo Airport	Getting There	Travel to Bonaire from Toronto at this time of year involves a stop over in Curacao. Then DiviDivi flight to Bonaire which was an hour late departing. We were a group of about 12 and we found out half our bags were left behind. They arrived later that night on a subsequent flight, stressful and inconvenient but they got there in time for next morning dive. Returning, half the bags were left behind, but arrived just in time for our flight to Toronto.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy	Seas
Water Temp	86-86°F / 30-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-50 Ft/ 9-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Stay within site of DM, 60 mins max
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
UW Photo Comments	No camera area at dock. Must return to room for rinsing.

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Dive Review of Dive Friends Bonaire/Delfins Beach Resort.com in Bonaire

Dive Friends Bonaire/Delfins Beach Resort.com: "Dive Friends a good Dive OP, Delfins Resort does NOT cater to divers!", Nov, 2024,

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 Dive Friends Bonaire/Delfins Beach Resort.com in
Bonaire