Dive Review of Dive Friends Bonaire/Bellafonte Chateau de la Mer in
Bonaire

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Dive Friends Bonaire/Bellafonte Chateau de la Mer, Apr, 2009, by Kimberly Krebs, MD, USA ( Sr. Reviewer 7 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 5036.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We found Dive Friends to be adequate. We joined them for 3 two-tank morning dives to Klein Bonaire, as well as one night dive to Klein Bonaire. We considered them to be transportation to Klein and that was it. As experienced divers, we were allowed to make our own dive profile, and often did. Dive Masters moved quickly across the reef and gave little time for seeing small things. Few creatures were pointed out. The boat was small and crowded, and there were a lot of newer divers. Our biggest problem was that all divers had to remain on the surface until all divers were in the water and this sometimes took far too long (10-15 minutes). For shore diving, we had a great time, but many of the tanks that were available were leaking or damaged. Check your tanks carefully and recheck the PSI before getting in the water. The dive shop offered free nitrox, but supposedly had a limit of 3 Nitrox tanks/day. One employee told us that this wasn't enforced, we often took more than 3 Nitrox tanks. The night dive on Klein was wonderful and I recommend it, especially since Town Pier was not available for a night dive in the spring of 2009. The Bellafonte was a terrific place to stay. We found it worth the price and the perfect mix between a hotel and a condo/timeshare. We had lots of space and a full kitchen, washer/dryer, living room, and still had daily maid service. We had breakfast on the balcony each morning, and saved money on food by staying there. Everyone was friendly and a dive locker was available for storing gear. The house reef was very nice. We were in a Senior Suite and it was worth the upgrade.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	St.Thomas, Key Largo, Belize, Turks & Caicos, Little Cayman
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, no currents
Water Temp	79-81°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	60-130 Ft/ 18-40 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Depth limits of 100 feet on the first dive, 80 feet on the second dive. Time limit of one hour.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
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
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	There were two rinse tanks on the boat for cameras. Dive masters did not particularly assist with cameras at all. Otherwise, there were no other accomodations for UWP.

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Dive Review of Dive Friends Bonaire/Bellafonte Chateau de la Mer in Bonaire

Dive Friends Bonaire/Bellafonte Chateau de la Mer, Apr, 2009,

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/Bellafonte Chateau de la Mer in
Bonaire