I've been to Buddy Dive/Lion's Dive (merged a few years ago) four times in the past few years (between 2004 and 2006. Key points:

* The dive operation is efficient to the point of setting a high standard against which I compare all other dive resorts. The drive-thru tank station (air and nitrox) is perfect. Rent a truck when you get there, either on your own or through the resort (I say rent your own truck at the airport, leave it there when you fly out). Get up in the morning for chow, get your dive buddies, grab two tanks each, and head out for dive sites ALL OVER THIS ISLAND. Go somewhere or come back for lunch and surface interval, then grab two more tanks and go! They also have packages with boat dives, which is the only way to get to the dives around the uninhabited Klein Bonaire island in the middle of the bay.
This is the place for beach diving. The entire island has been a protected sea park since the 1970s. The sea life is abundant and the reefs beautiful. My first dive trip outside of the states was to Bonaire, and it spoiled me for all other places. I will keep going back.
As you drive around, yellow stones mark named dive sites. Shore diving can be hard on the feet -- you need boots, not footy fins. Most of these beaches are coral and stone at the water line. Some are sand all the way in. It won't be as easy as boat diving, maybe, physically. On the other hand, you are on you're own schedule and not subject to the whims of the boat captain or the desires of the other 10 divers on the boat. Go where you will and dive as you wish.

* Rooms I've had have been 50/50. Some have been well furnished. Some have had problems with lighting or ventilation. Some have skeeter problems. The maids open the door to clean during the day and the mosquitoes hid in the cool darkness behind the fridge -- they do come out at night. So, get a separate bedroom (i.e., not studio-apartment style room) or, better yet, take your own mosquito netting -- I do.
Some of the rooms have lighting problems. Some are damper than others. Some are fantastic, clean and comfortable. I try to adapt because I GO FOR THE DIVING!

* Hotel service ranges from exception to horrendous. Realize that it's not the operation, it's the individual. I met several hotel/restaurant interns at Buddy Dive who were there to complete their education in that field from their universities in the Nederlands. They were, without exception, the stars. The teenagers who come down to work as bartenders, waiters, and party for six months or a year varied from friendly and helpful to just-here-to-party (but haven't met too many of those, thankfully). The locals I met have been uniformly friendly and helpful. I speak about a teaspoonful of Spanish (local languages are Spanish, Dutch, Papamiento (sp?) patois, and English), so that helps.

* Some fellow travelers have had problems getting the rooms they want/reserved. I have had such problems before ('two beds? only one bed . . . you can share, yes?' no American guys do not share beds as they apparently do in Europe -- those crazy Europeans!) Fortunately, it doesn't happen every trip and is usually resolved in reasonable time. The leader of my favorite dive group has not always been so lucky -- he has sacrificed sometimes to accommodate his dive customers on the trip, at loss of his convenience. These are all issues we've dealt with on dive trips, but they are most certainly NOT exclusive to Buddy Dive, or even Bonaire. I've seen equally irritating service in Mexico, without doubt.

* The breakfast restaurant is a buffet. Get the breakfast only meal plan. It's about $10/day, you get a good breakfast, then you're out on the island diving the rest of the day. If you're back at Buddy Dive and want to eat lunch at the beach restaurant, charge it to the room. At night, have dinner at the restaurant (separately owned) at least one night, if only for the beer and seafood selection. Other nights, DO NOT MISS the many and varied European-style restaurants on this island. Downtown has a fantanstic Italian place (make reservations or they'll hate you -- can't remember the name), Guernica, Richard's, the Blue Iguana, City Cafe -- I'm probably misremembering half of these names. Suffice to say, there is plenty of great food in Bonaire.

As for the breakfast, there are birds. I read a review of a resort in St. Lucia where my wife and I honeymooned. One major point was that 'there were birds everywhere -- it was like the Hitchcock movie.' Look, you're on the seashore eating outside. I've seen this in Bonaire, St. Lucia, Cozumel, and Curacao. Birds are going to circle your table -- even land on it -- looking for the scrapes they know are forthcoming. Get used to it or eat indoors.

As for Bonaire itself, it is my favorite dive place. Period. There is not much else going on on this island. It's not packed with locals and tourists. Dive operations are the primary source of money. I loathe to think what it might be like to 10, 20, or 30 years if a bunch of resort hotels move in. I know it will be good for the local economy, but the unspoiled nature of much of the island will be lost, I think. A place like Curacao, where diving is at best a secondary industry to other types of tourism -- or even the oil refinery processing Hugo "I'm A Communist Idiot" Chavez's Venezuelan oil -- simply cannot compare. There is poverty on all the Carribean islands and Mexico -- much of this is the Third World. I've read many reviews griping about being harassed on beaches by shell- and drug-selling locals (Jamaica, mon, would take the prize for that one). Well, you're a rich American (or whatever). What do you expect? To it's credit, Bonaire is a place where I've seen very little if any local "harassment" of tourists. I've never been hit up for money in Bonaire. I've never received the hard sell to purchase shells, jewelry, drugs, or anything else in Bonaire, unlike the others places I've visited. If you don't like to be bothered by the Third World, try Bonaire. There are many poor people there, but they seem to keep to themselves, in my experience. Maybe they haven't learned that rich "First Worlders" are willing to hand out bills to beggars if only to get them out of their faces. Maybe they're too proud to beg. The latter, in this case, I say.

Other points to make:

* The Dutch, and thus Bonaire drivers, are on the correct side of the road 8), that is, the right. Don't try driving in St. Lucia and other former British isles on twisty mountain roads -- might ruin your vacation. Rent a truck at the airport and enjoy. You'll pay about $120/week, as I recall.

* Flamingo Airport is a Third World airport. It's not going to look like Hartsfield-Jackson or Kennedy, or Dulles, or LAX, and thank God for that. There is no air-conditioning at the airport. Customs and baggage might take a while. There is a departure tax (as with every Carribean vacation I've taken) -- keep that cash aside.

* Europeans occasionally sunbath topless. If you are frightened or offended by the sight of the female nipple, European vacation spots are not for you. That said, there isn't too much of that going on in Bonaire, and the only "naturalist" (aka, nudist) resort on the island, the Sorobon (sp?), has a fence around it to keep out prying eyes.

* You're on a desert (not "deserted" -- desert, as in cactus) island very close to the equator. USE your sunscreen religiously and DO expect to see bugs. You might be carried away by mosquitoes -- skip the perfumed soap and lotion and try SkinSoSoft or some other bug juice, preferably with sunblock in it.

* You're on a desert (not "deserted" -- desert, as in cactus) island very close to the equator. It's going to be HOT. Dress comfortably and lightly, but cover yourself when you're not sunbathing. Try 100% cotton, loose fitting clothing and plan to sweat. Drink lots of water. WATER to replace what you'll lose when you drink alcohol. I generally never drink alcohol during the day -- certainly never when I'm diving -- and then enjoy myself at night, whilst still tanking up on water with every beer or glass of wine.

So, thanks for reading this mouthful. In short, yes, there are better hotels than Buddy Dive. There are also much worse places to stay. If you get a bad break and have a difficult time with your room at Buddy Dive (and the room seems to be the number one complaint, if there is one, that I've heard), then be the squeaky wheel until things are fixed or you're moved to a new room. It might not work, but it can't hurt to, politely, insist that the hotel take care of business. And, to reiterate, you will not find a slicker dive operation than Buddy Dive's drive-thru. Their boats are also top-notch and their diving personel/masters very experienced.