It was our first trip to Bonaire and we loved it. Our stay at Buddy Dive was overall very pleasant, but there are a few things that you should be aware of before booking. The staff at the hotel and dive shop were all very pleasant and helpful. The breakfast was also very good, my husband is still raving about the omelets and waffles he had every morning. The diving was great, we ended up doing quite a few dives right off the house dock. Its very easy getting in and out of and the facility is very well taken care of. We did the "drive & dive" package and the truck they rented to us was very nice to have. It made it really nice to just hop in and shore dive or find a good restaurant. We did not do any boat dives but I'm sure they were very good too.

Now for the not so good part of Buddy Dive. We stayed in a one bedroom apartment on the first floor. It was always clean and was very convienent to the dive shop and restaurant. It was however, in very bad need of updating, especially the bathroom. It didn't appear to have been remodeled since it was built, probably in the 80s and its showing. The shower was terrible, the hot water knob fell off every morning. There were NO electrical outlets at all in the bath. That meant if you wanted to say, blow your hair dry or use an electric shaver you had to do it in the kitchen with no mirror. Also, there is no hair dryer - you have to go to the front desk and ask for one, no big deal. There was also a hole in the bathroom door that looked like a mouse had chewed it out quite a while ago. The website also lists air conditioning, but be aware that this is ONLY in the bedroom.

The grounds showed signs that they could be nice, but needed a lot more care - weeds everywhere.

Bonaire is a very laid back nice quite island and we will definitely be back, just not to Buddy Dive. Harbour Village is just down the way and has a MUCH nicer place for about the same price when we stopped in to look around.

We stayed at Buddy Dive Resort Jan 25-Feb1.

Check in: They picked us up at the airport. Since we got in at 8 pm they took us directly to our room and let us in. We checked in the next morning at the desk.

Dive shop check-in: A bit chaotic. You do have to fill out paper forms. They were in our room so we had them done before we went to the dive shop. You turn in your paperwork, pay your $25 for the reef tag then go to the pool bar for your 9am orientation. You have to watch a video. Then you have to do a check out dive. No one goes with you on that. It is for you to check to make sure you are weighted properly and do a leisurely dive on the house reef. You can do this anytime that day. The boats go out at 8:30, 10:30 and 2:15. You will miss the first two for sure. You sign up on the board each day for the dives you plan to do on the boat. The board can fill up depending upon how many boats they are using. We did 2 boat dives a day and then shore dives the rest of the time.

Dive Shop: They seem to have this down to a science. They are efficient and run the boat dives on time. If everyone is there, they leave early. Not once were they late. Free Nitrox with our package. The diving was easy. Many sites to choose from. Seahorses seen on many of the dives. 24 hours diving. You can get your tanks around the clock.


Room: We had a one room apartment. Rm 406-2d floor. It is on the end of the building next to the ocean. Our back patio over-looked the ocean, raised sand beach area, pool, the pool bar and restaurant. When you walk into the room it is into the bedroom. The toilet/shower is in a little room off of that. The rest of the apartment is toward the back.
One large open room with kitchen, refrig with freezer, microwave, sink, gas stove top.
Sofa, 2 chairs, cable TV, desk with chair and closet with hangers and shelves. The AC is in the bedroom only. A large fan to recirculate air in the living room. This was January and the day time temps were about 85 degrees F. We closed the curtains to keep some of the heat out as the sun hit the living room in the afternoon. It was comfortable and not a problem for us. The AC in the bedroom was very cold and worked fine.


Rental Truck: We got the drive and dive package. They just got brand new Mitsubishi 4 door pickups. Ours only had about 200 miles on it. No complaints there.

Food: Our package had breakfast included. Buffet style with eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, pancakes, French toast, various fruits and lunch style meats, yogurt, cereal, juice, coffee, milk, water. There is a cook to make fresh omelets while you wait. Normal fare for a resort.

Groceries: We found the Warehouse grocery store the first day we were her to pick up some food and drink. Since we rented and apartment, this saved us some money on food.

Restaurants: We ate at Bistro De Paris , Rum Runner, Will’s Tropical Grill, The Reef, Casablanca. Some restaurants only take American Express. Other will take your Visa or Mastercard. All the food was great at all of these restaurants. Prices did vary but was worth what we paid.

FANTASTIC. Ok, let me calm down because it might not be fantastic for you. If your purpose is other than eat, sleep, dive, you might be disappointed. But if you are going to Bonaire for the only reason to go to Bonaire, Buddy Dive is perfect.

We spent a week over New Years, diving in the new year. It was jam packed, but I wouldn’t have known. I am always skeptical of anything “unlimited.” My life experience is they always find a way to limited you—long line, etc. But unlimited air/nitrox at Buddy Dive really is. I never went to the tank storage locations and found a shortage. I never waited behind more than one or two other divers to analyze my nitrox tanks. And the stations are set up for bing bang bong analysis. A yoke is permanently attached to both a pressure gauge and an oxygen analyzer with about a six foot hose. You tighten it down on your tank, turn on the air and 10 seconds later you have the pressure and oxygen percentage. You write down the tank number, the O2 percentage, sign your name and you are gone diving—all on the honor system.

We got a one bedroom rather than the efficiency. I suppose we didn’t really need the extra space because we didn’t do much other than sleep in the room. But it was nice to have. Air conditioning worked well. Bed was nice and firm.

All was not perfect, but most of what wasn’t didn’t directly impact us. We were on a group trip and the package included air fare, room and a truck rental. (By the way I recommend that if you go to Bonaire you go with a group. It is nice to have a selection of Buddies to dive with. Even if you think you only want to dive with your spouse, maybe she is tired and doesn’t want to do a night dive or maybe her ears are getting twitchy and she wants to take a day off to dry out. There are plenty of people to dive with in Bonaire but it is nice to have some affiliation.) Ok back to the issues.

First, Buddy dive didn’t have enough trucks for all of the rooms they rented. What the heck? It isn’t like we were a surprise. They made good on it, but a couple in the group had to wait a day to get their truck. I am not sure what Buddy dive did to make up for that delay

Second, check-in is a bit chaotic. They are not computerized. You fill in the same information about 15 times as part of the check-in process (I am exaggerating but you get the picture). With everybody checking in on Saturday evening it got a bit tedious. Ok, now then, I should give them points for trying to smooth that out. You were allowed to go to your room before checking in and that did someone alleviate the madness, but it will be nice when they join the 21st century and get a computer.

Third, the same chaos from the night before starts up again the next morning at the dive shop. Everyone is buying their park tags, and nitrox at the same time. Bonaire requires the operators to give a “respect the reef” briefing and test dive before you can dive. Buddy dive waits until 9:00 to start that process. That is 9:00 the morning after you arrive. By the time all the rigmarole is done the morning is about shot and you have been in Bonaire for 18 hours before you get in the water. I don’t know why we couldn’t have done some of that the night before.

Fourth, if you are looking for a “bar scene” it is down the road (walking distance) at Captain Ron’s Habitat. I wasn’t, but a few of our group was single and they made the trek. A few said they would prefer to have stayed at Captain Ron’s.

Fifth, if you do have a non-diver in the group, the three pools are adequate but just barely. There are a few other resorts with a semblance of a beach that might be better. But I can’t believe any of them treat the divers as well as Buddy’s does.

One place I would avoid is the Lion’s Den, an independent restaurant on the grounds of Buddy Dive. The prices are way in excess of the quality but worst of all the service is atrocious—beyond atrocious—hour long waits between appetizer and main course for example.

This was our 4th dive trip to Bonaire and we stayed at Buddy Dive once again. As usual we had an awesome vacation. Over-all the resort was very nice but they have let the rooms go a little. The breakfast was all inclusive and was the same everyday, but they gave you several things to choose from so that way you could have something different everyday. The food at the restuarants was very good but a little expensive, I guess you pay a little more for the view and atmosphere. The diving was excellent. We dove everyday and did not have one bad dive. We love the freedom of shore diving because you can go when and where you wish. The people on the island are very nice and most have lovely accents. We ate in town a couple of times, the food was good but expensive and the service was very slow because they are on island time. If they say 3 minutes they mean 25 minutes. I would defintely recommend a trip to Bonaire.