Dive Review of Buddy Dive Resort in
Bonaire

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Buddy Dive Resort: "Good Resort, Shame about the Dive Operation", Feb, 2018, by Mr Brent Woods, ON, CA ( Sr. Contributor 22 reports with 13 Helpful votes). Report 10155 has 3 Helpful votes.
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 $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I traveled to Bonaire as part of a dive shop group. Our package included airfare, airport transfers on Bonaire, accommodation, buffet breakfast, 6 boat dive, dive truck and unlimited shore diving. The airport transfers, check in and dive truck rental all were as efficient as I have seen anywhere. The front office staff always responded cheerfully to my modest requests. The room was clean and everything worked. The dive truck was of the quality expected for Bonaire. There are three restaurants on site. The buffet breakfast was very good. The food at Blennies snack ranged from poor to bad. The Friday night all you can eat barbecue bordered on inedible. I did not try the third restaurant. The marine park in Bonaire has done a good job in protecting the coral but not the fish. Locals are allowed to fish in the park and it is rare to see an adult of any species that is considered fit for human consumption. The drive through tank fill station is very convenient and is the only part of the dive operation that I can recommend. The negative experience started with the orientation by the dive shop manager. This long winded orientation alternated between threatening us with confiscation of gear and other legal penalties if we touch the coral or other marine life and pushing diving courses. We were not asked to show our certification cards or logbooks. The dock and pier area are undersized. The dive locker room is dark, cramped and moldy. The weight room was poorly stocked in common sizes and staff were far from helpful. I heard the dive manager insult a client that was not part of our group over the amount of weight he requested. A checkout shore dive was mandatory before being allowed to do a boat dive. After the intimidating briefing, you would have expected that there would have been divemasters in water with us for the checkout dive but this was not the case. The dive boats do not have a head. We had a dedicated boat. The boat dives were two tank dives. We were herded between the two dive masters. They relaxed on the second dive when they saw we were competent. The next day we were subjected to the same routine as we had a different crew on the boat and the crews don't to each other. I passed on the third day of boat diving. I found the attitude of the dive operation varied between insulting and condescending. I will not return to Buddy Dive.
Websites	Buddy Dive Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Ontario, Quebec, Cuba, Roatan, Red Sea, Little Cayman, St. Eustatius, Saba, Bonaire, Jamaica, Pohnpei, Galapagos, Costa Rica, Chuuk, Palau, Yap, Cozumel, Kosrae, Bahamas
Closest Airport	Kralendyjk	Getting There	Direct flight now available from Toronto
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy	Seas	surge
Water Temp	77-79°F / 25-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 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	Rinse tanks on boat and docks. Charging etcetera had to be done in your room

Report currently has 3 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By Alice Ribbens in MN, US at Mar 07, 2018 15:43 EST

I went to Buddy Dive in 2015. Our group also had some prepaid boat dives, but the DMs were so obnoxious on the boat that we only did part of the boat dives we'd paid for and just went shore diving on our own the rest of the time. In my opinion, that's the way to do Bonaire. I would go back to Buddy Dive, but would not bother to sign up for boat diving.

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Dive Review of Buddy Dive Resort in Bonaire

Buddy Dive Resort: "Good Resort, Shame about the Dive Operation", Feb, 2018,

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):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Buddy Dive Resort in
Bonaire