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Dive Review of Captain Don's Habitat in
Bonaire

Captain Don's Habitat: "Good to be Back", Jun, 2021,

by Frank Hall, IN, US (Sr. Contributor Sr. Contributor 23 reports with 6 Helpful votes). Report 11542 has 2 Helpful votes.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 5 stars Food N/A
Service and Attitude 3 stars Environmental Sensitivity 3 stars
Dive Operation N/A Shore Diving 4 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments At the time we went, covid restrictions required one of the following types of covid tests. The PCR test must be done within 72 hours of your flight and the Rapid Antigen Test must be done within 24 hours of your flight. Walgreens has the Abbott Labs ID Now test which will get you the results within 24 hours. You can also be tested at the Bonaire airport upon arrival.
You will need to fill out an on line Health form for Bonaire prior to leaving the US.
The required return to the US covid test is scheduled on line before you leave home. There is a testing site across the road from the Sand Dollar. The Process worked like a charm.

Assuming you have successfully jumped through all these hoops, everyday activities on Bonaire have not changed that much. Some people wearing masks and some not, much like here. The dive industry however is obviously still hurting.

We did get caught short on cash. In trying to schedule activities other than diving, no one would take a credit card.
Traffic on the island is in a word gridlocked.

The water was a bit stirred up at times reducing the vis. Like most everywhere else, a lot of the hard corals and sponges have lost their color. There is still abundant small fish life. Tarpon are the only large fish we saw.

The Dive Locker area at Captain Don's is badly in need of repair. Several of the lockers are unusable do to broken doors and hasps and the area is just plain dirty. One of the low benches for gearing up had a broken leg and was thrown in the corner of the locker room. We mentioned this to the Dive Manager and he said he'd have to get a carpenter to repair it. It looked like it had been broken for quite awhile and would only take a 4x4 and some deck screws to repair.

No buffet at the restaurant. Captain Don's was running one boat a day. They have a bare bones staff on site. That being said, tanks were always filled and ready for use. The resort was definitely way below capacity.

If you come back home through ATL be prepared for a mess and a half. We had 3 hours between flights and if we had not had Global Entry, we wouldn't have made it. There were simply not enough "worker bees" to process everyone, and this was on a Wednesday! People were packed cheek to jowl as the PA system chimed non-stop about social distancing. Give me a break!
Overall, the diving was worth the hassles. The airport, not so much.

Websites Captain Don's Habitat   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Roatan, Belize, Little and Grand Cayman, Florida Keys
Closest Airport BON Getting There Direct from ATL

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm, no currents
Water Temp 81-81°F / 27-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 2
Water Visibility 60-80 Ft/ 18-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions [Unspecified]
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles None Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 2 stars
Large Pelagics N/A

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities 3 stars
UW Photo Comments [None]
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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