Dive Review of Divi Flamingo in
Bonaire

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Divi Flamingo: "Divi Flamingo resort.", Mar, 2018, by Bill Schlegel, MO, US ( Contributor 19 reports with 17 Helpful votes). Report 10182 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
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Divi resorts are a chain of dive resorts in the Caribbean. Divi Flamingo, the one in Bonaire is a well run operation. Patrons are able to pre-register before arrival. All necessary arrangements for room, dive shop, Nitrox, rental car or special diet can be made on line before arrival. This avoids lines at the resort check in. You show some I.D, are handed a room key and goto room. Bags are delivered to room. You are asked to stop by the front desk and provide and provide a credit card sometime in the first 24 hours of your stay. Very convenient. WiFi is free and acceptably fast. I am not aware of them having any full inclusive packages. Alcohol is extra but prices are not bad, actually lower than you may be used to at home. For those of you not familiar with Bonaire, it is calm, high visibility Caribbean diving. Boat diving at Divi Flamingo is very easy. 6 different craft available from a pontoon boat to a Newton 46. All dive masters I encountered (5 different ones, on two different boats) were polite, attentive, and eager to please. Ruud (short for Rudolph) and Denise were the ones I spent most time with. 18 dives this week with them. They realized what our group wanted (unusual critters like octopus, frogfish, sea horses, snake eels etc) and took special care to find them. Early spring is considered the cold season. 79 degree water. In mid to late summer temps are 84 and occasionally 85 degrees. Shore dives at the Divi dock are not the highlight of the week. However, the dock is outstanding as it provides about 100 lockers within a few feet of the water and boats, for storage of wet gear. No need to schlep gear to room unless you want to. Lockers are large and are sometimes shared by two. Bring a lock. Provision for cameras on boats was primitive...and not all boats had camera tables or dedicated camera rinse tanks on board. But there were excellent camera rinse tanks on the dock, a few feet from the boats. Rinse facilities, on the dock included separate tanks for regulators, B.C.'s and other gear in addition to a fresh water shower on the dock for divers. There was standard provision on boats for safety equipment. I did not actually check to see if oxygen cylinder was full etc. No heads on boats. Of course, Bonaire shore diving is legendary. A rental truck will get you access to about 60 sites. Divi Flamingo shore divers pick up tanks a a shed in the parking lot, leave their empties with cap off. Log what you used (honor system). Dive as much as you want. I thought the food was excellent but rated it at the resort as somewhat lower in the Undercurrent ratings, as some others in the group did not feel the same. I would recommend the meal package with breakfast and lunch (buffet) without dinner. This is because you are probably going to be busy going to and from the dive boats early and would appreciate the promptness of the buffets. No need to book dinners with the resort as when you walk out the north gate of the resort grounds, you are within 1/4 mile of about 20 restaurants including some very good ones. Large selection from Cuban, street food, high end European chefs with resort restaurants, brew-pubs etc. A foodies vacation. Some of the dive highlights include the healthy corals along Klein Bonaire (small island in the harbor), shore dives and the salt pier dive. Another highlight was the excellent attitude of all staff from the resort corporate manager who visited, through the hotel manager, the dive operations manager (Serge), the dive masters, the cleaning ladies and even the grounds personnel. The most notable negatives were the poor condition of the house reef and the frequent mega cruise ships that moored right next door. Bow's almost over hanging the Divi dock.
Websites	Divi Flamingo
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	About everywhere.
Closest Airport	BON	Getting There	Travel was very easy from North American hubs.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	79-80°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	75-125 Ft/ 23-38 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Initial suggestion was we limit dive time to 45 minutes in order to be polite to others and the one hour surface interval for group would start when last diver surfaced. By end of week, everyone was doing dives of 75 minutes or longer. Dive your computer.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
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
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Essentially no large critters such as sharks, large fish. Occasional turtle, schools of medium size reef fish and occasional bait ball of 1000's of bigeye scad.

Report currently has 3 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Divi Flamingo in Bonaire

Divi Flamingo: "Divi Flamingo resort.", Mar, 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):

Dive Review of Divi Flamingo in
Bonaire