Dive Review of Harbour Village Beach Club in
Bonaire/West Side and Klein Bonaire

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Harbour Village Beach Club: "Concierge Diving on Bonaire", Aug, 2022, by Clarkston Parker, TN, US ( 1 report with 1 Helpful vote). Report 12036 has 1 Helpful vote.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
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 $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Our group of four made 17 dives over six days with Great Adventures Bonaire, the in-house dive shop for Harbor Village Beach Club (HV). Connecting out of Tri-Cities Airport in Tennessee through Atlanta, we left Saturday at 6:30 AM and were in our room at Harbor Village by 4:00 PM. We were met outside customs by a HV representative who took our bags and transported us the 15-minute ride to the resort. (One member of our party hopped out at the rental car stop for a small Toyota pickup truck and was able to follow the van to the resort.) After checking in, we walked around the corner to check in with the dive shop. Kim met us there and gave us a quick run-through of operations including 24-hour Nitrox availability, rinse tank procedures and gear storage - including the availability of six outside lockers, keys for which could be checked out if we wished to dive outside of normal shop hours. We received all of our paperwork/releases to take back to the room overnight and were asked to report back at 8:00 AM on Sunday for a quick shore checkout dive followed by 10:30 and 2:00 boat dives. The normal boat schedule is 8:30, 10:30 and 2:00. Tanks are available for diving the house wreck and are staged outside the gate as needed for Bonaire's easy shore diving. On Sunday morning, we were met by Bonnie (boat captain and divemaster) who helped us gear up and conduct a brief checkout dive. Afterward, we were off to one of HV's three dive boats. During the week, our boat held as few as four divers and as many as 12. Boats were chosen based on the size of the group and maintenance schedules. Nitrox during the week ranged from 31%-34% O2. Water temperatures were such that skins were sufficient though a couple of our group wore lightweight wetsuits. The weather was a bit sketchy early in the week but the captains and divemasters worked to find the best spots with the best conditions for each dive. Of note, on Monday afternoon, we were headed out for the 2:00 dive. A lightening strike that was obviously fairly close resulted in the captain IMMEDIATELY terminating the dive and returning to port - a decision our group whole-heartedly supported, particularly during the spectacular lightening storm that occurred shortly after we returned to our room. Since our first Bonaire trip in 1993, the reefs and fish-life have deteriorated a bit but, in my opinion, are still some of the very best in the Caribbean. We made drift dives, out-and-back dives and wreck dives (notably the Hilma Hooker) and saw beautiful reefs and plentiful tropical fish life on each dive. Divemasters Crystal and Owen generally polled the group and tried to both grant requests and avoid repeating sites already dove by others on the boat. Larger fish like Jacks and Snapper were pretty rare. Angelfish, Puffers, Tangs, Butterflyfish and Tarpon were plentiful. We saw at least one turtle on every dive. Seahorses were rare but still there. We saw octopi both on night dives and during the day. An Eagle Ray capped our last afternoon dive. The highlight of our trip, though, was a night dive with Ostracods, also known as seed shrimp. About 30 minutes into the dive, DM Crystal got the group's attention and asked that we all extinguish our dive lights. When we did so, the light show was absolutely amazing. It was as if we were in our own galaxy with strobing stars. Any opportunity to experience this phenomenon should not be missed! Dive staff remove gear from the boats after the last dive of the day and return it to the shop for rinsing and hanging. Each diver's gear is also sanitized every day with a very mild bleach solution in an attempt to prevent the spreading of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease. La Balandra is the on-site restaurant where Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner are available. All were quite good. Service is friendly and professional but very slow by US standards. It was often difficult to find/get the attention of a server - especially when requesting the check at the end of a meal. I'm told by friends who lived in the Netherlands this is a very Dutch behavior. For non-divers in a group, HV has two pools, a spa and the only private beach on Bonaire. Kayaks and stand-up-paddleboards are available to guests free of charge. We have stayed at a number of resorts on Bonaire and our next trip there will be to Harbor Village and Great Adventures Bonaire.
Websites	Harbour Village Beach Club
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	BVI, Cayman Islands, Cozumel, Fiji, Florida Keys, French Polynesia, Grenada/Grenadines, Hawaii, Los Roques, Maldive, Palau, Indonesia, Solomon Islands, Turks and Caicos
Closest Airport	BON (Flamingo International)	Getting There	Direct Flights from Amsterdam, Atlanta, Houston and Miami
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	81-85°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-80 Ft/ 9-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Do not exceed depth for which you are certified; return to the boat with 500 psi
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	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	A freshwater tub dedicated for cameras was on each boat. A camera tank was available at the dive shop. Our lone photographer generally gave his camera a quick rinse at the end of the dive then returned to our room for a full rinse, opening, downloading and resealing.

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Dive Review of Harbour Village Beach Club in Bonaire/West Side and Klein Bonaire

Harbour Village Beach Club: "Concierge Diving on Bonaire", Aug, 2022,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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 Harbour Village Beach Club in
Bonaire/West Side and Klein Bonaire