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Dive Review of Harbour Village Beach Club in
Bonaire/west shore and Klein Bonaire


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Harbour Village Beach Club: "idyllic easy diving", May, 2015,

by Ernie Feleppa Casuarina Aquat, NY, US (Reviewer Reviewer 5 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 8700.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 5 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 5 stars
Snorkeling 3 stars

Overall Rating
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments The dive crew at Harbour Village -- Alfonso, Drew, Ken, and leader Chris -- is superb. They are knowledgeable, safety conscious, flexible and accommodating, and can find the neat stuff, e.g., sea horses and frog fish. The dive shop recently has been renovated and expanded and is well stocked. Mavis who staffs the shop is very welcoming and capable. Shore diving on the 16 man-made rock piles in 8'-10' of water along the crest of the beach drop off reveals an amazing number of anemones, their resident comensal shrimp, scorpion fish, gentle sharptail eels, goldentail and spotted morays, along with zillions of tropicals too numerous to attempt to list. Schools of small bonefish tend to check things out between the piles in the early evening. Then if you swim into the channel east of the beach, you have a great chance of encountering an absolutely enormous school of tens of thousands of foot-long and larger lady fish with a minority mix of barracuda and larger bonefish nearer to the bottom in 20' to 30' of water. The jetty that serves as a foundation for the La Balandra restaurant is full of bigger fish including what must be the world record porcupine fish. And if you cross the channel to Something Special Reef on the eastern side of the channel -- following the guide line on the bottom at 30' to 40', if you wish -- you truly will experience something special. The reef is equal to the most lush reefs on the western shore of the island and can boast of two exposed black-and-white crinoids -- one sitting right on top of a coral head on the western edge of the reef. Something Special is a delight from 30' to 60', and no need exists to go deeper. Save air and dive shallow. But watch for currents, which can build to strong levels. You may want to use the guide line to pull yourself against it, preferably when you swim east so the current can drift you back at the end of the dive -- if it does not reverse during your dive, which does sometimes happen. The dive crew also is cultivating staghorn coral on extensive floating trellises anchored in about 20' of water just upslope from the well known Harbour Village wreck. Pieces of the cultivated coral periodically are "planted" on other, depleted reefs to replenish them. The great majority of boat-accessible sites on Bonaire and especially on Klein Bonaire are healthy and amply described elsewhere, so I won't say anything more about them. However, I must say that, although it is a bit pricey, the Harbour Village Resort gives you all that you pay for and more. It is located on a lovely, palm-shaded beach and provides numerous amenities -- including free, but sometimes a bit spotty, WiFi. Accommodations are well maintained and operated by a courteous and competent staff. Check the resort website for more information on the resort. Incidentally, the island has perhaps the highest per capita incidence of excellent restaurants; our favorite probably is Mona Lisa.
Websites Harbour Village Beach Club   

Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Grand Cayman, Providenciales, Curacao, Finger Lakes, Narragansett Bay, Long Island Sound, various quarries
Closest Airport Flamingo International Airport Getting There nonstop United weekend flights from/to Newark (EWR) Airport

Dive Conditions
Weather sunny, dry Seas choppy
Water Temp 80-83°F / 27-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 60-80 Ft/ 18-24 M

Dive Policy
Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions 100' max, but pointless. Following the DM was optional. Reliance on computers was allowed. 60 minutes max. Typically, depth was 50' to 60'going out and 30' to 40' coming back. Turnaround was at 1500 PSI or 30 min, which I thought allowed too little time for the unforeseen.
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 4 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish N/A
Large Pelagics 1 stars

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities 4 stars
UW Photo Comments Knowledgeable staff. Standard basic facilities for photographers, but not a photo facility per se.
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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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