Buddy Dive Resort

How could you rate the paradise ? We visited the island with a dive group for a week diving. The resort is perfect in every aspect for divers. The dive system and operation, the dive site, the location, the resort in general is a blesing for divers wanting to dive a beautiful place. Besides all related to diving, the rooms, breakfast, pool, parking, location, everything is just perfect. Further more the personel and clerks are so friendly and kind, making everything possible for an unforgetable dive vacation. I strongly recommend this resort. If I ever visit Bonaire again, no doubt that I will select Buddy Dive Resort.

This was our first vacation to Bonaire and Buddy Dive resort. There are four areas that need to be highlighted: Room/Apt: We stayed in a one bedroom suite with a garden view. It was very clean and well maintained. It was a tad dated, but we didn’t spend much time there. The air conditioning worked great in the bedroom. That is the only air conditioning unit in the suite but they provided a large van to pull the cold from the bedroom into the living area. We had a large capacity fridge which was great for drinks and snacks. We really loved our patio and it was nicely secluded by the neighbors. Food: We ate breakfast each morning. They do a nice job of catering to the European guests and American guests. They had equal parts of hot items (eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, etc) and cold items (cheeses, meats, fruit). They also made omelets or fried them on the spot. We ate at Blennie’s the night of our arrival and had the Steak Night. We enjoyed our steaks and our sides were a sweet potato, corn on the cob and mixed veggies. The corn was inedible - I think it was overcooked but the rest was good. We also had lunch there later in the week. My husband thought the pulled pork was phenomenal. I had a chicken caesar salad and their idea of caesar dressing missed the mark. It tasted more like mayonnaise. We are intermediate divers with almost 100 dives. I am not very comfortable walking a long distance with my 50 lbs of gear. We tried Bachelor’s Beach which is one of the easier entries and I kinda panicked and we stopped the dive. However, we were very happy diving Buddy Dive’s house reef. It is very healthy and the juvenile fish are plentiful to say the least. One plus of staying at the house reef was it was super quiet. Many who stay there grab their tanks and go elsewhere. There is a super easy ladder to enter and exit. They have a tank room and a locker room for your gear. We did not take part in any boat diving either. Last but not least the staff. This is where Buddy Dive completely misses the mark. You certainly can tell that Buddy Dive employees don’t rely on any form of tips because they really don’t care that I was a guest. We got a little routine for our dives where I grab the tank, test it and take it down the pier to the stairs area. My husband would get the rest of the gear from the locker and bring it out. Every single day I would grab a 31 lb tank, step down two steps, test the psi and start walking toward the steps. Two to three Buddy Dive male employees would just watch me. I was NEVER asked if I needed help. When we would exit from our dive, staying on the walkway, so many employees would just walk past us and say nothing. I guess I am a people person and a person who likes to make connections. I just wish someone would have asked how our dive was or what did we get to see. Even the two men in the drive-thru tank pick-up didn’t help us. We honestly were invisible to the dive staff. We did encounter a couple nice staff members in the re

Great location for a dive resort. Organized process for getting tanks and equipment was great. Nice staff at dive center and restaurants but service very slow at dinner time. Need to change the way groups are packed in which makes it hard to share rooms and vehicles.

My dive and travel experience: 2355 dives since certification in 1999 Scuba Instructor 96 weeks of out of the country scuba experience (Not USA) You may call me a gluten for punishment, but although I had a bad experience at Buddy's Resort in the past I felt I had to give them a second chance. The original review was from April 2022 where I had brought a group to the resort right after Covid. The title of the first review was "Does not live up to it's reputation." Well this trip was just as bad, but this time I traveled with my brother in stead of a group. I have also noticed that Buddy's ratings on Tripadvisor have dropped to a 4 out of 5, which is still way high for this place. I am not going to be as long winded as the first review and will only go over the good and bad since the previous trip. Good: 1. This room (711) was much nicer than the previous one and had an air conditioner in each room. It appears to have been recently renovated. 2. The service at the restaurant was much quicker with none of the previous issues. That is the end of the good. The bad: 1. The towels in the hotel room are equal to 80 grit sand paper and the cleaning lady who we only allowed in our room once failed to clean the floors and there was sand all over. 2. The restaurant food was the worst I have ever had while traveling. My brother and I only found a couple of menu items we could stomach. Their cuts of meat were either too fatty or poorly cooked. This is new because the last time we were here I said the food was decent. 3. The front desk is as poor as it gets for explaining anything. They never told us anything about beach towels, the wifi, or our meal plan. We had to walk back and forth numerous times to get answers and based upon where our room was that is over a quarter mile each way. We had the full meal plan which was the biggest mistake and it took three days for the front desk and the restaurant to figure out how to proceed. In other words the restaurant had to call the front desk several times as no one was notifying each other of how the meal plan works. 4. The pick up truck we were issued was so dirty that I could not see out of the windows. Apparently they don't rinse the trucks and rely on rain, which they had not had in a while. 5. Finally, the dive shop and dive crew. They just do not understand customer service. They do not help with any scuba gear preparation before or between dives and they don't even guide you to your seat on the boat when you return from a dive. The crew is very standoffish and aside from one or two of them they did not mingle with the customers. When guiding a dive most, not all, of the crew did not show or even try to show us any interesting stuff underwater. They were basically below water to get us to/from the boat. Having spent eight total weeks in Bonaire in the past I know that it is well known for Frogfish and seahorses, but none were found or shown to us. One last thing about scuba at Buddy's. We were diving Ni

No luxury, which would be awkward for divers, just plain old cozy and tons of details that help so much: the transfers, the dive center proximity, the boats, the backyard reef and the breakfast suitable for all tastes. Everyone relaxed and friendly! Planning the next trip already...

Buddy dive resort is a one stop shop resort when it comes to diving. Everything you need is here. If you do not have something- you can rent it or purchase it here. Communication ahead of time to set up boat dives is recommended. Otherwise shore diving is available on your own schedule.

The resort staff and dive staff were phenomenal, the house reef, and dives from the boat were great! The food was prettily good, great drink choices. Everything you need at one location. No wonder they call it divers paradise!

Our stay included free delicious breakfast with enough variety and friendly staff to enjoy every day. Easy morning boat dives with knowledgeable crew followed by a little island exploration in the rental truck and a shore dive in the afternoon. We should have tapped into the expertise of the master divers about the best approach for entry and exit especially at the salt pier. It was easy reasonably priced to add afternoon boat dives when we got lazy. I rented a BC and learned new things. We had lunch and dinner in town and at the hotel and were never disappointed. Seafood night is worth planning the day around. Not far away at the round about is the best Gelato shop, too.

It is a dive resort that you need a car for almost anything. This is my second bad experience with the hotel car Rental. Paid for 10 days in package but the car was not avaiable on arrival, only the next morning. And the car I got had a battery problem as 16:40 pm local, wont even start. And they are making me wait for technical service instead of giving another car. cannot complaim to manager, since he "left at 17h"... although It was 1640. lots of explanations, reasons and "procedures" by the staff. Just not fast solution. still here for a few days. Lets Hope for better days...