Buddy Dive Resort

Diver’s paradise. The resort’s check-in process is smooth, and the on-site dive shop is exceptionally well organized. Everything about the setup is designed with divers in mind, allowing you to maximize your time underwater and minimize hassle. What really sets Buddy Dive apart is the freedom it gives divers. With the 24/7 drive-thru tank station, you can load up your truck and head out to explore at your own pace. The house reef alone is stunning. It’s also an excellent place to get Nitrox certified. Outside the water, the resort strikes a balance between comfort and island charm. The rooms are spacious and practical, ideal for rinsing and drying gear after a long day underwater. The pool and bar area are perfect for unwinding with a drink while watching the sunset. Breakfast is meh, but not unexpected. The vibe is relaxed yet social overall. Also the value ($/dive if you go 3-4 times / day) is unmatched.

Great resort with all you can want during a stay for a successful vacation in Bonaire. Whether you are diving or just enjoying exploring the island, or resting, this is a beautiful space and has a great house reef that you can snorkel, as well as kitchen amenities in rooms i stayed in. Rooms are clean, and issues and situations are dealt with quickly. Love the mindful sustainable eco responsible approach in room service, and amenities. Food is great and portions are generous as i never left Blennies (house resto and bar) hungry ( i dont drink but they seem to have great cocktails). Even took doggy bags i enjoyed the following day. Take out is available and they are great at accomodating the meal if you are lactose intolerant or have special dietary restrictions. Fresh catches of the day available and breakfast included filled with variety and great protein options. There is a grocery store within walking distance if you want anything else or just want a snack for the road of discovery around the island. Service is friendly and courteous, with small mishaps due to busy- ness of restaurant or shift change. Ticket system for meal plans needs upgrading as it can create confusion and might require you to check your last bill with more attention. Diving gear is rentable for a day or a week, staff divemasters, instructors, and help were helpful in creating great dive plans, by boat, and offer good feedback for shore diving nearby.

My husband and I went to Buddy Dive Resort in Bonaire with a Stuart Scuba dive group from Florida. The grounds of the resort were beautiful and peaceful. All of the staff, in all the locales of the resort, were welcoming, smiling and very responsive to our needs/requests.||The boat captains and divemasters were all very enthusiastic. The divers were asked to suggest dive sites and then vote on them for each boat trip. The rental BCDs were new and we liked them so much that I bought the same model. The equipment dive room was staffed for any changes in gear/weights.||Buddy Dive Resort was notable to us for their superb organizational support of shore and boat diving. The truck rental office and maintenance support was on the resort. Blennies restaurant, one of two on site, provided plentiful, tasty meals and had a large selection on the menu. We particularly enjoyed the special nights of tacos, pizza and BBQ. The sunset view was spectacular from both restaurants. The included breakfast was delicious. The reefs were beautiful and the boats were clean, had plenty of room with very positive and helpful staffing. We look forward to staying at Buddy Dive in the future.

Just returning from a week at the Buddy Dive Resort. Dive operation: Very good and location directly on its own reef dive spot is excellent. Dimphy, a dive instructor, I worked with was a joy. Very knowledgeable and pleasant. Restaurants and food: Bit of a mixed bag. Breakfast was very good and staff at breakfast were efficient, cheerful and kind. A great way to start the day. Dinner was mixed - BBQ night was good but pasta night was just OK. I had a cheese burger on last day and that was excellent. Rooms & Housekeeping: Rooms were basic but clean. Housekeeping seemed very careful. Front Desk Operations: Significant improvement needed here. Multiple emails and miscommunication's around setting up a late check out. Airport taxi left early and I waited 30 min for another. No apologies and no effort to make it right in some way with expediting transfer in some way. Manager and Asst manager were involved and sad to say I left the resort disappointed and unlikely to return.

We had a mixed experience at Buddy dive. The pluses: * The house reef is excellent, with a wonderful mix of fish of all sizes. * The shore diving tank refill system is fast and efficient. * The food is pretty good The minuses: * The boat dives aren't really any better than the shore dives, and in many cases were significantly less interesting. IMHO the boat package is not worth it, and you should rent a car instead. * We had a strange issue with one of the boat captains, where he came up to my wife and started adjusting her scuba equipment without asking, *while she was wearing it and doing her pre-dive buddy checkin*. My wife has completed over 300 dives and has divemaster certification. He kept doing this even after she told him to stop. I then told him to stop, and he said "I have a right to do what I want on my boat". I complained to the divemaster about this, and he claimed "the captain is just trying to keep everyone safe." * Our room smelled of sewage. We asked the staff to fix it. They visited the room while we were out and did something, but the room still smelled like sewage afterwards. We asked them to come again, and the room still smelled of sewage afterwards. We ended up ultimately fixing it ourselves by putting a wet towel over the line drain in the shower, keeping the window open, and keeping the door to the bathroom shut. * Many of the staff at the hotel just weren't that friendly, and treated reasonable questions like we were inconveniencing them. Others were great.

We just stayed at Buddies in a three bedroom room for 10 nights and had an absolute blast. Our kids (11 and 9) did 4 days of the kids program and had a wonderful time with their fabulous teacher, Beau. The rooms were clean, comfortable, practical and well appointed. The convenience of 2 restaurants (the food at Ingridients was amazing), a dive shop, 2 pools, a water taxi to Klein Bonaire, and a truck rental all on site made everything fun and seamless. We liked the location slightly north of town-easy access to dive spots to the north and not far from the southern sites. All of the staff was warm, friendly, and helpful. It all felt like a well-oiled machine. We are already planning our next visit.

I have traveled all around the world and I have never received such personal and kind service from beginning to end of our stay at Buddy Dive resort. It started with Sara at the front desk. We arrived a day before our group package and were leaving a day early. Sara arranged to shift our car and to make sure our room was changed so we could be next to our friends. She did this with lots of smiles and laughter acting like it was no problem and she was happy to do it. At check out a week later she remembered my name a gave a big smile like she was happy to see us! She was so great. Then at the dive center people went out of their way to make our experience magical. I was nervous because I was newly certified and Mark did a check dive with me and made me feel so confident and calm! He then did the same with my husband who wasn’t going to learn to dive but after a discover dive with Mark was convinced! The boat captains, Bautista and Vianca( who was also a guide) made me laugh and feel safe. Marje was the best! She found all the fish and creatures in the water and was so excited to talk about them like she was a brand new diver like me. She also rearranged things and went out of her way to make sure my husband was able to join us on the boat for his discover dive. We had room 407 a one bedroom on the second floor which had a beautiful view and a lovely deck close to everything! Having the fun little pickups was super fun and easy too! What a great experience at Buddy Dive Center!

Overall a very good experience and I would go back. The hotel and dive set up has things down well. They were waiting for us at the airport, had our luggage at our room before we finished checking in, oriented us to the facilities, dive shop, our truck. Rooms were adequate, nothing special though my only complaints are we couldn't lock the porch doors from the outside and the main door had a large enough gap for a lizard and a roach to sneak into our room. Otherwise, the room was comfortable, AC worked well, great view out the front to the water and pool area. Breakfast was pretty average hotel continental breakfast with fruits, breads, coffee, buffet style eggs, sausage, etc. We had lunch at Blennies fairly often and the food was decent and usually generous enough portions to have leftovers for lunch the next day especially the club sandwich. Dive shop was great and had anything you might need. They set up our AI transmitter on their rental regulator as well. The drive through tank station makes getting in and out with fresh tanks a breeze for those motivated to do a lot of diving. Rental truck was adequate. Drove fine, held all our gear, AC worked. They will loan you a drybox to take the keys with you on a dive. Diving directly off the shop at the house reef is pretty good and make it a snap to fix anything you might have messed up or needs worked on before you head out to the rest of the island.