Buddy Dive Resort

Buddy Dive is summer camp for scuba divers. It caters to new divers and those seeking certification. They are very good on safety briefings and doing a roll call after dives. I wish every dive operator did. Only issue with the briefings is they sometimes scold the divers a little, like kids at camp. The dive plans run down a reef and turn back at 25-30 minutes, and they are back to the boat by 50 minutes. The last 10 minutes or so are spent killing time under the boat. I think if they see they have an experienced group they should loosen that up a little. They skimp on surface intervals, which surprised me, doing a second dive usually after about 40 minutes. It’s certainly safe, but not a best practice by any means. I just finished 2 weeks there as a solo diver and give it good marks overall, but it’s really not for advanced divers. Staff is great, from the shop to the boats to the restaurant people, everyone was polite and attentive. Boats are great, their nitrox tank fills were usually 3200psi, which is great. I did a number of solo shore dives on their house reef and it is very nice, probably the best I’ve been on in the Caribbean. I enjoyed the easy access to shore dives, and with their car and gear I did a few shore dives elsewhere. It’s a fine operation and easy to get a lot of time underwater, which is what I wanted. Great location, great sunsets, nice place.

This was a perfect place for our scuba diving trip. We had a great spot on their house reef for day and night diving! Plus renting on of their trucks for shore diving and boat diving. It was nice to mix it up for the week. The rooms were nice, clean and comfortable! Kitchen was great for quick meals and early coffee. Complementary Breakfast was nice every morning with a Buffett of pancakes. Bacon, sausage, eggs, fresh fruit along with pastries and many extras. Omelets made special right on spot if you wanted. Staff was pleasant and welcoming early every morning. Pool and restaurants on site were great too. Lots of variety all week for menu. Plus enjoyed every afternoon watching sunset from the many lounge chairs on sandy beach. Dive staff was helpful every day prepping for dive. A place to relax and enjoy! Kid friendly too!

This was our third visit to Buddy Dive and sadly our last. The location to dive sites both north and south is great and the tank drive through is convenient to shore dive. The room was great with a good view and was cleaned well daily. The bigger issue is with the majority of the staff here. The front desk and 2 of the restaurant servers were the only staff that were friendly and helpful. The bar staff was basically non existent and it was a chore to get any type of service. We didn’t do any boat dives but our limited experience with several dive shop staff was not friendly and even rude at times. It seemed since we were not with a big group or boat diving that we were an inconvenience to deal with. We don’t expect over the top service but basic friendliness and not avoiding eye contact to serve you should be a minimum.

Buddy Dive truly feels like our home in Bonaire. We’ve stayed here multiple times and it’s consistently fantastic. The views are beautiful, the snorkeling and diving access is unbeatable, and the staff always goes above and beyond. The pools are a great bonus for relaxing after a day in the water, and everything about the property is well maintained and welcoming. Whether it’s your first visit to the island or your fifth, Buddy Dive is the perfect home base for any ocean lover. We can’t wait to come back again!

The location is great, and it is very handy to be able to just rent a truck at the resort, assuming you are diving. Our room had very low water pressure in all of the bathroom showers at all times. Reported to the front desk and nothing ever changed. Literally the water would go down to a trickle and even shut off all together for 10 seconds before resuming said trickle. Staff and service at the restaurant is atrocious and food is marginal. Cleanliness of the rooms is not great. When we arrived we found an open box of condoms in one of the nightstand drawers...ewww....and used kleenex under the bed. They did empty our trash, but never swept...and as careful as you are...the floor gets sandy. They would randomly make the beds...which we cared nothing about....and kept bringing us towels upon towels even though ours were hanging....and per their policy...if they were hung, that means you use them again....but they just kept bring us more and more that we didn't need. Our room was not ready when we arrived even though it was after 4 pm. Transportation from the airport was fine, however i would splurge for a cab on the way back to the airport as the transportation loaded up multiple flights at one time and then proceeded to unload all the luggage for the flight leaving a half hour later than ours first.|We didn't need much from the dive shop as we brought all of our own gear and didn't do any boat dives. Check in there was fairly easy, then grab your weights and a gear locker key and you are good to go. The drive through tank pick up was really nice and we never had to wait for full tanks of air or nitrox, they were always available. I doubt we would stay here again.

Great place, the appartements are well designed, we had an appartement for three, each room had its own bathroom. Kitchen is well stocked with pans and utensils. Bring your own tea and coffee. Dive centre is well organised and the house reef is fab. Restaurants are very good, good value and nice food. There are vegetarian and vegan options. Staff are pretty friendly and helpful. I would stay here again.

After two visits to Buddy Dive, I can honestly ask, "Why go anywhere else?". Absolutely no need. The employees, from check-in, the dive shop and dive masters, to restaurant staff, they are ALL happy and service-oriented. The rooms I've stayed in have a king size bed, a good sized bathroom and large shower, a kitchenette with the requisite coffee maker (and filters), as well as an outdoor patio with seating for 4. And the overall amenities include dive shop & classes. Pool with swim up bar, daily service of rooms, 24hour access to air/nitrox tanks, and the full use of a mini-truck to go diving anywhere on Bonaire. I'll definitely stay at Buddy Dive again!

Very nice resort. It was our first time in this kind of resort but it was very easy to understand how it all works. Only one bad thing is the maximum of 2 tanks per diver sinceramente we got some leaking in a fee tanks that needed to be changed.