Can anyone tell me which hotel/pension/resort in Bonaire has BEST house reef for snorkeling, or which hotel/pension/resort is close to marine park? Thanks for any input in advance.

Jeremy..Kinda like asking someone what's the best restaurant on the island. EVERYONE has their favorites. The ocean surrounding Bonaire is the marine park. So those resorts directly on the water would be the closest to the marine park. My advice, pick up a copy of Susan Porters BSDME. Alternatively lot of good information can be found by reading the threads in this section.

The question should be which reef has the best oceanfront accomadations. Like Vince said, the Marine Park surrounds the island, so find the place that suits you best and enjoy. you won't be disapointed

I vost Bari Reef, so any hotel between Sand Dollar and, uhm, Coral Paradise.

Hi, thanks for the advice. I tried to book Coral Paradise, but they do not accept any reservation for staying less than 7 nights. They asked me to try again 2 weeks before arrival to see if there are any rooms left for my 5 night stay. I am planning to stay 5 nights at Bonaire, 5 nights at Curacao and then 5 nights in Barbados.

Same as Coral Paradise, Bamboo Bali Bonaire also doesn't accept any reservations for staying less than 7 nights.

Divi Flamingo Beach Resort & Casino accepts reservation for 5 nights or less, but tripadvisor reviews say there is no house reef in front of the hotel, so I give up on this one.

I guess I have to go for Buddy Dive or Sand Dollar. Any thought for Divi Flamingo Beach Resort? Is the house reef there good? Thanks again for any input in advance!

My two cents: make it 10 days Bonaire and skip Curacao. Or even better... 15 days Bonaire and skip Barbados as well! Less traveling. More economical. Way more fun and relaxation.

jeremy

there is great snorkeling in front of divi and also great diving. u can rent a car and snorkel other areas too. how do i know because i own a time share there. so please don't discount divi

elaine

some typo error on my previous post: It should be "Harbour Village Beach Club" (not Divi Flamingo Beach Resort and Casino) accepts reservation for 5 nights or less, but tripadvisor reviews say there is no house reef in front of the hotel, so I give up on this one.

Bas Noij, I want to skip Curacao, but my wife doesn't want to. She wants to visit as many places/coutries as possible since we will fly all the way from Asia to Caribbean and she thought it would be a waste to visit only 1 or 2 places/countries. I already successfully persuaded her to drop Aruba, and I don't think I can do one more. lol

Jeremy:

Let me try and describe Bonaire (you have lots of options besides Sand $ and Buddys).

The Marine Park surrounds the island so it is not just in one spot. There is a guide book (Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy or BSDME) that will help you understand where the sites are and what the shore entry is like. Ones that are good for snorkel are also flagged (IIRC).

Going from a resort dock is by far the easiest (as there are typically steps and/or a ladder). And nothing beats the ease of just going off the dock.

Many of the spots I prefer you do need to drive to. For that, I strong suggest good dive booties and open heeled fins. Full foot fins are a challenge at many sites (yes, I know folks who walk out in tevas and then change in chest deep water). There are also a few operators that do snorkel trips (Renee by shore and there is a boat based excursion that leaves from the Divi dock and is run by Dee and her husband. Both are good.)

The island is fairly small but a truck rental is a good investment. You can stay on the water or inland a bit. You can stay north of town or south of town. You could even stay on the windward side (long drive to most spots other than Lac Bay). If you stay on the west coast (where most hotels are) a 20 minute drive gets you to most any site (other than those in the park, the east coast, or the very southern areas).

It just is not that big. There are two decent sized traffic circles and the only stoplight is decorative (Pasa Bon Pizza).

Personally, I would not stay at Harbour V -- way too spendy for me and their house reef is not much. There are lots of smaller places on or very near the water (I stay at the Carib Inn next to the Divi and I consider a great value).

So, this gives you an idea of dive sites http://www.bmp.org/divemap/divemap-home.html and this is some solid general info http://www.infobonaire.com/

Personally, I would not do the three islands in two weeks thing. I used to tour the Yucatan staying no more than three or four nights in any one place. I did two weeks in Europe (London, Amsterdam and Edinburgh).

First, every travel day is essentially shot. You can't do much the morning you leave and you often can't check in to your new hotel until late that afternoon. Plus you pack and then unpack.

Second, it drives up the costs in some fairly subtle ways. A week car rental is the same price as a five day rental. You can't really stockpile the room with food for a few days the way you can for a few weeks (many hotels in Bonaire have kitchens). You pay more in airfare and departure taxes.

All of that said, getting to Bonaire from Curacao is easy (Divi Air!) and will not take much time out of your trip. But Barbados? AFAIK, it is not easy to get from there to Curacao. Travel in the Caribbean can be frustrating -- a friend who lived on Cayamans took an entire day to get to BON. Why? You had to go via Miami.

I get that you want to go to different places. If I asked you to imagine two or three perfect tropical islands, what would they look like? What would you be able to do/see? What would be the vibe? And where have you already been?

Jeremy,
Love the carib inn (never stayed there but dove with them)but it was the worse diving in front that I've done in 10 years going to Bonaire. Obviously other have gone and loved it in front.
But it chance y to me. Bonaire though is a small island and its easy to get around with a truck or car.
I have stayed many times at the black durgon inn which has a great reef in front but its not at all elegant.
Don't know about the other islands you are going to but Bonaire is a special place and i'd increase the time spent here if you can.

Not sure where is the best house reef now but, in addition to a good house reef, we would always hook up with a dive operation willing to take us along on the boat with the divers. They made sure to select dive sites with adjacent to (or a short swim away from) shallow reefs suitable for snorkeling. This way we got to snorkel a great variety of sites throughout the week. Most of the colorful stuff is in the shallows where the divers spend their last several minutes of their dive profile anyway.

Nick

The rubble section just to the left of Den Laman (some old structures underwater) provides excellent snorkeling.

You can park between Eden Beach & Den Laman and have the whole area for snorkeling.

Also, I agree with the others - three islands in two weeks just isn't the way to go!

Our first two visits to the ABC islands were two weeks each and a week in Curacao and a week in Bonaire. The next 13 visits have been to Bonaire only and we have no plans on going back to Curacao.

Super! Thank you all the posters' suggestions & comments, specially David Johnson (Thank u for the links. It helps a lot!).

Actually we will fly all the way from Hong Kong to Barbados via Toronto on Air Canada metal. On our return flight, we will fly from Aruba via Toronto as well back to Hong Kong (openjaw flights). We need to stay overnight in Toronto both outbound and inbound in order to catch the connecting flight the next morning (no immediate connecting flights on the same days), so we will waste 2 nights there in Toronto. In between Barbados and Curacao, there is Liat Airlines flying daily (except Tue & Thur) via Trinidad, so we are pretty much set for Barbados & Netherland Antilles.

The reason why we want to go all the way to Caribbean is we had been to the tropical islands/countries pretty much everywhere in Pacific and Indian Oceans. We had been to Maldives 4-5 times, Seychelles, Palau, Fiji, French Polynesia couple of times at different atolls and islands, and most of the famous diving spots in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines. We want to explore more new tropical places with rich marine life before we get too old to travel (lol), so Caribbean is our next destination!

I know Barbados is not so famous for diving or snorkeling, but we want to see the culture and lifestyle in Carribean. I heard Barbados is one of the 50 places that you MUST see before you die (lol, by BBC TV and many websites), and Barbados is the only location in Caribbean being named/selected, so I think Barbados represents Caribbean pretty well (please correct me if I'm wrong).

I know the highlight should be in Bonaire without a doubt since my wife and I are both "fish freaks". My wife can only snorkel, but I dive as well with advanced open water cert. for years.

Though I think I will definitely rent a car in Bonaire to explore the diving and snorkeling spots, I want to choose a resort/hotel in Bonaire that has a nice house reef, so that when I go for boat dive, my wife can still enjoy herself alone at the hotel house reef.

My wife already ordered the book BSDME by Susan Porter, and Susan sent my wife a personal email to tell her that she is the first person she had had order from Hong Kong! lol

(Message edited by SNORKELINGFREAK on September 29, 2010)

Jeremy very interesting story, only a little envious here. I did want to throw in my 2 yuan about Barbados. We have been there twice now, 1987 and 2007, we are due again in 2027 and we've decided that is about the right interval. We like the island and love the Bajans. The snorkeling is pretty good but is limited to boats trips. I did a shore dive last trip and it was pretty pitiful compared to the boat dives. We have stayed both trips on the north end of the island as the south side has more surf and bigger hotels.

Bonaire will be a different world, much more laid back and smaller. The snorkeling will be at your own pace and time. You'll see, have a great trip.

Hi Cecil, thanks for the info on Barbados. Just wonder if Bonaire & Curacao are as safe as Barbados. I heard Barbados is relatively safe, and the Bajans are very friendly and helpful towards tourists. Security is our main concern beside fishes, lol.

I can't really say I felt safer on Barbados than Bonaire. The Bajans are wonderful friendly folks but so are the Bonairians. The one issue on Barbados is the distances involved, if you go sightseeing you will be gone for a while and therefore have to take more stuff, which make petty theft more likely. It is also very easy to get lost on Barbados and I thought it was funny to see a gentleman standing by the side of the road looking for lost tourists, when he found one he redirects them and asks for a tip, not a bad gig if you can get it.