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orthojason

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Reviews (7)

The Plaza: Bonaire

4
5
5
4

When arriving at Flamingo Airport in Bonaire you only have a short van ride over to The Plaza Resort Bonaire. A driver meets you when you exit after gathering your luggage. The airport has carts available free of charge which certainly help gathering your luggage. Immigration and customs in Bonaire is quite simple. Upon arriving at The Plaza, you enter an open aired atrium and offered a cold drink at the check in desk. The staff are friendly and provide overall appropriate service. After obtaining your room assignments and keys, you walk outside and over a small bridge to the various suites available. They offer Ocean views and Laguna views depending on your preference. The rooms are clean, comfortable and have AC. Their recent remodeling gives each room a modern appearance. There have a LCD tv, safe, large closet, balcony with chairs and table. Wifi works well throughout the property. We have stayed at the Plaza around 5+ times over the last 15 years.

The weather is mostly the same each day. Sunny and windy with low risk of minor showers. If there has been a recent rain then mosquitoes can be an issue at dusk. Definitely use DEET spray if needed and bring with you to dinner since most all restaurants are open aired dining.

The restaurant at the Plaza offers a decent selection and the quality is good. It is located right on the water. Although they have gone to an all-inclusive arrangement, the restaurant provides high quality Caribbean cuisine. This style can make it quite easy during your vacation. The drawbacks include prepaying and arranging all your meals ahead of time and being less likely to go out into town for meals. The beach fish barbeque is an excellent highlight of the week. The sunset happy hour is one of the best features at the resort and the center of attention around 1800 each day. There is volleyball court and sandy beach with plenty of beach chairs. The pool and pool deck offers a nice alterative to those non-divers or children. There is also an activity center by the beach.

The dive operation at The Plaza offers everything you can ask for diving Bonaire. The instructors provide great instruction and take their time with you in a relaxed environment. My wife did her open water check out here and the instruction was excellent. The house reef of 18 palms is a great dive site for all divers. It is especially great for beginners and night dives. There are always tarpon around the sandy bottom between the shallow and deeper reef. At night shine your light and get ready for the tarpon to eat any fish that are illuminated. There plenty of tanks sitting out for use at any time. Showers and rinse tanks are also available. It’s so easy to get your tank ready and just walk down the beach into the water to go diving. The reef here is quite nice and offers both shallow coral around 40-60 feet and a deeper ledge starting around 80 feet beyond the sandy patch between reefs. One can see various fish species including seahorses, tarpon, squid and turtles, which can be frequently seen here. The boat dives are excellent guided dives, which really allow you to explore more dive sites including Klein Bonaire. The divemasters really help pointing out hard to see creatures, like the camouflaged frogfish. They provide a reliable, safe, and educational dive trip. There are lockers available by the dive shop and dive boats. But if you plan to do any shore diving off the resort if can be easier to keep your dive gear in your room.

Overall, The Plaza resort offers both divers and non-divers a great vacation experience or just a quiet relaxing week on the beach.

Visited on 02/2011 - Submitted on 09/13/2014

B&B Scuba Maui

5
5
5
5

The island of Maui is a beautiful and unique diving experience. From the green turtle abundant dives to the crystal clear 100+ foot visibility of Molokini crater. The humpback whales migrate to the Maui area from November to May.

As for finding a great dive operation, look no further than B&B Scuba Maui. They offer impeccable service, safety and overall great diving trip. Given that the wind picks up in the afternoon, the dive boat departs for Molokini just before sunrise. This really makes the day better since the sea is calmer and your dive boat gets to the dive sites early to pick a great dive site at Molokini. The divemasters aboard really go overboard trying to assist with your dive gear, which is nice. However, I would recommend setting up your own tank and insist they swap out any tanks less than 3000 psi. Usually the second boat dive is a shallow dive where green sea turtles and large octopi can be found. One of our dives we even found two pipefish under a ledge.

I would highly recommend diving with B&B Scuba while visiting Maui.

http://www.bbscuba.com

Visited on 03/2010 - Submitted on 09/13/2014

Maui

0
5
5
5
Visited on 03/2010 - Submitted on 09/13/2014

Bonaire Diving

5
5
5
4

Bonaire is one of the most diverse coral reef habitats within the Caribbean. The weather is usually close to the same year round. There are various resorts to stay and all cater to divers. Bonaire is divers paradise. The dive masters are friendly, safe and great teachers. Bonaire has some of the best drinking water in the world. There are various restaurants offering worldwide and Caribbean cuisine.

Bonaire is unique and best appreciated by the simple living diving crowd or people wanted to enjoy a peaceful vacation. There are also multiple excellent restaurants within walking distance from hotel. The shore diving options makes Bonaire a unique gem of the world. Divers may rent vehicles and explore the clearly marked dive sites along the road. The dive site map is easy to follow and dive operations will provide tanks for a full day of scuba diving. Dive at your own pace and avoid people on the dive boat if you choose. Boat diving in Bonaire is another attractive option since you can visit beautiful Klein Bonaire’s reefs (small island off the west of Bonaire) and marine life. Boat diving also offers expert dive master to point out frogfish and seahorses. Bonaire is famous for these hard to find creatures. As for dive sites, they all are excellent with the north providing reefs with cliffs in the backdrop on the nearby land, the south with the colorful pink salt ponds and pristine beaches. Common things to see diving include turtles, seahorses, frogfish, squid, eagle rays, dolphins and all the macro subjects you could ask for in one island. There are great underwter photography and video opportunities however one must respect the coral in the STINAPA Bonaire National Marine Park. Everyone must purchase a marine park tag and complete the educational course prior to diving. Most all resorts offer unlimited shore diving, which is especially great for night diving or beginners. Enjoy the wonderful scuba diving Bonaire has to offer.

Visited on 09/2014 - Submitted on 09/13/2014
Read all Bonaire Diving Dive Travel reviews

Cobalt Coast Dive Resort

4
4
5
4

During out visit to Grand Cayman in March 2013 we dove with Cobalt Coast for 7 days. This included daily 2 tank dives. Although their location is secluded, the property and accommodations is top notch. This location allows easy access to North wall dive sites, which are amazing. The diving here includes massive coral structures and swim-throughs. Look for hiding nurse sharks between the coral formations. Cayman is best known for their wall which diving out of this operation won’t disappoint, especially the North wall. The snorkeling and shore diving is excellent off the dock. Cobalt Coast is a perfect location for beginners or anyone looking to take their open water portion of their dive certification. Their pool is great for instruction and the ability to shore dive off the dock makes learning easy and stress free. Their dive shop and divemasters are also well equipped for experienced or technical diving. There are plenty of fun rental options including cameras and underwater scooters. Their house reef is beautiful with a small wall that runs parallel to the shore. There are various marine life and fish including oceanic triggerfish, turtles, and tarpon. Underwater there are markers for easy navigation back to the dock. The boat captains and dive masters were excellent during our week diving. The wind and weather had shifted for 2 days making it difficult to depart from their dock. They could have easily cancelled diving for these days but they drove the boat to the other side of the island and drove us in vans to meet the boat. We were able to dive these two days despite the unusual weather. I’ve never seen a dive operation perform such a smooth transition under last minute weather changes. I would recommend staying at their resort as they offer great shore diving, pool deck and reliable restaurant / bar. I would recommend renting a vehicle when staying here. Having a car gives you the option of going out in town to eat or explore the island.

Visited on 03/2013 - Submitted on 09/13/2014
Read all Cobalt Coast Dive Resort Dive Resort reviews

Divi Flamingo Beach Resort & Casino

5
4
5
4

Bonaire is one of the most diverse coral reef habitats within the Caribbean. The weather is usually close to the same year round. There are various resorts to stay and dive while visiting Bonaire. I have visited Bonaire now around 8-10 times. Divi Flamingo Bonaire resorts offers excellent diving accommodations, friendly staff and service. The best thing about Divi is their wonderful dock with oversized lockers for gear storage. This sure makes the trip 100% “lazy man” diving. No trucking gear back and forth to hotel room. Tanks and multiple clean rinse tanks available at the dock. There are ladders on both sides for exit and optional walk off platform at end of dock. Their dive boats are never overcrowded and with the addition of their newest boat Pressure Drop they have added probably the nicest dive boat on Bonaire. The other dive boats are excellent as well. The dive masters are friendly, safe and great teachers.

At the resort the food at the resort is reproducible, reliable and priced accordingly. The restaurant staff does a great job especially at lunchtime getting food brought out to hungry divers fast. Bonaire has some of the best water in the world. The rooms are clean and best of all right on the water. People who are looking for a fancy resort please go somewhere else in the world on vacation. Bonaire is unique and best appreciated by the simple living diving crowd or people wanted to enjoy a peaceful vacation. There are also multiple excellent restaurants within walking distance from hotel. I’d highly recommend Divi over other resorts on Bonaire as I have stayed at the others. Again their dock with extra large storage lockers really makes a diving vacation so easy and helps set Divi apart from other resorts in Bonaire. Dive operation and resort is photography friendly. Their house reef is excellent with diverse creatures (turtles, octopi, tarpon, mantis shrimp, all Caribbean tropic fish, etc) to be discovered right off the dock. The house reef is a great location for new divers or night dives.

Visited on 12/2013 - Submitted on 08/18/2014
Read all Divi Flamingo Beach Resort & Casino Dive Resort reviews

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