The Plaza: Bonaire
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.
