If you watch your expenses, consider Buddy Dive. ...

If you watch your expenses, consider Buddy Dive. Be forewarned that the possibility for frustration exists.

I can say a few good things about Buddy Dive Bonaire:

1) The price was very good. The other terms were quite good, like included nitrox with no up charge.
2) I did like the setup for checking & loading tanks and rinsing gear. Expeditious and intelligent.
3) The room was overall good. Uncomfortable couch, but that's the only issue.
4) Housekeeping did a good job.
5) The food folks did a good job.

Recognizing that unpleasant stuff just happens sometimes and one should just roll with it, here are the negatives I experienced:

1) Consider bringing food with you if you arrive late. When we arrived about 10 p.m., all food establishments were closed and no provisions to eat anything. Staff told us the asian restauraunt to the north was open 'till 11, but it was not. So we went to bed hungry. Wish they'd have warned us.

2) Our included truck ran well, but the tailgate was thouroughly rusted. One hinge was completely rusted out. The tailgate sat on the bumper, making the un-level surface not good for getting gear on/off. I tried 2 days to get another truck, then gave up. On a positive note, it did appear that they're swapping out the older trucks with newer trucks.

3) The orientation was incomplete. No discussion on technique for doing shore dives or that sites are identified by yellow rocks, or tricky traffic stuff associated with getting around town.

4) 2 dive staff literally refused to give me 16 lbs of weights initially and gave me 14 & said it was enough. It wasn't. I came back, they gave me 16 lbs total and insulted me that my technique must be wrong. Look, I'm a very competent electrical engineer with about 200 dives, and I believe I've thought about this and tried various things enough to know that a brand new wetsuit is going to initially be more bouyant on my bouyant frame, which I did tell them up front. Common sense dictates that except for a bona fide safety issue, one should never needlessly insult the client even if they are in fact totally wrong.

5) One night a staffer (it appears... I could be wrong) moved my truck and parked in my spot. I was very upset for about 30 seconds thinking my truck was stolen. I thought that was inconsiderate as I didn't know why they'd move my truck or where it was. Should've let me know.

My girlfriend had a good experience there 15 years ago. This experience was good and not so good.