We are planning to attend, of course, at this point, this early I am not 100% positive. We just came back from Grand Cayman and Sunset House and I imagine the Buddy Dive resort would be similar. The Sunset had a bar, excellent restaurant, nice facilities, great boats, beautiful facility, friendly dive guides and captains, Cathy Church wandering around, no real problems.
But, the flight down there was h-e double L. I was so stressed by the time we got there I was about to faint, we got there at 11:00PM, flight delays therefore cost us a day, the boats go out at 8:00 AM, I did not have time to prep my camera or set our gear up, rush, rush, rush, rush and I hate being rushed.
Then that first afternoon we decided to walk to town to go to the grocery store rather than beach dive, it was a death march! Then the next afternoon we did the Sting Ray City which would have been great had it not been rough and raining. So it was not until the third day that I ventured onto the shore diving opportunities at Sunset House. Having overheard other customers saying it was not so good, I was sort of in no hurry, well, they are wrong, the shore diving was superb. Apparently most divers, I should know by now are very under trained and they had been diving up on the hard pan. The reef, about 100 yards out was freaking awesome complete with sand chutes, walls, lots of corals and plenty of life. And, best of all, it was right from the hotel with three different entry points including one right behind our room. I really feel disappointed I did not take fuller advantage of the shore diving.
What does this have to do with Bonaire, well, mostly I am concerned about getting there, the stress level was high and I cannot want to do that again and it looks like Bonaire may be worse in terms of opportunities for missed connections and significant delays. I really hate missing time at the destination because Delta's pilots were to tired to fly
.
So, with a long horizon still remaining until Bonaire, what travel arrangement, stop overs might be wise? Like, what I am thinking is to arrive in Miami a day or two early, even potentially diving the "Seven Wrecks Corridor" before continuing on to Bonaire, I don't mean as a group, I am just trying to plan a less stressful trip for me and MC. I guess what I am saying is that I am skeptical of leaving "Anywhere-ville, USA" and arriving in Bonaire on the same day.
DRIVING (not diving, Allen
) on Cayman was stressful as well as worrisome, is renting a Jeep in Bonaire really that easy and hauling gear around here and there? Again, I am just asking, how far do you have to walk, where do you gear up? How safe is it?
Our friends we met in Cayman, their room was broken into while they slept and computers, camera and various items were stolen, while this is not typical of the Caymans, I have heard Bonaire is pretty bad for theft. What is a realistic thought on this, is the hotel, Buddy Dive, safe, does it have security etc?
We had a great time in fact once we settled in, I am sure that Buddy Dive would be a great adventure, people we met in Caymans at the Sunset House mentioned to us that Buddy Dive was very similar but at Sunset House the boat dives were included in the package price. Since some of you are hitting the 60 marks and I am not far behind, I am not really sure how much shore diving I am going to be into if I have to carry my gear and M.C.'s gear very far and into and out of a car over and over. I sort of like a boat with people who handle and load the gear, rig it up, change out my tanks and do all the heavy lifting on their 20 something year old backs, just my thinking out loud and not meant in anyways as criticism.
Will we drive together, rent a van, individual cars? Just trying to get my brain around Bonaire. I guess I have always thought of shore diving as like bank fishing, the rich people were in a boat with fancy reels and rods, only us poor folk sat on a bucket and tossed our worm into the water from the bank. Shore diving---? Really, it is that good?
I am sure it will all work out, I think at this point not knowing much more details, I am laying over in Miami rather than fly-dash-fly-dash--miss connection---Homeland Security called---dash--run---jump---no peanuts served--run--dash--fly--run--jump--dive, dive, dive! or not.
James