Bonaire, Plaza Resort, Toucan Divers

Author: James Herlocker

Just spent a week, Nov 28-Dec 5, at the Plaza Resort. In my remarks, keep in mind that much of this is based upon my opinion and personal preferences, and as such, is not necessarily a recommendation for all people.

This was the first trip to Bonaire for my wife and I. We chose the Plaza based upon information that indicated this was likely the nicest facility on the island, in terms of accommodations, and also had an adequate dive operation. We discovered that the facility itself (rooms, grounds, service, etc.) is indeed the nicest, and the dive operation exceeded our expectations and was also an A-1 operation.

We stayed in a 1 BR villa, which turned out to be huge. Huge BR with 2 queen beds and 25 inch TV, huge living area with dining area table, full kitchen, 2 love seat sofas and another 25 inch TV, large balcony with table and chairs off the living area, smaller balcony off the BR. And a huge bathroom with oversize tub (useful for two participants) and complete with wall to wall granite vanity area.

The entire resort is built around two lagoons which harbor several sailboats and motor boats, many with permanent residents aboard. So a large number of their rooms are called "laguna view". There are of course a few wings of ocean view also, but I didn’t see any or many rooms without either of these views. A group of the villas did appear to have a non-laguna or non-ocean view though. (Ours was laguna.)

The grounds are both immaculately kept and landscaped with flowering bushes and plants beyond belief. This aspect of the Plaza added to our enjoyment of the experience immensely, partly due to the fact that the size of the grounds causes one to spend a bit of time walking between areas such as from rooms to beach, or dive shop or restaurants. If you’re in a big hurry this would perhaps be a negative. For us it was very enjoyable. There’s also countless singing birds, lizards and several resident iguanas to add to the show.

There’s also a large pool, for those who like pool activities and a very nice beach for beachgoers. Adequate lounges and a non-stop supply of towels for water activities, several beach showers, and they’ve also planted a good number of coconut trees for shade. (By the way, Bonaire is not really a "tropical" island. The indigenous plant life is mostly cactus, divi divi trees and other desert flora. Any coconut or palm trees have been planted.)

I give the dive operation, Toucan Divers, 5 stars (out of possible 5). We purchased a dive package with our housing. Six 1-tank boat dives and unlimited air for shore dives. Our week began with the best orientation for a week of diving I’ve ever received. (And I’ve dived all over the Caribbean.) We were told all about the Marine Park which surrounds Bonaire and Klein Bonaire, the typical reef pattern around the island, what to expect on certain dives, etc, etc, etc. (This orientation is mandatory for all divers to Bonaire; Marine Park regulations.)

Toucan Divers has two large boats with a third on order due in January. Currently, when needed, they hire a third boat from the on site Photo Shop owner. (That turned out to be our favorite boat. Although smaller, it’s real fast and made the ride to the sites real quick, perhaps 5-10 minutes instead of 10-15.) Depending upon your dive package, either a 1 tank or 2 tank dive is available every a.m. There’s also at least 1 scheduled 1 tank dive every afternoon and a few night boat dives during the week. All their gear is brand new and in perfect condition. The rental regulator even has a computer attached. They are equipped to provide NITROX too. The ample staff is always courteous, friendly, knowledgeable about specific dive sites (where’s the seahorses?) and very professional. The layout of the dive shop and facility allows very easy access with your rental car to load up tanks and gear for your shore dives. Dive lockers are provided, with keys, for storing gear and hangers are provided for hanging wetsuits to dry.

Diving Bonaire is the easiest I’ve done in the Caribbean. The island promotes itself as the "home of diving freedom". Meaning they give you the orientation, do a check out shore dive at your hotel, and turn you loose to do your thing, if desired. Tanks and air are available 24 hours a day (probably at all dive operations, but I can’t vouch for that). The island is set up with yellow painted stones all along the coast marking the dive sites from shore (over 50). Literature is available everywhere indicating which dives are shore only, boat only or either. Also info is readily available on which might be more advanced dives due to current and waves, etc. If you want to do some shore diving without a boat group, this is the place to go! If you find you’ve arrived at a shore dive site and there’s already a car parked there, drive another ½ mile and you’re at the next site, which will likely be vacant!

Toucan Divers will more often go to Klein Bonaire then the main island sites, due to a boat being obviously required to do those sites. There’s only a handful of boat only sites on the main island. Most are easily accessible from shore. We’re talking 25 yards, and there’s the marker buoy. But the dive master usually asks the boat if anybody has a request and if nobody objects (due to having done that site already) we will go there. So they’re very flexible and easy to work with. (This is a different arrangement than I think Captain Don’s. I think they have a sign-up board.)

Night diving is also a snap. We chose to do one night dive only, on the full moon, right at our hotel. It’s called Eighteenth Palm and I really liked it in the checkout shore dive, so having been familiar with it, it was a good choice at night. Not to mention some great unexpected fish that we’ve never seen before showed up for the night dive.

Most divers plan their day such that they do 1 or 2 tanks before lunch, then pack up the car and do shore dives in the afternoon. My wife and I aren’t as hardcore as some, so we only did 2 shore dives in addition to the boat dives daily.

We toured the National Park on the north end of the island one afternoon, doing the "short route." Contrary to much literature, 4 wheel drive is not needed; our Toyota Starlet (subcompact) negotiated it without any problems. Don’t show up at 2:50, right before the 3:00 p.m. admittance cut off, like we did. If you do, the rangers feel they need to baby-sit you to make sure you get done by 5:00 when they close. It was hilarious: they came and found us 2 or 3 times to check our progress and urge us along. Then disappeared to either show up at another point, or when satisfied, ultimately beat us back to the entrance gate.

In summary, we can recommend the Plaza Resort and Toucan Divers without reservation. To us, the incremental higher cost (above our possible other choices Captain Don’s and Sand Dollar) was money well spent. Enjoy your trip.

P.S. Take bug repellant. The trade winds didn’t blow as usual while we were there and the mosquitoes harassed us.