What is the best dive resort to stay in? Any advice on travel etc?

ETA: Wife found a smoking deal on a live aboard for a week. Booked it. 

I've been there twice. Last time was just over a year ago. My wife and I met up with one of our friends for the trip. We rented a house on the beach (which happened to be literally next to the Chief of Police's house). On the second to last night of the trip, my wife and I left for a night dive off Capt Don's pier. When we got back to the house, there were a bunch of cars out front. It turns out that right after we left for the night dive, two people broke into the house and started loading all our stuff into bags. Our friend was in a back bedroom with the door locked - he came out after he heard noises, but the robbers had already been through the living room, kitchen, and two bedrooms (including the bedroom my wife and I were using). When our friend came out of the back bedroom, the robbers were wearing white sheets wrapped around their heads - they grabbed a few more items then ran out through a back screen door and left.

Through working with the "police" we learned how absolutely rampant the crime is now on Bonaire, how complicit the police are in protecting the criminals (they are all family members), how intertwined the rental companies are with the criminals (the contractors they use to do things like clean pools, maintenance on the house, and house cleaning, etc, all have keys to the houses key codes to turn off house alarms, etc, and they sell these to the criminals). It's a completely f-ed up situation on Bonaire, and it's getting worse, given the drug crime coming over from Columbia/Venezuela through Curacao.  Ultimately, we never got our stuff back and the police were no help - though they emailed us a couple months after this incident that they had recovered some of our items. We never saw it again and they stopped communicating when I asked them to send it all back to us.

Be careful on Bonaire. I'll never go there again. My story is not unusual there now - I was upgraded to first class on my flight home, and 3 other families all in first class had similar incidents on their last or second to last nights on the island, but everyone was staying in very different areas.

1. Well shit... Anyone got any other go to spots in the Carribbean? 
   

Curacao is even worse. (My company has some work going on there, and I hear the stories....including criminals breaking into the airport fire house, stealing the one and only fire truck, driving it through the chain link fence that surrounded the airport, crashing it into another building, then  dismantling most of it for scrap metal. All the while leaving the airport with no freaking fire truck)

I don't know anything about Aruba.

My recommendation is Roatan. That place is awesome.

We did two trips to Roatan last year. Looks like we may be planning at least 1 trip back.

Belize?

Socorro?

A friend just got from Belize. Ambergris Caye, San Pedro. Loved it. Rented a golf cart for the week as cars aren't allowed on the island.

Only went out one day and ended up snorkeling, not diving, due to issues with the person he was traveling with (nervous diver). However, the boat they were on had half divers, half snorkelers. Apparently the diving was great.

We stayed at Buddy's Dive Resort when we went a couple of years ago. We're booked to stay there again this October. Their house reef was decent during the day and an absolute blast at night when the Tarpon would come in and search for bait fish to eat. They're attracted to a lot of light because it helps them when they hunt. They absolutely love my canister light.

The breakfast at Buddy's is pretty darn good. There's most everything you could want and you'll come away from it with a full belly. They have a small cafe called Blennys which serves decent food if you're looking for a hot sandwich for lunch. And if you're in the mood for something a little more upscale they have a restaurant called Ingredients that opens around dinner time.

As far as our routine would go we'd usually throw a couple of full tanks in the back of the truck at night. Then in the morning we'd get up eat a healthy breakfast then go out for a dive. We'd usually eat out snack then drive to site number two. After that we'd come back to Buddy's exchange our tanks and grab a bite to eat.

Typically we'd either two a long dive in the morning, a long dive in the afternoon, and a night dive. Or we'd do 2 shorter dives in the morning, break for lunch then 2 shorter dives in the afternoon and go out for dinner.  

As far as crime goes it's there and has been for some time.  In doing my research it seems that the more remote and less travelled the dive site the more likely you are to get hit. When the wife and I would go diving we'd roll down the car window and leave nothing in them but a pair of cheap sunglasses, cheap flip flops, cheap towel, and a water bottle and snack that was stored inside a cheap soft sided cooler. We never had an issue. Buddy's provided evening security so there were no problems there.

We have the same problem here in cave country. There are certain places during certain times of the year (summer) where people just don't go cave diving because people get their stuff stolen and their cars vandalized. It sucks but it is what it is.

Hope it helps

Bonaire is fine. Yes,  some crime happens, as it does everywhere.  This discussion is non stop on Scuba board, nobody can demonstrate any difference in Bonaire and any other Caribbean destination,  except those that are worse, like Honduras.  

Bonaire is about freedom,  dive where you want,  when you want.  24/7.   No having to wait for a scheduled boat to dive a crowded site with a bunch of idiots who burn a tank in 35 minutes.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. The crime in Roatan is probably about on par with Bonaire. When we go there we are on a guarded island resort and so really arent exposed to alot of it. 

Is Bonaire mostly shore diving, or a mix?

Both but the shore diving is as good as the boat dives.  If you go male sure and check out some of the shore dive spots in Washington Slagbaai at the north end of the island.  There's also a fantastic wall dive off the east shore of Lac Bay.  You'll need a guide for that one though.  Visibility can drop to just a few feet in the channel on the way to and from the wall.

We stayed at Sorobon Resort and had a great time.  It's not a big corporately owned resort and I think the staff are a little more personal and attentive because of that.

Thank you!

Update: Found a great deal on a live aboard, so going to do that for the first trip of the year! 

Any advice for those that have done one?

Blackbeards?

Aggressor Squadron.

Cool!  Just watch out for G-LOC!



Seriously my a buddy of my brother has don't a couple of Aggressor trips.  He said they were pretty good but preferred to not have quite the structured trip.