Buddy Dive Resort Reviews

We were supposed to get a one bedroom, but instead we got a studio. So small and hard to move around in the kitchen. It is not a full kitchen, no oven in the unit. We had our dive gear, and would leave it outside to dry, but would have to bring it in at night. Absolutely no room to let it dry in the studio, and no proper place to put it outside to dry. Only 2 hooks and no hangers outside.

The hotel is nice and the staff are very friendly. Guillermo who is head of the dive shop is very friendly and knowledgeable. I lost my expensive dive light and upon my surprise Beaudine was able to retrieve it for me! If you want to know what any fish or aquatic creature is, I recommend that you ask Danny in the dive shop. She is an encyclopedia of knowledge and as personable as they get. The only complaint that I have, is the service at the restaurant. I dont recommend splitting up checks as it causes a mess of confusion and be prepared to wait. I think that is overall the sane at every place on the island that I went to. Patience is not my friend so I didn’t dock points on this. I will definitely be back to Buddy Dive Resort. Thank you for a pleasurable stay! Crash

With one exception, everything at the resort was better than we expected for a dive resort. The room was nicer. The food was better. Everything was clean and conveniently located. The one issue is that there are young Dutch people working all over the resort… at reception, the restaurant and the dive shop… who seem to have absolutely no idea what they’re doing. We had trouble checking in with the dive shop, with reservations for dinner, and with getting our rental truck at the reception desk. Each time there was nothing unusual that we were doing. It was run of the mill resort stuff, and they just couldn’t manage. We were subject to scrunched up faces and long periods of confused silence. Eventually an older, more experienced person would show up, we’d tell them why we were there, and 30 seconds later we were done. This wasn’t enough to ruin our vacation, but it was certainly annoying. Aside from that we had a great week at Buddy Dive and can recommend it, so long as you have a bit of patience.

We had a great time at Buddy Dive Resort! The dive operation and team there are outstanding and having the beautiful house reef available 24/7 was so nice. The property and rooms are not fancy but everything worked well and we had a wonderful experience.

At 4 pm my room wasn’t ready, at 5 pm my room wasn’t ready. After dinner I was able to check in but was given a studio room instead of the 1 bedroom I booked. Exhausted I took the incorrect room and was told to come back at 8am the next morning for help. When I came back at 8 am, I was told to come back at 10am that management was running late. When I came back at 10am there were more excuses and insistence that I had been given the correct room. After much polite determination on my part a manager finally showed up and gave me keys to a one bedroom as reserved. There is some kind of belief at this resort that their studio is a one bedroom, even though there is no sitting area in the studio?

We had an outstanding experience, with a number of staff going above and beyond. There was a problem with one younger staff person, and that keeps us from giving 5 stars for service. I came prepared to certify at Buddy's, but was initially paired with Julia, who interpreted my anxiety as defiance and literally said, "Don't ever look at me like that again!" We talked to Guillermo, who was in charge of the scuba center and projects an air of someone who could handle any crisis, land or sea. He paired us with Jose, a onetime general surgeon, who is a master instructor and also a humane individual. He spent the time necessary to get me more comfortable with my first diving in the ocean. He did this despite Julia's attempt to poison the situation which we learned of behind the scene. I also want to give a shoutout for Donny, who told us where we might be lucky enough to see an octopus. He is a character (a retired policeman) and my boyfriend said he was a joy to be around. He did tease them about the visibility dropping as they photographed the octopus, but my boyfriend maintains that the octopus was at least partially responsible as he situated his or her eight legs on the sandy bottom. Thanks to all for an amazing experience!

We got our open water certificate at the yellow submarine location and we were a little nervous but we had such a funny and great guide Camilla who made sure to explain everything and make sure we were ready! She was great and so excited to dive!

Second time was even better than the first. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back to Buddy Dive. I didn’t have the best experience the first time, HOWEVER! I now realise it was my room mate who created a stressful situation losing things all the time, making me responsible for keeping track of her stuff and her snoring. I ultimately made the decision to go back because I think their dive operation is top notch. My son was getting his PADI certification and it’s a great place to learn. He did his e-course and then the pool work and the four open water dives right off their dock and in the house reef. Visibility is great and the waters are very calm. We got a two bedroom apartment. My lads had twin beds in their room. Their apartment had a large dining and living room and a separate bathroom, and a patio. The entry was at the back towards the car park. My one bedroom en-suite apartment connected to theirs so I never used the kitchen but I did use the little table in the kitchen for teams meetings online. WiFi is decent enough for that but not always consistent in the bedroom itself. I didn’t have a covered porch but just used the adjoining one. We used the entry from my bedroom to exit towards the restaurants and pool. The kitchen is set up nicely. We brought easy to make meals like Mac and cheese and ramen and snacks mainly because I have the luggage allowance for it and it saved me from making a trip to the supermarket. You will need to bring your own spices or oil or you get it from the supermarket. There is one walking distance from the resort but the bigger one is towards town and you’ll need a car or a taxi. We really didn’t cook that often. Just for lunch and when we came back from an Ostracod night dive. (If you come back from a night dive around 9pm, even tough the restaurant is still open, they might be slower with the meal) My son had a great diving course experience. His dive instructor was excellent. Highly recommend doing the certification here. We did over a dozen boat dives and didn’t repeat any sites. Because the sites have one mooring, you won’t see five dive boats in the same area. There was a big group of 40 divers from a dive club but we never saw them once we left the dock. Our boat had a max of 10 people and that was only one dive. Most of the time it was 5 to 7 and it’s probably because it’s low season. I prefer boat dives to shore dives. I did some the first trip and just found it a lot more work than I wanted. The morning boat dives are two tanks and the afternoon is one tank. All dive masters are very competent and experienced. Safety is paramount, and they did a great job with their instructions and often with humour. Here are the sites we did : Sharon’s serenity, Rappel, Barcadera, Munk’s Haven, Knives, Ebo’s Special, mi Dushi just to name some. We didn’t repeat any sites and saw moray eels, spotted eagle ray, octopus, and turtles as well as small marine life and amazing corals. The corals have been impacted by warmer t

Second time was even better than the first. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back to Buddy Dive. I didn’t have the best experience the first time, HOWEVER! I know realise it was my room mate who created a stressful situation losing things all the time, making me responsible for keeping track of her stuff and her snoring. I ultimately made the decision to go back because I think their dive operation is top notch. My son was getting his PADI certification and it’s a great place to learn. He did his e-course and then the pool work and the four open water dives right off their dock and into the house reef. Visibility is great and the waters are very calm. We got a two bedroom apartment. My son and friend had twin beds in their room. Their apartment had a large dining and living room and a separate bathroom, and a patio. The entry was at the back towards the car park. My one bedroom en-suite apartment connected to theirs so I never used the kitchen but I did use the little table in the kitchen for teams meetings online. WiFi is decent enough for that but not always consistent in the bedroom itself. I didn’t have a covered porch but just used the adjoining one. We used the entry from my bedroom to exit towards the restaurants and pool. The kitchen is set up nicely. We brought easy to make meals like Mac and cheese and ramen and snacks mainly because I have the luggage allowance for it and it saved me from making a trip to the supermarket. You will need to bring your own spices or oil h mess you get it from the supermarket. There is one walking distance from the resort but the bigger one is towards town and you’ll need a car or a taxi. We really didn’t cook that much. Just for lunch and when we came back from an Ostracod night dive. My son had a great diving course experience. His dive instructor was excellent. Highly recommend doing the certification here. We did over a dozen dives and didn’t repeat any sites. Because the sites have one mooring, you won’t see five dive boats in the same area. There was a big group of 40 divers from a dive club but we never saw them once we left the dock. Our boat had a max of 10 people and that was only one dive. Most of the time it was 5 to 7 and it’s probably because it’s low season. I prefer boat dives to shore dives. I did some the first trip and just found it a lot more work than I wanted. The morning boat dives are two tanks and the afternoon is one tank. All dive masters are very competent and experienced. Safety is paramount, and they did a great job with their instructions and often with humour. Here are the sites we did : Sharon’s serenity, Rappel, Barcadera, Munk’s Haven, Knives, Ebo’s Special, mi Dushi just to name some. We didn’t repeat any sites and saw moray eels, spotted eagle ray, octopus, and turtles as well as small marine life and amazing corals. The corals have been impacted by warmer temperatures and there is an active reef restoration project in progress. I planned this trip for the ostrac

The staff were great. The boat dives frequent the same 3 sites over and over. No variety.This resort did not suit my needs. I’m a serious diver and everytime they asked where would we like to go on the boat dives they say ok. Then come up with a lame excuse why we wouldn’t . Then go to the same sites over and over. I stopped taking my camera. Why bother. I’m glad I booked with a local guide. It was worth the effort and money. As this was my first solo trip . I usually travel with a group of thirty. I ended my 600 th dive with an amazing dive with a local. Why ruin the trip with a few more boat dives with buddy. Less is definitely more here. Not pleased with buddy resort boat dives at all.

First time to the island and Buddy's, we will be back for many years to come! I have not felt so at ease getting into the water, especially right after arriving. We had the same dive master for 7 of our 9 boat dives. All 9 dives off boat were AMAZING!! The briefing when you arrive is super since you are able to get clear instruction about the resort, the reef, their procedures. The room was clean, ac worked exceptionally well. Housekeeping made sure we had everything. The house reef is incredible. If we didn't have the boat dives we would have been super happy just staying on the home reefs. We were on the same boat all week, the schedule was posted and super clear. The crew was awesome. They took us to super sites, and the last day... we were so incredibly happy when one of our divers found a big seahorse!! Our guide found the second one about 15ft away. Both were under the boat at Pitre's Pillars. Our group are slow divers, lots of cameras. Everyone except us in the group has hundreds of if not thousands of dives. We are the newest members at getting close to 100. We will both break that number when we visit next year!! Each time we went out, the guides gave us full briefings, they made sure the conditions were super, and we were shown so many cool small creatures. If you have patience, you can find yellow headed jaw fish in the sand close to shore. The house reef is full of life. We were completely blown away. Looking forward to next year.

We love Buddy Dive Resort and enjoyed our recent week there. We requested a ground floor room that was handicapped accessible and that's what we had. Great room and good housekeeping service. We purchased the full meal plan, since we didn't rent a vehicle this trip. The food was good and the menu varied. We enjoy the shore diving off Buddy's dock and the staff was very helpful. I put my gear on and off in the water and there was always someone available to lend a hand. The only thing on my wish list for the resort would be for them to have handrails at the pools. Our room opened up onto a poo;, but the lack of a handrail made it impossible for me to feel safe going in and out, so I passed on using the pool. It would also be great (as the quests age) to have lounge chairs that are a bit taller and easier to use. We've noticed that our fellow travelers are getting older (as are we) and making common areas safer is going to be a plus going forward.

This was our third time at Buddy's in as many years. The resort remains one of the best run and organized you could ask for. The resort is comfortable, efficient without any of the manic feel of a Carnival cruise or old faux-testosterone overloaded experience of too many dive shops and resorts of yesteryear. This place caters to divers - of all and any ages, but if you're looking to do shooters of a waitress' navel - look elsewhere - preferably far away. The staff are knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. While we are experienced divers we got to observe some of the instructors in action and were impressed with the quality of instruction and insistence on proper technique and etiquette. The tank farm remains a marvel - in no small part due to Marlon a smiling mountain of a man. Pressures and Nitrox percentages are aways a little generous for the former and spot on for the latter. We dive a combination of shore / boat dives. The boats are well-skippered, dive guides - for the most part - are exceptional. Recent infections have put the reef under strain - especially brain corals. The resort and the entire island are fighting hard to serve the biosphere and livelihood, but, as in some many places, it's going to ba a struggle. The diving was excellent and let's hope it remains that way. To return to one place so often and regularly is unusual for us - there is a lot of ocean we haven't seen, but Buddy is the exception to that rule. It's become a go to place and a destination to which we would always say "sure."

This was our second time at Buddy's, and we will not return to Buddys due to poor and inconsistent billing practices that are always in their favor and very frustrating. Several people had very similar billing problems including mysterious massive bar tabs for people who never went to the bar and don't even drink, they added a night stay, and when we were being helpful and pointed out a problem with a vehicle they just made it our fault and added the cost to our stay without discussing it. They will not remove the costs and they will only consider giving credit. I'm not interested. The food is ok, and dive operations are good, but the reef is also suffering the most particularly around Buddy's resort. South end reefs are much healthier. I'm canceling our trip here in 2025.