Welcome to Bonaire and welcome to the
Buddy Dive Family
The year 2020 was a special year for us as Buddy Dive family; it marks the 40th anniversary of Buddy Dive Resort.
The resort opened its doors for the first time on August 19, 1980 and it’s a sure thing that a lot has happened and changed since then. When talking to guests who stayed with us before they will most likely have a lot of stories from back in the days, which they can share with you.
Martien van der Valk, head of the Buddy Dive Family looks back: “When my wife Ingrid and I
obtained Buddy Dive Resort & Watersports back in 2002, the resort only had 46 apartments, a small dive operation with 3 boats and 20 rental cars.” Today the resort offers 73 apartments, more than 100 rental cars, and 2 restaurants. The dive operation has grown and is now a PADI 5-star Career Development Center with 6 dive boats, a large range of diving options, courses, kids programs and the largest technical diving facility of the Caribbean.
In 2012 we founded a foundation to protect and restore the coral reefs in Bonaire; Reef Renewal
Foundation Bonaire has become a well-established foundation with multiple participating dive shops on the island. To date; Reef Renewal Bonaire has planted over 22.000 corals back to our reefs.
Quite a few things to be proud of, Martien continues: “My wife and I are also proud that we could hand over the management to the next generation, who will follow in our footsteps and will pursue our mission of Buddy Dive Resort being the go-to resort and dive operation for your dive vacation and dive education.
We are also very proud of the number of guests that joined our Buddy Dive Family over the years and became a fantastic group of repeat guests, with some that have been returning yearly for 25 years already! The group is still growing each year.”
For those who haven’t been to Bonaire yet; we hope to welcome you to one of our properties soon and let you experience all the wonders of our beautiful island.
To everyone else; we hope to see you again soon!
