Captain Don's Habitat

Me and my brand new wife spent our honeymoon in Bonaire during which four of our nights were spent at captain dons rum runners. We loved the drinks and the staff was great, Sheldon, Dirk, and Zjenon, were friendly and welcoming. And the drinks were on point.

Thank you so, so much for the absolutely amazing time I had! I just can't express how much I loved the facial and the massage. Seriously, it was incredible! I'm already counting down the days until I can see you all again in the future. I mean, this was our 3rd visit and it was just as mind-blowing as the very first time we visited. You all are truly the best!

We won’t be returning. My review has three sections because the resort, Rum Runners restaurant, and Captain Don's dive operation are separately owned businesses. 1) RESORT: Our room, which was quite new and nice otherwise, was so dark and had such inadequate lighting that we needed to use our dive lights and phone flashlights to unpack. Air conditioning was inadequate – it was difficult to get our room under 75 degrees even when running the a/c 24/7. Maintenance examined our unit and advised that it was simply “too small” for the room size. However, in an adjacent building a literal stone’s toss away, a similar a/c unit kept our friend’s room downright frigid. Haphazard housekeeping. During our 8 day stay we never were given even one washcloth so I used hand and bath towels. We had to request towels several times as they weren’t always replaced after removal. Bed linens weren’t changed until Day 6 of our stay—and only after I requested this because we were so sweaty from our very warm room. We also needed to request that the body wash dispenser be refilled on Day 5 – it completely out. Others in our large dive group experienced similar housekeeping and room issues. Staff was very nice but I had the distinct impression Housekeeping was understaffed. Using the room safe entailed an extra $6 fee. The safe didn’t always work. Maintenance had to come twice to examine it; replacing the batteries resolved the issues. 2) RUM RUNNERS RESTAURANT: The restaurant (owned separately from the resort) was quite slow and food not especially good. We had only one truly great meal there (BBQ ribs). Dinner reservations were required. After discovering an excellent Chinese restaunt (CarreFour) only a short walk away, we ate all meals other than breakfast there. 3) CAPTAIN DON'S DIVE SHOP: A second dive shop is only steps away from the one most closely affiliated with Captain Don’s. This review is specific to the Captain Don’s shop only, with my memory refreshed from contemporaneous noations made in my dive logbook. Prior to this trip I had 50 Open Water dives (including Belize, Cozumel, and Fiji). My husband had ~60, so we aren’t completely inexperienced with different dive operations. Our mandatory briefing (which I am totally in favor of) run by Captain Don’s dive shop after our arrival was so upsetting and anxiety provoking that I did not want to dive there and was ready to return home immediately. Captain Don’s touts that itself as the “Home of Diving Freedom” but I feel a better descriptor is the “Home of Diving Abandonment”. This was my strong feeling from that briefing and little changed to alter it during the subsequent 7 days. Others in our group had the same feelings. During orientation we were asked to show our C-cards but when divers offered their Nitrox cards, were rebuffed and advised they weren’t needed. Only 2 people *total* ever staffed our dive boat -- this was for a group averaging 14-17 divers

Went for drinks @ RumRunners…great atmosphere! Live music as the sun set. Cocktail hour by the water an absolute must - sea breeze literally that, Sheldon was the ABSOLUTE BEST mixologist in the ABC islands…a real star. Order the Bonaire Breeze Tiki - pure theatre!

My wife and I go to Capt Don's at least once a year. the dive operation is going to be better than ever. the new dive area has been redone with new lockers and new diver's peir. i am older dive and on the boat dives the dive master and boat captain are always ready to give this old guy a hand in and out of the water. This year i watched a 12 year old get her C-Card.

We just returned home from two awesome weeks at Captain Dons, we love the jr. suites with the ocean facing balcony. The staff is extremely friendly and helpful, their diving is great very easy entry and exit to dive on the house reef, the captains and dive masters on their boats are very helpful and knowledgeable, if you’re driving to different sites getting tanks to your truck is very easy. Can’t wait to return next year

Special thanks to Valerie. Our stay was perfect in every way. The location is right on the seafront. Lovely views over the sea. Easy to swim, dive and snorkel. A ladder is there for easy access to the sea. Dive school onsite. Rum Runners restaurant is right there and open all day. .

My husband and I had a very positive experience, and would stay at Captain Dons again. The dive shop was well run and organized. Dive masters were professional and always enjoyable to dive with. Our room was large and updated. All the staff was pleasant and professional,especially Rumrunners servers and bartenders. (Rumrunners is a different company) Food and drinks were good and averaged price for the island. We didn’t experience the negative issues others mentioned. The only thing I would say is that the stairs used for the house reef need an additional hand rail. You will need your own lock for the dive lockers. And, (reef safe) hair conditioner.

Captain Don’s was a disappointment. Yes, we were on vacation in beautiful Bonaire, but Captain Don’s was just “adequate” at best. Upon arrival, we were given a mediocre welcome with no explanation as to where anything was or how the dive shop operated. We had to put down a $600.00 deposit for the hotel and a $500.00 deposit for the attached restaurant. This was not a terrible issue for us but for someone travelling on a budget, $1100.00 is a lot of money to have tied up for over a week. Our room was very basic, reminiscent of a 2 star type motel. You have to lock your door from the inside with an actual key, which seemed unsafe, in the case of a fire. There were several times we would go to leave and remember to get the key out and unlock the door so we could exit. Maid service was very hit or miss. A few times during our stay we would come back late afternoon and they had not touched the room, or they did part of the room and never came back. One time, they left our door unlocked (thank God we used the safe). There was just no attention to detail. The restaurant was PAINFULLY SLOW. We would try to have lunch in between our dives and would often almost miss the boat. The service was very nonchalant and aloof, sometimes borderline rude from the female server. The food was very good once we received it. We showed up at the bar the first night to be ignored and then treated as if we were a hassle. The prices for drinks were pretty high and we never went back after the first night. This is unusual for us as we love to hang out at the bar when we are on diving trips to meet and visit with other divers. There is no pool service, so you have to get out of the pool and walk around (a fair distance) to the bar to get drinks. The one time I did this, I was admonished for getting their (outside concrete) floor wet. The dive shop was just meh. The boats were decent but they took us to several of the same dive sites over the week. We observed a newer diver being admonished very publicly, which made me feel bad for them. The dock was torn apart when we were there which made for an interesting time getting in and out. They started tearing the gear lockers apart while we were there and did not tell us beforehand. They took gear out of peoples lockers and just laid them on open tables. After leaving, I noticed that the restaurant charged me for food and beverages leftover from someone who had used our room from a month before we arrived. Make sure you really check your receipts to make sure they don’t add someones tab to yours. While there we walked over to Buddy Dived and when we come back to Bonaire, that is most likely where we will stay. Captain Dons needs to step it up.