Page 62 - The Dutch Caribbean Isles
P. 62
Prolog and Introduction
I n 2010, 3D Action Video Inc’s Founder and Frank Dubblerman (the former manager of The with the most enjoyable scuba diving experi-
President, C. Dean Homayouni, spent ap- Plaza Bonaire Beach Resort) were gracious and ence possible and maintain the “Divers Freedom”
proximately nine months analyzing a shuttered kind enough to have meetings with Mr. Homay- that Bonaire is known for. We hope all of you will
project on Bonaire that was originally intended ouni to disucss their resorts and other projects gain some insight from the following pages of
to be a condo project integrated to a four they were involved in. who these men and companies are and the di-
story Hilton Hotel. Though the many months of vergent factors that resulted in these four great
research and multiple trips to Boniare, we were T hrough hours of discussions with various resorts is just as interesting as the history and
able to learn the rich history of Bonaire and the individuals we were able to accumulate geological forces that came togehter to make
inter-relationship between the owners of the information of a very interesting story of four Bonaire our Number 1 rated location to scuba
four major reosrts. Martein Van Der Valk, the companies that are competitors yet still friends. dive in the Caribbean.
owner of Buddy Dive, Jack Chalk (the now de- All of the four big resorts have one thing in com-
ceased Manager of Captain Don’s Habitat), and mon; the desire to provide their customer base
The Plaza Bonaire
T he Plaza Bonaire Beach Resort is a mas- and housing devleopment in Florida. They are in Caribbean islands), and is run by the Van
sive facility with a full habour. The resort is the same social strata as the Hiltons. der Valk family. They operate the Avifauna
owned by the Van Der Valk chain of hotels. The Bird Park in Alphen aan den Rijn which at
Van Der Valks are a wealth Netherlands based V an der Valk is the largest hospital- its inception in 1950 was the first dedicated
family that own and operate large integrated ity chain in the Netherlands, with 59 bird park in the world. Their logo is based
resorts around the world. Projects incliude an branches in the Netherlands and 30 hotels on the toucan.
integrated golf reosrt and housing development in other countries (including 13 in Germany,
on Aruba and a 27 hour integrated gold course one in Florida and several on the Dutch
