You probably want an operator near where you are staying or just west of there. If you plan shore dives, most of the great sites are towards the west end of the island. Close to town, you should do Varsenbaii, aka, the police beach, they charge a small fee, but easy entry by beach or steps and just a beautiful site. If you want to spend the day diving and relaxing on a great beach with restrooms,showers,rinsetanks,food and drinks, consider Cas Abo and Porta Marie. Both charge a small fee, but very much worth it. Playa Kalki is a must do shore dive, my favorite, go to the west when you enter the water, fabulous site, you may want to do this more than once. Allwest has a dive shop at Playa Kalki, you can call them and you may be able to get tanks there for your dives there. They also have a great dive boat, usual two tank trip includes watamula and mushroom forest. Both are great sites and need to be done by boat. We also enjoyed dives along the San Juan Landhuis property, small entry fee, the guy even gave us a tour of the landhuis, take food and water and many tanks and spend the day, great dives. If you want to see the underwater statue of Neptune, ask at Allwest, it sits in front of Allwest Apts, it's just west of the apartments, in about 25 feet of water. Great place for a photo. There are many great places to dine, a local favorite is Playa Perla Canoa, located along the north shore just east of Williamsted, great fresh seafood at reasonable prices. If you don't eat at Fort Nassau, at least go up for the view, you can walk about the fort without entering the eating establishment, beautiful at night as well as in the day. Hope you have a great trip.
Bonaire or Curacao?
- Thread starter JeffMandell
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In Brezees Hotel there is an operator of diving Ocean Encounters are very good, you can speak with Rudy or Naldo, has boat and diving from the hotel, also I recommend the Superior Producer, Tugbout and its wall to you. There are many options of diving from the border. I finish returning of the Brezees Hotel disfrutalo much. Greetings Francisco
TedJ
Contributor
Thanks guys for the suggestions. I'm looking forward to Curacao!
TEdJ
TEdJ
TEdJ, if you are interested in viewing some great pictures of Curacao, go to the trip reports on scubadiving.com. ALadyNCal just posted 63 fabulous pictures of her trip from April. Included are pictures of Playa Kalki, Porta Marie, Cas Abo and Westpunt Bay topside. You will be amazed by the beauty and see why we stay at Allwest.
TedJ
Contributor
Thanks sharon, I'll check it out. TedJ
Hello. I haven't stayed in a while but do know that those prices are correct per night. The apts can have up to 4 persons, the studios, only 2. I think to contact them thru the web site you need to use the booking page. But I can give you another email of Louis the owner if you just have questions to be answered. Try, allwest@cura.net
phone 011-599-9-461-2310 or 011-599-9-864-0102 or fax 011-599-9-461-2315
Allwest is a great place to stay in our opinion, we would not consider staying anywhere else. But we like to be away from the crowds, we like quiet, secluded places. It is not your typical hotel, there isn't even a check in desk. Just make sure of your arrival arrangements so that things go smoothly. We always rent a vehicle from them and it is usually at the airport when we arrive, someone will meet your flight and hand you the keys. On our first trip, they escorted us out to the apts. On our second trip we waved goodbye at the airport and headed out on our own.
There are no pop machines/snack machines even, so stop along the way and stock up on what you may need. I do believe they offer a service to stock up some basics for you if you want. There are a few places to eat out in Westpunt, but we usually made the trip into town for dinners or we cook out on the BBQ so we could get in a night dive. A car is a must in my opinion. Once when we were there, a small group of guys from Finland were there, they had no clue that they were booking such an out of the way place, they did it for the cost, there is a bus that runs on the hour to and from town to Westpunt, the turnaround is right at the apts. They rode that bus alot. We also helped them out with grocery runs. They survived and had a great trip.
So you have to decide what is more important. Staying at a quiet place with great ocean views, and the best shore diving at your feet and about the neighborhood, or being in town close to people and other fun(bars, casinos, etc). Since we go to Curacao for the shorediving, Allwest is a good match for us.
I noticed that you are from Nashville, we are located in Paducah, so if you want to see our pictures of our many weeks on Curacao just send us a note and maybe we can arrange a meeting. We are planning to go back to Curacao come Jan or Feb 2006. I understand there is a direct flight out of Nashville to Curacao, my husband is always looking for deals on flights, who knows if the price is right we may be heading back this fall also.
phone 011-599-9-461-2310 or 011-599-9-864-0102 or fax 011-599-9-461-2315
Allwest is a great place to stay in our opinion, we would not consider staying anywhere else. But we like to be away from the crowds, we like quiet, secluded places. It is not your typical hotel, there isn't even a check in desk. Just make sure of your arrival arrangements so that things go smoothly. We always rent a vehicle from them and it is usually at the airport when we arrive, someone will meet your flight and hand you the keys. On our first trip, they escorted us out to the apts. On our second trip we waved goodbye at the airport and headed out on our own.
There are no pop machines/snack machines even, so stop along the way and stock up on what you may need. I do believe they offer a service to stock up some basics for you if you want. There are a few places to eat out in Westpunt, but we usually made the trip into town for dinners or we cook out on the BBQ so we could get in a night dive. A car is a must in my opinion. Once when we were there, a small group of guys from Finland were there, they had no clue that they were booking such an out of the way place, they did it for the cost, there is a bus that runs on the hour to and from town to Westpunt, the turnaround is right at the apts. They rode that bus alot. We also helped them out with grocery runs. They survived and had a great trip.
So you have to decide what is more important. Staying at a quiet place with great ocean views, and the best shore diving at your feet and about the neighborhood, or being in town close to people and other fun(bars, casinos, etc). Since we go to Curacao for the shorediving, Allwest is a good match for us.
I noticed that you are from Nashville, we are located in Paducah, so if you want to see our pictures of our many weeks on Curacao just send us a note and maybe we can arrange a meeting. We are planning to go back to Curacao come Jan or Feb 2006. I understand there is a direct flight out of Nashville to Curacao, my husband is always looking for deals on flights, who knows if the price is right we may be heading back this fall also.
GoBlue!:
I have been to both. Diving is about the same, very good. Bonaire island is cleaner. The Marriott is a very nice, safe hotel with an excellent dive operation. Carib Sea Sports email Tom Zeck at css@cura.net, he is the owner. Habitat Curacao is very run-down and out of the way. Marriott has a great house-reef for shore and night-diving. I tried to go to Bonaire as well and it takes too long. I am glad we went to Curacao, good find. As with any Carribean island, do not leave valuables in your car in a public lot and leave the doors unlocked, we followed these simple rules and had no issues. Just got back yesterday.
Let me chime in with a "me, too" for all the comments that suggest that Curaçao is a great dive destination in its own right. I have been to both, and I would not hesitate to plan a trip to Curaçao as my only destination.
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