Curacao Seahorses

[alashas]

Bon Dia!

Had a fabulous time diving in Curacao! Did 25 dives in 9 days and also enjoyed the beautiful countryside in the western part of the island, as well as a couple of trips to Willemstad. Stayed with Sunshine & David Livingston in their outstanding 3 bedroom second story apartment http://www.curacaosunshine.com/ and also enjoyed 6 delicious dinners at their "Sol Food" Restaurant:

We did a lot of our diving with http://www.oceanencounterswest.com/ and cannot say enough good things about this outstanding dive operation! It is located directly on Playa Kalki, where the dive site "Alice in Wonderland" is one of the best shore dives in Curacao, IMHO:

One of my favorite beaches was Playa Piscado, "Fisherman's Bay," directly in front of Curacao Sunshine Getaway:

And where we experienced some fabulous sunsets:

Andreas of OEW took me on a dive there to see seahorses, but first we went to pay our homage to Neptune:

I lost track of the # of scorpion fish, shrimp and eel we saw on the reef, before finally ending up at a buoy in about 15' of water where we saw our first seahorse:

and then the 2nd, about 20 or 30' away, at another buoy:

Two days later, my dive buddy, Ted, and I found this seahorse in around 15' of water at the Sunset Waters house reef:

You can see a few more photos of the seahorses here: http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/gallery/4741129_cApmX#280873644_JJ5UY

And Curacao albums here: http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/

We highly recommend Curacao! alashas

 

[robint]

great report! We were in Bonaire last summer and have heard Curacao is also nice but hadn't really seen alot of photos and reports. So thanks!

 

[dogenia]

Hey I drove by that green house. I have firm intentions to head West and do some more diving with OEW, maybe during the upcoming holliday weekend after eating dust at the dragraces all week?

Nice pics. Sunshine what's for dinner?

 

[Diver OnLu]

Hi Larry,

Thank you very much for posting so many fantastic pictures from our sunny island!

It was a pleasure taking you out to spot the seahorses at Playa Piscadó.

For people planning to come to Curacao - that is the housereef of All West Apartments and Diving (..:: All West Curacao ::..), with direct access from the apartments' facilities to the beach via a staircase. If you want to check it out, just let me know, and I will help you find the seahorse's home.

Of course, having dinner at Sol Food is always a big pleasure; I go there at least once a week yet I am addicted to Sunshine's and David's marvelous pizza. But also the other food is excellent!

So Don, when you come to dive with us next weekend you should definitely not miss to have lunch or dinner. Sunshine and David open their restaurant every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Kind regards from Curacao
Andreas

 

[alashas]

robint,

My 2 brothers and I enjoyed diving on Bonaire last year, and, if you like Bonaire, you are going to love Curacao! In addition to dive sites that are just as good as the ones on Bonaire, Curacao has over 40 wonderful beaches with soft white or occasional dark sand. Many of the beaches have restaurants, and even dive shops, so no need to lug around tanks. The restaurants give you a place to have refreshments on your SI without worrying about someone stealing your drinks or snacks. Also, the dive shops provide a safe place to stow your gear while you are diving. Because of the beach, the reef is a bit further out on Curacao, but still an easy surface swim, like some of the southern sites on Bonaire. However, it is also quite a bit easier to enter and exit the water on Curacao, since you are not struggling with your footing on ironshore.

Here is the lovely Playa Lagun, with a restaurant and dive shop just across the parking lot. This photo is from the delicious Thursday evening BBQ at Bahia Apartments, which we enjoyed following a night dive in Playa Lagun:

This is Cas Abou. For $6, we rented tanks, and the DM took us in the boat in the photo and dropped us off past the point. We did a leisurely dive back to the beach along a very healthy reef and saw so many eels coming back in 4' to 8' of water in the coral formations in the sand that we lost count:

This is the beach at Porto Marie and you can see the reef just off shore. We dove there twice and I think paid $7 for a tank:

This is the beautiful beach at Grote Knip that we visited on our last day:

This is the beach at Sunset Waters. We rented tanks there for $7:

Mambo Beach in Willemstad, where Ocean Encounters is located. We did a dolphin dive with them:

The Playa Piscado Beach in front of the All West Apartments that Andreas just mentioned, and more photos of the All West Apartments are here: http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/gallery/4706483_Noe6q#278276779_hLbTi

The beautiful Playa Kalki Beach where OE West is located:

Several persons have asked me to see more photos of Curacao Sunshine Getaway and I have posted them here: http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/gallery/4704684_Uv3jB#278276407_7nYf2

Don, you really need to dive with OEW and enjoy a meal with David and Sunshine, they are wonderful hosts who fix phenomenal food!

Cheers, alashas http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/

 

[dogenia]

Darn, too bad I'm stuck in the office today. LOL

 

[Diver OnLu]

Hi,

I promised before in an answer to dogenia's thread on the seahorse at the tugboat - now I made it: Find some new pictures of the seahorses in front of All West Apartments on our website ..:: All West Curacao ::.., using the link to the "Divers Talk News Blog". Larry: I hope you don't mind I posted one of yours there, too.

Best regards from Curacao
Andreas

 

[Reefraff2]

Nice pic's. Headed your way in about 1 month. Will be in Curacao for the dive fest. Can't wait this will be my 2nd trip.

 

[Diver OnLu]

Hi ReefRaff2,

If you are coming for the Curacao Dive Festival, why don't you come and dive with us at Playa Kalki, and afterwards attend the workshops at Kura Hulanda Lodge?

For more information about diving in Westpoint visit our websites ..:: All West Curacao ::.. or ..:: Ocean Encounters West ::...

See you in May, then

Andreas