My family and I had the privilege of going on a Windjammer cruise of the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao) this past year. I can say that we all thoroughly enjoyed the trip. I would recommend it to many as you can see so many differing sites and experiences.
Our boat docked at Directors Bay. Unfortunately, I can't tell you how far that is from the Marriott and Sunset, but I would suspect that it would be a bit of a travel to get there. The beach is wonderful, facilities there were clean and there is great shore diving there. There is an interesting fortification there from the early Dutch settlers, and the Quarantine House (another story in it's own right) are easily accessed from there.
There is a dive store (loosely used) where you can get air fills, and rent basic equipment right there at the beach. The shore is a rocky, pebbly beach and I would recommend using fins with booties rather than the full foot fins so as to not damage any tender feet. It's a gradual slope into the water with many corals and species of fishes located there. There are several mooring piers there for the large ships that come in there. There is also the relatively famous tug boat that is shown in all the promotional tourism videos that is fun to dive on. This is a great location for taking someone who is not scuba certified to snorkel while you dive. This way they can see all the fish you are diving with and you're able to dive to a depth of approximately 90' if you wish, off the slope. The clarity is unbelievable; I would guess easily 100'+.
There are several taxi drivers that will be willing to take you to the various sites or to hook you help with dive operations to dive the numerous sites located off of Curacao, at least that we experienced.
All in all, we loved the people, the island, and the experience. Enjoy yourselves and have a great time. Be sure to post your info when you get back on this site, so we can hear about it, please.
Best wishes for your trip!
Our boat docked at Directors Bay. Unfortunately, I can't tell you how far that is from the Marriott and Sunset, but I would suspect that it would be a bit of a travel to get there. The beach is wonderful, facilities there were clean and there is great shore diving there. There is an interesting fortification there from the early Dutch settlers, and the Quarantine House (another story in it's own right) are easily accessed from there.
There is a dive store (loosely used) where you can get air fills, and rent basic equipment right there at the beach. The shore is a rocky, pebbly beach and I would recommend using fins with booties rather than the full foot fins so as to not damage any tender feet. It's a gradual slope into the water with many corals and species of fishes located there. There are several mooring piers there for the large ships that come in there. There is also the relatively famous tug boat that is shown in all the promotional tourism videos that is fun to dive on. This is a great location for taking someone who is not scuba certified to snorkel while you dive. This way they can see all the fish you are diving with and you're able to dive to a depth of approximately 90' if you wish, off the slope. The clarity is unbelievable; I would guess easily 100'+.
There are several taxi drivers that will be willing to take you to the various sites or to hook you help with dive operations to dive the numerous sites located off of Curacao, at least that we experienced.
All in all, we loved the people, the island, and the experience. Enjoy yourselves and have a great time. Be sure to post your info when you get back on this site, so we can hear about it, please.
Best wishes for your trip!
