flipwils11
Guest
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 0
Hi there, figured this might help anyone out who is considering a trip to Habitat in Curacao. My wife and I just traveled there with two other couples from March 16th through the 23rd and had a wonderful time. I'm new to this board, but I have some good info to share about our trip to Habitat.
Here are the cliff notes for anyone in a rush:
Highs: Perfect weather, friendly and honest islanders, good food and nice amenities, shore diving freedom at Habitat was wonderful, beautiful pool area to lounge at, bar/restaurant has decent nightlife activities, and lots of variety to see closeby whether it is shorediving or by boat.
Lows: Slow service at the restaurant, long drive to downtown Curacao, non-divers will be bored, no other restaurants nearby for variety.
We flew in on a Saturday from Chicago (through Miami) and arrived Saturday night around 9PM. AA promptly lost our bag with all our scuba equipment we own (dive computers, wet suits, snorkel and masks, and fins). We met with a dive instructor on Sunday along with the other couple with us that had just finished their certification. We had not gone on a dive vacation since Cozumel in 2005 when we got certified, so we were a bit rusty and needed a refresher. The instructor was friendly and helpful and led us on a dive at their house reef to get back in the swing of things. Even though it was not their fault that AA lost our bag, Habitat provided us with wetsuits, masks, and fins free of rental charge until our stuff arrived (the next day it came luckily). Very accomodating and nice of them!
The house reef is a very short swim from their dock. In short, there's a rope that leads out to the reef from the dock and you follow it underwater until the reef drops off. From there you go left or right until you are at about 1500 in your tank, then turn around and come back to the rope and finish at the dock. Easy and fun, and there was tons to see. Usually when we went for a dive on the house reef it was like eelfest: 6-10 sightings per dive, and on one dive we saw two 5-6 foot green ones that were MONSTERS.
We did 6 boat dives as part of our package staying there. It is mostly a you're-on-your own affair. There may be a divemaster in the water with you, but they don't point much stuff out but rather they swim lazily along and you sort of do your own thing. Not a big deal, but different from our beginner led dives in Cozumel. One of the guides, Tristan, is a character with an amazing (but b/s) story about each dive site (I used to drink a lot and threw all these bottles in the ocean, and you can see them when you go down there,....... etc, that type of stuff).
The Habitat resort juts up against the restaurant which is affiliated with the resort, but not a totally-owned affair. It was a bit weird, like paying for the check isn't charged to your room, but they will ask for your room #. You can leave a cc on file with them or pay in US dollars (or local currency) each time you eat there. Breakfast is included every morning as part of staying at Habitat (weird, that they are unaffiliated, but yet somehow they figure out who the Habitat guests are for you to come in the morning and eat the free breakfast). The breakfast was fabulous, every day. Not a Holiday Inn "continental affair" with Pop-Tarts and doughnuts and coffee. We're talking bacon, sausage, the best pancakes ever, eggs, toast, fresh fruit, yogurt, good coffee, OJ, I could go on and on. Fabulous (and free!). *burp*.... I gained a few pounds.
The restaurant is also great for the rest of your meals since you will be eating there a lot! Habitat is far from downtown and the restaurant is the only option you have pretty much. We heard there was another restaurant within walking distance of Habitat but we never ventured out really. So get comfortable with the menu at the restaurant because you'll know it by heart by the end of your stay. With that said, they do an admirable job of trying to provide variety. I mean really, you can only do so much for people and we heard that there are still frequent complaints from guests at Habitat that there isn't enough variety. But if the restaurant wasn't there, people would have nowhere to eat! There were very few things that I didn't like at the restaurant and some were great (plantanes with every meal, hmmm).
The bar is great as well and is fully stocked. Ask Sherman the night bartender for a "VIP Pina Colada". It has about triple the rum and he makes you suck it out of the straw w/o stirring so you get a whallop of rum on the first gulp. With all that said, the restaurant and bar service can be very slow (by American standards).
The pool area is right by the dive shop and the view from the pool where the water cascades over a ledge as you look into the ocean is just wonderful. It's a nice place to relax when you aren't diving.
This is obviously a resort catering to divers. The other couple we are friends with who came with us are not divers and tried snorkeling but couldn't get into it. They were kind of bored, but generally relaxed at least. We went to downtown Curacao with them and the other couple we dove with (6 of us, which made it hard to find cabs by the way that could fit us all) for some variety.
About downtown. The Habitat Curacao shuttle drops you off on the side of the town they call "other side". Right there where they drop you off is a French restaurant in a sort of castle/fort which is pretty expensive, but fabulous. We had a 3 1/2 hour marathon dinner there one night that was phenominal (but slow service as usual)! Ask to make sure the bill is in US dollars or their local currency. We were shocked by some high bills a few times before realizing it wasn't in US dollars. The downtown area is the cruise-ship docking point so there are lots of t-shirt shops and junky trinket stores like you'd expect.
The people in Curacao are wonderful and very honest. I left my wallet in a cab and by a miracle (long story) we tracked down the cab driver and got my wallet back, with all the money still there (gave the guy a nice tip). They are friendly and speak pretty good English as well. Skip the trip to the Curacao liquor distillery. It was very small and there were no guided tours or much going on. Kind of a waste.
The Habitat dive shop is fully stocked and had many good items for purchase including cool apparel with their "Easy Divers" slogan on there, some dive accessories (pricey though), and had pretty good hours of operation to go get stuff. For night dives, if you need to rent lights, go early in the day and get them since most of the lights they rent don't work and it may take a while to find some. Or bring your own.
That's about all I can remember. The trip to town from Habitat is about 35 minutes each way, and a $50 cab ride for 2 people if you don't use the Habitat free shuttle (use the shuttle if you can!). We had a great time, really enjoyed the people at the resort and the staff at the restaurant, and got in some great diving. Oh yeah, the ameneties in the room are not first class, but overall pretty nice. And the views and overall atmosphere (and great constant breeze on the island) made it a great place to spend time. We'll definitely be back to Habitat Curacao. :14:
Adam in Chicago
P.S. I have some pics of the area around Habitat if it helps anyone get an idea of what to expect. Send me a private message or email me at adw256 at gmail dot com
Here are the cliff notes for anyone in a rush:
Highs: Perfect weather, friendly and honest islanders, good food and nice amenities, shore diving freedom at Habitat was wonderful, beautiful pool area to lounge at, bar/restaurant has decent nightlife activities, and lots of variety to see closeby whether it is shorediving or by boat.
Lows: Slow service at the restaurant, long drive to downtown Curacao, non-divers will be bored, no other restaurants nearby for variety.
We flew in on a Saturday from Chicago (through Miami) and arrived Saturday night around 9PM. AA promptly lost our bag with all our scuba equipment we own (dive computers, wet suits, snorkel and masks, and fins). We met with a dive instructor on Sunday along with the other couple with us that had just finished their certification. We had not gone on a dive vacation since Cozumel in 2005 when we got certified, so we were a bit rusty and needed a refresher. The instructor was friendly and helpful and led us on a dive at their house reef to get back in the swing of things. Even though it was not their fault that AA lost our bag, Habitat provided us with wetsuits, masks, and fins free of rental charge until our stuff arrived (the next day it came luckily). Very accomodating and nice of them!
The house reef is a very short swim from their dock. In short, there's a rope that leads out to the reef from the dock and you follow it underwater until the reef drops off. From there you go left or right until you are at about 1500 in your tank, then turn around and come back to the rope and finish at the dock. Easy and fun, and there was tons to see. Usually when we went for a dive on the house reef it was like eelfest: 6-10 sightings per dive, and on one dive we saw two 5-6 foot green ones that were MONSTERS.
We did 6 boat dives as part of our package staying there. It is mostly a you're-on-your own affair. There may be a divemaster in the water with you, but they don't point much stuff out but rather they swim lazily along and you sort of do your own thing. Not a big deal, but different from our beginner led dives in Cozumel. One of the guides, Tristan, is a character with an amazing (but b/s) story about each dive site (I used to drink a lot and threw all these bottles in the ocean, and you can see them when you go down there,....... etc, that type of stuff).
The Habitat resort juts up against the restaurant which is affiliated with the resort, but not a totally-owned affair. It was a bit weird, like paying for the check isn't charged to your room, but they will ask for your room #. You can leave a cc on file with them or pay in US dollars (or local currency) each time you eat there. Breakfast is included every morning as part of staying at Habitat (weird, that they are unaffiliated, but yet somehow they figure out who the Habitat guests are for you to come in the morning and eat the free breakfast). The breakfast was fabulous, every day. Not a Holiday Inn "continental affair" with Pop-Tarts and doughnuts and coffee. We're talking bacon, sausage, the best pancakes ever, eggs, toast, fresh fruit, yogurt, good coffee, OJ, I could go on and on. Fabulous (and free!). *burp*.... I gained a few pounds.
The restaurant is also great for the rest of your meals since you will be eating there a lot! Habitat is far from downtown and the restaurant is the only option you have pretty much. We heard there was another restaurant within walking distance of Habitat but we never ventured out really. So get comfortable with the menu at the restaurant because you'll know it by heart by the end of your stay. With that said, they do an admirable job of trying to provide variety. I mean really, you can only do so much for people and we heard that there are still frequent complaints from guests at Habitat that there isn't enough variety. But if the restaurant wasn't there, people would have nowhere to eat! There were very few things that I didn't like at the restaurant and some were great (plantanes with every meal, hmmm).
The bar is great as well and is fully stocked. Ask Sherman the night bartender for a "VIP Pina Colada". It has about triple the rum and he makes you suck it out of the straw w/o stirring so you get a whallop of rum on the first gulp. With all that said, the restaurant and bar service can be very slow (by American standards).
The pool area is right by the dive shop and the view from the pool where the water cascades over a ledge as you look into the ocean is just wonderful. It's a nice place to relax when you aren't diving.
This is obviously a resort catering to divers. The other couple we are friends with who came with us are not divers and tried snorkeling but couldn't get into it. They were kind of bored, but generally relaxed at least. We went to downtown Curacao with them and the other couple we dove with (6 of us, which made it hard to find cabs by the way that could fit us all) for some variety.
About downtown. The Habitat Curacao shuttle drops you off on the side of the town they call "other side". Right there where they drop you off is a French restaurant in a sort of castle/fort which is pretty expensive, but fabulous. We had a 3 1/2 hour marathon dinner there one night that was phenominal (but slow service as usual)! Ask to make sure the bill is in US dollars or their local currency. We were shocked by some high bills a few times before realizing it wasn't in US dollars. The downtown area is the cruise-ship docking point so there are lots of t-shirt shops and junky trinket stores like you'd expect.
The people in Curacao are wonderful and very honest. I left my wallet in a cab and by a miracle (long story) we tracked down the cab driver and got my wallet back, with all the money still there (gave the guy a nice tip). They are friendly and speak pretty good English as well. Skip the trip to the Curacao liquor distillery. It was very small and there were no guided tours or much going on. Kind of a waste.
The Habitat dive shop is fully stocked and had many good items for purchase including cool apparel with their "Easy Divers" slogan on there, some dive accessories (pricey though), and had pretty good hours of operation to go get stuff. For night dives, if you need to rent lights, go early in the day and get them since most of the lights they rent don't work and it may take a while to find some. Or bring your own.
That's about all I can remember. The trip to town from Habitat is about 35 minutes each way, and a $50 cab ride for 2 people if you don't use the Habitat free shuttle (use the shuttle if you can!). We had a great time, really enjoyed the people at the resort and the staff at the restaurant, and got in some great diving. Oh yeah, the ameneties in the room are not first class, but overall pretty nice. And the views and overall atmosphere (and great constant breeze on the island) made it a great place to spend time. We'll definitely be back to Habitat Curacao. :14:
Adam in Chicago
P.S. I have some pics of the area around Habitat if it helps anyone get an idea of what to expect. Send me a private message or email me at adw256 at gmail dot com
