Shore Diving / Where to Stay

[kfin]

My wife and I are planning a July trip to Curacao, we have never been there. She likes the looks of Santa Barbara Beach and Golf Resort....way down south. While it would be kind of nice to be what looks like out in the middle of nowhere, from what I can tell it really is in the middle of nowhere. My question is about the diving. Oceans Encounters has a place "on site" but state on their website that they do not allow any shore diving as there is too much boat traffic.

We are planning on renting a vehicle and going to a different beach everyday and I can dive while she lounges. How long does it take to drive to Willemstad from there to be diving? How long does it take to get to the Westpunt area to those divesites?

Just trying to figure out if we stayed down south if we would spend all day driving to a dive site. That doesn't sound very relaxing.

Any advice welcome.
Keith

 

[diversteve]

15 minutes from Santa Barbara to downtown Willemstad but most of the dive sites are on the east side of town so slightly closer. Probably an hour+ from Santa Barbara to Westpunt. This will give you some idea although it doesn't show all the divesites. It's close to the Tugboat shore dive site - not shown - in Caracasbaai about a mile west except you have to go inland around the bay slightly to get there. I put the Santa Barbara marker in the middle of the golf course since I couldn't ID your resort. OE might go to Klein Curacao from there - it's farther east about 15mi. off the end of the island.



And since I was already in Google Earth, here's more detail on that side of the island.



If our s/w mangles these, open them in your browser and zoom in.

 

[tajkd]

See my trip report here. I stayed at OC west and loved it. I was able to get around pretty well with exceptions noted in the report. In retrospect, I'd say I was satisfied staying there even though a lot of the good shore dives are farther south. Hook up with SB'ers - there are few on the island that can really help you. Have fun! the diving is great.

 

[kfin]

DUH, for whatever reason, I never thought of looking on Google earth for divesites!! Thanks, the hotel is on there and listed as Barbara Beach / Hyatt Regency. They dropped the "Hyatt" part recently and now go by "Santa Barbara Beach and Golf Resort".

So that would not be a bad place to stay for some shore diving? We will have a car/truck so traveling won't be that bad but I don't want to spend the day driving. She likes the beach and I can slip in the water for an hour or so and both are happy.

I have done not much research on Curacao so far, just beginning. The week before we are going to Bonaire....that one is done deal. We will stay at the Den Laman with ocean front condo. It was actually quite reasonable.

---------- Post added January 10th, 2013 at 09:22 AM ----------

Also, what is the best deal on rental vehicles for a week. We are flying in from Bonaire on Saturday afternoon and heading home the next Saturday morning. Are the "name brands" at the airport the best or is there something local that we could do and save some money but still get something decent?

Great place for information!
Keith

 

[diversteve]

I'm not very familiar with that area - the farthest east we dove was the Tugboat at Caracasbaai - about a mile west of there.

Good beaches with good diving - roughly east to west:

Jan Thiel Bay
Pierbaai
The Marriott in Piscadera Bay
Varsenbaai
Porto Mari
Cas Abou
Playa Lagun
Playa Jeremi - no facilities on-site.
Playa Kalki in Westpunt - not the best beach at Lodge Kura Hulanda but a great dive.

Most have on-site operators, some sort of snack shop/restaurant and beach rentals (toys, chairs etc.)

Details on many of the sites: Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands

We rented from Budget at the airport. Just seemed like the best idea given how spread out everything is. Plus we changed locations during the week. It's a pretty expensive cab ride to downtown and would be quite a bit more to Santa Barbara. Also they have about 5-6 locations on the island in case there's a problem. They were competitive on price with all the chains and we got a low-mile SUV.

sent you a PM...

 

[kfin]

New place we are now looking at. At least we're having fun looking! Now at the total other end of the island, the Lodge Kura Hulanda......

Is this beach decent? Shore diving good from beach? Sounds like it is right on Alice in Wonderland...

I wonder if we will wind up somewhere in the middle....

 

[morecowbells]

I have only seen the outside part of Santa Barbara Beach and Golf Resort. It looks quite a bit more luxurious and elegant than the Kura Hulanda Lodge. I have stayed at the Kura Hulanda Lodge. While it is the most expensive and luxurious place in Westpunt, to me it would rank as a 3 star property. Pros : peaceful and quiet. No noise from autos, roosters, nightclubs etc. The grounds are beautiful. Every afternoon was spent reading a book with an occasional drink by the pool which offered plenty of shaded areas. Beds were comfortable. Shower with consistent water pressure and warm water. Cons: Our room tended to musty. We probably looked like the Clampett's with the number of clothes which were left out on patio to dry. My book and passport became warped. The food on grounds was just so-so with steep prices. We had much better meals at reasonable prices at Sunshine's.

This part of Curacao is away from the shops and choice of dining options which Willemstad offers. However, it is also the part that I have returned to on four different visits. The dive in front of the Kura Hulanda is always good. The beach is okay-mostly coral rubble and on the smaller scale. My favorite beach-not just in Curacao, but all around favorite is at Cas Abau. While there is a lot of driving in order to shore dive Curacao, the number if sites is abundant and I never feel that it is inconvenient since that time is usually during my surface interval anyways.

Beach in front of Lodge Kura Hulanda


View of beach at Lodge Kura Hulanda from pier

 

[kfin]

Thanks for those pics and comments. Can you dive right from that beach area? If so, how difficult is it to get your equipment down there? Get tanks nearby?

Appreciate it.

 

[diversteve]

The Go West dive shop is about 50' east of the 1st picture. The pier the 2nd shot was taken from is the dive dock. Notice all the coral in the water - it's not really a wading beach. It's pretty shallow also - the better part of the reef starts 50' offshore there - the deeper blue in the lower left corner of this picture. I snorkeled in along the beach once chasing flounder. Here's an aerial view of the same area - the dive shop is the brown building at the end of the dock:

 

[greylion]

I just got back from Curacao, stayed at Sunscape resort, the old breezes, and we had a great time. We dived with the Dive Bus, which is right next door to Sunscape. Pier Bai reef is right in front of Sunscape, which is an excellent shore dive and that hotel has a very nice beach with a sheltered lagoon which has some great snorkeling in it and you can kayak or wind surf or take out a paddle boat, all included with the hotel stay. I was there with my whole family, there was 16 people and 2 kids, 10 and 13 and they loved the place. The dive bus will take you to several different shore dives and you wouldn't need to rent a car. Just a thought.

Welcome to the Dive Bus