short visit in curacao

[nen]

we are going to bonaire for a week, and because of the way our ff ticket works out, will be in curacao for 2 nights on the way back. Any recs re: place to stay and diving? we are wondering if we should just chill on the beach and stay somewhere sweet like the kura hulanda (sp?) in town or if after a glorious week of bonaire it's still worth the effort to find dive ops etc (easy to do in town i imagine?). Tips n hints welcome! Thanks.

 

[smokey braden]

dear nen,
my family and i just returned from a dive vacation at curacao.
we stayed at sunset waters resort.
http://www.sunsetwaters.com/
we dove with sunset divers.
http://www.sunsetdiver.com/default
they are both good about returning your e-mail.
post a trip report when y'all get home.
regards,
smokey

 

[Madison S]

we are going to bonaire for a week, and because of the way our ff ticket works out, will be in curacao for 2 nights on the way back. Any recs re: place to stay and diving? we are wondering if we should just chill on the beach and stay somewhere sweet like the kura hulanda (sp?) in town or if after a glorious week of bonaire it's still worth the effort to find dive ops etc (easy to do in town i imagine?). Tips n hints welcome! Thanks.

My husband & I did something similar. We stayed on Bonaire for 5 days. It was our first time there & absolutely loved the island!!! Would love to go back someday. Anyway, after the 5 days on Bonaire, we took the short flight on Divi Divi Air over to Curacao for what was supposed to be two days (I'll explain shortly). We ended up checking out a day early & high-tailed it back to Bonaire to enjoy the last day there!

We weren’t all that impressed with Curacao. Maybe we were initially soured by the fact that the cab ride was $25 USD from the airport to our hotel! We stayed at the Kura Hulanda – what a phenomenal hotel! Probably the most unique hotel we’ve ever stayed. The downside is that since the hotel is located in town, the hotel had a private beach that can only be reached by hotel shuttle. The beach was nice, but it I didn’t like the fact I had to take a ride in a van to get to the beach and then make arrangements to get picked back up. Duh, I guess that was totally my fault for not looking into that more carefully. Willemstad was another let down. We took Curacao’s marketing fluff bait hook, line & sinker! Sure, the colorful Dutch colonial buildings look impressive & are lined with expensive shops – from the front! As soon as you walk a block into the town, the place is shabby, worn and loaded with shops selling crappy stuff.

While on Bonaire, we had met with Bonaire locals from Bonaire Talk who told us that Willemstad can be very dangerous. Even the Kura Hulanda driver (a Curacao native) told us the same as he drove us to the beach.

Curacao probably likely has other nice areas that we didn’t get a change to explore. I talked with folks, on the flight home, who stayed a resort hotel on Curacao and had a great time there. We didn't even investigate diving on Curacao because we were too busy trying to get the flight back to Bonaire. Just wanted to give you a head’s up before you go. Best wishes with your travel planning.

 

[cindye]

We had a great night dive in front of the Marriott dive shop, 12 ft, 1 big octopus.

My preference when we go back is to stay and dive the north end more. Mushroom forrest is a must. Nice beaches also up north.

 

[marisa-t]

Don't let one persons bad experience change your whole thought on Curacao. If you are a Diver then first of all it would be a good idea to stay at a dive resort or an all-inclusive place. While not every place in Curacao is safe, that goes for so many other places in the world too. Check out Marriott, Breeezes, Sunset Divers, Habitat, lions dive, etc. Some are closer to the airport while others are far away. Depending on you time frame you can consider what works best for you. The Sea Aquarium is a cool place to check out also. You can swim with dolphins, feed sharks and other fun things. Here on Scubaboard if you do a seach on Curacao you can read many things to do. You'll see dive reports, and hotel stays, and all the experience from great adventures to stinky ones. Good Luck and have a great vacation


Yissak