Sea Shelley
Registered
Our group was 6 divers (mostly family)...plus 2 small children (we took turns doing child care duty shifts). traveled Oct 24-Nov 3, 2015.
First recommendation is..the book that diagrams the dive locations and underwater terrain...buying that should be your first stop. it's about $15-$20 USD. Go to Trunk divers which is located at KoKomo Beach. Go on a Sunday if you want to catch some live band after your dives. The guy who wrote the book is the owner of trunk divers. And he will easily sell you the English version. We didn't find this place and get this until the last few days, but bought it so we will have it for the next time we come back to Curacao.
we tried to rent through D&D like many people on Scuba Board advised us, but with a large group, we needed the Hilux trucks for hauling all the tanks and gear, and D&D does not (atleast as of Oct 2105) have pickup to rent. we rented through Budget...and I recommend you get them reserved well in advance, as the trucks for rent from the airport sold out, when we were there. We got one upon arrival, and even though the other one was reserved with them, they had to rent us a RAV 4 the first day and we had to go back to the airport the next day to exchange for a HIlux that was being returned the next day. the HIlux worked great for hauling gear and tanks.
The dive shop (Divers Replublic) that was closest to our accommodations, had only bought that dive shop and had been operating it for a few months, so they even went out of their way to accommodate our group. They didn't have nitrox tanks in the volume we wanted, as we were 6 divers and doing the 10 tank (plus some more) packages during the trip. By about the 2nd day, they went and purchased new tanks for their shop, so they could serve us. Our group used 70 tanks during the stay there.
We were a group of mostly shore divers, so it really didn't affect us, but none of the small outfits or dive shops at beaches had or operated boat dives. One diver in our group would have preferred boat dives, but it just wasn't convenient.
Favorite dive locations were Porto Marie and Casa Abo. You can easily do about 3 different dives both places. the dive shops on location at both places were very kind and when they weren't busy, had no problem sharing some space and rinse tanks. we threw them a few bucks in tip jar whenever we were there, simply for the convenience. as noted in other people's posts, some beaches charge per car at the beach gate. it was about $6 bucks whenever we went through the gate and split between 4-5 divers, we didn't have a problem with that, just make sure you have some money on you.
the dive shop at casa abo instructors gave us pretty good directions as to how to find frog fish and seashorses on our own and afterabout 3 dives there and not finding them, on my birthday, I decided I wanted to see them so my husband and I ponied up the $30 per person to hire Bridget to take us to them. She took us to 3 frogfish and 1 seahorse on that dive. well worth it. Also showed us a couple of other great finds, and the spotted Eagle Ray that gave us a drive by on the way to the reef that dive was just bonus.
The last morning that we got to dive, my husband and I found a seahorse, probably 3 inches, that was active. got some great photos of it, as we sat and watched it for about 15 minutes of our dive. great last dive, and say a spotted eagle ray on that dive also. I'll try to attach the photo if I can figure out how. Seems like I have tried to attach my photo to my profile several times and it has never been a success.
hmmm...what else do you have questions for me about? I'll try to log on a few times a week to get back to you. I have always found very helpful information when planning our scuba trips here on scuba board and want to contribute to the resource as well. With 2 children under 3 though, if I don't get back right away, please be patient. if your question is time sensitive, I think if you send me a personal message, it will show up in my email an alert to come on and check it out and respond.
Other places we have scuba dived before that I could also lend info on, or compare the diving to...Roatan Honduras, Cozumel, Fiji, Bonaire
Read on if you are interested in the report regarding the fabulous home we rented. This report is also posted on tripadvisor...
We have so many great things to say about our stay at Villa SeaShell and working with the property manager Petra and the property owner Linda Lou. They both went above and beyond to make sure we had everything we needed and were always promptly responsive to any requests.
Linda Lou even had Petra go out an buy a baby bath prior to our arrival! great customer service.
The property was clean and well cared for. Our 2 year old LOVED getting to swim many times throughout the day. We feel the home worked very well for our family scuba vacation. If we return to Curacao for another dive trip, we will very likely plan our vacation dates around when the property is available. the location had dishwasher tablets, however I would remind you to bring a few 13 gallon trash bags while you are there.
the little annoying bugs you may experience on the back porch patio in the morning are really just that. annoying, but they don't bite, and it is just for a couple hours in the morning, and by the 2nd or 3rd day, you're pretty used to them. We had our 2 year old and our 5 month old baby out on the patio, and they didn't really seem bothered by the bugs either. My guess is, you will experience this anywhere on the island, so don't let that deter you from staying here. This place is amazing! had all the space we needed and more!
we spent most of our family time at the large table on the back patio. great views, comfortable temperature wise. wonderful.
There was no extra AC charge. everybody was comfortable without using AC in their rooms. We only used AC in one room downstairs where the baby and 2 year old took naps during the day. our usage did not exceed any limits, but would happily paid if it would have.
Secure location, often early mornings. I would be out walking with the baby watching the sun rise.
Great central location on the island and ease to the local dive shop just down the road (less than one mile away.)
First recommendation is..the book that diagrams the dive locations and underwater terrain...buying that should be your first stop. it's about $15-$20 USD. Go to Trunk divers which is located at KoKomo Beach. Go on a Sunday if you want to catch some live band after your dives. The guy who wrote the book is the owner of trunk divers. And he will easily sell you the English version. We didn't find this place and get this until the last few days, but bought it so we will have it for the next time we come back to Curacao.
we tried to rent through D&D like many people on Scuba Board advised us, but with a large group, we needed the Hilux trucks for hauling all the tanks and gear, and D&D does not (atleast as of Oct 2105) have pickup to rent. we rented through Budget...and I recommend you get them reserved well in advance, as the trucks for rent from the airport sold out, when we were there. We got one upon arrival, and even though the other one was reserved with them, they had to rent us a RAV 4 the first day and we had to go back to the airport the next day to exchange for a HIlux that was being returned the next day. the HIlux worked great for hauling gear and tanks.
The dive shop (Divers Replublic) that was closest to our accommodations, had only bought that dive shop and had been operating it for a few months, so they even went out of their way to accommodate our group. They didn't have nitrox tanks in the volume we wanted, as we were 6 divers and doing the 10 tank (plus some more) packages during the trip. By about the 2nd day, they went and purchased new tanks for their shop, so they could serve us. Our group used 70 tanks during the stay there.
We were a group of mostly shore divers, so it really didn't affect us, but none of the small outfits or dive shops at beaches had or operated boat dives. One diver in our group would have preferred boat dives, but it just wasn't convenient.
Favorite dive locations were Porto Marie and Casa Abo. You can easily do about 3 different dives both places. the dive shops on location at both places were very kind and when they weren't busy, had no problem sharing some space and rinse tanks. we threw them a few bucks in tip jar whenever we were there, simply for the convenience. as noted in other people's posts, some beaches charge per car at the beach gate. it was about $6 bucks whenever we went through the gate and split between 4-5 divers, we didn't have a problem with that, just make sure you have some money on you.
the dive shop at casa abo instructors gave us pretty good directions as to how to find frog fish and seashorses on our own and afterabout 3 dives there and not finding them, on my birthday, I decided I wanted to see them so my husband and I ponied up the $30 per person to hire Bridget to take us to them. She took us to 3 frogfish and 1 seahorse on that dive. well worth it. Also showed us a couple of other great finds, and the spotted Eagle Ray that gave us a drive by on the way to the reef that dive was just bonus.
The last morning that we got to dive, my husband and I found a seahorse, probably 3 inches, that was active. got some great photos of it, as we sat and watched it for about 15 minutes of our dive. great last dive, and say a spotted eagle ray on that dive also. I'll try to attach the photo if I can figure out how. Seems like I have tried to attach my photo to my profile several times and it has never been a success.
hmmm...what else do you have questions for me about? I'll try to log on a few times a week to get back to you. I have always found very helpful information when planning our scuba trips here on scuba board and want to contribute to the resource as well. With 2 children under 3 though, if I don't get back right away, please be patient. if your question is time sensitive, I think if you send me a personal message, it will show up in my email an alert to come on and check it out and respond.
Other places we have scuba dived before that I could also lend info on, or compare the diving to...Roatan Honduras, Cozumel, Fiji, Bonaire
Read on if you are interested in the report regarding the fabulous home we rented. This report is also posted on tripadvisor...
We have so many great things to say about our stay at Villa SeaShell and working with the property manager Petra and the property owner Linda Lou. They both went above and beyond to make sure we had everything we needed and were always promptly responsive to any requests.
Linda Lou even had Petra go out an buy a baby bath prior to our arrival! great customer service.
The property was clean and well cared for. Our 2 year old LOVED getting to swim many times throughout the day. We feel the home worked very well for our family scuba vacation. If we return to Curacao for another dive trip, we will very likely plan our vacation dates around when the property is available. the location had dishwasher tablets, however I would remind you to bring a few 13 gallon trash bags while you are there.
the little annoying bugs you may experience on the back porch patio in the morning are really just that. annoying, but they don't bite, and it is just for a couple hours in the morning, and by the 2nd or 3rd day, you're pretty used to them. We had our 2 year old and our 5 month old baby out on the patio, and they didn't really seem bothered by the bugs either. My guess is, you will experience this anywhere on the island, so don't let that deter you from staying here. This place is amazing! had all the space we needed and more!
we spent most of our family time at the large table on the back patio. great views, comfortable temperature wise. wonderful.
There was no extra AC charge. everybody was comfortable without using AC in their rooms. We only used AC in one room downstairs where the baby and 2 year old took naps during the day. our usage did not exceed any limits, but would happily paid if it would have.
Secure location, often early mornings. I would be out walking with the baby watching the sun rise.
Great central location on the island and ease to the local dive shop just down the road (less than one mile away.)
