My thoughts on Curacao

[Chris Hipp]

This is a little late, but I just realized I never wrote a trip report.

I was in Curacao the first week of October 2007. I liked the Island, LOVED the topless beaches, was mildly satisfied with the diving.

We stayed at the Lion's Dive and Resort and used the on site Ocean Encounters dive shop. No real complaints about the hotel, the restaurants had decent food and really not terribly over priced. I ate the Augusto restaurant next to the Aquarium mostly. The service there was better and they were happy to split the check for us.

I have slightly mixed views on the dive shop. On one hand, our dive master Guillermo was great, he was even willing to help with some non diving issues that I had. The boats were not over booked and everything seemed safe. They also had an O2 analyzer for people using nitrox.

On the other hand, we did have a pretty big issue with them when it came time to do our coral spawning night dive. We each paid $100 to do this extra dive, and was the reason most of us chose to go to Curacao instead of other trips. Now, we were all under the impression that we would be taken to some remote reef where we could not miss the spawning. The dive shop had other plans for us. First off, they were only going to take us to their house reef, which is easily accessible by a short swim. Then, they overbooked the dive and only had one boat. There were 30 divers total and only 15 or so spots on the boat. Their plan to correct this problem was to take half the people out, drop them off then come back and pick up the rest of the people and then take them out. When some people asked them what we should do if we have a problem, their answer was basically to "swim back to shore." So we were all like "We paid $100 for a two minute boats ride and a surface swim back?" No one in the group I was diving with got on the boat.

As far as the diving goes, I really enjoyed diving the Superior Producer and the Mushroom forest was a cool dive. Other than that I was pretty bored on most of the dives. Curacao is the place to go if you are turned on by coral and small critters. I did see more eels and lobster on this trip than ever before. I would have to say that the best thing I did all week was swim inside the Blue Cave. Just something about it, kind of gives you the same feeling as swimming in the pool at the bottom of a waterfall. Plus, I saw my first Green Moray ever in there.

Also, I must say that I felt safe on the island. I went into Willemstad alone one day and had no problems. I even some some local driving panhandlers away.

Not a bad trip, but I probably won't be heading back anytime soon. I am headed for Bonaire for the first time in July though.

[lmorin]

Sorry you weren't more enthused. Frankly, if you were bored in Curacao, you'll probably be bored in Bonaire, too. We did all of our Curacao diving in and near Mushroom Forest. Most of the dives were as good as, or better than, Mushroom Forest. Maybe you just missed them.

[Damselfish]

I agree, if you are bored in Curacao you will probably be bored in Bonaire, possibly more bored. I find the dive sites in Curacao have a bit more variety than Bonaire, there is much more variety and quality of restaurants, and some more variety of things to do and see above water. (Though, from where you stayed/ate/dove with on Curacao you would unfortunately tend not to see much of that.)

Bonaire and Curacao are more about small critters and coral - but that's true of a lot of places in the Carribean. Even places that are known for more big animals encounters it's usually not like schools of sharks and rays, more like you have a good chance of seeing 1-2 on a lot of your dives. Need to develop an appreciation for the corals and small stuff for the rest of the time or much Carribean diving will bore you.

[robint]

Wow, I guess I have to agree with the others.... if you were bored in Curacao you will probably be bored in Bonaire. For a photographer or videographer it is ideal diving as there is little current and tons and tons of fish, granted mostly little ones. If you aren't into spending half an hour watching a trunkfish feed, or a grouper getting cleaned, or jawfish aerating its mouthful of eggs, or hunting for seahorses and frogfish then its not the place for you.

Is there any chance you could change your July trip to somewhere else?
I would bet you would enjoy diving up towards Turks & Caicos or Bahamas better as there are more big critters - sharks, turtles, etc. Just a thought.

[Chris Hipp]

I suppose I should rephrase...I do like small critters and coral, but at the same time I do feel kind of cheated when I don't see a single turtle all week.

I see what you guys are saying about Bonaire, but the trip to Bonaire is with a dive group that I have been diving with for a while. I took the trip to Curacao through a dive shop and didn't really know anyone. Diving with friends you have known for some time can make all the difference in the world.

[Tennessee Slim]

You shudda gone to the pet store on Gosieweg. They’ve even got a Galapagos tortoise.

[naga]

Interesting point of view, although i think you probably should have done more research before diving there.

OE are renowned for a cattle market approach to their ops and not giving a s**t about their customers. You should ONLY dive with 'the Dive Bus' in Curacao, which is virtually next door.

I went there alone and made new friends, had a ball diving and saw heaps of stuff; they have great DM's and their schedules are pretty flexible; in other words, they give a s**t, and are reasonably priced.

Curucao itself is all about diving, there is not much else and it is great for diving, you just need to deal with the right people and you will see it in a slightly different light. Don't give up on the place, there is some amazing diving there and the house reef at night in front of the 'DB' Hut is sensational.

[Damselfish]

Agree on OE but I wouldn't say ONLY dive with the Dive Bus, there are other good ops on the island.

Curacao isn't all about diving though, there are lots of hotels that are not dive oriented at all and cater to people there simply for a sunny Caribbean vacation, including lots from Europe. The percentage of people diving is much smaller than someplace like Bonaire. (Which is why it's important for a diver to choose location and op more carefully in Curacao, while on Bonaire if you're a diver it's hard to go wrong.)

[CLEAR BLUE]

I don't think you could possibly be bored in Bonaire. It's all about shore diving....don't worry about the boat diving. You can go where you want when you want. There are some double reef formations. Large tarpon at the Hilma Hooker and at Buddy's at night. turtles and a family of squid tend to hank out at the Andreas. The southern and northern sites tend to be different. My personal favorite is Oil Slick Leap....fun to make the leap...lots of eels etc. I think you will enjoy Bonaire.

[gpatz]

I agree with Clear Blue, just got back from Bonaire 2 weeks ago. First time for my wife and I. She had only dived boat dives (Little Cayman, Roatan and Channel Islands) and I personally was tired of the regime of boat diving and finally talked her into trying shore diving (she was a little afraid to try the navigational aspects of diving without a DM.) After 4 dives she saw it was a cinch especially in Bonaire and she loved it. We saw more critters then we have ever seen excluding Little Cayman of course. Free swimming eels, a 5ft Tarpon that hunts by ones Light on night dives, our first sighting of a squid and our first Octopus. Turtles were abundant to the point of boring me. Our favorite site we dived was Alice in Wonderland. Oil Leap was easy, very healty coral and the leap is cool to do. We also really liked the Windsock site under the pier, we saw 2 of the largest Queen Angels I have ever seen and we must have spent 5 minutes watching a Papa or MaMa Tarpon teaching her 6 youngins how to hunt for the smallest meal inside the center of a huge school of Chubs or at least until the Tarpon darted out of the school with it's catch and almost nailed me in the head. Have not been to Curacao yet, thinking about it for the next trip mainly because of the fact there is more to do on the surface plus the diving is about same as Bonaire from what I've heard also. My opinion is if you like to dive at your own pace, want to dive in almost total solitude then Bonaire is the place. We loved it.