There is something slightly different about Curacao beaches since many operators can/do charge a small beach usage fee. At Lagun, the operator asked me for one since I was inadvertently sitting in one of his chairs. When I moved to the public picnic tables, he went away.
So maybe Lodge Kura Hulanda can close Playa Kalki?
What I would do is call Rancho El Sobrino and see what they say about it, their guests also use that beach.
Both Playa's Lagun and Jeremi are good dives. Slightly west of Porto Mari. Get tanks at Discover Diving in Lagun for both - there's no facilities at Jeremi. You might see turtles off Lagun. Both are beach dives off coves so swim out to the reef on the surface first. During your SI, the rocks to the right at Jeremi are listed on Frommer's as one of the 10 best snorkels in the Caribbean.
A little farther east Varsenbaai is kind of a mixed dive. Head east and there's a flat pontoon boat used to move some of the cars for the Carpile site perched off the reef at 80'. Seahorses are possible at 40' near the ball off the beach - ask TrunkDivers on-site. Coming back in along the left side of the beach watch for turtles popping up in about 6' of water. It's a boring sandy bottom but they eat the grass there. The operator said they've always been there.
Check with TrunkDivers - or call first. I'd almost bet they go to Watamula - maybe as a guided shore dive. You have to know where to enter/exit as it's off a high cliff area. And I've heard it's a pretty good leap/climb out.
I don't think many/any of the other operators dive Watamula. Just on the off-chance you might check with Caribbean Sea Sports at the Marriott. The way it was explained to me one is that the "bulge" mid-island is sort of the line past which the eastern operators don't go - because of gas and time since many need their boat back for a 1pm dive. Or Diveversity, they were planning to re-open the shop at Coral Estates last fall. If they did, that would be a fairly close run for them - when it was Habitat, they'd go up there afaik.
If you did want to make a trip south, Tugboat is a decent dive. The boat itself is small and shallow (15') but there's also the pier and the wall around the south point was excellent for eels. The dive school there closed so bring tanks. The boat itself is off one of the pilings to the left - at one time there was a ball. Or watch for the 9AM snorkel excursion from the cruise line - they'll drop 100 snorkelers on it. At least they did the day we were there. If a ship is working in the area you can't dive the pier. The wall kind of starts out as a plateau then gets deeper. Can be a lot of current there at times, none the day we dove it.
