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My buddy and I will be spending a week shore diving in Curacao this fall. Usually we shore dive independently in Bonaire, but this will be our first dive trip to Curacao.
I've seen some recommendations for the Dive Bus in Curacao, but little information about diving independently. Does the Dive Bus only have guided dives, or do they also rent tanks and provide information for independent divers?
Is there another source of information about the shore diving sites in Curacao?
Would you recommend guided dives with the Dive Bus for newbies to Curacao, instead of independent shore dives?
We always rent a pick-up in Bonaire. So far we haven't found pick-ups for rent in Curacao. Does that mean the roads are better into the dive sites and that an ordinary car with our gear in the trunk would suffice?
My buddy and I will be spending a week shore diving in Curacao this fall. Usually we shore dive independently in Bonaire, but this will be our first dive trip to Curacao.
I've seen some recommendations for the Dive Bus in Curacao, but little information about diving independently. Does the Dive Bus only have guided dives, or do they also rent tanks and provide information for independent divers?
Would you recommend guided dives with the Dive Bus for newbies to Curacao, instead of independent shore dives?
I personally recommend Suzie at the Dive Bus. If you stop by there she'll provide you with all sorts of info and they have a good dive site map - even if you don't dive with them (we didn't due to time constraints) She's often on SB also. ScubaBoard - View Profile: thedivebus
Otoh the shorediving is very similar to Bonaire. The same reef parallels the shore just a slightly farther swim out in most places. And unlike Bonaire, most of the really good dives sites have facilities on-site - most rent tanks/weights, have refreshments etc. Most also collect a small usage fee even if you bring all your own gear so you have the option to rent tanks from them also.
Bring tanks to Varsenbaai as they have cleanliness issues. But it's a great dive - worth doing. And bring everything to Playa Jeremi, there's no facilities there. The other must drive out dive is Alice in Wonderland at Playa Kalki. If you can get on a boat from Ocean Encounters West there to Watamula - that's supposed to be the best dive on Curacao. My friends g/f is an instructor there, she recommends Snake Bay also.
The big difference is that nowhere will you find the reef as close to shore as the Bonaire south sites, most West End dive sites require you to drive in anywhere from a couple of blocks to a couple of miles miles on secondary roads off the main road. And back out to the main road and over to the next divesite - there's no road that runs along the waterline like on Bonaire. So that really cuts into your diving time, we planned 4 dives/day but averaged 3.
We always rent a pick-up in Bonaire. So far we haven't found pick-ups for rent in Curacao. Does that mean the roads are better into the dive sites and that an ordinary car with our gear in the trunk would suffice?
We drove all over the West End and to a lot of the public dive sites. Most are accessible via car as they're either just off the paved roads or on improved dirt roads. Personally I'd rent something with a little ground clearance, once out of town even the paved roads are bad in places. And something you can lock, theft is a problem there. More so than on Bonaire.
Steve is absolutely right. There are other operators out there that can help you out as well if yr not happy with the Dive Bus for some uncanny reason.
We're seeing an ever-increasing number of independent shore divers in Curacao which is great! However you're right, there's not a lot of info out there about it (including Curacao dive site info) which is why we set up a bunch on our website - check it out here. Hope it's useful, if not, email me!
That's hillarious! I nearly spat my coffee all over my computer when I saw the photo! Oh well, there goes our reputation for being a serious dive outfit (once again!)
Tom/Is: if you want to borrow the cheese bra for your upcoming Bonaire vacation, we're happy to let you borrow it
Cheddars: can't wait to see the rest of your photos from the last Curacao trip!
I can't say enough good things about the Dive Bus!! My partner did her open water test with them and had a great experience. We also did some dives with them throughout our stay and had a good time. They were so accomdating in hearing what we were interseted in seeing/doing and merged that with our skill level and the weather conditions to showed us a fabulous time.They were on time picking us up from our hotel (Kura Hulanda). From there we were taken to our dive site, did our first dive, had a nice picnic lunch as part of our dive package and jump in after a nice rest for the second dive. After a quick stop back at the shop to rinse our gear off, we were dropped off at the hotel front door.
All that and we laughed our butts off too (see exhibit A - the cheese bra picture).
One day we did rent a car and it was easy enough to drive around and jump in. I do have to say going out with the Dive Bus folks first was a good orientation to the marine life and they were really good about letting us know which beaches were safer and better than others.
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Originally Posted by timetraveler
.LOL Tom And Is
