Curacao Shore Diving Worth it?

[ronski101]

A group of 4 of us are contemplating a trip to curacao in April. We are wondering if the shore diving is good and if the entries/waves are doable for us since one of our party has hip/knee issues and is not too fond of some of the ironshore and coral rubble sites in Bonaire.

 

[Damselfish]

A group of 4 of us are contemplating a trip to curacao in April. We are wondering if the shore diving is good and if the entries/waves are doable for us since one of our party has hip/knee issues and is not too fond of some of the ironshore and coral rubble sites in Bonaire.

The shore diving is very good, at least as good as Bonaire. Some people consider it less convenient as you need to do more driving between sites, because of the way the roads are laid out. On the other hand, there's lots more gentle beach entries available, so that would work in your favor.

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

The water is very calm on the West end. Some beaches have coral rubble but with the wim of the sea, the beach could be smooth sand the next day. Some sites; Alice in Wonderland, Porto Marie and I think Kokomo have a dock with a ladder.
I wouldn't think another 5 minute drive during your surface interval would matter much and, there are more sites that serve lunch

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Curacao is shore diving; there really is no good reason to ever get on a boat. The vast majority of sites are easy in, easy out. The beaches and bottoms are, like Bonaire, dead corral rubble, but my wife and I went diving there 6 weeks after I had 18" of cancerous gut removed. She has two vertebrae completely gone and replaced by a titanium fitting (not a cage, completely removed). Neither of us had the least bit of trouble.

Get in touch with Mark & Suzie at The Dive Bus and they'll make sure you have a great time.

 

[dfx]

Shore entries vary between very easy and moderate. There are some exceptions, but generally you enter and exit on a sandy beach. Sometimes it's a bit of a longer walk to get there, other sites have some stairs that need to be navigated, yet others have parking right next to the beach and it's a short flat walk into the water. The water is normally very calm.

Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: Curacao, ABC Islands is a nice resource to give you an idea about the various sites (list is not necessarily complete nor up-to-date though).

 

[petemoss]

I have dove most all the sites. Most are not difficult. The Marriott house reef is IMHO the easiest access from the dive shop. Cas Abou also. Both no steps or hills. Others will also have good info here. IMHO Curacao has better diving than Bonaire. Just not the whole island.

Pete

 

[diversteve]

I have a bad knee also and Curacao entries are much easier than Bonaire. Basically the start of the reef/drop is a slight surface swim out at many so most of them are sandy beach entries. It's like the ironsore that's so close on Bonaire is 100 yds+ farther out. Some of the north sites also are beaches/sandy coves that break the ironshore cliffs surrounding them. Of 20 dives, we only used the dive dock 3-4x - all the rest were walks in off the beach.

Some of the north sites are so similar to those on Bonaire that if you were dropped on them you couldn't tell the difference. Others are completely different. One thing of note is that the farther west sites are sometimes a lot more vertical so although the entries are easy, in a few instances there's one or more flights of stairs down.

The only boat dive we did was Lost Anchor - when you see the stairs hugging the cliff from the boat you'll know why. Watamula to the far west would be another worth doing. Mushroom Forest/Blue Cave is only via boat.

If you plan it right, you can pair dive sites so it's possible to do 4x day - twice we did 5 with a night dive at the afternoon site. A couple examples - Nos Kas (old Habitat site) is 5mins. from Porto Mari. The 3 "Gnip" sites are along the same road. And Playa's Lagun and Jeremi are 5mins. apart. Get tanks for both at Discover Dive in Lagun. One nice thing is that most have facilities on-site for food etc. so we just hung around till dark to night dive. It does make for a longer day with the driving. Similar to Buddy Dive (but not as convenient) Relaxed Guided Dives is a fill/tank pickup along the main road just west of town. Almost every known site has an on-site operator with at least tank/weight rentals available.

We did 20 dives in just over a week plus were tourists for a couple of days.

 

[SandyDiverCur]

I believe if you get the right advice and have the right operator you will do fine. The Dive Bus is obviously a good choice from everything I've heard.

Another operator I know you'd be very happy with is Bas Harts Diving - They are extremely experienced on the west side where you would get to see a lot of different reef structures and very pristine sites. It sounds like their private and customized diving would be exactly what you're looking for.

 

[gustele]

A group of 4 of us are contemplating a trip to curacao in April. We are wondering if the shore diving is good and if the entries/waves are doable for us since one of our party has hip/knee issues and is not too fond of some of the ironshore and coral rubble sites in Bonaire.

Shore diving in Curaçao is easy even for someone with hip/knee issues. There are some sites to avoid like the Superior Producer and The Crash site because the entry can be difficult especially when there are waves. Especially easy are Marie Pampun, Lagun, Porto Marie and Vaersenbay. Also the Tugboat site is doable and probably some other sites that I forget. And with a party of four there is always help nearby for the person who could have difficulties.

 

[Grognard]

Curacao has the best shore diving that I've found in the Caribbean, and this includes St. Croix, Bonaire, and Grand Cayman and Brac. A car is necessary to get to all the different dive sites but entry is easy either via the beach or stairs. The night diving is also spectacular. Most dive shops will help you arrange a night dive.

My wife and I are headed back to Marazul Resort at Westpunt the end of February. We're looking forward to some great Curacao diving again.