Curacao - first timer 4 day trip suggestions/assistance

[midwesblues]

I am planning a trip for March 7 - 10th, 2015 with my son. We have reserved a studio apartment at Marazul (All West Apartments has 4 night minimum so we could not stay there). We are renting a car from D&D. We are looking to do 2 tank boat dives on Sunday, 3/8 and Monday 3/9. Both of us are relatively new divers with only 10 dives each. I am thinking of using Go West Diving for the boat dives. Also considering doing an afternoon shore dive on Sunday if we have time. What do you think about Go West diving? Do we need to make reservations ahead of time? Any other dive shop suggestions? Marazul Dive Resorts offered to make our diving arrangements but they use Discover Diving and I can't find much info about them. Any other suggestions appreciated. Thanks Eric​

---------- Post added October 16th, 2014 at 03:00 PM ----------

Follow -up question for the group. My 19 year old son and I are novice divers with about 10 dives each. We are open water certified. Should we use this trip to get our advanced open water certification instead of doing 2 days of 2 tank dives. I would welcome opinions. Thanks again. Eric

 

[CT Sean]

Go West is great - was very happy with them both times my wife and I went. Can't comment on reservations, the boat was never full when we were there but March is likely a busier month than August and October.

Do the shore diving - you are doing yourself a disservice going to Curacao and not walking into the water (or jumping off a pier) with a tank. I personally find it much more enjoyable than boat diving and at the Go West location (Alice in Wonderland dive site) , you just gear up, hop off the pier, follow the chain to the reef and drop down to whatever depth you are interested in and go left or right (I prefer right). I want to say the top of the reef is about 35 feet deep with plenty to see at only 40 feet.

Unless you feel you need AOW, for a specific reason I wouldn;t spend this trip on it. There's a big difference between doing dives for certification vs dives for fun. Plus you're only going to be there for 4 days - you should be enjoying it not working. We did our AOW in Key Largo last year and the dives - while not terribly challenging - were definitely are much more like work (notably navigation and PPB). Plus you have to spend time going over the knowledge reviews as well as take the test (I'm pretty sure there was a test - maybe that was just for nitrox though) and that's assuming you got the class materials early to work on at home.

---------- Post added October 16th, 2014 at 04:23 PM ----------

Oh - make sure you eat at Sol Food either Saturday or Sunday (or both). Very good food and better prices that the limited other options in the area.

 

[RJP]

Go West Diving gets good reviews... and deservedly so. I've dived with them on multiple trips and highly recommend them. Also dive their house reef - Alice in Wonderland - between or before/after boat dives. I think boat diving includes tanks for shore diving too.

Personally, I wouldn't bother trying to do AOW if you only have two diving days. Just dive!

+1 on Sol Food.

Ray

 

[diversteve]

What the others said. We liked Go West also. They're pretty safety minded which doesn't hurt either. We thought Alice in Wonderland/Playa Kalki was one of the better dives we did all week also. Big Eels to the south and more vertical north of the Lodge. If you go north, surface swim past the lodge, that area is pretty plain.

Go West boat dives the famous Mushroom Forest and Playa Jeremi on Sunday. Jeremi is a better dive by boat since the shore entry is pretty isolated (there's some theft reported there since it is) and the kick out to the reef is pretty far. You also need decent nav skills to find the same cove to exit.

We stayed in Lagun so also used Discover Diving for tanks since they're based there. Nice operation but certainly Go West is better - nicer facilities, boats etc. Go West gets a steady stream of traffic from the Lodge next door so it's a little more upscale. If you go back to Curacao again to shore dive one advantage Discover has is they have a truck height tank dock. Discoverdiving & Restaurant -> Home  

The shore dive off Marazul is probably "south" Playa Kalki - maybe the next bay over. So it's probably pretty decent but there's all those steps... http://imagesus.vrbo.com/mda01/a25930cc-8c1f-4710-8a60-a822a0a21748.1.6

Other fairly close good shore dives are Porto Mari or Varsenbaai. Both have on-site operators also.

In my personal opinion you'll get more out of AOW if you get some experience first. That seems to be contrary to recent trends - I've even read of divers doing OW/AOW back to back.

 

[jd950]

If using GoWest, I would suggest you call or email about a week or two before you go and reserve the boat trips you want. They do sometimes fill up. At least at the current time, the GoWest schedule for the days you are considering is Sunday-Mushroom Forest and Playa Jeremy...Monday-Rediho and Paradise. Of the two days you are considering boat diving I would encourage you to be sure you do the Monday trip that includes Rediho. I think that is one of the better boat dives in that area and Paradise is quite nice as well. The other boat dives are fine too. Curacao diving is for the most part pretty mild and the dives you are looking at should not be a problem for new divers.

Considering your short stay I too would suggest skipping the AOW.

The shore dive at Playa Kalki is good and also easy and considering your overall schedule could be your best choice because you could do the morning boat dives, leave your gear at GoWest while you grab some lunch and then do a shore dive without having to deal with looking for the dive site and lugging gear somewhere.

If you have doubts about doing your own shore dive you can hire a guide to go with you, but it isn't necessary.

I don't know anything about Marazul making arrangements and have never actually used Discover Diving, but they have a shop at Lagun. I have no idea what they use for boats or where they would keep them if they have their own.

You are likely to have nice weather in March!

---------- Post added October 16th, 2014 at 03:13 PM ----------

Sorry for the duplicate info...Diversteve was posting while I was typing.

Diversteve...have you ever eaten lunch at Discover Diving? I have wondered about the place when parking there to dive at Lagun.

 

[diversteve]

Diversteve...have you ever eaten lunch at Discover Diving? I have wondered about the place when parking there to dive at Lagun.

No because we rented apts. a block away when we stayed out there.

I've heard the bar/grill up the steps at the condos north is pretty popular though. Bahia Beach Bar - Lagoon Ocean Resort
IDK if they serve lunch.

 

[jd950]

Ok, thanks.

 

[irie1029]

Man o man - I need to stay west for a week or 2 next year no matter what. Great advice above and I have nothing to add except you will really like Sol food but I would also not miss Landhuis Misje for dinner one night. Also, Go West is awesome great way to get good experience they really take care of you.

 

[Aruba Bobs]

I will be there that time in March. Everyone has given you great advice. My 2 dive buddies stay at Marazul and I stay in the upstairs apt at Sol Food. This will be my 5th time on Cur and LOVE it.We only do shore dives because they are awesome. Make sure you eat at Sol Food. They are open for lunch and dinner, Fri, Sat and Sun only.

 

[midwesblues]

Thank you all for the great suggestions. I will plan to do a couple of boat dives on Sunday with a shore dive on site at Go West Dive and follow that up with a couple of local shore dives on Monday. Thanks again for all the great info and ideas. Aruba Bob, I hope to meet you while I am there. Thanks Eric