Condos and dive shops - Curacao

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dah466

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Messages
5
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Location
West Bend, WI
# of dives
50 - 99
My girlfriend and I are researching a trip to Curacao fall of 2015. This will be a shore dive only getaway. We will only make 2 shore dives per day one in the morning and one late afternoon so driving to the dive sites should not be a big deal as I feel we should have plenty of time. What I am struggling with is what area should I stay in? It looks like Westpunt and Lagun have great dive sites, dive shops and condos but getting to town(Willemstad) looks like a hassle. We are the kind of people that do not like to stay in crowded/congested areas but we do like to pop into town every day. We will rent a vehicle and don't mind driving 15 - 20 minutes but 45 minutes to an hour seems unrealistic. Is there a dive shop and condo setup you could recommend that is west/north of town that might work. I would like to grab 4 tanks in the morning and that would set us up for the day. I would not rule out east/south of Willemstad but it seems to make sense being centrally located. I also like the ideal of renting a pickup versus a car. I guess I have Bonaire to blame for that. Who would you recommend renting a pickup truck from? I have read the beds of the trucks are not set up like Bonaire. Any tricks you use to keep your tanks from rolling around? Are there any grocery stores centrally located? My understanding is there are not any grocery stores between Lagun and Westpunt. Is that accurate?
 
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My girlfriend and I are researching a trip to Curacao fall of 2015. This will be a shore dive only getaway. We will only make 2 shore dives per day one in the morning and one late afternoon so driving to the dive sites should not be a big deal as I feel we should have plenty of time. What I am struggling with is what area should I stay in? It looks like Westpunt and Lagun have great dive sites, dive shops and condos but getting to town(Willemstad) looks like a hassle. We are the kind of people that do not like to stay in crowded/congested areas but we do like to pop into town every day. We will rent a vehicle and don't mind driving 15 - 20 minutes but 45 minutes to an hour seems unrealistic.
From that area it kind of is that far to town. The south fork of the road leading to Lagun - then onto Westpunt is the twistier, hillier one so you slow down in some areas considerably. The north fork which leads directly to Westpunt is for the most part flat and faster. Neither was much less than 45mins. though - we stayed in Lagun for a few days b4 moving (planned) to town.

Is there a dive shop and condo setup you could recommend that is west/north of town that might work.
In Lagun, Lagun Blou is nice. Not sure if they have anything less than 2BR though. We rented at My Dream Apt's about a block away. Nice, clean but kitchens lack much more than the basics - not even a stove/oven - just a micro and a cooktop. Worked for breakfast but we ate out for everything else. Bahia Apt's is next to Lagun Blou - it's an older property. IDK much about it except Bahia Diving is on-site. Down the hill at Playa Lagun Discover Diving is convenient for tanks - they have a truck height loading dock. We rented tanks from them for any of the more remote west sites. A lot of divers rent at All West Apt's in Westpunt also - they have a Go West shop on site. And down the stairs is Playa Kalki, one of the better shore dives.

One fundamental difference between Curacao and Bonaire is that the shore diving process is a little different. On Curacao sites are more spread out - and there's no coastal road between them. Just about every one - even those that are close by - require driving about a mile out to the main road then back in at the next turn-off. Some of which are actually marked....LOL.

The other primary difference is that with a few exceptions all the shore dive sites are beaches with on-site dive operators. All have food options, some have decent restaurants. You pay a fee in guilders to use the facilities - often including showers/lockers/dive dock if needed etc. - it's waived if you rent tanks from them. So you may not need as many tank exchanges as you think. The Buddy Dive equivalent on Curacao is Relaxed Guided Dives - they're on the main road west out of town - nowhere near a dive site but we probably drove past it a dozen times during the week. We almost always rented tanks on-site.
I would like to grab 4 tanks in the morning and that would set us up for the day. I would not rule out east/south of Willemstad but it seems to make sense being centrally located. I also like the ideal of renting a pickup versus a car. I guess I have Bonaire to blame for that. Who would you recommend renting a pickup truck from? I have read the beds of the trucks are not set up like Bonaire. Any tricks you use to keep your tanks from rolling around?
I'm pretty sure we rented from Budget at the airport. About $450/wk and my friends card covered the CDW. We also rented an SUV for the group. Although I've read both ways - we locked the SUV with our extra stuff inside at every site since our apt. mgr recommend it. At one the on-site operator offered to watch them also. At many, you park within their field of view as well.
Are there any grocery stores centrally located? My understanding is there are not any grocery stores between Lagun and Westpunt. Is that accurate?
Unless things have changed in past several years there's no grocery store west of Willemstad. I don't even think there's any between Lagun and Willemstad. Afaik the closest one is still Centrum Market - about 2 miles south of the Airport rotary. Sort of north Piscadera Bay. We stopped there first for supplies b4 driving out to Lagun - they sell $1 styro boxes for perishables.

Another consideration might be dining out. There's 6 restaurants in Westpunt - 7 if you count Sol Foods but she's only open Fri-Sun. Two are average local places and Lanhuis Misje is the best. In Lagun if there's another restaurant besides the waterfront bar/grill at Bahia Apt's we missed it. Landhuis Daniel was recommended by our apt. owner but it's along the main road back towards town.
 
I stayed in Westpunt and did exactly what you said. diversteve has actually given a great description but there is a different point of view. I actually enjoyed being away from the city and driving in to eat. I planned some dives in the south exactly so I could dive then enjoy a night out. I had no trouble stocking up on tanks at Ocean Encounters West where I stayed. I also only went to the grocery store once so its location was not a big deal. I enjoyed the remote nature and I really liked the diving better up there. Your choice though...
 
We find that when we stay out at Westpunt, we rarely drive into the city. We think we're going to, but then reality intervenes - we want to get in a night dive, or we just don't feel like it when the time comes. Maybe not so much going there, but also having to drive back after dinner. So we mostly make due with the restaurants available out there. (I include Landhuis Daniel in that group, it's a bit of a drive but still much closer than going all the way back to town.) So driving into town becomes more of a once a week excursion/dive break for us where we dive in the morning, then head downtown in the afternoon to do a little shopping and sightseeing and then have dinner. When we used to stay at Habitat (Coral Estate Rif St. Marie area), it was still a bit of a drive but something we would do much more often.

If you stay out west and really want just 2 shore dives a day, and also want to go into town frequently, it would work much better to do a couple dives in the morning then clean up and head into town. At least some days I'd pick a site and do a couple dives from one spot, maybe one each direction. Hang out and relax between, maybe have a bite to eat if it's someplace with food. And as said often works best to just rent tanks on site. (If you don't stay at Westpunt you should definitely spend a day there, dive Alice in Wonderland a couple times from Go West diving and there's a restaurant there.) Then take tanks with you on a day where you plan to hit a couple undeveloped sites. Even if you stay closer to town I think this makes sense, as the better diving is mostly further west so you might just wind up driving west to dive, and it probably makes more sense to do it once a day. Then head to town or wherever with plans for dinner.

Piscadera Centrum is the place to go for major groceries if you're staying anyplace west of there. There's also a decent smaller market in the Piscadera area that's open later that we've stopped at for a few things after dinner when it was too late to get to Centrum. There's also a decent small market food for picking up some stuff that's further west along the main road but I don't remember the name or location exactly, just know it when I pass it. Maybe someone else does.
 
I find the centrum very pricey. The cost u less has been recommended to us several times. Also we used the grocery in Barber (green building not sure what its called). They had everything we needed.
We stay at All West because it includes the truck but we also dive more than 2x per day. Also the tank loading is very convenient.

---------- Post added January 30th, 2015 at 08:44 PM ----------

Should add that when sol food is open, that's where we eat :)
 
My girlfriend and I are researching a trip to Curacao fall of 2015. This will be a shore dive only getaway. We will only make 2 shore dives per day one in the morning and one late afternoon so driving to the dive sites should not be a big deal as I feel we should have plenty of time. What I am struggling with is what area should I stay in? It looks like Westpunt and Lagun have great dive sites, dive shops and condos but getting to town(Willemstad) looks like a hassle. We are the kind of people that do not like to stay in crowded/congested areas but we do like to pop into town every day. We will rent a vehicle and don't mind driving 15 - 20 minutes but 45 minutes to an hour seems unrealistic. Is there a dive shop and condo setup you could recommend that is west/north of town that might work. I would like to grab 4 tanks in the morning and that would set us up for the day. I would not rule out east/south of Willemstad but it seems to make sense being centrally located. I also like the ideal of renting a pickup versus a car. I guess I have Bonaire to blame for that. Who would you recommend renting a pickup truck from? I have read the beds of the trucks are not set up like Bonaire. Any tricks you use to keep your tanks from rolling around? Are there any grocery stores centrally located? My understanding is there are not any grocery stores between Lagun and Westpunt. Is that accurate?

My wife and I stayed in Boca Sami when we were in Curacao last April. It's about 15 miles West of Willemstad so you're out of the traffic. Boca Sami will not have any night life, but the local site (Snake Bay) is quite nice. For us it was close enough to the "big city" to get in when we wanted.

I haven't stayed here, but it does look attractive:
http://www.waterside.cw/

I got my tanks from Dive Veederfort (also Boca Sami), and would recommend them
 
I think the west side is the best place to stay in Curacao. It is 45 min into willemstadt but as long as you don't want to cross willemstadt to go to the east side, it is no big deal. The grocery store (centrum) is more like 30 min only because it is well before you get to willemstadt and all of the traffic. I found the prices reasonable there much the same as they are in the US. There are two mini-market places near the west end one in Barber and an even bigger one in Tera Cora (California market)
Boca Sami would be much closer to town but it is not as an attractive area IMO than out west. One other area that is my favorite in Curacao is the St. Willibrodus area. THere are some places to stay on the bluff but they are a little pricey. There are two beaches nearby there that have good diving and one dive shop at playa porto marie. (however, you do have to pay to go on the beach there). It is 10-15 min closer to town. I am not sure about renting the truck as in Bonaire however, I do remember that rental vehicles are more expensive in Curacao than Bonaire in general.
 
My girlfriend and I are researching a trip to Curacao fall of 2015. This will be a shore dive only getaway. We will only make 2 shore dives per day one in the morning and one late afternoon so driving to the dive sites should not be a big deal as I feel we should have plenty of time. What I am struggling with is what area should I stay in? It looks like Westpunt and Lagun have great dive sites, dive shops and condos but getting to town(Willemstad) looks like a hassle. We are the kind of people that do not like to stay in crowded/congested areas but we do like to pop into town every day. We will rent a vehicle and don't mind driving 15 - 20 minutes but 45 minutes to an hour seems unrealistic. Is there a dive shop and condo setup you could recommend that is west/north of town that might work. I would like to grab 4 tanks in the morning and that would set us up for the day. I would not rule out east/south of Willemstad but it seems to make sense being centrally located. I also like the ideal of renting a pickup versus a car. I guess I have Bonaire to blame for that. Who would you recommend renting a pickup truck from? I have read the beds of the trucks are not set up like Bonaire. Any tricks you use to keep your tanks from rolling around? Are there any grocery stores centrally located? My understanding is there are not any grocery stores between Lagun and Westpunt. Is that accurate?
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