Curacao dive trip- You steered my right for our Bonaire trip...How about Curacao?!

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Sea Shelley

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Hi Scuba Board-

Many of you avid divers gave me great advice about using Poppy on Bonaire, Dive friends for unlimited air, and also a great recommendation to stay at Villa Ganshi which we loved last year in May, as we could dive every afternoon at Something Special from our back porch. (Somehow my user name seems to have went away according to Scuba Board administrator file, so I started a new one.)

As we can only really swing 1-2 dive trips a year, and of course there are so many places to go, we found Curacao on the Top 10 shore diving destinations, so we are booking an October/November trip this year to go there. It seems similar to Bonaire from the research I have done so far, I understand that each dive site is a little more driving inland and back to shore to reach, but we're excited about the new destination all the same and I need a little more guidance.

Here are my thoughts...along with a request to correct me on anything I am not thinking straight on...

Booking a property near a dive shop that offers unlimited air package-
Is there 1 or 2 you would recommend?
We loved having Dive Friends various locations to fill tanks at, although, we really only used 2 and the one within 1 mile of our house rental primarily. We are thinking while we'd like a home rental on the ocean (3 or 4 bedroom), by looking on vrbo, we haven't found one near a dive shop. 1/2 the group will do some boat dives and some shore dives, and the other half of the group will be shore diving only. Are there other often used "search for diver friendly house rental" websites, you might recommend that I try? Also checking through airbnb now.

How far West should we stay? Researching Franko's dive map, seems like we'd have lots of dive sites to do if we did book a place West and use Go West dive shop. (for 10 day trip) Good idea?

Have you rented a 3-4 bedroom house on Curacao that offered you a dive site from your background? if so, where, and would you recommend it to rent?

lastly, who should we rent auto from? (thank you for recommending Poppy on Bonaire. Great outfit!)

thank you for your time reading and replying if you have some insight and recommendations for me.
Kindly,
Shelley
 
Go west young man. Either westpunt or Lagun have what you are looking for. There are some Condos at Lagun that have a dive shop next door in the Hotel. It is a good outfit. The dive location is down a pretty serious set of steps but nothing to worry about if you are spry. The best prices I found for car rental is through an outfit in the Holiday beach resort. I believe that they will meet you at the airport. Car rental is more expensive in Curacao than Bonaire. I also believe that they are even more expensive if you rent at the airport. I took the bus from out west to otrabanda then walked to the Holiday beach to get the car.
 
We travel as a big group also - typically 7-8 singles so looked for something similar to what you want. One thing to understand about Curacao - esp. to the west is that much of it is perched on cliffs over the sea - often with stairs down. Marazul Condo's is a perfect example of this. Marazul Dive Resort Curacao - Oceanfront vacation rentals Curacao

Another option for larger properties is Coral Estate. The old Habitat Dive resort was on property there b4 it closed. Recently DiveVersity re-opened the shop there but IDK any details. The villas are above the property on a ridge overlooking the water so it would be a doable walk with gear. I met an owner there and he left his gear with the shop. They have a website - or the properties listed here that have "Coral" in the name are the same - Exclusive holiday villas and apartments on Curaçao

There's also Villa Surrender out in Westpunt. I'm not if you can access the water there though. They mention the beach out front of Lodge Kura Hulanda on their website - Go West has a shop there on the south end also. IMO that's about the best shore dive as well - Playa Kalki/Alice in Wonderland. Surrender :: Cura

We also found this in Lagun but it was not available during our time. https://www.dolphinhearthouse.nl/en/ - the name really isn't an exaggeration - we rented at a property nearby and just about every morning dolphins would make a sweep thru the bay.

Everything from Westpunt is a 45min. drive back to town outside of the 7 restaurants in the area - 6 really since Sol Foods is only open Fri-Sun. Trip Advisor lists them all.

Anything near Lagun is going to be similar in that most of the properties are on the cliffs there as well. Here's an example - http://www.lagunblou.nl/index.php?topic=home_en The beach is the Playa Lagun dive site - Discover Diving is on-site there. I don't believe they have a boat but it's really handy for shore diving since they have a truck height tank loading dock. There's another newer property on the other side of the bay that I can't recall the name of. Behind it is Bahia Apt's/Diving so maybe contact them and ask. Bahia has an on-site shop both properties share and also there's a small bar/grill perched on the cliff there. It's the same place mentioned in Trucha's post.

Here's another group of villas that might work for you - http://www.curacao.com/en/directory/stay/luxury-villas/#close

My friend did our car rentals. We rented a truck to haul tanks and an SUV. Budget at the airport was the best deal she found. I'm pretty sure we paid around $450 for the SUV - we were there 10 days also. The truck was less since it was only a 2 door. I've always found the best rate when I pre-book thru the website instead of showing up at the counter.

Many of the dive operators are located on beach dive sites. That's the difference between Curacao and Bonaire - besides the drive between sites. In a lot of cases we just rented tanks from the on-site operator - although not the cheapest option - convenient. Not really bad though either - we bought a one-day, unlimited tanks package for $22 at a resort once - and could remove them to dive nearby at a site with no operator.

One last thing is compare the list on shorediving.com - or any of the other websites - with the list of boat dives that some do. Often they're the same. Except you can't really get to Watamula or the Mushroom Forest without a boat. And the farthest east side dives in the marine park also. And Klein Bonaire if you decide to spend the day out there.

More than once we saw a dive boat moored at the same site we were shore diving. So it seemed silly to pay for a boat dive there.

The closest thing Curacao has to Buddy Dive is probably Relaxed Guided Dives - a drive-up tank rental/fill. It's located on the main road slightly west of the airport - nowhere near a dive site. We drove by it a dozen times b4 I realized what it was.
 
Thank you Trucha - when I searched Curacao related forums, I was also seeing the 'west is best theme', but some of the forums were 7+ years old, so just thought it was best to double check that to current advice. we were trying to find great reasons to stay mostly away from town anyway. We'll be making the one or two grocery trips, and planning to cook most meals and packing lunches from the kitchen. It's always seemed to work best for us on family dive trips.

and Thanks also to diverSteve! you are right on track with many of the questions I am searching for the answers for, and also, some of the areas I've been looking at.

When I google "curacao dive shops", it appears that Google is not aware of all the dive operations near or in hotels. As far as google goes, besides the dive shop near the airport (probably the fill tank station you speak of) it basically shows there is no dive shops between Go West Diving and Piscadora , which is damn near in town. Yet when I go on to the beach house rental reviews, past customers say "the dive shop is right there", which is what makes me go back and check the dates/year of stay, and makes me wonder what ISN'T there anymore. That is what has made us leary of booking in the Coral Estates and Lagun area. So that is great news that you say we can buy tanks, tank packages, and fill air there. There are certainly some nice properties we are looking at there, and also some good options in the links you posted.

4 of the 5 of us are "spry" as you say, and will be looking forward to mostly shore diving, 1 diver will probably book more boat dives (easier to get in and out of boat), and I would guess each of us will likely do one day of diving with him. I have read some reviews and Watamula sounds like a 'don't miss' site. The stairs are a fine option for us, we did 1000 Steps at Bonaire as a shore dive and had no issues. Even my mother in law who is 60 tromped back up the stairs in full gear after the dive. We feel the same, why boat to a dive that we can do from shore.

while diving from the backyard was great, a few minutes to a shore or beach from property and where we can get tanks will be accommodations that work good for us.
 
Some of the shops I have bookmarked between Westpunt and Piscadera. I'm sure there's more.

Go West has two locations - at Lodge Kura Huland All West Apts. - GO WEST Diving - EN - Curacao Padi Scuba Dive Center - GO WEST Diving
Discover Diving in Playa Lagun - Discoverdiving & Restaurant -> Home  
Bahia Diving in Playa Lagun also - Diving - Bahia Apartments
Cas Abou diving in Cas Abou Cas Abao Beach Watersports and Shop
Trunk Divers in Varsenbaai - Home - TRUNKDIVERS

Diveversity also has a location in Piscadera Bay. DiveVersity at Piscadera | DiveVersity Coral Estate
Caribbean Sea Sports at the Marriott and Hilton in Piscadera Bay - http://www.caribseasports.com/

A few east past downtown but there's others - we only dropped down there twice during the week

Atlantis Diving in "south" Willemstad - http://www.atlantisdiving.com/
The Dive Bus at Pierbaai Beach - http://www.the-dive-bus.com/
Ocean Encounters is on-site at Lions Dive and Santa Barbara Resort - http://www.oceanencounters.com/en/
There is/was a dive school at the Tugboat site also. Don't remember the name.
Scuba Do at Jan Thiel Bay/beach. - http://www.divecenterscubado.nl/

If you're interested in a guide, Relaxed Guided Dives, the Dive Bus or Bas Harts Diving are all options.
 
Got a work flow question. On Bonaire, the shore diving workflow is roughly the same at a number of resorts; Eden Beach (Wanna Dive) or Buddy Dive that I've used, but I think it's similar at Captain Don's Habitat, Sand Dollar & others...you load your gear & rental tanks (AL80s probably with EAN 32) & drive the west coastal road, get out at a yellow rock-marked site, dive, haul out, do another one in about 30 minutes, go back to resort, eat lunch & swap tanks, do the same in the afternoon, eat supper & mull over whether a night dive (say, on the house reef) is worth the bother...

Very simple.

When I read threads about Curacao, it doesn't sound quite as simple. A number of sites have onsite businesses with various amenities, but may charge a fee. Some rent tanks; some don't. Maybe some sites are 'rustic' like Bonaire? My point is, having experienced Bonaire but not Curacao, and historically preferring non-guided 'anytime, anywhere' shore diving at will, I'm not quite sure how one plans a day diving Curacao if you're not already familiar with which Curacao sites have what onsite businesses and what's expected there.

On Bonaire, there's Susan Porter's book on shore diving made easy, to tell people what to expect from the dive sites in terms of conditions.

Is there, oh, say, some sort of 'Curacao Shore Diving Made Easy' book, website or whatever that lays out the sites & tells you whether access is free, you should bring your own tanks, roughly what amenities are present and are you imposing if you don't buy anything, etc...?

I've never gotten a good handle on how a newcomer establishes a Curacao independent shore diving workflow without traveling with a group who knows the place, or one of the professional guide services DiverSteve listed.

Richard.
 
Thanks drrich2. You also gave me great advice last Spring before our Bonaire trip, that was also very handy. thank you! we LOVED Bonaire and we WILL go back there again probably in a couple of years. For the trip this year, one person in our group prefers "somewhere new" and a couple of us feel the same way as well.

Yes, as we researched Curacao, we do realize that the pull off the road at a yellow rock was incredibly convenient on Bonaire, and that we would have more driving/research to do for Curacao. Getting a "diving made easy Curacao" book is a great idea. At the research I've done so far, in addition to the Curacao dive site map which we ordered online, we have also found a book that diagrams the underwater topography for Curacao dive sites. Says I can buy it online, the online version, but then actually can't acquire the hard cover book until we get there. A little fishy. So my husband is watching to see if we can made it get it on ebay from a past Curacao diver's trip. My husband is an excellent Navigator and we prefer the not rushed dive style just like you do.

we like to stay at a place with or within minutes of a dive site, because we do work in a few night of night dives and handling the gear in the backyard is so convenient. I don't think we'll have that option in Curacao, as we just haven't found somewhere like we had at Villa Ganshi on Bonaire, but it was worth asking to see if someone knows of a gem.
 
Thought about this thread today when I noticed a new article at Undercurrent.org, Bas Harts Diving and Go West, Curacao. You can only read the 1st part without being a paid subscriber.

I keep thinking maybe someday I'll hit Curacao. For a 1st trip, I wouldn't want to go alone. I'd either want to go with a group, or with a buddy who could take the lead & get us places. Ironically, now that I'm diving places other than Bonaire, I tend to skip Curacao because I figure it'd be so much like Bonaire. Some people are just hard to please I guess...

Have fun. Please post a trip report after you get back and let us know how you liked it.

Richard.
 
excellent links and options! thanks diversteve. A property is in Santa Martha Baai area. do you know if there is a dive shop there? (if not, is it about 10-15 minute drive each way to either Cas Abou shop or playa Lagun shop you told me about?
 

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