Curacao for the lazy?

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adshaikh

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Location
United States
# of dives
25 - 49
My daughter and I are planning a dive trip for September. We've been to Bonaire and Grand Cayman most recently. We'd like to find a place that is as easy to dive from as Divi Dive in Bonaire. We are fine with shore dives (but not quite ready to go out alone as she is still under 20 dives). We are fine with boat dives as long as the boat ride is not too long.

We might have a tag-along who is looking to do the full dive certification program during our trip.

Any suggestions for resorts?
 
Talk to Mark & Suzi at The Dive Bus. They'll fix you up.
 
From the title, you are just looking at Curacao? Or other places too?

By "as easy to dive from as Divi Divi" I assume you're talking about the typical all around dedicated dive resorts there are many of on Bonaire? (Stay on the water, amble out to the dive boat, hop in the water for a shore dive grabbing your gear on the way.) Curacao doesn't have as many of those as Bonaire does.

What are you thinking of budget-wise?

All West at Kura Hulanda Lodge is a nice place and good op. Bit further walk from rooms to dive shop than some places because of the way it's laid out but no biggie. Boat leaves from there for am 2 tank and pm 1 tank. Very nice shore dive from dock. I imagine you could hire a DM if you want one for some shore dives there, but you might discover after getting familiar with the place that you'll be fine with shore diving with your daughter there. Good place to do an OW. I think they have a tank pickup in the parking lot now if you want to shore dive other places, but it sounds like you might not be interested in that. One of it's drawbacks is its at the far west end of the island - which is nice away from the city and better diving out there in general, but further from a lot of restaurants/shopping/sightseeing if you want that too.

There used to be a resort Habitat Curacao which was great for this. It closed and was sold to a Dutch chain and renovated and is now reopened as Oasis Parcs Coral Estate. It looks pretty nice but I don't know what the dive op is like. The dive op that was there appears to have left and set up shop at a beach nearby, no idea why. Don't know what if anything has replaced it or what they might be like. But it would be a great physical setup. It's also a distance from town, but not as far as KH and much more reasonable to pop into town for dinner or whatever.

Lion's Dive/Ocean Encounters might also work for you. It's close to town and lots of stuff to do around there, water activities, aquarium, etc. I'm not crazy about the on site shore diving but it's there. (I've also never been crazy about Ocean Encounters as a dive op, they always seemed a bit nannyish and regimented for my taste. But as newer divers you might be fine with them, and in fairness I haven't had first hand experience with them in many years.)

The Royal Sea Aquarium resort is sort of in the same complex as Lion's dive and a little less convenient but not bad to walk over to the main OE dive shop at Lions Dive - it's a timeshare if you happen to have points of the proper flavor, or I imagine you could rent there too if you'd prefer more of a condo thing.

Sunscape Curacao is an AI with shore and boat diving that might be worth looking into. It's down the beach from Lion's dive and the dive op there is also OE.

Ocean Encounters also picks up at the docks of a couple other hotels, which isn't the same as staying at a dive resort but might be convenient enough depending how much diving you plan.

The Marriott has a dive op Sea Sports that is pretty well regarded and supposedly a decent shore dive that I haven't done. Not your classic dive resort, but a nice place in a good location near town, and the dive setup looks pretty good. However, I think it's closed for renovations and don't know when it's reopening. Sea Sports also services the Hilton nearby, but the Marriott is/was much nicer.

The already mentioned Dive Bus has a great rep and will pick you up many places in the area of town to take you on guided shore dives. So that's not like quite staying at a dive resort but might work for you, depending what you want. I think an op called "Relaxed Guided Dives" is similar. Probably a couple other like that that people could expand on if it sounds like something you're interested in.
 
By "as easy to dive from as Divi Divi" I assume you're talking about the typical all around dedicated dive resorts there are many of on Bonaire? (Stay on the water, amble out to the dive boat, hop in the water for a shore dive grabbing your gear on the way.) Curacao doesn't have as many of those as Bonaire does.

What are you thinking of budget-wise?

We are fond of the all around dedicated dive resorts. We like to keep it easy, peasy. We had a great experience at Divi Dive and at Tortuga Divers in Grand Cayman. I also enjoyed an experience in Hawaii where they boats were ready to go when you showed up.

We are open to locations outside of Curacao.

Budget is mid to upper range.
 
Is your daughter young and more limited in depth, or no?

Where did you stay on Cayman when you used Tortuga?

You might also look at Little Cayman Beach Resort, Brac Reef Beach Resort, or Coast/Reef Divers on Grand Cayman (although the boats don't always leave from Cobalt Coast, depends on conditions and where they're going.) All AI with valet boat diving.

Or Compass Point/Ocean Frontiers on the east end of Grand Cayman, also valet boat diving. Not AI, but they are condo type units and there is an onsite restaurant. It's more remote but there are a few restaurant options around, as well as a decent small supermarket nearby.

Maybe True Blue Bay/Aquanauts in Grenada.
 
+1 for Lions Dive/Ocean Encounter. Their house reef is very easy entry/exit, and while not the best reef in the Caribbean, it is a decent reef and good for new or experienced divers. They also have a nice dive boat for offshore diving as well, and I thought the DMs did a nice job on my four dives with them. I have not stayed at the resort, but it looked pretty nice from what I saw during the two days I dove with them last year. Yes, they watch the divers pretty closely, but that is not a bad thing, especially if you have a new diver in your group.
 
Is your daughter young and more limited in depth, or no?

Where did you stay on Cayman when you used Tortuga?

She is 20 and has open water certification. She is most comfortable staying at the 60' mark. I respect this limitation in order to dive :wink:

We stayed at Morritts Tortuga Resort - super easy! But the boat rides were long and rough. The daughter gets pretty seasick.
 
I spent a month on Curacao, Nov 2015, and did probably 20 shore dives all around the island, and even a boat dive or two.

Shore diving on Curacao is simply not as accommodating or easy as Bonaire.

The western side of Curacao has reefs comparable to Bonaire, the eastern side is low quality.

If I were to make one recommendation it would be to stay and dive at GoWest Diving in Westpunt. Their 'house reef' is extraordinary and boat dives nearby 30-80 feet and of high quality. The only disadvantage to this location is it is remote, there are 3 or 4 restaurants in the town and nothing else to do. If you want to enjoy the nightlife you will need to drive to Williamstad 45 minutes.
 
I believe the Marriott is still closed for renovation.

Just for clarity there's All West Apartments in Westpunt with a Go West Diving shop on-site.

A 1/4 mile or so away is the other Go West shop at the Lodge Kura Hulanda which is where they keep the dive boats. I believe it's the nicer of their two facilities also.
GO WEST Diving - EN - Curacao Padi Scuba Dive Center

Both in Westpunt but very different places in terms of amenities. The Lodge is as nice as it looks.

Relaxed Guided Dives is an operation mid-island on the road west from town.
 
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