StephM
Registered
We've just returned from 10 days in Curacao it was a perfect vacation 
We stayed in Westpunt. As a couple who both dive and werent as interested in non-diving activities, we preferred the west end (we stayed near Willemstad our last trip there). I had been worried that it would be really hot in June but we were pleasantly surprised there is a great wind that keeps you cool and blows the mosquitoes away (mostly!) The water temp was 81. Even so after 10 days of diving in a 5 mil I was really cold, I may need a dry suit to dive the Caribbean
We stayed at Sunshine and David's apartment and loved it. Its a 3 bedroom apartment with a kitchenette, living room and porch. The apartment is beautiful, Sunshine and David are fantastic, the pups and kitties made it feel like home, and the food is great! An added bonus was meeting people there on the weekends we met the Ocean Encounters West crew there our first night and then met 2 great scubaboarders we got to dive and hang out with. Well definitely be staying there again!
Sol Food on the weekends is the best deal around. We loved the pizza, fish, crab cakes and more... The sangria was memorable too - I liked both Sunshine and Andreas's recipes We had 2 dinners at the Kura Hulanda Lodge. The food there was very good. We also went to a bar-b-que at Lagun on Thursday night that we really enjoyed. Lunch was often at the beach - Playa Kalki and Porto Maria both have snack bars. We enjoyed having a kitchen so we could do breakfast and some lunches on our own.
Diving: I have nothing to compare Curacao to Ive only ever been diving there. On this trip we did our first boat dive, deep dive and night dive. Every dive we did was gorgeous and the corals are stunning. Since were new, we decided to do our AOW course. We dove with Ocean Encounters West which is just down the street from the apartment. It was a great experience. After doing our peak buoyancy, navigation and deep dive classes we felt much more confident about going out just the two of us.
We did 16 dives. All our guided dives were with OEW (or David!). We were very impressed with OEW - everyone we met was great very professional and also a lot of fun. They all love to dive and their enthusiasm comes through - I highly recommend them!
We did 3 afternoon and 1 morning boat dive with OEW. There were never more than 12 divers on the boat - comfortable and not crowded. We went to Watamula (amazing corals, mild drift dive); Shipwreck off of Playa Kalki (a shallow wreck dive); Blue Hole/Mushroom Forest (cave and great corals again); and Redheo and Jeremy (we saw a monster-sized lobster - okay, but it Was really big).
I would definitely recommend renting a car you really need one on the west end and we enjoyed the freedom of being able to dive on our own. Shore dives included Alice in Wonderland, the OEW house reef. The facilities are really nice. We got to see both sea horses! Playa Lagun was a perfect night dive (thank you David!) followed by dinner at the bar-b-que. We saw a spotted eagle ray in the night in 8 feet of water. Porto Marie has a dive shop, a nice beach and snack bar/restaurant. The reef is circular, you need at least 2 dives to see it, it was more interesting diving to the right side we thought. Shoena Mosa is a pretty shore dive off a small secluded beach. Cas Abou is a private beach with a $6 entry fee. Lots of kids on the beach, they had a water trampoline. There is a dive shop and a snack bar. You can take a shuttle boat over to an entry point and swim the dive back to the beach.
I'm not comfortable enough to try photography yet...but UnderwaterBumbleBee has some great photos in her report of many of the same sites that went to. I think your photos are great!!
The 10 days flew by way to quickly and there is much more to see well be heading back for sure!
Phew. That was long!
We stayed in Westpunt. As a couple who both dive and werent as interested in non-diving activities, we preferred the west end (we stayed near Willemstad our last trip there). I had been worried that it would be really hot in June but we were pleasantly surprised there is a great wind that keeps you cool and blows the mosquitoes away (mostly!) The water temp was 81. Even so after 10 days of diving in a 5 mil I was really cold, I may need a dry suit to dive the Caribbean
We stayed at Sunshine and David's apartment and loved it. Its a 3 bedroom apartment with a kitchenette, living room and porch. The apartment is beautiful, Sunshine and David are fantastic, the pups and kitties made it feel like home, and the food is great! An added bonus was meeting people there on the weekends we met the Ocean Encounters West crew there our first night and then met 2 great scubaboarders we got to dive and hang out with. Well definitely be staying there again!
Sol Food on the weekends is the best deal around. We loved the pizza, fish, crab cakes and more... The sangria was memorable too - I liked both Sunshine and Andreas's recipes
We had 2 dinners at the Kura Hulanda Lodge. The food there was very good. We also went to a bar-b-que at Lagun on Thursday night that we really enjoyed. Lunch was often at the beach - Playa Kalki and Porto Maria both have snack bars. We enjoyed having a kitchen so we could do breakfast and some lunches on our own. Diving: I have nothing to compare Curacao to Ive only ever been diving there. On this trip we did our first boat dive, deep dive and night dive. Every dive we did was gorgeous and the corals are stunning. Since were new, we decided to do our AOW course. We dove with Ocean Encounters West which is just down the street from the apartment. It was a great experience. After doing our peak buoyancy, navigation and deep dive classes we felt much more confident about going out just the two of us.
We did 16 dives. All our guided dives were with OEW (or David!). We were very impressed with OEW - everyone we met was great very professional and also a lot of fun. They all love to dive and their enthusiasm comes through - I highly recommend them!
We did 3 afternoon and 1 morning boat dive with OEW. There were never more than 12 divers on the boat - comfortable and not crowded. We went to Watamula (amazing corals, mild drift dive); Shipwreck off of Playa Kalki (a shallow wreck dive); Blue Hole/Mushroom Forest (cave and great corals again); and Redheo and Jeremy (we saw a monster-sized lobster - okay, but it Was really big).
I would definitely recommend renting a car you really need one on the west end and we enjoyed the freedom of being able to dive on our own. Shore dives included Alice in Wonderland, the OEW house reef. The facilities are really nice. We got to see both sea horses! Playa Lagun was a perfect night dive (thank you David!) followed by dinner at the bar-b-que. We saw a spotted eagle ray in the night in 8 feet of water. Porto Marie has a dive shop, a nice beach and snack bar/restaurant. The reef is circular, you need at least 2 dives to see it, it was more interesting diving to the right side we thought. Shoena Mosa is a pretty shore dive off a small secluded beach. Cas Abou is a private beach with a $6 entry fee. Lots of kids on the beach, they had a water trampoline. There is a dive shop and a snack bar. You can take a shuttle boat over to an entry point and swim the dive back to the beach.
I'm not comfortable enough to try photography yet...but UnderwaterBumbleBee has some great photos in her report of many of the same sites that went to. I think your photos are great!!
The 10 days flew by way to quickly and there is much more to see well be heading back for sure!
Phew. That was long!
The amount of pizzas she had to make that one day...
