One Curacao Lodging or Two?

[TheWizard]

I got the OK to plan a dive trip for March, so I'm focusing on Curacao for this one.
I'm thinking we'll stay closer to 10 days than just a week, and from what I've read here, I think we'll stay up at Westpunt and probably do more shore dives than boat dives.
But some dive sites around and East of Willemstad are a bit of a drive.
So I'm wondering if it will be a good idea to split the lodging: 6 nights at AllWest and 4 nights at LionsDive, for example.

This will be just my 2nd trip to Curacao; 1st one was to Sunset Waters with no rental car.
What do more experienced folks think about this idea?

 

[Gtoph]

I got the OK to plan a dive trip for March, so I'm focusing on Curacao for this one.
I'm thinking we'll stay closer to 10 days than just a week, and from what I've read here, I think we'll stay up at Westpunt and probably do more shore dives than boat dives.
But some dive sites around and East of Willemstad are a bit of a drive.
So I'm wondering if it will be a good idea to split the lodging: 6 nights at AllWest and 4 nights at LionsDive, for example.

This will be just my 2nd trip to Curacao; 1st one was to Sunset Waters with no rental car.
What do more experienced folks think about this idea?

I would say it depends on what you can really afford and if you want to pack up and switch locations in the middle of you vacation. AllWest will definitely be cheaper than lionsdive and in my opinion, a better location, but I'm partial to westpunt anyway.

I think it would be better to just rent a car for the time your there and then you're free to go wherever you want, plus you can explore the island that way as well. Driving isn't that bad, except if you hit rush hour. If you're really up for an adventure, you can hook up with Neils (Curacao Scuba Diving - Dive Charter Curacao the best boat dive adventure in the Caribbean.) to do some eastend diving, which is rougher, but when we did it, we saw a lot of good stuff.

 

[TheWizard]

We'll have a vehicle, probably a truck, the whole time, I think.
If we did change over to Lions Dive or Breezes for the last few days, I might turn the truck in early and just boat dive from that hotel the last two days.
I'm kicking around different ideas for now...

 

[pacificgal]

I'll be at Breezes 2/18-3/1, looking for a Curacao dive buddy

 

[idocsteve]

I'm a big fan of changing locations during a trip, makes it more interesting, and if you've got the money for the additional cost of the resort, then why not?

I stayed at All West a month or so back and it's a great location for dives at that end of the island but if you're headed into "town", then you can easily kill 2 hours with driving time.

 

[diversteve]

We did that. Spent 3-4 days in Lagun and 5-6 in Piscadera Bay. In retrospect we should've spent more days in Lagun - once we moved to PBay we ended up driving back to Sunset Waters, Varsenbaai and Habitat/Porto Marie twice.

ymmv but the only dives we did east of town were Tugboat and the Dolphin dive at Ocean Encounters. I personally found Lions Dive overpriced for what you get. For less money I rented a 2BR condo at Piscadera Bay Resort with a full kitchen, dining room, outdoor deck, yard etc. IIRC it cost me about $450. Not on the water though but you have views of it - the Hilton and Marriott across the street block it slightly. But you can walk to their restaurants, casinos and Hooks Hut also. Centrum Market is less than 2 miles away on the road back to to the airport (10mins). And 10-15 mins. from downtown depending on which side you go to.

 

[Diver OnLu]

I got the OK to plan a dive trip for March, so I'm focusing on Curacao for this one.
I'm thinking we'll stay closer to 10 days than just a week, and from what I've read here, I think we'll stay up at Westpunt and probably do more shore dives than boat dives.
But some dive sites around and East of Willemstad are a bit of a drive.
So I'm wondering if it will be a good idea to split the lodging: 6 nights at AllWest and 4 nights at LionsDive, for example.

This will be just my 2nd trip to Curacao; 1st one was to Sunset Waters with no rental car.
What do more experienced folks think about this idea?

Hi Wizard,

Changing locations from my point of view is a good idea for a stay of at least 2 weeks. If you are planning to spend 10 days on Curacao - well, that is not even enough to get to know well all the diving offered in the West. Even here, I recommend combining shore diving and boat diving: While you will find splendid shore diving in Westpunt, Lagun, Porto Marie, and in the San Juan area, just to name my absolute favourites, there are quite some spectacular dives around you can only do by boat, like Rediho City, Sponge Forest, Kortape, Elvin's Plane Wreck, and Watamula, which I consider absolute must do's.

Driving to town is not that far, after all, if you want to dive the Superior Producer or Pierbaai Reef, for example, which you can both reach within 45 minutes by car from Westpunt. I think both sites make a wonderful combo for a full day trip. You could even combine that with getting some loompias at famous Wa On China snack on the way back, or shopping for groceries.

So again, for a 10 day stay on Curacao, I would not necessarily consider changing locations.

Greetings from Westpunt

Andreas
..:: All West Apartments & Diving, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles ::..
..:: Ocean Encounters West Curacao ::..

 

[jeepguy]

If we did change over to Lions Dive or Breezes for the last few days, I might turn the truck ..

If you spend a week in the west, and are looking for a couple of days east, check out the new things happening at the Dive Bus. The Dive Bus - WELCOME They now have a few apartments, new dive shop, same house reef and fun people. This can solve your concern with having a vehicle all week. From what I understand, the apartments and new places are just acrossed the street from the Hut.:cool2:
Tom

 

[waterkitkat]

Hi Tom,

What is your take of the Dive Bus. I have 1 day in December to do some diving (taking a cruise), and saw their website. Their prices look pretty inexpensive so I wasn't sure if they are a good shop or not.

Kat

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

So far this thread covers my 3 favorite dive ops; Ocean Encounters West (Andreas), the Dive Bus (Mark and Suzy) and Dive Charter Curacao (Neils and Kevin). We chose to live in Westpunt and consider these dives to be our backyard. We went with the Bees to Eastpoint and had 2 fantastic dives but still believe Watamula to be one of the best.
Things to consider; nightlife - do you want to trip the light fantastic, gamble and frequent fancy restaurants? Or do your nights include underwater lights and free swimming morays?
We're from New Hampshire and know that the ride from Reading to Fenway might take an hour depending on traffic. End to end on Curacao might also take an hour during prime drive time. Most places from Westpunt would be between 30 and 45 minutes.
My vote would be the bulk of your time in the West and perhaps the last 2 nights in town for your non dive day. FYI the Main night Carnival parade will be on Tuesday, March 8th. That might be something to plan your dates around.
Whatever you decide; all dives are good on Curacao from Eastpoint, to Directors Bay, to The Dive Bus, to the Superior Producer, to Varsenbaai, to Porto Marie, to San Juan, to Lagun, to Westpunt and to all the boat dives between. 10 days will only give you a start on your bucket list.