What should I do with 10 wonderful days in Curacao?

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The East end of the island past Fuik Bay is privately owned (about 12% of the island), and access is to the public is denied by the owner, so if you want to dive the reefs there you need to go by boat.

If you are a competent diver you really should not miss out on a chance to dive these sites, as they are in my opinion the best on the island!!!
 
The East end of the island past Fuik Bay is privately owned (about 12% of the island), and access is to the public is denied by the owner, so if you want to dive the reefs there you need to go by boat.

If you are a competent diver you really should not miss out on a chance to dive these sites, as they are in my opinion the best on the island!!!

Sunshine can hook you up with a guy that runs a charter out on the east side, he and his crew were very good.

Last time we were in Curacao, we went out there with Sunshine, David, and another couple. It was definitely an adventure with the ginormous waves, but we saw lots of excellent stuff (couple of large nurse sharks, and eagle rays). Worth it to try it at least once, but as Nivek said, not for the inexperienced diver.
 
Hi,

Diving at West point bis great no doubt about. Diving at east-point is also great, and indeed after fuikbaai you need a boat or a local that knows the way to do shoredives. From Fuikbaai to bullenbaai we consider Banda Ariba (means upper side). From Bullenbaai to Westpoint we consider Banda Abou. Both parts have there beauty. My advice will be don't only dive banda abou but find one that knows all of the areas and can guide you to the best divespots on all of the Island.
Most of the boat rides are in big groups 20 ore more. If you want service, safety and quality I would say look for a dive-operator that works in small groups. And look for locals who can tell you about our island when we drive to the different spots.
And besides diving there are some good restaurants on the Banda ariba side also.
So if you're interested in more information just let us know.

We wish you happy dive planning
 
Most of the boat rides are in big groups 20 ore more. If you want service, safety and quality I would say look for a dive-operator that works in small groups.

Hi curious2dive,

So are you saying that a dive-operator running boats that may carry up to 20 divers are not able to offer good service, safety, and quality? - Very interesting...

I have worked for Ocean Encounters West in Westpoint for 3 years, and I believe that we have grown a very good reputation in all 3 aspects you mention, even in times when demand is high and boats fill up; or should I say that high demand is most probably a result of the good service offered?

Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to re-start the pointless, but obviously never-ending discussion in this forum about the advantages and disadvantages of both shore diving and boat diving on Curacao (that makes it look like only one or the other can be good or worthwhile). I value both very highly, and while imho there is no need to take a boat to a dive site that is equally well accessible from shore (as long as you don't struggle with shore entries due to physical handicaps or dislike any sand on your gear), it is equally true that there are quite a few top dive sites both on the East and West ends of the island that are well worth diving, and can only be reached by boat.

What I do dislike very much are any attempts of promoting ones business simply by discrediting other dive operators' service. By the way, there are not many dive boats on Curacao for more than 20 divers, and even those that may carry that many divers are not full all the time. And even from a boat with 20 divers on it you can dive in smaller groups, depending on the operator.

My advice for all divers visiting Curacao is to find a good mix following their priorities - like that you will spend an unforgetable dive vacation on this beautiful island :blinking:

Greetings from Germany
Andreas
 
Well spoken on all points Andreas.

I certainly have never noticed a decline in service, safety or quality on any of the Ocean Encounters West boats as the number of divers increased.

Or am I missing the point and the poster really means that service, safety and quality suffer on a boat capable of carrying 20 divers? That is certainly a silly statement if that is the point.

I agree that I have noticed a lot of self promotion by operators going on these days on ScubaBoard, particularly this area.

The lack of self promotion has been one of the great selling points of ScubaBoard. This has been a place where you can come and get an honest answer, not a self promotion.

I have no ownership or other interest in any dive operator, anywhere in the world.

And I do agree with your thoughts on mixing the dives, boat and shore. Each has their place.
 
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4 years ago when I started reading travel forums, I was shocked to read (especially on Trip Advisor) posts that read "there is nothing in the West, so there is no reason to travel past Blue Bay". OMG! Andreas and I moved to Westpunt the same year and started to mention that there is good reason, the beaches, dive sites, hiking, biking, and the National Parks. For a while the other OE was heavily promoted as the best dive op and could take divers "all the way" to Mushroom Forest. MF is still the most talked about dive site. With Sunset Divers (now gone), Habitat (under any name) and Ocean Encounters WEST, divers have had the option of dozens of additional dives - many accessible only by boat. We personally think the shore diving is superb and often the dive shops do not have the personnel to take out divers any further than their house reef. I think the existence of The Dive Bus, Curious 2 Dive, Easy Divers and Trunk Divers allow divers to experience some of the dive sites they might not know about (Playa Hulu), know how to get to (Playa Largu) or feel uncomfortable being without a dive master (Sint Anna Bay or Superior Producer). Many of these operations are fairly new. Some, like Neils of Dive Charter Curacao, don't self promote and then it would be up to Sunshine, Gtoph etc. to tell the board that he has a rib boat, takes out groups up to 8 divers (this west end end girl can highly recommend the East Coast dives) either for a 2 tank dive or to charter for a week and go to sites all around Curacao. Diving is fantastic here and while every company excels at what they do and each has very loyal and returning clientèle, it's been my feeling that the dive ops (those with boats, those with busses and those with vans) could work together more to improve the dive community in general. Outlets such as Scubaboard does this to some extent with not only visiting divers but dive masters, OP managers, photographers (still miss you Stan) and, even silly pizza makers chiming in on occasions. If you haven't been to Curacao yet, this is a dive destination where you can dive the dive of your choice - boat, shore, self guided or with a professional. Whaddaya waiting for?
 
Whaddaya waiting for?

I'm just waiting for the kids to get out of school for the year! Airfare is silly-expensive for Easter break, so we'll be down sometime end of June or early July - the kids still talk about "Sunshine's brownies" and the other day we were at a friends house and my 6yr old son shouts from the basement "Hey dad, they have the same magnet game that Sunshine has in Curacao..."

:cool2:

We've been all over the world - including most Caribbean islands - and Curacao is the only place we've gone to more than once, and that the kids want to return to again. Hell, last year they chose Curacao over Disney World!
 
Hard to keep track of where I am. I'm moving this from another thread:

Thank you for all of the great info! I'm traveling with Amy, APELTON. We'll be renting a Suzuki from a local rental company for the time to get us around. We're staying in an apartment at Watamula.

It looks like we'll do a couple of days with OE West, one 2 tank boat dive and at least one 2 tank guided shore dive. I'd like to try to get a couple of days with the Dive Bus. I got my open water and advanced open water certs with them Dave and Suzie couple of years ago and I'm looking forward to saying hello. I've heard great things about Eastpoint. We'd like to get a boat dive for that, any advice on a dive shop for that trip? I guess we'll mix in a couple of trips to some other local shore-based dive shops and find 2 or 3 night dives. We're both fairly new divers and prefer guided dives.

Undoubtedly we have a couple of Sunshine pizzas in our future! We're checking out our equipment and trying to get our plans set. We can't wait to get wet!
 
Thanks, I just sent a note to Divecharter Curacao for the Eastpoint boat trip. I'm also scheduling with OEW for guided shore and boat dives and Dive Bus for a few dives. I'd like to try one of the shore dive shops, I'm researching that now. I'm looking at a night dive with OEW and one other, perhaps Dive Bus but that's such a long drive. I don't want to spend my days driving all over the island so I think I may try one of shops on the south western part of the island, maybe 15 or 20 minutes from Westpunt.

The anticipation and planning is half the fun!
 

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