Curacao - Dive Ops Recommendations

[steelwindmachine]

My significant other and I will be staying in Curacao for a week and are looking for dive operators who are reputable.

We are interested in taking a refresher course since neither of us have dived since 2011.

We will need to rent everything EXCEPT mask/snorkel/fins.

We will be staying in a villa on the North Western shore and will be renting a small 4-door car.

We'd prefer intermediate dives. I personally haven't been deeper than 60', but my other half has been, but many years ago.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[diversteve]

More specifically where exactly is the villa? Barber? West Punt?(that's the SW shore) Tera Cora? Makes a big difference in the driving distance to the shop(s) - also dive sites.

 

[SandyDiverCur]

Hi Dan!

There is a great dive operator that specializes on your side of the island - And diving on the west side has an abundance of dive sites that you should really enjoy a lot! Bas Harts Diving has a very good reputation and you can't go wrong setting up your dives with him. Check them out on TripAdvisor or their website is Curacao - Shore Diving - Dive Courses - Dive Safaris - Dive Excursions - Cruiseship Diving -

I hope you really enjoy your trip to Curacao and have a great time! Let us all know what area you will be in and we can recommend restaurants and other things you might want to do while on the island!

 

[steelwindmachine]

DiverSteve, we will be near where the old Sunset Waters resort was.

SandyDiver, we have a car and will probably be going all over the island. Any suggestions on anything are more than welcome. Thank you!

 

[SandyDiverCur]

I'm glad you will have a car - Curacao will be a lot of fun to explore!

Restaurants closest to you:
Trio Penotti
Buurvrouw
Karacter - has a really nice beach too! That beach is free if you are eating, snacking or drinking there - including beach chairs
Bistro
Restaurant at Porto Marie (a really nice beach!)

It will be a lot better for you to get directions to these restaurants once you arrive on the island.

What kind of activities do you want to do other than diving?

For the kind of diving you are talking about - The west side has so many great dive sites you probably won't be able to get to them all - I'd really recommend Bas Harts Diving for your dives since he will be able to get you to sites that will fit your requirements and he really goes out of his way to show everyone a great time!

 

[diversteve]

SWM, I don't know anyone close to that location to recommend. Possibly Trunk Divers at Varsenbaai or if you want to drive out to Westpunt - Go West Diving gets good reviews - from me as well as others. Diveversity just opened a new location at Coral Estates also - IDK anything about them though. If you want to look thru a fairly complete list of options - http://www.curacao.com/Attractions-and-Restaurants/Diving-Snorkeling/Dive-Operators

btw, Sunset Waters is the south side - just west. I get confused by it also, half the time on Curacao posts I give North/South directions when it's actually East/West.


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Sandy,

Do you work for Bas? Or have a financial interest in his company?

Because every single post you've ever made on Scubaboard is almost identical - no matter what the subject, you always end with the same glowing recommendation for Bas Harts Diving. In this thread and one other you did it twice in about 6 posts. What's up with that?

Not cool...

 

[SandyDiverCur]

Ha - yeah - not connected but my friends dive with them a lot when they are here! I notice you almost always recommend the same guys too - and I agree with you that those dive operators are great as well! I've never known anyone personally who dives with Trunkdivers -But I'm sure they are great too! Bas's operation just really impressed my friends from the states so it's easy for me to recommend

BTW - Shaking your finger like that is not cool

 

[diversteve]

No, I actually recommend shops located geographically near where the poster is asking about if appropriate. And I recommend shops I've personally used - or state when I haven't. I've actually been to Varsenbaai and dove with someone there but at the time it possibly wasn't TrunkDivers. So no recommendation...

I'd never recommend Go West if someone is staying east of town, we both know that makes no sense. Or the DiveBus for the OP since they don't pickup that far west.

Usually on ScubaBoard we've found that when someone only posts the same recommendation repeatedly there's more to it than it appears. Often it's a staff member or other financially interested party.

If in your case I'm incorrect, I apologize.

 

[steelwindmachine]

Thanks Sandy and Steve for the info.

fyi- this is our honeymoon too

As far as other activities, we like to drive around and explore, try new foods especially local faire, love animals, historical sites, local artisans or local craft made products, any special or romantic places to be and eat. Special places that capture the essence of Curacao.

Sandy, do you live on island?

Thanks agin for all of the insight!

 

[Bas Harts]

Sandy,
Do you work for Bas? Or have a financial interest in his company?

Bas Harts Diving has two instructor/divemasters. One of them is me and the other one is Kevin. I dont know who Sandy diver is, but maybe I should hire him/her as our new marketing manager

but my friends dive with them a lot when they are here!

Please let me know who your friends are!

I'd never recommend Go West if someone is staying east of town, we both know that makes no sense. Or the DiveBus for the OP since they don't pickup that far west.

We offer pick up / drop off at most locations on the island. So sandy recommending us isn't that weird... Our HQ is actually only 10 min away from the OP's location.

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I dont wanna be mixed in the Sandy vs Steve "battle". I just wanted to clarify things.....


All recommendations I read in this post I do completely agree with. As its the OP's honeymoon i would strongly advice for a sunset dinner at Karakter



Bas Harts
Bas Harts Diving Curacao
Curacao - Shore Diving - Dive Courses - Dive Safaris - Dive Excursions - Cruiseship Diving -