We are taking our first dive trip and will be in Curacao 5 nites, and bonaire 4. Insult air is not recommended, and the only other options i see are Aruba air and divi. Main problem I see is with checked baggage. I'm not sure we can do carry on only and bring dive gear. We are being certified later this summer and have no experience driving so not sure what we need to bring and what we should just rent there. We have a villa rented in sint Michael area. Is a dive shop close and recommended? Any advice would be helpful!
Cur-Bon advice
- Thread starter Shelly N
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Which side of the bay? (there's no bridge...)
If south Dive Wederfoort is nearby - don't know them at all. If north Trunk Divers is I believe the next closest shop farther west at Kokomo Beach. Trunk Divers will have rentals If you plan to shore dive - buy their guide - most shops sell it.
Your villa is likely south as most of St Michel is also,
Bring any dive gear you buy b4 then - it will be better than rentals. Divi will manage to get your bags over within a day if they can't fit on the plane - they're small planes but then so is the passenger list.
Trunk Divers guides which you may want to consider for your first dives. It's actually a good dive also - nice reef out front, we found seahorses at about 40' and there's a non-penetrable wreck at about 80; to the south - you can view if from much shallower also - the water is super clear. Sometimes called Trunk Bay or Varsenbaai. Hug the beach as you swim back - in 6-8' of water turtles feed there about 100 yds. to the south of the beach. They also guide at other sites.
Many beaches on Curacao are also easy entry beach dives. Most have a dive shop onsite for tank/weight rental also, None do on Bonaire so bring the minimum needed as you'll be leaving the truck open.
For boat dives - back down Weg Bullenbai to Piscadera Bay - on the south side is the Hilton - Caribbean Sea Sports is based there. There may be a closer boat but theirs is nice - and diver safe as it's a jetdirve - no prop.
Boka St Michel is a pretty quiet area. Centrum Market is just a couple lights south of the airport rotary - we stop there before driving out but we stay farther west. The farther east/west you get from Willemstad the quieter everything gets. And there's a lack of restaurants but Willemstad is reasonalby close - there's maybe 1/2 dozen options in Piscadera Bay also - sort of a resort/convention area.
Curacao shore diving is about as easy as it gets - most shops are on the beach - most beaches are sandy to deeper water and then thre reef starts. In almost every case it parallels the beach also - no reason to go deeper as it flattens out and gets sandy in many places past about 100'.
Bonaire entries are a lot rougher - there's both sharp ironshore on-shore and also in shallow water - often you climb over it. Spiny urchins love it also so a MUST for Bonaire is good treaded boots - unless you only dive the resorts or few sandy entries.Or boat dive - should dive some of the Klein Bonaire sites from a boat anyway.fyi the Advanced sites on Bonaite tend to be south around the lighthouse or north in Slagbaai Park. IMO not worth the trouble for 4 days.
This site is somewhat dated but it gives you a good idea of what to expect - there's entry photos. Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands
If south Dive Wederfoort is nearby - don't know them at all. If north Trunk Divers is I believe the next closest shop farther west at Kokomo Beach. Trunk Divers will have rentals If you plan to shore dive - buy their guide - most shops sell it.
Your villa is likely south as most of St Michel is also,
Bring any dive gear you buy b4 then - it will be better than rentals. Divi will manage to get your bags over within a day if they can't fit on the plane - they're small planes but then so is the passenger list.
Trunk Divers guides which you may want to consider for your first dives. It's actually a good dive also - nice reef out front, we found seahorses at about 40' and there's a non-penetrable wreck at about 80; to the south - you can view if from much shallower also - the water is super clear. Sometimes called Trunk Bay or Varsenbaai. Hug the beach as you swim back - in 6-8' of water turtles feed there about 100 yds. to the south of the beach. They also guide at other sites.
Many beaches on Curacao are also easy entry beach dives. Most have a dive shop onsite for tank/weight rental also, None do on Bonaire so bring the minimum needed as you'll be leaving the truck open.
For boat dives - back down Weg Bullenbai to Piscadera Bay - on the south side is the Hilton - Caribbean Sea Sports is based there. There may be a closer boat but theirs is nice - and diver safe as it's a jetdirve - no prop.
Boka St Michel is a pretty quiet area. Centrum Market is just a couple lights south of the airport rotary - we stop there before driving out but we stay farther west. The farther east/west you get from Willemstad the quieter everything gets. And there's a lack of restaurants but Willemstad is reasonalby close - there's maybe 1/2 dozen options in Piscadera Bay also - sort of a resort/convention area.
Curacao shore diving is about as easy as it gets - most shops are on the beach - most beaches are sandy to deeper water and then thre reef starts. In almost every case it parallels the beach also - no reason to go deeper as it flattens out and gets sandy in many places past about 100'.
Bonaire entries are a lot rougher - there's both sharp ironshore on-shore and also in shallow water - often you climb over it. Spiny urchins love it also so a MUST for Bonaire is good treaded boots - unless you only dive the resorts or few sandy entries.Or boat dive - should dive some of the Klein Bonaire sites from a boat anyway.fyi the Advanced sites on Bonaite tend to be south around the lighthouse or north in Slagbaai Park. IMO not worth the trouble for 4 days.
This site is somewhat dated but it gives you a good idea of what to expect - there's entry photos. Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands
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Thanks diversteve for the advice
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IDK but this is likely the plane..
Divi Divi Air Expands Fleet with Two Additional Twin Otters | InfoBonaire
Divi Divi Air Expands Fleet with Two Additional Twin Otters | InfoBonaire
I have heard and read conflicting comments about diving and flying, some say they dive as soon as they land, I've heard to wait at least 24 hours, I've heard insults air pressurized their cabin so diving can be done immediately. What's right??
You need a surface interval of 24 hrs (at least 18 hours) BEFORE you fly. We almost always dive the same afternoon AFTER arriving on a morning flight. Also, there are some dive shops on BON and CUR which have awesome house reefs. Many divers are comfortable with rental gear. Some just pack their own dive computer, mask, regs. If you are a standard size, most dive shops will have decent gear that fits you.
Aside from the 24 hours sounding like no fly wait, how long does it take you to get to the destination and when's your arrival time? If you can get to the dive shop before closing time and you're not too beat to go diving, there's nothing wrong with diving as soon as you land. From where we're coming it's either we land after closing time and have to wait till next morning, or we only have enough energy for an evening swim anyway.
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