Curacao bound in October any info?

[Damselfish]

Curacao does not have the variety of some places but it's not all sloping wall. It does have a decent variety of underwater topography. At least much more than Bonaire and that's one of the reasons I prefer Curacao over Bonaire. (More variety above water too which helps.)

 

[jdcpa]

I can only speak as the the West End of Curacao, but as Joyce said it the west end and east end are entirely different.

So, one week on each would reduce your sameness.

The basic topography on the West End is a gently sloping wall/reef. However, there were a lot of differences underwater. Sometimes a reef, sometimes soft corals, sometime hard corals, sometimes sand, sometimes a drift dive, sometimes not.

I will say that in over two weeks of diving on the West End, I never got bored over the scenery. I felt there was a lot of variety.

Plus, I am looking at the fish and little critters, not the scenery anyway.

I don't think your concern will be an issue.

I have no experience with the East End, but I will say the diving on the West End is very good and I think you will enjoy it.

I hear great things about the Dive Bus on the East End.

Finally, please count my vote for West End diving with Ocean Encounters West. Great staff.

 

[joyceschur]

joyceschr, I have been looking to schedule a two week dive trip but for some reason I didn't think Curacao would have enough to dive for two weeks. Am I wrong?

Reef Tank -

I averaged 3 dives/day in the 2 weeks I was in Curacao and am now thinking to go back in October because of ALL the highly rated sites and experiences I missed. I found the diving extremely diverse. Boat diving or shore diving. Walls or shallow reefs. Zero current or schizophrenic current (Watamula). Several interesting wreck sites. Coral formations that I've never seen anywhere else (Mushroom Forest). Then there's the Blue Room. And as JDCPA mentioned, if you're into macro diving, it's one of the best places for that (unlike Cozumel, for example where the strong drift dives make that almost impossible).

 

[joyceschur]

PS - Did I mention the diving in Westpunt is 24/7? NIGHT DIVES!!!

 

[Reef Tank]

PS - Did I mention the diving in Westpunt is 24/7? NIGHT DIVES!!!

You mentioned that you dived with OE West. Did you stay at All West Apartments?

 

[joyceschur]

You mentioned that you dived with OE West. Did you stay at All West Apartments?

I spent my first 4 days in Willemstaad so I could see the city and dive the east end of the island. But the rest of the time I stayed in Westpunt and yes, I stayed at All West Apartments. It was a very cost effective deal that included the apartment, rental car and package of boat dives. One other nice advantage of All West Apartments is that they have their own house reef with tanks on the premises and a secured storage facility (with rinse tanks) for your gear.

When I first made arrangements, I was under the impression that the dive shop was on the premises of the apartment complex. Not so. The dive shop is 1/4 mile away located next to Kura Hulanda Lodge (and if you're looking for more upscale accomodations this would be an option).

One of the best aspects of my trip was the flexibility I had when it came to planning dives. I had several choices: Boat dive with the OEW dive shop. Shore dive the house reef at OEW dive shop (Playa Kalki - rated one of the top 10 sites and deservedly so), shore dive the house reef at All West Apartments, or grab tanks from the apartment's locker room and use the rental car to explore other fine reefs in the area according to my own schedule.

I didn't completely understand how easy, convenient, diverse and budget-oriented my dive vacation would turn out to be. It was a pleasant surprise.

 

[scuba guy ron]

No strobe and an older camera... here are some I took last month

thanks for the great pics james

 

[scuba guy ron]

Well 3 more weeks and well be in town. trip is from 10/17 to 10/23. If anyone else has these dates set up let me know.

 

[Karel]

Hi everybody,
You can dive with us on all shore dive sites of Curacao.... Or you can check (they are translating) all Curacao dive sites at : Home - Curacao duik magazine. The site is merely Dutch but is you click the US flag sites (most of them) appear in English.
Kind regards

 

[darook]

Karel, thanks for the link to the magazine. It is very cool. We will be on island in a couple of weeks staying at the Hyatt. I am trying to figure out which sites are reachable from there (shore diving) How has the viz been recently? Have heard recently it has not been as good as usual.