alashas
Contributor
OK, I know Ive only done 150 dives in around a dozen different islands in the Caribbean and Fiji, but I was blown away by the very healthy huge coral formations at the dive site, Watamula in the far west end of Curacao. Coincidentally, it is listed as dive site #1 in the dive maps, although http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/ABC/Curacao/index.htm still lists Playa Kalki, AKA, Alice in Wonderland, as #1.
This site: http://www.curacao-actief.com/index.php?id=3&dl_id=1 describes how to dive Watamula from the shore, although this should be done only on the rare occasions in which it is safe to do so. It is best done as a drift dive with one of the dive operations in the western part of Curacao. I dove it twice with http://www.oceanencounterswest.com/
It is listed as an advance dive, since it is an exposed area that can sometimes have fairly strong currents. However, the currents were mild on both of our dives, and I believe divers without advanced certification can probably dive it with the approval of their respective dive shop.
Watamula is also the name for the park land on the far northwest end of Curacao: http://www.curacao-actief.com/index.php?id=161 I have seen several different definitions for the word Watamula, and some of our Scubaboard posters may be able to help us with its meaning. OE West says that Watamula derives its name from the Dutch word Water Mollen (Water Mill)." The previously cited Curacao-actief website says there is a large hole in the ground, connected to the sea at the bottom. Due to the powerful force of the waves, the air is pressed in and out of the porous tunnel system in the rocks, sounding as if Curaçao is 'breathing' here. Watamula is henceforth called The breath of Curaçao. About a hundred meters north at the coast is a 'spouter', a hole in the ground where the waves cause a large fountain to shoot up. After our first dive, David Livingston of http://www.curacaosunshine.com/ took us to see the rugged coastline of the nw part of Curacao, which resembles a desolate, lunar like landscape:
Right on cue, we heard and saw the island breathing:
In this photo of the shore line from the dive boat at the beginning of the Watamula dive, you can see the erosion taking place:
Our first dive was the afternoon of April 3. We entered the water over a sandy plateau and easily drifted over the reef, which starts around 30 and gently slopes to 100. We dived our own profiles with OEW, and most of us dove the reef in the 40 to 70 range. It did not take long before we were overwhelmed by huge stands of coral that can best be described as coral on steroids:
Abut 10 minutes into the dive, a turtle swam by and within a minute, s/he virtually disappeared into the coral garden:
In a recent article on diving in Curacao in Scuba Diving magazine, Gil Griffin describes Watamula like this: The density and variety of the corals is overwhelming. So are the myriad colors: Pea-green mountainous star corals; eggplant-purple black ball sponges; burnt orange elephant-ear sponges; yellow sea whips and spiny sea rods; and even rising green pillar corals. http://www.scubadiving.com/travel/caribbeanatlantic/curacao/curacaos_mini_splendored_things
The variety, color, and health of the coral is truly spectacular:
The first diver at 700 psi notified our DM, Andreas, who unfurled the buoy. The rest of us slowly work our way toward 15 and explored the coral in the shallower sandy patch. We finished the dive in approximately an hour and easily enter the boat by the sturdy ladder.
3 days later, we dove Watamula as the 2nd of a 2 tank morning dive on April 6. One of the great things about the location of the Ocean Encounters West dive shop is that it is within 3 to 15 minutes of nearly 20 dive sites, and we often went back to the shop for a comfortable break and snack during our surface interval between dives.
There is a great deal of colorful coral among the many varieties of hard and soft corals in the reef, and I tried to focus a bit more on color on this late morning dive. I also remember chuckling to myself as I was trying to decide if I should shoot any macro. It somehow seemed like a bit of an odd juxtaposition to be looking for macro subjects in this huge forest of coral, indeed, the largest I have ever seen. I decided to leave the wide angle lens on the camera for both dives. The current was mild enough that divers could swim easily to various locations in order to see things other divers were pointing out. I imagine that would be more difficult to do in a stronger current.
We saw more eels on Curacao dives than any place in the Caribbean. I found this guy toward the end of the dive:
I cannot recommend the dive site Watamula highly enough. Since only a few dive shops take divers to this site only 1 or 2 times a week, I would encourage persons interested in diving Watamula to make your reservations with your dive shop as early as you can in your trip planning.
You can see more photos of Watamula here:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/gallery/4875158_Dx5YH#290592824_L2PU5
safe diving, alashas http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/
This site: http://www.curacao-actief.com/index.php?id=3&dl_id=1 describes how to dive Watamula from the shore, although this should be done only on the rare occasions in which it is safe to do so. It is best done as a drift dive with one of the dive operations in the western part of Curacao. I dove it twice with http://www.oceanencounterswest.com/
It is listed as an advance dive, since it is an exposed area that can sometimes have fairly strong currents. However, the currents were mild on both of our dives, and I believe divers without advanced certification can probably dive it with the approval of their respective dive shop.
Watamula is also the name for the park land on the far northwest end of Curacao: http://www.curacao-actief.com/index.php?id=161 I have seen several different definitions for the word Watamula, and some of our Scubaboard posters may be able to help us with its meaning. OE West says that Watamula derives its name from the Dutch word Water Mollen (Water Mill)." The previously cited Curacao-actief website says there is a large hole in the ground, connected to the sea at the bottom. Due to the powerful force of the waves, the air is pressed in and out of the porous tunnel system in the rocks, sounding as if Curaçao is 'breathing' here. Watamula is henceforth called The breath of Curaçao. About a hundred meters north at the coast is a 'spouter', a hole in the ground where the waves cause a large fountain to shoot up. After our first dive, David Livingston of http://www.curacaosunshine.com/ took us to see the rugged coastline of the nw part of Curacao, which resembles a desolate, lunar like landscape:
Right on cue, we heard and saw the island breathing:
In this photo of the shore line from the dive boat at the beginning of the Watamula dive, you can see the erosion taking place:
Our first dive was the afternoon of April 3. We entered the water over a sandy plateau and easily drifted over the reef, which starts around 30 and gently slopes to 100. We dived our own profiles with OEW, and most of us dove the reef in the 40 to 70 range. It did not take long before we were overwhelmed by huge stands of coral that can best be described as coral on steroids:
Abut 10 minutes into the dive, a turtle swam by and within a minute, s/he virtually disappeared into the coral garden:
In a recent article on diving in Curacao in Scuba Diving magazine, Gil Griffin describes Watamula like this: The density and variety of the corals is overwhelming. So are the myriad colors: Pea-green mountainous star corals; eggplant-purple black ball sponges; burnt orange elephant-ear sponges; yellow sea whips and spiny sea rods; and even rising green pillar corals. http://www.scubadiving.com/travel/caribbeanatlantic/curacao/curacaos_mini_splendored_things
The variety, color, and health of the coral is truly spectacular:
The first diver at 700 psi notified our DM, Andreas, who unfurled the buoy. The rest of us slowly work our way toward 15 and explored the coral in the shallower sandy patch. We finished the dive in approximately an hour and easily enter the boat by the sturdy ladder.
3 days later, we dove Watamula as the 2nd of a 2 tank morning dive on April 6. One of the great things about the location of the Ocean Encounters West dive shop is that it is within 3 to 15 minutes of nearly 20 dive sites, and we often went back to the shop for a comfortable break and snack during our surface interval between dives.
There is a great deal of colorful coral among the many varieties of hard and soft corals in the reef, and I tried to focus a bit more on color on this late morning dive. I also remember chuckling to myself as I was trying to decide if I should shoot any macro. It somehow seemed like a bit of an odd juxtaposition to be looking for macro subjects in this huge forest of coral, indeed, the largest I have ever seen. I decided to leave the wide angle lens on the camera for both dives. The current was mild enough that divers could swim easily to various locations in order to see things other divers were pointing out. I imagine that would be more difficult to do in a stronger current.
We saw more eels on Curacao dives than any place in the Caribbean. I found this guy toward the end of the dive:
I cannot recommend the dive site Watamula highly enough. Since only a few dive shops take divers to this site only 1 or 2 times a week, I would encourage persons interested in diving Watamula to make your reservations with your dive shop as early as you can in your trip planning.
You can see more photos of Watamula here:
http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/gallery/4875158_Dx5YH#290592824_L2PU5
safe diving, alashas http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/
