tarheeldiver:
My wife and I are going to Curacao in 2 weeks and I was wanting to know what are some of the must do sites. We are staying on the west end at Kura Hulanda Lodge.
thanks for any reccomendations
greg
I can suggest some sites based on my last two trips my wife, daughter and I took to Curacao. Please be aware that other than the Mushroom Forest these sites are closer to the East End of the island.
Caracas Bay - Tugboat
Nice dive site with full showers, restrooms, snack bar shaded tables & dive shop
Two-tiered reef structure goes to 60 feet and beyond
after turn-around spend a very long and enjoyable safety stop at the tugboat (17 feet max)
Vaersenbaai
Nice dive site with restrooms, snack bar & shaded tables
Saw four turtles on each dive along with an assortment of reef fish & seahorses
Porto Mari
Outdoor rinse showers, dunk stank and full restaurant
Nice sandy beach for entry
Double-reef provides excellent variety of creatures to see
Breezes Curacao aka Oswaldo's Leap
Dunk tanks and fresh water rinse hose on dock
Particularly convenient if staying at Breezes Curacao
Decent variety of reef fish
Mushroom Forest
Boat dive not shore dive
Used Sunset Divers at Sunset Waters Resort
Sunset divers was excellent - effectively valet diving
Mushroom Forest was nice but somewhat over-hyped
Fully enjoyed the dive but was expecting more based on the hype
Surface interval provided fruit etc plus snorkeling in a partially submerged cave.
Alice in Wonderland
Unfortunately we never made it there (daughter sick that day)
Director's Bay
Not to far from Caracas bay
Dive was OK but nothing to write home about
Car will be in remote area (unlike the other dive sites mentioned)
One option to consider is using the services of the Dive Bus
http://www.the-dive-bus.com
We used them for some dives on each trip. Suzy and Mark are great to deal with.
I am listing some other sites below but I don't have personal experience with them
Cas Abou
This site has public restroom facilities and I believe it has a snack bar
One of the members of our dive club dove there 3 years ago and really like it.
Pierbaai
Good for a night dive. This is the only night dive I did on Curacao. ScubaTexasTony from ScubaBoard (American ex-patriot living in Curacao until 6 months ago) indicated that this is one of the best night dives on Curacao. This site located right next door to Breeze Curacao and at the location of the Dive Bus hut.
Car Pile
This is supposed to be a nice deep dive to about 90 feet.
If you want I can send you a magazine article from June of last year that I scanned into an Adobe Acrobat document. Just send me a PM with your email address.
Both times we stayed on Curacao we stayed at Breezes Curacao. I can fill you in on things to consider about Breezes Curacao if that is a place that you are considering.