Curacao Diving, lodging and dining Recommendations for early July

[Curacao Sunshine]

Hi Del,
Sunshine here, in Westpunt at the end of the island. It's not very big, you could walk end to end and down every street in far less than an hour. So yes, The Kura Hulanda is the farthest west, we're less than a half mile away and All West by foot maybe a quarter mile from us and a half mile by car. All West would be a great affordable apartment for a single diver. They have tanks at the building and a wonderful house reef. We think Alice in Wonderland (in front of The KH and Ocean Encounters West) is one of the best shore dives on the island. Contrary to some other postings there is a large enough store in Barber less than 10 miles away. It will have just about everything you need except fresh produce. I would still suggest stopping at the main stores near the airport before heading west though. On the west end there are a dozen beautiful beaches and enough dining options for at least a week. Send me an email curacaosunshine@gmail.com and I'll send you my notes on the west end. Sunshine

 

[FlamingoVilla]

Thank you to everyone for all the great info posted to this thread. Now it's my turn to plan my own trip to Curacao. We're looking for a laid-back, quiet place to stay, and all signs seem to point to All West apartments. Does anyone have any experience/feedback with them? They are located in/near Westpunt, and have a few restaurants but no store nearby, which seems to match the description of Hura Kulanda; are these two places next to each other?

Greetings Delphinus,

Your question of where to stay mainly depends on how many you are traveling with, your length & dates of stay, which dive operators you would like to experience, your budget, expectations with your accommodations, and your comfortability with any unsupervised shore diving. I like to mix things up and try out different dive operators so that I can get a feel for who did what and how. Gives good insight into your next visit or to other's visit to our beautiful island, Curacao.

All West Apartments are just on the other side (a hop, skip & jump) of the inlet where Ocean Encounters West operates at Playa Kalki. I would check out Sunshine & David's 3BR place, which is right there in the heart of things to see if they have availability, though their calendar shows it is taken from the 23rd onward. Curacao Sunshine. Email Sunshine for more info: curacaosunshine@gmail.com.
When are you planning on arriving? How long are you staying? Are you solo?

I would recommend either Sunshines, All West Apartments (very affordable), or Lodge Kura Hulanda (a bit more $), in that corner of Westpunt. A little farther down you will find my place, Flamingo Villa, conveniently located above Habitat Easy Divers Resort. You could also stay at Habitat if basic essentials is all you are looking for and it seems to have received good reports from recent stays with divers here on the list. We have either a 2BR apartment accommodation, or on the main floor with 3BR, all available from September 20th onward. (Sorry, the first 2 days of the Coral Spawning are already taken). You can email me for rates at info@flamingo-villa.com or check out our web site Flamingo Villa. We are running a special discount just for divers coming in for the coral spawning: Sept 18-25 & Oct 17-24, 2008! As Andreas and others have mentioned, Easy Divers and OEW have a reciprocal agreement about sharing tanks with an easy phone call. I do not know what agreements Sunset Divers has with other ops.

Along with Easy Divers & OEW, I would also check out Sunset Divers located at Sunset Waters Resort, but I would not recommend staying there. Staying at Flamingo Villa places you in the middle of the island ... next to Easy Divers, 15 minutes away from Sunset Divers, and 30 minutes away from OEW. It also places you 20 minutes east to Piscadera's BlueBay House reef and all the shore dives in between. Easy Divers has night diving 24/7, Sunset Divers has night diving only on Thursday evenings, and OEW has night diving 24/7 (though I think you need to reserve your tanks by 6pm). If you want to experience some time with The Dive Bus, by Lions Dive you are 30 minutes away and can check out the "East" side of things on the island. A few folks have stayed with them ... not sure of their report. So it really depends on how much time you have for your dive vacation.

You will definitely need at rental car ... it seems that Hertz has the larger SUV's and trucks to rent: HertzCarRental (:: Hertz Curacao ::)

Hope that helps in your planning.
FlamingoVilla.com

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

After setting up a dive with OE on wed. and then one with David after, meeting up with Ffixer and wife for a dive "sometime" and with David again possibly another on thursday, my dance card is filling up! Goodnight all and well met........

Glad to hear you enjoyed Sunshine's! Your trip sounds exactly like ours so far, minus the luggage but glad you got it! I think StephM (who we met while at Sunshine's) would agree that both of our trips were the most social trips we've ever been on. We ended up spending 4 or more hours just hanging out talking! This is why I personally will be staying somewhere in Wespunt the next time we head to Curacao (I'm working on that right now!) . If you liked Mushroom Forrest, you will love the shore dive at Playa Kalki (alice in wonderland) and definitly loved Watamula with Ocean Encounters West.

I would also recommend Landhuis Daniel for dinner. We had heard the service wasn't always so great but we ended up having a really great dinner there. It's a little more expensive (not outrageous though) and very good. Good French Onion soup, good braised beef with Pear. It's not that far from Habitat. Go past the flamingo sanctuary and hit that main road, turn left and it's just down the road on the right. There is a sign with the distance right where those two roads meet.

Have a great rest of your trip!

 

[Delphinus]

Thanks Sunshine and FlamingoVilla (especially Sunshine for the very informative email!). It sounds like the west end is the place for us, and we'll probably end up at All West (will decide in the next day or two). Assuming we love Curacao as much as I think we probably will, I'm sure we'll want to come back, and if we bring others, we will definitely consider Sunshine's place (LOVED alasha's photos) or Flamingo Villa.

Can you all answer a few more questions for me?

1. Coral spawning. The predicted Sept. dates are 18-24 Sept. We are planning on a 14-21 Sept. visit. Because we won't be able to dive for 24 hrs. before our flight, that means the only overlapping dates are 18 and 19 Sept. (it happens at night, right?). Of course, no one can say for sure when coral spawning will happen, but how likely do you think that we might see coral spawning on the evenings of 18 or 19 Sept?

2. The information and map that Sunshine sent me was very detailed, but I still don't have a clear idea of where All West is located in relation to other sites in Westpunt (Playa Kalki, Kura Hulanda, etc.). Is All West within easy walking distance of Playa Kalki or another beach? (other than the beach in front of the apartments, which looks small and rocky)

3. It seems a better deal to get the unlimited shore diving package, and then do "a la carte" individual boat dives as desired (such as for Watamula). Is that a correct assumption? Seems that most of the good diving can be done from shore, no?

4. This is a question for All West, but in case anyone knows: are there any common areas at All West for hanging out, such as with a hammock, etc. Or are the only places for hanging out the individual balconies/terraces for each apt.?

Thanks to all the info Sunshine sent me, I am confident we will have plenty of dining options while there.

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

I only went out one night to see the coral spawning last year and did not see any. But... there were a few other things to consider such as a storm that created more surf and surge than usual and a change in water temps. So it might have just been a bad set of circumstances. I'm not a huge fan of night dives but it looks like you have a lot of dives under your weight belt and could plan on a couple a night for those 2 days. Who knows?
Westpunt is small. Try Google Earth and you can see. You can walk from All West to here, or the dive shop within 10 minutes. The beach in front of us/All West looks rocky but it is an excellent shore dive.
I do not think the unlimited air is a bargain unless you plan on 4 shore dives a day, but many do. There is air available at most dive sites. If you don't mind lugging the tanks around or plan to do many at the apartments and/or Alice In Wonderland it's worth the price. Habitat and OEW has a tank exchange deal as well. Most of the sites can be done from shore but the ones that are also done by boat have a mooring a good distance away and thus a different dive.

 

[Delphinus]

Has anyone stayed in (or even seen) the Tree House at Kura Hulanda? (Not the Tree House Mansion, but rather the more rustic Tree House.) This sounds like it could be a very unique experience!

"For a more novelty experience, Lodge Kura Hulanda also offers a basic Tree House located amongst the Lodge Garden View Rooms and Suites, which rents for $100/night. Guests climb up a ladder, through a trap door and on to a wooden platform where a full sized safari tent is erected. Inside the zippered tent door the tree house is equipped with a king size bed, nightstands and working electricity (lights, mini-refrigerator and television). While not air-conditioned, the cross breeze that blows through the windows when unzipped provides all the cool air necessary. Located on the ground, beneath the platform, is the tree house bathroom which features a shower, sink and toilet, built in a rustic manor encompassing the feel of the great outdoors while not quite roughing it."

 

[Kukuisa]

1. Coral spawning. The predicted Sept. dates are 18-24 Sept. We are planning on a 14-21 Sept. visit. Because we won't be able to dive for 24 hrs. before our flight, that means the only overlapping dates are 18 and 19 Sept. (it happens at night, right?). Of course, no one can say for sure when coral spawning will happen, but how likely do you think that we might see coral spawning on the evenings of 18 or 19 Sept?

The coral spawning is unsually in the week after full moon (September 15), depending on the type of coral. Star coral will most likely spawn on September 21, 22 or 23. The last few years we saw it explode around 10 PM, so don't rush your meal down.

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

Whether or not you stay at Habitat, last year they had a lot of info on the coral spawning on their web page Welcome to Habitat - Curacao - Dutch Caribbean There was a whole chart of different corals and the approx. time and date it would spawn. I did not see the same chart on the web site for 2008. Maybe they haven't loaded it into the web page. If Dragon doesn't see this question and ask at the dive shop, I'll ask him when I see him tomorrow. Meanwhile "they say" the coral will spawn September 18th to the 24th and October 17th to the 23rd. I don't think it's so much the dive site as the coral site for the species that will be in action. Although.... I thought the whole deal with the full moon was so that there would be a slack tide and a good chance the eggs would not be swept away. If I remember last year's schedule there wasn't much before 9PM although I talked to a group of divers in Lagun who said they saw some occurring during the day, a nooner I guess.
If anyone needs some company, I'll offer David as a dive buddy and put the car lights on after an hour
Sunshine

 

[Kukuisa]

Some organism spawn at day and some do it at night.
The Reefcare organisation has a scedule for the 2007 spawning on their website Reefcare Foundation Curacao. For this year there is no update (yet).

 

[Delphinus]

I gotta ask if anyone has seen the Tree House at Kura Hulanda? (Not the Tree House "Mansion," but the $100/night Tree House.) This sounds like quite the adventure, and of course quite affordable -- yet we cannot find a single picture anywhere on the internet.

How hot/humid will it be in September? The Tree House has no AC, but the tent can open to allow the wind to blow through. Is there a reliable breeze off the ocean?

Maybe someone can run up from the dive shop and snap a couple photos of the Tree House? I think this could be the place for us!