Curacao Diving, lodging and dining Recommendations for early July

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$60 a night for oceanfront! How did you work that? I've been looking at heading back and staying there (more for other family members to have a nice beach and pool). I really don't want to stay in a garden room because it did look really far from the pool and beach. I've only seen garden room for as low as $140 a night. Did you have a great view?
$60 night Upgrade from cost of Studio room. We got a 25% discount on studio room through CheapCaribbean.com
 
UnderwaterBumbleBee

All I can say is WOW! I think your photos are great and show you have a gift. The shrimp on the moray eel is so neat. By the way small world, as my parents live in Parker also; beautiful area. As I do not take underwater photos, I'd like to show off your work to coworkers and family. What is the proper way to credit you for the photos? Should I just use your scuba board handle?

I'll have to post my "tree house" photos from the lodge and I got some good ones of and from the top of the mountain.
 
Thanks ffixxer for the kind words. I was just proud to have started using my macro settings on that trip, I still have a lot to work on! Feel free to show anyone the photos.

I'll be interested to see your photos also. We might stay at Kura Hulanda in November. We had a great meal there and loved the shore dive & Watamula. I only wish November was next month!
 
I've taken a dip with them over at Lion's Dive.

Lion's Dive is next the the aquarium and quiet, but close to a few other places. Some walking and then a taxi ride to town is not too bad like it is over at Sunset Waters.

Ocean Encounters is professional in their demeanor. Only problem I had is that our group was able to get the entire boat, but they were pretty rigid on time in, time out, and back to the dock like clock work. So a 40 ft dive was still 40 minutes max.

I like the more relaxed approach that allows a little winging as long as you are well within the recreational limits.
 
Hi all,

ffixer was kind enough to snap a few photos of the "Tree House" at Kura Hulanda. Because there are apparently no other photos of the Tree House anywhere online, I posted them to my travel blog (with ffixer's permission). Check out my blog if you'd like to see them.

We've decided to stay at All West for the week, though we are thinking about maybe staying in the Tree House on our last night... could be an adventure! :)

Cheers,
Mike / Delphinus
 
Well Sunshine I did manage to get time to reduce about 14 of my 650 pictures and upload them onto here in the members galleries.let's see if this link works....
If not, just go to member galleries or maybe some nice admin guy or girl will put the link here for me, lol.

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=99997

Back to work,
Dragon

OK, didn't work.. just click on view gallery in my stats over on the left.
 
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Really enjoyed our vacation in Curacao. Did my first night dive with David from Sol Food and Scubaboard member dragonhd. Also did my deepest dive to date 104 feet; just because I could; also with David from Sol Food a lot like 60 feet except less light. The shore diving was great with easy swims to corals and a nice array of sea life. No jellies encountered during my stay. We saw the largest school (pod) of squid in about 5 feet of water one day.
Lodge Kura Hulanda is very plush and green and upscale. They were very attentive to the guests needs, fresh towels were available at the front desk so wet beach towels were never an issue. The rooms were very clean and the grounds extremely well kept. The diving right at the Lodge beach was excellent; we found the seahorses. The atmosphere was very European and laid back; food was excellent. Meal time was very leisurely and not in any way rushed; including the fact that you usually had to ask for the bill. They would let you enjoy your conversation after a meal for as long as you would like. So, as a typical American (always in a rush) be prepared to "enter island time" and enjoy it for what it is, the style of a different culture and apparently meals are not to be rushed. We had breakfast in our room. A 15k run down the road to the local grocery to get coffee and food. The ocean front suite we had came with coffee maker, but no coffee. We were surprised by the lack of coffee in the room; of course you can get coffee at the restaurant. The only other issue I would mention is that the bed was basic; at this price point pillow top beds were expected. We ate all of the meals we could at Sol Food it was excellent and David and SunShine were great guides to the island; full of wonderful information and driving directions.
With rental car in hand travel around the island is easy enough except for the sparse signage; especially on secondary roads. Everyone we met was friendly and most understood English. Ocean Encounters West was a great, and easy to work with. We did three boat dives with them and the rest of the time we enjoyed unlimited shore diving. They close at 5 PM, so night dives require planning to move your gear from OEW to Lodge lockers a short walk away at the snack bar. As the sun has faded quit a bit by 5PM, you are done for the day anyways. It was dark by 7PM, strange being from the Mid-Atlantic were it was light out till 9 PM.
Lizards are everywere and kind of entertaining to watch. They like small pieces of lettuce and tomato, throw some out and the races begin; as the smaller ones have to be quicker or go hungry.
Apparently petty theft and vandalism of automobiles is quite the issue so we were warned by several locals not to leave anything inside the car; not even the trunk. Also the amount of roadside litter is depressing. But those were the only two issues that were a negative on the trip.
Lastly bring Cash, the local gas stations DO NOT take US credit cards. The Lodge had no issue with taking credit cards. US dollars are taken almost everywere. Your buying power is about $0.60 US to the Guilder and most places, Lodge included added 12% service charge plus 5% tax to every thing; so, no real reason to leave a tip in addition to the service charge unless you felt it was earned.
Please enjoy the pictures and ask any question you may have. We would definitly go back. That is all for now, Jim and Robin
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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