Curacao - First Time Opportunity

[rhwestfall]

Wife got what seems a good deal for flight for 3 of us, and wants to pull the trigger. Every thread seems to spell out traveling out to the far ends, with car rental, groceries, etc. I also see a punch of discussion of Car/Shore diving, but I'm just not sure I want to tackle it at this time.

Is it a bad thing to stay close? We were looking at Lions Dive and Beach Resort and a dive package with Ocean Encounters. Not needing intense nightlife but a little land based culture, restaurants, etc. is part of the appeal.

Am I not knowing something?

There are three of us on this trip, wife, daughter (16) and me. Daughter is a new diver with about a dozen dives between Key Largo and Tobermory so "keep it simple" is my MO. Wife loves puddling shallow reefs looking at the fish and colors.

Wife and I did Bonaire 20 years ago and need to go back, but with everything x3, airfare alone kills it. Loved Key Largo last year, but with the time of the year, KL is "full", and costs even more (we are limited to the school Easter break). Jamaica was.... "interesting"... (hit bad weather)...

Truth of the matter is the cheap direct flight is driving this. Anyone comment on the the diving with this group?

Thanks.

 

[tkaelin]

We are heading back to CUR in Jan after our first family dive trip to CUR last Jan. On our first trip we stayed at Allwest and stayed out on the west end the entire trip and loved it. This trip just two of us and planning on 5 nights Allwest and then two nights at Lions Den diving two days with Ocean encounters. We can tell you about it in Feb but that may not help with your planning now. From looking here and elsewhere Ocean encounters looks like a decent dive op. We picked Lions Den to try staying closer to Town to see this part of the island. Shore diving and dive op on site and location were the deciding factors on picking Lions Den. Price of accommodations at Lions Den (and I suspect dining) is significantly more expensive than staying at Allwest (with full kitchen and grills). Wanted to give it a try.

Staying and diving the west end can be as simple as you want. We may just dive the house reefs at Allwest and minutes down the street at Gowest. We may also try some of the other beach sites that are within 20 mins drive.

We love Bon as well but air is half to the cost and is nonstop for us on JetBlue.

 

[Damselfish]

Wife got what seems a good deal for flight for 3 of us, and wants to pull the trigger. Every thread seems to spell out traveling out to the far ends, with car rental, groceries, etc. I also see a punch of discussion of Car/Shore diving, but I'm just not sure I want to tackle it at this time.

Is it a bad thing to stay close? We were looking at Lions Dive and Beach Resort and a dive package with Ocean Encounters. Not needing intense nightlife but a little land based culture, restaurants, etc. is part of the appeal.

Am I not knowing something?

There are three of us on this trip, wife, daughter (16) and me. Daughter is a new diver with about a dozen dives between Key Largo and Tobermory so "keep it simple" is my MO. Wife loves puddling shallow reefs looking at the fish and colors.

Wife and I did Bonaire 20 years ago and need to go back, but with everything x3, airfare alone kills it. Loved Key Largo last year, but with the time of the year, KL is "full", and costs even more (we are limited to the school Easter break). Jamaica was.... "interesting"... (hit bad weather)...

Truth of the matter is the cheap direct flight is driving this. Anyone comment on the the diving with this group?

It's not a bad thing to stay close, it's just that every location on Curacao tends to be a compromise for divers. You hear a lot about diving on the West end of Curacao because the diving is generally better out there. However, with a new diver in tow, they'll probably enjoy the diving to the east as well. Your daughter may also enjoy all the activities available around Lion's Dive, including the aquarium which is not your typical aquarium and pretty nice to check out. Having a car is still good, and checking out the Ostrich farm can be a fun thing too. We have been to Curacao a bunch of times, there's lots of interesting restaurants and shopping and sightseeing, and I enjoyed the one trip we stayed at Lion's Dive and being able to get to all that stuff easily.

Some people will prefer the rural atmosphere out west over being in or near town, and either don't care about being close to a lot of restaurants and other stuff, or are willing to make the compromise for the diving and different atmosphere.

There's no reason to do the car/shore diving thing if you don't want to. We don't do it there (or on Bonaire either.) There's plenty of both boat and shore diving available on Curacao, but I think there's less focus on shore diving in Curacao than Bonaire.

I'm not a huge fan of Ocean Encounters. They're a perfectly safe and good dive op. But in my experiences with them they've generally seemed less friendly and more cattleish/nannyish than I would prefer. However. most of my experiences with them are too long ago to judge by. I'm not sure what the shore diving is like at Lions Dive now. The one time we stayed there, like a zillion years ago, you had to swim out on the bottom through a mucky working harbor to get to the dive, though at least it wasn't as built up and busy as it is now. They've completely remade the waterfront around there, expanded the beach, and there were all sorts of jet skis and other activities going on. Probably mostly for the good, but I'm not sure where the shore dive entrance is now or what kind of swim out it is.

 

[scubadada]

My wife and I had a wonderful visit to Curacao. It was an anniversary trip to we splurged a little and stayed at Lodge Kura Hulanda, very nice. We dived with Go West and did shore diving. The diving was quite good. If I'm lucky enough to return to Curacao, I would like to see a bit more of island and dive some of less dived areas.

 

[diversteve]

Bob,

I'll second Damselfish. Lion's Dive is across the channel from the aquarium and Ocean Encounters is 50 yds. away on the same boardwalk as the resort. I have not stayed there but walked around once about 15mins. One of the restaurants there frequently gets favorable reviews. There's a small beach there also. Big pool.

I feel the same about OE also - I had to log a dive and get it signed by our operator there or they wanted me to do a checkout dive the morning we dove with them. At the time I'd been diving for 3 decades but not in about 9 months.

One thing your daughter might really like is they do the Dolphin dives there in about 50' 5mins. off the dock. Kind of pricey - over $200pp. but they let the dolphins roam before bring ing them in and settling them down so it's not too canned.

Also the Dive Bus will also pick you up for escorted shore dives with a DM in the water. Really the difference between Bonaire and Curacao shore dives is they're so much easier on Curacao - most off beach entries, almost all have an on-site dive operation, food, etc. I can only think of 2/3 where you'd be on your own.

For your wife/daughter there's the Tugboat site - a signature dive. It's 17' deep, the pier nearby about 40' and the piling nearest the boat is covered in orange cup corals. Easy entry off the beach also. You can also go around the south point and descend down the incline to about 100-110 - the wall there is covered inn small eels. There can be some current there. The shop/dive school there goes in and out every couple years so you might want to bring tanks/weights,

Another good option would be Varsenbaai/Trunk Bay sort of mid-island. Ask Trunk Bay Dive where the Seahorses are urrently - also if you head south there's a pontoon boat dropped on the reef at about 80' and deeper - used to bring some of the cars over for the carpile wreck site - one of which is deeper there. But they're pretty sad now - been down awhile.

Coming back in hug the beach - there's turtles feeding on the seagrass in about 6' - operator said they've been there for decades. We also saw a large group of squid under the dive dock - they have one but I used the beach next to it to get out.

If you do go all the way west, Playa Kalki is one of the better shore dives - lots to see even really shallow. North is more vertical than south and as you pass under the Lodge KH there's flounder in the shallows among the coral heads. It's a good dive south also - we saw several large morays along the way. I'm not a fan of AllWest on the other end of the bay - it's all those stairs down to the beach...

No dive on Curacao is particlurly deep or challenging - just about all of ours were in the 60-80' range. We went looking for a drift dive and found it at Lost Anchor (boat dive) Lately I've read Mushroom Forest has deteriorated in the past few years so it's not the good dive it was.

Watamula is arguably among the best boat dives - it's farther west off the tip of the island. Go West dives it weekly and I believe Carib Sea Sports might go out there once a week - they're at the Hilton in Piscadera which is about 5mins. north of the harbor downtown - we stayed in condos in that area. Quieter at night or it's really quiet in Lagun or Westpunt farther west. So much so that you'll need to shop for food in town and there's only 1/2 dozen or so restaurants nearby. We closed a couple of them b4 10pm.

One new thing at Lions Dive is they're walking distance to Mambo Boulevard - a newer shops/restaurant complex. Also onoly about 10mins. from the old downtown and a walk across the Swinging Bridge takes you the Rif Fort/Renaissance Mall - a similar area. Lots of restaurant options in that area. It's also the side with the cruse pier so can be congested at times.

Another option I have not been to is the Sunscape All-Inclusive - it's a few mins. closer to town. The SB Invasions go there. Also an OE shop on site and I believe their beach is better - shore dive there also.

hth,

 

[hilljo88]

I've stayed at Lion's Dive and think you can't go wrong there, unless you want something less active. Well stocked dive shop, restaurants on premises. Dive boats leave from their dock. Good shore dive.. Its on a great beach. And lots of restaurants, activities along the board walk. One thing to notice: reserve an ocean front room if you want a view of the beach and ocean. Ocean view rooms basically face the parking lot. Also, be aware its an expensive island.

 

[tkaelin]

Also, be aware its an expensive island.

With only one trip and staying the entire time out in Westpunt, I have to disagree. It was notably inexpensive. From housing, to diving to dining out. We had a family group of 6 and it was noticeably less expensive than a family trip of 4 anywhere else, including Bon. Maybe the other side of the island is expensive. We will see in a couple months.

 

[Damselfish]

Like many places, it can be expensive or not depending on the choices you make.

 

[tkaelin]

Like many places, it can be expensive or not depending on the choices you make.

While as a general statement that may be true, it does not change the fact that some places are just more expensive. Going on our tenth year of family dive trips and some places and in particular some costs of the trips to some places are more expensive. Love GCM but eating and drinking out more expensive than other dive destinations regardless of choices. Love Bon, but flights to Bon are 2x3 times more than our other dive destinations. On each trip some of the highs and lows of the cost for each destinations tend to level out but our dive trip to CUR staying in the Westpunt area was less expensive than all others. All the variables were low - air/housing/food/car/diving/dining out.

 

[Damselfish]

I think we're agreeing, not disagreeing. I was replying to the same post as you.