Curacao Questions

[MaresMan1]

We are fortunate enough to be leaving for Curacao in 2 weeks. Taking my 18yr old daughter and her friend. Both are into the ocean and we will be doing some snorkling and diving. :07: We will be staying at Habitat Curacao for 2 weeks. What I would like to know if anyone has any experience on Curacao, what would you advise doing and what to stay away from. We already know about the attractions, we are now looking for that "Insider Advise", of how to really enjoy the nuiances of the real Curacao. Can hardly wait to get going. Thanks in advance to all that reply.

Dive Smart; Dive Safe
Enjoy the ride
:cool1:

 

[louisianadiver]

We are fortunate enough to be leaving for Curacao in 2 weeks. Taking my 18yr old daughter and her friend. Both are into the ocean and we will be doing some snorkling and diving. :07: We will be staying at Habitat Curacao for 2 weeks. What I would like to know if anyone has any experience on Curacao, what would you advise doing and what to stay away from. We already know about the attractions, we are now looking for that "Insider Advise", of how to really enjoy the nuiances of the real Curacao. Can hardly wait to get going. Thanks in advance to all that reply.

Dive Smart; Dive Safe
Enjoy the ride
:cool1:

Habitat Curacao is a great place with a great shore dive right there. The shore diving at the resort is first class and open 24 hours, and you and your daughter and friend will be able to snorkel and dive on your own schedule to your heart's content. Boat diving on that side of the island includes celebrated sites like Mushroom Forest. The signature wreck on the island, The Superior Producer, is on the other side of the island. The restaurant at Habitat has always been slow in my experience (I've been there 3 times) and the food gets boring after a while. Unfortunately, Habitat is a long way from town or other places to eat. Porto Mari is nearby, and there's decent food there. Also good diving with 3 separate reefs. In fact, if you take boat dives, you'll probably end up there more than once for your second dive. Keep in mind (for your daughter's sake) that Porto Mari is a public beach and that most of the women there will be sunbathing in the European topless way. The page of photographs at http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id78.htm is of typical things to see in Curacao. All but two of the Curacao photos were taken right there at the Habitat house reef.

If you go to Willemstad, stay in the tourist areas near the waterfront. You'll probably get to the area by walking across the Queen Emma floating bridge, which is a neat experience. The Punda section of Willemstad is the oldest area of the city, and it has always been brightly painted. The photo at http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id115.htm was taken from the bridge. The city gets urban and possibly dangerous if you venture more than 3 or 4 blocks from the waterfront. Plenty of shops and restaurants there. -Clay

 

[fins]

We are fortunate enough to be leaving for Curacao in 2 weeks. Taking my 18yr old daughter and her friend. Both are into the ocean and we will be doing some snorkling and diving. :07: We will be staying at Habitat Curacao for 2 weeks. What I would like to know if anyone has any experience on Curacao, what would you advise doing and what to stay away from. We already know about the attractions, we are now looking for that "Insider Advise", of how to really enjoy the nuiances of the real Curacao. Can hardly wait to get going. Thanks in advance to all that reply.

Dive Smart; Dive Safe
Enjoy the ride
:cool1:

Hey MM,

My wife and I were in Curacao last fall. We rented a house for 10 days last October on the coast just a couple hundred yards from Habitat. We not only had a great time exploring the island but it is where the diving bug really bit me. I had snorkeled for years but while in Curacao I did a discover dive with Habitat and was hooked. Upon returning home I was looking for a good dive instructor before I had even finished unpacking.

Will you have a rental car while you're in Curacao?

Beaches:

Be advised, the beaches are not sandy, and entries can be a little rough on the feet.

If you travel north along the coast you will run into many small (and some not so small) beaches. These are a few of my favorites:

- Porto Marie is very close to Habitat (look for the sign on the left when exiting Coral Estates), good snorkeling there. I's a few bucks to get in. There are showers, restrooms and a bar & grill. There is somewhat of a snorkel trail several yards offshore. Then about 75 yards out you will see the beginnings of the reef. Each afternoon we were there snorkeling cruises would tie up over this reef. There is also a dive shop there. We saw a steady stream of divers throughout each day we were there. Also, to the left (while facing the water) are some small limestone cliffs, snorkeling along these cliffs was pretty good.

- Cas Abou, a little farther up the coast, a few bucks to get in, showers, restrooms, bar & grill etc. Nice beach, very good snorkeling here.

- Big Knip, is a large beach, free to get on the beach but there is a charge to use the restrooms. There is also a bar & grill but it looked pretty lame. As for the beach, the water is very clear. There is good snorkeling along the limestone cliffs on each side of the beach. You can go out quite a ways in nice calm, clear water. I saw a couple barracuda here on one of our last days in Curacao.

- About 40 minutes from Seaquarium Beach (or Mambo beach). This is large beach about 10 minutes south of Williamsted. It costs a few bucks to get in, plus a charge for the beach chairs. There are a couple small restaurants and a few shops on the beach. A good beach if you're looking for the typical vacation beach. There is a reef just beyond the breakwater. Ocean Encounters, located on the south end of the beach offers snorkeling tours along this reef regularly.

Attractions:

- The Hato caves a pretty nice, so is Christoffel park (but your kids my find this boring).

- Downtown Williamsted...typical cruise ship port, lots of shops, restaurants etc. Downtown is a nice place to visit if the family is in the mood for shopping

Restaurants:

On the north end of the island near Westpunt is Janchies. Fresh seafood, Curacao style. If you get up near Westpunt don't miss Janchies.

There's a nice deli in the Marriott.

Thai Sawadee (and a mongolian bbq place right next door) in Otrabana are both very good.

Dowtown in Williamsted you can find Pizza Hut, Subway, etc for those quick meals.

After you get your bags in the airport you will be handed a small bag from Little Switzerland with brochures etc. One of these will list lots of restaurants but be sure to call the restaurants first as we found a number of the restaurants in the book no longer existed.

Note that not many of the restaurants had air conditioning except for the larger hotels and Thai Sawadee.

Hope this helps, feel free to pm me for more info

Have a great trip,

Mark

 

[Damselfish]

Habitat is a great place to stay and dive, but you are best off having a car for at least part of your trip to explore the island, get to other restaurants and maybe hit the grocery for lunch makings. The restaurant is overly slow and the food leaves a lot to be desired. The breakfast buffet is fine and it's an ok place to grab something like a burger for lunch (or the sate is pretty good) but dinner gets old quickly. If you don't want to sit around the restaurant forever for lunch (enough of a surface interval already!) get it takeout - sometimes we even ordered on the way from the boat to the room, cleaned up a little, then one of us would go back to the restaurant and bring lunch back to the room to eat on the patio.

When staying at Habitat, Landhaus Daniel is a nice place to eat that's not too far away - only about halfway or less back to town. We've always had good meals there.

Downtown I like Bistro Le Clouchard in Riffort (sit out side so you can watch the boats and ships go by.) Riffort has been turned into a nice shopping area and there's a few other more casual restaurants upstairs. We ate at one which was mostly grilled meats and seafood, limited menu but one of the best meals we had. Can't remember the name unfortunately.

There's a number of pretty good restaurants in Waterfort Arches with more great views if you sit outside. We had a table hanging over the rocks and watched morays slither around the tidepools and surf zone, timing their moves with the surge and catching stranded fish while we ate. Had no idea they would or could be in water that shallow, practically out of the water.

Rijsttfael Indonesia to the east of town was great when we were there a few years ago, though a little tricky to find. It's a good place to go with a group - a bunch of us from the boat wound up getting together and going there.

Used to be the Punda side of the harbor was the place to explore as a tourist, but there has been lots of renovation on the Otrabanda (west) side and that's interesting to explore some too. The Kura Hulanda Hotel is pretty neat to check out, very different. They have several restaurants but we didn't get a chance to try any of them.

 

[cstreu1026]

My wife and I spent the 2nd week of our honeymoon in Curacao last June. I thought the diving was excellent. We didn't really experience much outside of the resort (we stayed at Sunset Water) becasue it was all inclusive. We did venture in to town one afternoon and I can't say I had warm fuzzy feelings while I was their. I felt much safer while I was in Bonaire. However, I wouldn't hesitate to go back again. I wish I could offer more help. Enjoy your trip!

 

[MaresMan1]

Great information and a lot to digest. Just want to say thanks to all (Clay, Mark, Damselfish and Cstreu1026).

I will go over your suggestions with the team. We will be renting a car for a few days to get around the island. We are looking forward to seeing the beaches and water. I do not think we will have a problem with the people at the beaches as my daughter and her friend have spent a lot of time on European beaches (just no in front of me ).

We plan on visiting the Hato Caves and the Aquarium, some horseback riding and of course, lots of diving. Also want to visit Kura Hulanda along with the city. Didn't realize that the city was dangerous on the back streets. Other non-diving friends that toured Curacao did not mention that.

Once again, thanks for the info. It is greatly appreciated. I will write up a trip report when we return. 11 days and counting :dazzler1:


Dive Smart; Dive Safe
Enjoy the ride
:cool1:

 

[grumpygrouper]

Hi

Enjoy your time there. We were there in February 2004 for a week. The house reef is nice. They have two resident frogfish there for you to try to find on your dives. We spent one day in town but otherwise just hibernated at the Habitat.