Trip Report Curacao Trip Report All West/Go West 2.27 to 3.6.21

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NicKnit

Registered
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Location
Detroit
# of dives
100 - 199
We recently returned from a week long trip to Curacao, and since dive trip reports for Curacao seem to be few and far between, I thought I’d share our experience, especially around COVID testing.

Curacao requires a PCR test for entry no more than 72 hours before departure. Our flight from Detroit to Charlotte to Curacao left Detroit at 6:30am on Saturday, with the flight from Charlotte to Curacao leaving at 9:21am. Because “departure” is unclear, we chose to get our test after 9:21am on Wednesday to make sure we didn’t have a problem later. The flight to Charlotte was completely full but the leg to Curacao was maybe 30% full.

Immigration and customs took less than 15 minutes. There were three of us, my husband and me and also my cousin. My husband and I were directed to a line where an actual person reviewed our documents and stamped our passports while my cousin was directed to a line for electronic kiosks instead of a person. They both took about the same amount of time.

We stayed in Westpunt at All West Apartments and dove with Go West. Between our flight arriving a bit early and getting through customs quickly, we had to wait a few minutes for our driver to arrive, but it was no big deal. We chose not to stop at the big grocery store, which allowed us to get to All West in time to check in and make it to Go West to check in and get weights. If we had stopped for groceries, we would not have gotten to Go West, and wouldn’t have had weights to do a shore dive that first day.

For groceries we went into Barber to Sunshine Market. The produce was not good, but they had plenty of juice, chips, fresh bread, meat, cheese, etc, and the prices were really reasonable. We got back to All West in time to do a shore dive right there, and came back up as the sun was setting on the water. It was a beautiful first night.

COVID testing mid-week
The US requires a negative COVID test taken 3 days or less before departure to the US. We signed up online to get the test Wednesday morning (flights were 3:30 and 5:30 on Saturday) at ADC Palu Blanku, which seemed to be the closest location (although later I saw something about a lab in Barber, but I don’t know if that would have worked instead).

For ADC, we chose a time online, drove into Willemstad, where it was really easy to find just off the ring. When we arrived, there was one other person in the waiting room. They had us fill out a clipboard with name and email address. Then took us into a curtained room to do the test, which was a throat and nasal swab. $90 for PCR, preferred on credit card, really easy. We had the test results emailed to us by the next morning. I emailed our three test results to Go West and they printed them out for us to have for the airport.

As for mask wearing in general, once we were through the airport, the only times we (or anyone) wore a mask was when you were clearly inside somewhere (i.e. the indoor part of the dive shop, the COVID test place).

About All West
Part of the reason we chose Curacao was because of the apartment accommodations (vs. hotel room). Between COVID and that this was a work-from-a-beautiful-place trip for me, the larger space and independence of shore diving was a better fit than a place like Cozumel, where we typically stay at Blue Angel. Wifi at All West was very good. I had no problem streaming video meetings on Teams, Zoom and Google Meet.

We were in apartment K, on the second floor, on the right end. My cousin was in L, on the first floor right next to the tank room. His apartment was updated with newer looking bathroom tile and fixtures, while ours was dated, but very clean. Our bathroom had a clothes line that could be pulled from its holder on one side of the bathroom to the other to hang swimsuits. Cousin’s newer bathroom did not have this. The balcony was huge, with strong wifi continuing out there so I could easily work and have meetings there. The two a/c units kept the apartment cool and controlled humidity well—anything we hung inside was dry by morning. I would definitely stay at All West again.

We had a rental truck from All West. It was fine. Nothing amazing but worked just fine. My cousin had stayed there before and said that tires on his truck then kept getting low and they had to put air in them, but we didn’t have any issues like that with this truck. It was a standard transmission. The trucks all have All West stickers on them, so they aren’t from a third-party rental company. Which also means no crazy paperwork. They just handed over the keys to us, no pictures to take of previous damage or list to sign off on. All three of us could drive at no extra cost. When we left, no one inspected the truck for damage, we just left the keys. When parked, we never locked the truck although always took the key with us. We also didn’t leave anything valuable inside.

All West didn’t seem to be completely full, and while we were there Saturday to Saturday, others arrived mid-week, so often apartments were empty, leaving lots of parking spaces and room in the tank room for equipment. It never felt crowded.

We drank tap water all week. It tastes good (or actually, it doesn’t taste). I believe they use desalinated sea water. There was one water pitcher in the fridge to have cold water.

About dive shop/tank room
We mostly did shore diving, taking tanks from All West, and therefore regular air tanks. They had both DIN and Int valves available in the tank room. It was easy to load tanks from All West into the truck because you can park right in front of the tank room, requiring tanks only to be carried more than 20 feet if you have to park further down in the parking lot, but even then it’s not far to carry (not that I did, that’s what my husband and cousin are for!). Tanks varied from 2700 to 3300 psi. They have a tester there, although half the time we couldn’t find it so we used one of our regs. No nitrox at All West although you can get it at Go West.

On the water side of the building, there is a small bench with tank holder with enough space for two people to setup tanks. Down some steps are more benches and a shower. From there, there’s another ~30 steps down to the beach. Those steps were the toughest part of shore diving from All West, especially coming back up after a dive.

The tank room itself has two long hanging rods with plenty of BC and wetsuit hangers for hanging equipment to dry. There are padlocks on the doors going in to the room to keep it secure. They also have plastic tubs that you can put your gear in to easily take it to your truck. We didn’t use the tubs, but plenty of other people did. There are also two rinse tanks.

My husband and cousin did two days of boat diving with Go West and I did one. The boat was not going out every day, so we had to plan ahead on what days would be boat days and which would be shore diving days (although we didn’t plan too far ahead—we asked about boat diving the day we checked in). The boat for Sunday was full so we couldn’t go then, the next boat went on Monday out to Radio and Watamula, and then on Thursday to Mushroom Forest and Allan’s Airplane Wreck. So a boat was running about every other day.

The Go West shop is down a set of stone steps that are fairly steep. Worth watching your step if carrying gear down. Staff was friendly and helpful. Plenty of space to setup tanks with two dedicated gear setup benches, plus picnic tables. If shore diving from there, there’s a ramp down to the dock and it’s an easy walk out to the end of the dock to giant stride in. Once back from a dive, there is an outdoor shower and rinse tanks. All areas are under cover and shaded.
 
Eating
Our typical plan is to do light lunch, usually sandwiches at the apartment, and then dinner out. This didn’t work too well though. There aren’t a lot of restaurants in Westpunt to start with, and many were closed temporarily, permanently, on certain days, or closed earlier than we are used to eating. We made it all work, but if we went back I’d shift to eating lunch out and doing dinner in. We ate at:

BlueView Restaurant—we ate here twice, the second time because it seemed to be the only thing open. Although it closes at 8pm. The second time they seemed to be out of everything. Food was fine, but nothing amazing.

Playa Forti Restaurant—also ate here twice, once on Sunday evening and then for Saturday lunch. It didn’t seem to be open during the week. Sunday night they had a steak special with a steak that was amazingly, unexpectedly good.

Sol Food—also ate here twice. We ate here Saturday after we arrived. They warned us that it would be at least 45 minutes for pizza, so husband and cousin ordered dessert first. Brownie ice cream sundae, which was really good. My salad was tasty, but nothing compared to dessert. We came back the Friday night before we left. We didn’t make a reservation but Sunshine accommodated us on the porch. As we were leaving Saturday night, Sunshine gave us her ~30 page document of what to see and where to dive. It was invaluable, and helped us get to dive sites like Largu.

We did not get to any local places, which I was disappointed in, but timing just didn’t work out. It’s a good reason to go back though.

Topside activities
We largely didn’t do any topside activities, although Friday afternoon we stopped at the small park with the tree roots painted like an octopus, and then drove in to Willemsted to the pontoon bridge and to walk around. Shops were starting to close as it was around 5pm by then, but it was a nice afternoon/evening so no disappointment in the drive in.
 
The Diving
We mostly shore dove. Husband and Cousin got in 22 dives. I got in 14. Water temps were 79 to 81, but mostly 81 according to my computer. I’m a cold weanie so I wear a 3mm full suit, hood, and this time a Thermolution heated shirt. It was a Christmas gift and a big reason we did the trip as I really wanted to try it out. It helped keep me comfortable and the two times I did three dives and the batteries ran out I was noticeably colder. My husband, who typically dives in a Sharkskin vest and shorts, got cold over the week, a first for him.

Getting to sites took more driving than Bonaire. The beach entries were easier but also resulted in a longer swim out to the reef. Despite the beach, on the way out of the water I fell to my knees the first 6 dives. The beach often required a good step up, with the ground being big pieces of coral rubble that shifted easily. I never was hurt or anything (not even pride as after awhile it became a big joke with husband and cousin waiting behind me to watch me fall then drag me back to standing).

No sites were crowded. I think there were only 2 dives where we saw anyone else in the water. Maybe another 2 (besides the boat dives) where we even saw someone gearing up.

In general, we would swim out to the reef, drop down, go right or left for 30 minutes or down to 1800, ascend to the top of the reef/wall and swim back. I think we only saw one turtle at a site other than Playa Grandi. Mostly small fish, lots of eels, always a porcupinefish (which is my favorite of the fishes—their large eye and slow movement is endearing). Coral pretty lush and in good shape.

We visited the falling shore diving sites:

Playa Grandi/Piscado—this is the site right in from of All West. Husband and cousin did it 8 times, I did it 5 times. Great site, and given it was the first one we did, set the bar high for everything else. Lots of turtles. We found heading the right to more enjoyable than to the left, with slightly different terrain. Lots of eels, black and white banded shrimp, porcupine fish, some lionfish, and over the sand of course the turtles. One dive was a night dive—we each tend to hang out at slightly different depths, and we each saw really different critters on the night dive. Cousin never saw a crab while I saw probably 15 of different sizes and types. I was not disappointed to do this dive repeatedly.

Playa Largu—it’s about 15 minutes off the main road, just keep going, pay the man $6 on the side of the road, keep going, keep left, keep going, keep going, go by the wetlands, then you’ll get there. There was no one else there. Nice dive. Not too long of a swim out, typical sandy flats to sloping wall.

Playa Shon Mosa—near Largu. I liked it better than Largu, although I don’t remember why. Similar profile to Largu. The beach was sandier than Largu, but there were also people there, but still not crowded.

Playa Jeremi—despite a really long swim out, this was my favorite of these first three. Similar profile, but very fishy. I don’t know if it was technically a bait ball, but very large school of small blue and silver fish came over the wall and surrounded us. Bunch of steps down to the crowded beach.

Playa Lagun—easy to get to. Husband and cousin did this as the fourth dive the first full day, swimming out to the reef, dropping down and to the right. They said ‘meh’. I reread Sunshine’s document, which said to go to the left and it was a good night dive. So later in the week we planned to do it in late afternoon, grab dinner, then do a night dive there, this time to the left. We swam out, forever, and swam and swam. Dropped down, never really found a wall, so stayed more in the shallows of about 35’. Finally turned back. Cousin is good with a compass, which was required since the depth changes very slowly and there is a lot of sand. He went into the small gave back against the rocks. We stayed underwater all the way back in, staying against the left wall (which was on your right on the swim back in). Still, a meh dive. We didn’t stick around to do a night dive there. If you go here, stay to the left, but drop down right away and poke around the rocks and small bits of coral along the bay’s left wall.

Playa Kalki—this is Go West’s site. Similar to Playa Grandi, although you can walk out on the dock and therefore not have to swim as far. Right or left, both are good. Husband and cousin dove from Kalki to Grandi repeatedly.

Playa Porto Mari—this was our last one, and definitely didn’t disappoint. It is a double reef that you dive in a circle. You pay $3 at the entrance to the beach itself (after you park, gear up or walk down to the beach). Facilities looked really nice although we didn’t stay. The onsite dive shop has a map on the wall of the site itself. We had our tanks with us but still looked at the map. There is a long dock but we just waded in from the beach. The water is pretty shallow for awhile, so it’s very turquoise water until you get to the reef. This is what I think of as quintessential Caribbean beach. Once down, we moved to counterclockwise, but I suspect it wouldn’t really matter which direction you went. Like the other divers, small critters and nothing big. I would do this site again, maybe letting the guys do it twice and I’d sit out the second dive to enjoy the beach. Maybe.

Car Wrecks/Tuna barge—usually I navigate and find the sites, but sometimes they go off on their own, which is how they ended up at the tuna barge. They wanted to do Car Wrecks, but once they got there a man pointed out where it was so they ended up only getting as far as the tuna barge. At least, that was my understanding from their story.

Watamula/Redhio—Husband and cousin did this as a boat dive without me. They didn’t say much about it, except that there was a lot of current.

Mushroom Forest—a boat dive. I enjoyed the mushroom looking coral, although there were similar looking coral heads at Grandi. The profile was different from the shore diving we’d done—we descended to about 50’ and stayed there the whole time. First time all week I had to think about a safety stop since usually we’d cover that on a slow swim in to shore. After we were back on the boat, we stopped at the Blue Room. I was already cold so didn’t get back into the water. The boat had orange slices, water and juice. We headed back north and spent about 10 minutes at Go West before heading to Alvin’s. I don’t remember the boat captain’s name (Tuki maybe?), but he talks nonstop and is pretty funny.

Alvin’s Plane Wreck—this was the first time Mearay (pronounced MEE ray) was guiding on this site, so she right off said she hopes she can find the wreck. She didn’t, but we did, so it worked out. There’s not much of it left, and it was not as deep as she thought. The wall starts at about 50’, so we tended to stay more towards shore to stay shallower (my dive computer is a Suunto and I had to watch bottom time since the profiles were pretty flat), which is why we found the wreck first as the rest of the group was in sight but more towards the wall.

The boat dives were nice, but it made me appreciate the shore dives that much more since we could be independent and didn’t have to work around other divers on them.
 
Booking
Booking was easy. I made reservations around 12/31 a day or two after Curacao announced it was opening back up. We had planned to go somewhere the first week of March but hadn’t made a decision as to where. Since I’m normally the one to do the plan and make reservations, I wanted to go somewhere without having to do a lot of research. It was between Curacao as cousin had been there already and was happy to dive with Go West again, and Cozumel/Blue Angel where we’ve been a lot (most recently in October for Hurricane Zeta). Curacao won out because of the flexibility of shore diving and apartment accommodations with good wifi. It was a good decision, and I would go back to Curacao and All West/Go West again.

Booking was done via email from the Go West website. I called via WhatsApp to make a deposit of 1/3 or 1/2 (I don’t remember how much). We paid the rest once on island.
 
Thank you for the report!!!!


Did you book your trip directly with All West or through a dive travel agent? Also, how far/how much of hassle was it for you to get Nitrox tanks?
 
Thank you for the report!!!!


Did you book your trip directly with All West or through a dive travel agent? Also, how far/how much of hassle was it for you to get Nitrox tanks?

We booked directly through Go West's online form. Communication was easy, usually email from Loys or Julie once I submitted the form.

None of us ended up using nitrox. I normally do for boat dives, and they would have been more enjoyable for me if I had to give more flexibility in bottom time, but just stuck with air this time. If you want nitrox, I think you have to get them from Go West, which means carrying them up and down the steps from the parking lot to the shop. Because we could choose our profiles in shore diving, using air wasn't limiting for me.
 
Go West, which means carrying them up and down the steps from the parking lot to the shop.

My memory is faded now, is Go West located at the Playa Kalki shore, you have to walk down lots of steps from the parking lot come to a shaded area and then walk to the sandy area and the shop will there facing the shore? If it is, that's a lot of steps to be carrying the tanks up the stairs and down to return them.
 
My memory is faded now, is Go West located at the Playa Kalki shore, you have to walk down lots of steps from the parking lot come to a shaded area and then walk to the sandy area and the shop will there facing the shore? If it is, that's a lot of steps to be carrying the tanks up the stairs and down to return them.
Yes, Go West is at Playa Kalki. You walk down lots of steps, and turn to the left where the shop is right there facing the water. The sandy area is to the right and in front of you. Even if it isn't the place you are thinking, it is a lot of steps to carry takes up and down!
 
Yes, Go West is at Playa Kalki. You walk down lots of steps, and turn to the left where the shop is right there facing the water. The sandy area is to the right and in front of you. Even if it isn't the place you are thinking, it is a lot of steps to carry takes up and down!

From what I remember, there wasn't a dive shop there so this all took place since the last time I was there. I remember these steps however. We dove at Playa Kalki and stayed there for two dives, one dive to go right and the second to go left. Lots of steps to go there just to fetch the nitrox tanks :)


Thank you very much for your kind patience answering my questions.
 
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