I wanted to post a quick trip report from my recent two day trip to Curaçao as there don't seem too be many recent trip reports.
Diving
I dove both days with Scubacao who specialize in shore diving, but partner with a local boat for 6-pack boat diving as well. The shop was extremely professional, clearly care about conservation, and had pretty new gear for rental. My wife took a discover scuba class and second dive and I booked a three tank dive solo the next day. All the dives were private guided w/ Nitrox, with Mats who was a very good instructor, patient, and also a great guide and diver. Average price for me for a private dive w/ Nitrox was $70 (not including tip).
We dove the following sites:
Lodging & Food
We stayed in a beautiful Airbnb in the Jan Thiel area. It's about a 20-30min drive from downtown Willemstad but surrounded by solid restaurants and beaches. Overall we were blown away by the food in almost every single place we went to.
Particular favorites were:
Overall I'd highly recommend Curaçao for diving. It's definitely more about the health of the ecosystem than seeing pelagics (although a couple of other trips while I was there saw sharks and rays - which is a rarity and maybe more likely by boat). The scene was very chill, food was great, and the island vibe was very relaxing
Photos
Diving
I dove both days with Scubacao who specialize in shore diving, but partner with a local boat for 6-pack boat diving as well. The shop was extremely professional, clearly care about conservation, and had pretty new gear for rental. My wife took a discover scuba class and second dive and I booked a three tank dive solo the next day. All the dives were private guided w/ Nitrox, with Mats who was a very good instructor, patient, and also a great guide and diver. Average price for me for a private dive w/ Nitrox was $70 (not including tip).
We dove the following sites:
- Marie Pampoen - nice gentle reef dive with a lot of bait fish - lots of life and saw a seahorse
- Tugboat - excellent shallow reef at around 15ft - saw a frogfish under the pylons, and diving under the pier is also an amazing end to the dive (bring a light)
- Superior Producer wreck - largest wreck in the ABC islands, at 100fsw - you can only dive when no liners are docked but entry is directly above the wreck off the megapier (super easy compared to the 450m surface swims I had read about online that are out of date)
- Double Reef - beautiful two tier reef at 60ft and 30ft - super healthy and lots of fish (and a turtle)
- Atlantis - really beautiful and peaceful wall dive down to about 60ft (possibly my favorite dive of the trip)
Lodging & Food
We stayed in a beautiful Airbnb in the Jan Thiel area. It's about a 20-30min drive from downtown Willemstad but surrounded by solid restaurants and beaches. Overall we were blown away by the food in almost every single place we went to.
Particular favorites were:
- The Pier (great seafood dinner and lunch options sitting over the water)
- Ceviche 91 (delicious ceviche looking out into the harbor)
- Visserij (amazing fish lunch spot w/ locally caught tuna and shrimp)
- Restaurant & Cafe Gouverneur (beautiful outdoor balcony or patio seating)
- Baoase Resort (upscale dining/tasting menu with beautiful outdoor seating)
Overall I'd highly recommend Curaçao for diving. It's definitely more about the health of the ecosystem than seeing pelagics (although a couple of other trips while I was there saw sharks and rays - which is a rarity and maybe more likely by boat). The scene was very chill, food was great, and the island vibe was very relaxing
Photos