Diving in Curacao, at Habitat Curacao-opinions?

[CrabCake]

Has anyone stayed at the Hilton? Plan on being there late May.

 

[H2O lover]

We didn't stay at the Hilton but a bus driver told us it was one of the oldest hotels on Curacao. Our airport shuttle stopped there to pick some passengers up and it didn't look very impressive. But again I wasn't inside and haven't stayed there.

 

[Korsu]

Nancyrobin
Let me try and bring you up to date regarding Habitat resort, Curacao.
It has been bought by a local Dutch developer and friend in hopes of re invigorating the hotel.
So far the restaurant is newly managed and is probably some what better in terms of service and menu. The rooms need a lot of work but they chose to paint the out side of the buildings first, and clean up the property. The pool area is cleaner but not yet as good as it could be. A new beach has been added by bulk-heading the ocean and back filling this with sand. Most of the native shore trees were removed and replaced with 15-20 palm trees that quickly died, so there is no shade on the beach.
The previous dive shop owner sold the business to Diversity but at the moment there is not a full dive shop as this will eventually be rebuilt, replacing very old lockers, tank rooms etc. The dock which has been absent for 18 months has been partially replaced and there is on going work to finish this and coordinate it with the new beach. Two dive boats are in place and are in reasonable shape. The biggest boat is very slow so two tank morning dives take more time. Much of the Easy Diver staff remain which is a saving grace as they are all great dive masters. They are making the best of a tough situation.
Nos Cas reef has always been a wonderful site. I have been diving there for over 9 years and steadily for the past three years. 18 months ago TS Omar did quite a bit of damage to the top of the reef, 30 ft. and up. It was starting to look better but with the beach construction I think more damage was done. I have no scientific proof just a gut feeling from what I have seen. More construction on the shore line will not help, but money talks. (Another TS will easily wash out the new sand and who knows what effect that might have. Waves from Omar would have easily crested the new bulk head.)
Depending on how quickly work gets done, this is the Caribbean, will determine how satisfied you are with staying at Habitat. The diving in Curacao is excellent and rivals Bonaire with the possible exception of the number of easy entry shore dives. The island itself has much more to offer than Bonaire if you are willing to get out and find things.
IMHO the developers of Habitat are looking to have a more upscale hotel and are not as concerned about it as a dive resort. It remains to be seen how it plays out.
You can go to Underwater Photography Guide and look up Curacao under dive destinations.
Hope that helps.

 

[Nancyrobin]

We had a week at Habitat recently. The reef is in good condition and only a short swim out. There's a guide cable running out to the 30m line that makes navigation a breeze.
The only thing we found was very little life on the reef just after it gets dark. If you intend to do night dives do them well after dark, at least 3 - 4 hours after. Since you can dive 24 hours it's not an issue. Have dinner first.

Speaking of which, the food is excellent although you may find the service slow at times.

Rooms are big and spacious, great for divers.

WiFi in the reception area for a small fee.

Curacao is one of the few places where I saw more air-fill stations than gas stations.

Thanks--this was really helpful

 

[Nancyrobin]

Thanks for your help.

 

[Nancyrobin]

Hi there Nancyrobin,

Curacao's reefs are in great shape and perfect for spotting macro life (you'll be disappointed if you come here hoping to see the big guys). There's more info about diving in Curacao starting here if you're interested: The Dive Bus - DIVING CURACAO as well as a break down between East and West sites, as well as individual dive sites.

The focus is on shore diving, which is what we specialise in, but it applies for boat diving too should you choose to go that way.

The Habitat dive op used to be EasyDivers, but it's now changed ownership to Diversity.

If you need any other info, please feel free to PM me.

Happy planning
Suzy

The Dive Bus - HOME

THanks for the info--The DIve Bus looks interesting!

 

[Nancyrobin]

We had a week at Habitat recently. The reef is in good condition and only a short swim out. There's a guide cable running out to the 30m line that makes navigation a breeze.
The only thing we found was very little life on the reef just after it gets dark. If you intend to do night dives do them well after dark, at least 3 - 4 hours after. Since you can dive 24 hours it's not an issue. Have dinner first.

Speaking of which, the food is excellent although you may find the service slow at times.

Rooms are big and spacious, great for divers.

WiFi in the reception area for a small fee.

Curacao is one of the few places where I saw more air-fill stations than gas stations.

THanks for the info, especially about waiting a while after dark for night dives!

 

[Nancyrobin]

We had a week at Habitat recently. The reef is in good condition and only a short swim out. There's a guide cable running out to the 30m line that makes navigation a breeze.
The only thing we found was very little life on the reef just after it gets dark. If you intend to do night dives do them well after dark, at least 3 - 4 hours after. Since you can dive 24 hours it's not an issue. Have dinner first.

Speaking of which, the food is excellent although you may find the service slow at times.

Rooms are big and spacious, great for divers.

WiFi in the reception area for a small fee.

Curacao is one of the few places where I saw more air-fill stations than gas stations.

THanks for the info, especially the tip about waiting a while for night dives!

 

[Nancyrobin]

I'll chime in - I returned on April 4th from a week's dive vacation in Curacao. I did not stay at Habitat so I cannot comment on them. I will comment on the conditions of the reefs.

I did both shore and boat diving - shore diving with the Dive Bus at thier house reef called Peribaai and boat diving with Ocean Encounters from the Breezes hotel.

The Peribaai reef is amazing!! To be able to step into the water from the beach and then dive on a reef wall full of life was a first. I'm used to boat diving so this was such a nice treat.

The boat dives to Beacon Point, Barracuda Point, Bullen Bay, Snake Bay, Mushroom Forest, Porte Mari, Smokey and Cornelius Bay were also amazing. If you can get out to Mushroom Forest and Porte Mari the reefs are very lush a teaming with life - the sites were about 1 1/2 hour boat ride (I think Westward) but well worth it.

I compare the reefs at Curacao to the reefs I saw last year while doing a liveaboard trip with Nekton - the Medio Reef Bahamas itinerary. I thought I had seen lush, unspoiled reefs with tons of fish - big and small, amazing coral formations, etc...until Curacao. To be out in the middle of nowhere in the Bahamas you get pristine reefs and Curacao could go ahead to head with them. I was very happy at how healthy things were.

This was my second trip where I was diving to shoot underwater pics and my favourite place was at Peribaai Reef - on my last day of diving! I got pics of an octopus, lots of tiny shrimps and arrowhead crabs on huge anenomes, a lizard fish, lots of eels...and I could go on.

I've posted some pics so I'll let them speak for themselves.

Safe Diving.

Your description of the reefs gets me really excited about going there, and the pictures were great! Thanks so much!

 

[Nancyrobin]

fftopic: And the relevance to a question about Habitat is? :focus:

I really didn't mean to initiate a spat, guys--lighten up.