General information request for Curacao

[idocsteve]

Due to a conflict of airline schedule availability to Bonaire and my daughter's HS graduation, I'm forced to change my destination for the end of June 28.

Looks like Curacao is a good second choice to Bonaire, but if anyone would like to offer their own suggestions for some good Caribbean diving I'd sure like to hear it.

Anyway, Donna from Caradonna Dive Adventures is putting together a few packages for me, one of which is Breezes hotel, with their onsite Dive Op "Ocean Encounters".

We'd like to do 3-4 dives per day.

From what I've read, most of the good sites are also accessible from shore and "The Dive Bus" has several packages available, one of which Suzy explained to me in an email that suggest for the 4 dives per day I want to do, to rent a car and choose their 5 day package which means I will "follow the Bus" and have the option to hang with their group or do our own thing for the two morning dives, and then drive to another site and do 2 more dives on our own.

How's this plan sound for anyone who has been to Curacao and is familiar with the diving there?

 

[DeputyDan]

I prefer to fly to Curacao and take the DIVI DIVI over to Bonaire anyhow.
Only downside is weight limits with the DIVI. That being said you can come and go every day of the week and my experience is that it is less expensive!

But you didn't ask about that - There are multiple posters here that live on the island and they will chime in to help you. I have only stayed at the Hilton and its pretty well run down - the Marriott is much nicer. The better diving in on the other end of the island anyhow!

 

[diversteve]

Here's what you might run into shorediving on Curacao. Unlike Bonaire the dive sites are spread farther apart - especially out west. Most are off the main road but almost all require a short (10-15min.) drive in to the water then back out again. At least out west, there's no road that parallels the coast. Also most roads except just off the main road are dirt. So rent an SUV or a truck.

What killed us trying to do 4/dives day was the travel time. To do 4 dives/day we tried to pair sites that were close by. And do two dives on sites that it made sense. If you look at a Curacao dive site map, it's pretty obvious but here's a couple of examples.

Playa Kalki/Alice in Wonderland is excellent in both directions (different each way) followed by a site back along the road towards town. Possibly Playa Jeremi or one of the "Gnips". Westpunt is the farthest west you can shoredive.

Playa Kalki is the best shoredive on Curacao IMO.

You could also double Playa Jeremi and Playa Lagun. No facilities at Jeremi so plan accordingly. Discover Dive in Lagun will let you take tanks anywhere. And they have a loading dock so they just slide right into a truck bed.

Habitat's house reef (Nos Kas) paired with Porto Mari just a few minutes down the road. Both are among the best dives we did all week. We did two at Habitat, ate lunch, two at Porto Mari and then dove Habitat's reef at night. Two years ago an all-day unlimited tank rental was $26. They've changed dive operators so I don't know what it is now. Since it's 3 flights of stairs down to their dive dock/setup area they have tanks at the bottom and at a building in the parking lot.

If you want to do the best boat dive (maybe the best dive on Curacao), schedule Watamula with Ocean Encounters West. They won't go that far from Ocean Encounters at Breezes. At one time I read that OE shuttles people to OEWest via van for certain dives.

Another good double would be Varsenbaai and Snake Bay. My friends wife, an ex-Curacao instructor told us Snake Bay was one of her favorite lesser known sites.

Another pairing east of Breezes might be the Tugboat and Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is an access point to the Marine Park. At Tugboat go around the point east of the tugboat and go deep then come back up and drift back to the wreck, it's only 20' so you can do your stop there. You should see a bunch of eels around the point in the crevices.

Just so you know, just about every site I've mentioned has an on-site operator. Most rent tanks/weights also. At any of them you pay a small access fee in guilders. (under $5)

We thought the sites out west were better. Conversely the Marine Park is to the east. But we stayed partly in Lagun and partly in Piscadera Bay so did most of our diving west. There's a pretty good map sold locally that shows the dive sites and surface streets. Once you're out of town, street signs are pretty non-existent.

If you're at all interested in the Dolphin Dive, it's Friday morning early enough to come back and do boat dives with Ocean Encounters if desired. When we were there their boat started at Lions Dive, picked up at Breezes and then the Hilton before going to a dive site.

 

[idocsteve]

^ Thanks for the info, very helpful. I'm gonna add it to my paperwork I'm putting together for the trip.

 

[diversteve]

no problem, I'm killing time waiting for a phone call.

 

[tc_rain]

Will be headed there in just two weeks.

 

[jeepguy]

to rent a car and choose their 5 day package which means I will "follow the Bus" and have the option to hang with their group or do our own thing for the two morning dives, and then drive to another site and do 2 more dives on our own.
How's this plan sound for anyone who has been to Curacao and is familiar with the diving there?

That's a great plan. The shore diving is awesome, access to sites is a little tougher than BON. Following THE BUS gives you the chance to find these places, (great group anyway) and they can point out some other spots for you to dive on way back. Gets you to the good places and you can decide to dive more. I have been on trips with them and had other groups follow and do what you are talking about. Everyone has a great time. Good luck with your plans.

Tom

 

[bkpix]

I've got to agree with diversteve, travel is the problem with doing a lot of shore dives on Curacao. We had intended on doing 3 or 4 a day, but found that two was more do-able timewise on most days. Even some of the sites that are closer together were time consuming because of long swim outs. Lagun and Jeramy are both great dives, but you need to snorkle out a few hundred yards to get to the reef, takes time. The 4 dives at the San Juan area that were some of my favorite dives first time there were not so great this last trip in March, the hurricane did a lot of damage to them. We found Porto Marie an absolute waste of time. The reef was in terrible shape and the beach is very crowded. We did one dive there and left.

We stayed out west both trips, so I can't be much help with places more easterly; but if you want to do a lot of dives you might consider doing a 2 tank boat trip in the morning then doing a couple of shore dives in the afternoon. Some of the boat dives on the west part of the island are super! Watamula is not to be missed!!!!!!! Also try Mushroom Forest, Rediho, Sponge Forest; the list goes on. We did some boat dives with Ocean Encounters West. Their house reef, Alice in Wonderland. is a good dive in either directon (although we preferred going right), also nearby dives could round out your afternoon. If you do the boat dives with OEW you can get the unlimited shore dive package with it, so extra tanks are included with your package. Check on that, as their policy seems to have changed a bit our last trip there.

We are thinking about Bonaire for our next trip, it's just a bit of a hassle getting there. Where do you usually stay, and what are some of your favorite dives there?

Have fun! BK

 

[Korsu]

Best Dive Destinations|Underwater Photography Guide
Scroll down to Curacao for further ideas. Diversteve has most of the info.
Here is an update I posted on Habitat:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/abc-islands/330854-diving-curacao-habitat-curacao-opinions-4.html


I could not disagree more with bkpix about Porto Marie. Maybe they were there on a holiday weekend, thus the crowding. There was damage all along the coast from TS Omar but at Porto Marie, the second reef and reef to the right are in fine shape. Plus the rubble is great for macro photography. Like Bonaire this is a macro island. I suspect I have about 250 dives at Porto Marie and there is always stuff to surprise you.
These were taken this week in 12 feet of water.

OEW is also a great place to shore or boat dive. There is no question that you will have to do some driving if you stay in hotels around Willemstad, but you will get a feel for the island. If you stay on the West End driving might be easier unless you make frequent trips to town.

 

[jd950]

Most are off the main road but almost all require a short (10-15min.) drive in to the water then back out again.

Well, if you feel you have to drive yourself into the water and out again, perhaps shore diving isn't for you. It isn't THAT hard to walk into the water, for Pete's sake!

You must be really popular with the rental car company.