I just got back from Curacao last Thursday. It was a very interesting trip. My son and I stayed at All West apartments. The folks at All West where very nice and the location was very good. Except for the fact that is takes 30 minutes to get to Willemstad. If you want a place that is away from town and close shore diving. This is a great place. The apartment had a refrigerator, stove, sink and cooking ware. No TV or maid service. There is a bared and locked deck, which they give you the key for. This was nice because we could lay our dive gear outside to dry and it was secure. They also give you a key to get to dive tanks so you can go diving when ever you want. Curacao was not crowded at all this time of year. There where several times when my son and I went to a beach and no one else was there. The diving was great. We dove mostly at the All West locations. The Watamula location was by far the best dive. On all the dives we seen lots of fish, eels, turtles, and even a few eagle ray. When we arrived we where warned about crime. We had a rental car. It was recommended that we leave nothing in the car, do not lock the doors and put the security bar on the steering wheel every time we left the car. For the most part people in Curacao where not all that friendly. Except of course in the resort areas. The Marriott was the best place so we ate there most of the time. We actually made some friends with the locals at the Marriott. A lot of places where closed or hard to find. we had a map but most of the streets at not marked or it is very hard to find the street signs.It was hard to find a clean place to eat. We found it best to hang out and eat at the resorts. My son and I got the impression that Americans where not liked very well in Curacao. It seemed that once someone found out that we where from the US, we got the cold shoulder. I think it was because of the relaxed atmosphere, but it was hard to get service. When we did order a drink the server would disappear and not come back for about 15 to 20 minutes. After our food order was taken, it would take 30 minutes to get our food. Then we would have to ask for the bill. That's if we would get the attention of the server. Getting the bill was the same thing. It was always like this no matter where we went. It took about 2 hours to eat each time. This is not actually a bad thing when you are on vacation.
I do believe a few times when I stopped to fill up on gas. I did not get the correct change back. I would recommend using local money for this. The gas stations do not accept credit cards.
We actually got yelled at a few times. One gentlemen even tried to cuss us out in English because we wouldn't give him any money. He was asking for handouts. It was very common to see people smoking dope. We had another incident in the Chinese fast food place. A gentlemen kept yelling at my son and I, asking us to go outside. His friends made him sit down at the only table in the place and shut up. I bought him a bottle of White Label before we left. He had an empty bottle on the table, so I figured he would like another bottle. I was wrong. He took the bottle from me and throw it across the table. The guy on the other side caught it before it fell off. I believe his friends got pretty upset when he did not say "thank you". I gave him the thumbs up, turned and walked out.
I was also surprised how much trash was laying around. While we where diving we found lots of trash that had been thrown out by the boats. Tires and just piles of junk. I probably seen 15 car or boat engines in the water. Some of them where being used as buoy anchors.
The speed limit is nonexistent. I seen a few places it was posted but everyone ignores it.
We stopped at the California supermarket a few times for groceries. Not a nice place and dirty.
If I were to go back I would stay at the Marriott. It is clean and centrally located. Nice little beach and good places to eat.
Places that I thought where nice and clean where the Sea Breeze resort, Habitat Curacao, Lions Dive and Beach resort and Marriott. Keep in mind I didn't go to all the resorts
Most of the beaches where small but very nice. The beaches are topless. Which can be very nice depending on who you are. Diving from shore is no problem and very nice. I was not impressed with the mushroom forest dive. I would recommend Curacao for diving but not hospitality. Again a nice group of people where at the Marriott. I had a good time and would go back but it was definitely a learning experience.
We met a man at the Marriott from Canada. He agreed that the locals didn't seem to like Americans and Canadians. We also met a man from Holland on the dive boat. He was very nice and we talked about our country's for quit awhile. My son and I sat down at a group table to eat after a dive. It appeared that everyone at the table was Dutch or German. My son was asked where he was from. He replied " We are from the U.S., Missouri". The mans reply to that was "Sorry, it's not your fault". Then they all laughed and had a nice conversation in their native language. Oh well, we just left.
So that's it. The diving is great.
