Here is some info you may find interesting and/or helpful.....or maybe not.
We flew into Curacao on a Sunday afternoon. We were concerned we would not have time to pick up groceries before heading to Playa Lagun at the far west end of the island as most stores close early on Sundays. We got to the Centrum (a large grocery store) a few minutes after 5pm which is when they closed. However, on the road to Lagun we found several smaller markets and were able to get the basics. Another option people might consider is requesting your accommodations provider pick up groceries for you and have the fridge stocked when you get there. Many will offer this is an option. Obviously the cost for this service will vary.
We found the price of food to be about the same as at home in Canada. We were surprised at the cost of beer and liquor though. We expected it to be lower. We did not find the selection we expected either. Not a big deal for us.
We also had a hard time finding eggs. We were told that Curacao does not allow eggs to be imported, so at times there is a shortage. When we did find eggs at the Centrum later in the week, they were not refrigerated. They were in the aisle. Just in case some people find this odd, this is actually quite common. We also found we definitely had to wash each egg before using. Trust me, you will understand when you see them.
Before leaving home I installed two apps on our phones that were helpful. One was the Google GPS app and the other was Whatsapp. Be aware that the GPS app was very useful for the most part but was often wrong. Driving on the west end is pretty straight forward but if you head to the city make sure you have a good idea of where you are going. Don’t just head out and rely on the GPS. The streets here can be quite confusing until you get to know your way around.
Most people and businesses we were dealing with used Whatsapp to communicate. As long as you are on a wifi network you can text for no cost. This might be old news for some travellers, but it was a first for me. I do not usually travel with my phone. You know…..Old dogs / new tricks etc.
Our first week was spent at the Lagoon Ocean Resort. It is a small group of studio, one, and two bdrm units in a semi secure area overlooking Playa Lagun and the beach. We were lucky enough to have a one bed, two bath, two floor unit right on the cliff. It is a beautiful location. Be aware however that this area is very isolated. There is not much around. There are only two restaurants close by. We ate at the Bahia restaurant next door only once. The Discover Diving restaurant was very good. It is right across from the beach. On Wednesday night they offered an all u can eat bbq. It was excellent. You can also get a decent pizza here for a light lunch or late night snack.
Tanks and weights were available from the Bahia Apartments dive shop which is right next door. Peter, the fella that runs this small shop, was very friendly and helpful. I Believe tanks were $9 u.s. each and weight was $3 u.s. / day for each of us. They had both DIN and yoke tank valves available. They allowed us to hang / store our gear there during our stay and they were very easy going about returning gear after hours when we did our night dives. For any SM divers…..be aware they had no opposing valves. The post on the standard valves was too short for the bungee so you need to use the valve handle. Adjust your configuration as necessary.
The diving within the lagoon was decent. You can find some cool stuff along both sides of the bay. The turtles and other critters seem to come in to the shallows when the fishermen dump their scraps. The reef is a bit of a swim but easy enough if you are in decent shape. The reef is in outstanding condition here. The coral and abundance of life was fantastic. Just fyi…..we saw no big animals other than one giant green eel on a night dive, but we were very happy anyway. There was a ton of other things to see. We were also lucky to have only light current during our dives here.
Right now you have to carry your tank down a rather high and steep set of stairs to access the beach (or in my case, two tanks, as there is no way i would allow my wife to carry hers) but soon the dive shop will be relocating closer to the beach. No more stairs !! Bahia is also just finishing an addition that will offer brand new 2 bedroom suites. So if you are planning a trip there in 2018 make sure you watch for the opening. The only downside is that you won’t get an ocean view there like we had at the Lagoon Ocean Resort next door.
The second week we stayed in the city in a large apartment with a huge outdoor balcony. We were only about eight minutes to the historic city center. We did some shopping and sightseeing. It is a pretty cool place. Be aware that Thursday seems to be the big night in town. It took us an hour and a half to return to our apartment after dinner. There were thousands of people out that night causing traffic to come to a halt. I would avoid this area on Thursday nights unless you are on foot or can park somewhere with a quick escape route haha. It could be a lot of fun though if you are into that scene.
Scubacao dive shop was only a couple of minutes from us. Marc and Anton were really helpful with details on some dive sites. Great guys. A tank with weight was only $10 u.s.. Both DIN and yoke valves were available. You will however have to call or message them on Whatsapp to pick up and drop off gear as they are not always in the shop. For any SM divers…...they did have some tanks with opposing valves and longer posts. I would suggest if you prefer these specific tanks to contact the shop well in advance to reserve them.
We hit a few different dive sites this week. We went to Directors Bay twice. The reef there is only about 50 feet from shore. You can't beat that. Once again there was little or no current for us. Beautiful coral and life. Be aware this is a secluded area with no services. There is a small set of stairs to carry gear down to the rocky beach. Only bring what you can take with you under water and leave your car open with the windows down. Our only problem was what to do with the electronic car and house keys. We found a way to hide them. I will leave that up to you.
We also visited Tugboat Bay which is very close to Directors Bay. There is deep water here but we did this as a second dive and stayed shallow to check out the tug. Many people come to snorkel it. But the cool part was under the pier. There were some really interesting soft corals and small life under there. Be aware there are a couple of oil rigs or ships stored here. You are not to dive under them. The area looks like hell to be honest. But it was a cool dive. It would probably be an interesting night dive.
There is a small restaurant there and they have toilets and a shower. If you don't eat, there is a small fee for the facilities. There is only a small rocky beach here. Probably not the best place to plan on spending the day.
Finally we went to Kokomo beach. I even found it without the GPS haha. It has a very nice sandy beach with lounge chairs, a restaurant, restrooms, and a small dive shop on site with rinse tanks and shower. There is a small fee if you do not rent gear from the shop. We skipped the restaurant as we thought it was a bit pricey for a beach place. They are known here for having huge beach parties once a month on the full moon.
The shore entry here is very easy and the reef is relatively close. We saw quite a few divers here. There was no current worth mentioning. The reef was in good shape. It would be a nice place to spend the day. Bring a couple of tanks (or rent on site), pack a lunch, and enjoy a nice shady spot. You may have to leave the cooler in the car as i don't think they allow them on the beach. However they do have a "security guard" (i use that term lightly) watching the lot. So your stuff in the car “MAY” be safe if you get a parking spot close to the entrance.
Over all......
The island is not exactly a tropical paradise. It is more desert like. The west end is more mountainous and we heard the hike in the hills was pretty cool. The city was very interesting with lots of shopping and restaurants around. You can eat pretty cheap or blow the wallet if you choose. It is nice to have both options.
I would avoid the Mambo beach area unless you like over crowding and parties. Be aware they charge a fee to access this area. It is definitely not our scene anymore. But for the younger crowd it is probably the place to be.
BRING BUG DOPE. I suffered quite a bit from reactions to the local insect population. Maybe they just loved my Canadian blood. It honestly was pretty bad. Hopefully most people will not be as sensitive to them as I was.
We found most if not all places were honest when dealing with money exchange (unlike many places in mexico for example). We met some very nice people. But to be honest, we were surprised how many people were not so friendly. Especially those in a customer service roll. To be fair i think perhaps that much of the population here does not speak english, so that language barrier (which is our fault not theirs) may be why many seem "unfriendly". It just seemed odd because we find most people in the Caribbean to be so warm and courteous.
We would return. We were happy we chose to try both ends of the island to see what each had to offer. It was a nice balance between the peaceful quiet of the west end versus the city that offers so many options.
Any questions or comments.....fire away
Here is a short vid. i was using single tank sm this trip. It was awesome for the shore dives.
This post was modified according to the poster's instructions on 1/3 for formatting issues as discussed in the thread.
We flew into Curacao on a Sunday afternoon. We were concerned we would not have time to pick up groceries before heading to Playa Lagun at the far west end of the island as most stores close early on Sundays. We got to the Centrum (a large grocery store) a few minutes after 5pm which is when they closed. However, on the road to Lagun we found several smaller markets and were able to get the basics. Another option people might consider is requesting your accommodations provider pick up groceries for you and have the fridge stocked when you get there. Many will offer this is an option. Obviously the cost for this service will vary.
We found the price of food to be about the same as at home in Canada. We were surprised at the cost of beer and liquor though. We expected it to be lower. We did not find the selection we expected either. Not a big deal for us.
We also had a hard time finding eggs. We were told that Curacao does not allow eggs to be imported, so at times there is a shortage. When we did find eggs at the Centrum later in the week, they were not refrigerated. They were in the aisle. Just in case some people find this odd, this is actually quite common. We also found we definitely had to wash each egg before using. Trust me, you will understand when you see them.
Before leaving home I installed two apps on our phones that were helpful. One was the Google GPS app and the other was Whatsapp. Be aware that the GPS app was very useful for the most part but was often wrong. Driving on the west end is pretty straight forward but if you head to the city make sure you have a good idea of where you are going. Don’t just head out and rely on the GPS. The streets here can be quite confusing until you get to know your way around.
Most people and businesses we were dealing with used Whatsapp to communicate. As long as you are on a wifi network you can text for no cost. This might be old news for some travellers, but it was a first for me. I do not usually travel with my phone. You know…..Old dogs / new tricks etc.
Our first week was spent at the Lagoon Ocean Resort. It is a small group of studio, one, and two bdrm units in a semi secure area overlooking Playa Lagun and the beach. We were lucky enough to have a one bed, two bath, two floor unit right on the cliff. It is a beautiful location. Be aware however that this area is very isolated. There is not much around. There are only two restaurants close by. We ate at the Bahia restaurant next door only once. The Discover Diving restaurant was very good. It is right across from the beach. On Wednesday night they offered an all u can eat bbq. It was excellent. You can also get a decent pizza here for a light lunch or late night snack.
Tanks and weights were available from the Bahia Apartments dive shop which is right next door. Peter, the fella that runs this small shop, was very friendly and helpful. I Believe tanks were $9 u.s. each and weight was $3 u.s. / day for each of us. They had both DIN and yoke tank valves available. They allowed us to hang / store our gear there during our stay and they were very easy going about returning gear after hours when we did our night dives. For any SM divers…..be aware they had no opposing valves. The post on the standard valves was too short for the bungee so you need to use the valve handle. Adjust your configuration as necessary.
The diving within the lagoon was decent. You can find some cool stuff along both sides of the bay. The turtles and other critters seem to come in to the shallows when the fishermen dump their scraps. The reef is a bit of a swim but easy enough if you are in decent shape. The reef is in outstanding condition here. The coral and abundance of life was fantastic. Just fyi…..we saw no big animals other than one giant green eel on a night dive, but we were very happy anyway. There was a ton of other things to see. We were also lucky to have only light current during our dives here.
Right now you have to carry your tank down a rather high and steep set of stairs to access the beach (or in my case, two tanks, as there is no way i would allow my wife to carry hers) but soon the dive shop will be relocating closer to the beach. No more stairs !! Bahia is also just finishing an addition that will offer brand new 2 bedroom suites. So if you are planning a trip there in 2018 make sure you watch for the opening. The only downside is that you won’t get an ocean view there like we had at the Lagoon Ocean Resort next door.
The second week we stayed in the city in a large apartment with a huge outdoor balcony. We were only about eight minutes to the historic city center. We did some shopping and sightseeing. It is a pretty cool place. Be aware that Thursday seems to be the big night in town. It took us an hour and a half to return to our apartment after dinner. There were thousands of people out that night causing traffic to come to a halt. I would avoid this area on Thursday nights unless you are on foot or can park somewhere with a quick escape route haha. It could be a lot of fun though if you are into that scene.
Scubacao dive shop was only a couple of minutes from us. Marc and Anton were really helpful with details on some dive sites. Great guys. A tank with weight was only $10 u.s.. Both DIN and yoke valves were available. You will however have to call or message them on Whatsapp to pick up and drop off gear as they are not always in the shop. For any SM divers…...they did have some tanks with opposing valves and longer posts. I would suggest if you prefer these specific tanks to contact the shop well in advance to reserve them.
We hit a few different dive sites this week. We went to Directors Bay twice. The reef there is only about 50 feet from shore. You can't beat that. Once again there was little or no current for us. Beautiful coral and life. Be aware this is a secluded area with no services. There is a small set of stairs to carry gear down to the rocky beach. Only bring what you can take with you under water and leave your car open with the windows down. Our only problem was what to do with the electronic car and house keys. We found a way to hide them. I will leave that up to you.
We also visited Tugboat Bay which is very close to Directors Bay. There is deep water here but we did this as a second dive and stayed shallow to check out the tug. Many people come to snorkel it. But the cool part was under the pier. There were some really interesting soft corals and small life under there. Be aware there are a couple of oil rigs or ships stored here. You are not to dive under them. The area looks like hell to be honest. But it was a cool dive. It would probably be an interesting night dive.
There is a small restaurant there and they have toilets and a shower. If you don't eat, there is a small fee for the facilities. There is only a small rocky beach here. Probably not the best place to plan on spending the day.
Finally we went to Kokomo beach. I even found it without the GPS haha. It has a very nice sandy beach with lounge chairs, a restaurant, restrooms, and a small dive shop on site with rinse tanks and shower. There is a small fee if you do not rent gear from the shop. We skipped the restaurant as we thought it was a bit pricey for a beach place. They are known here for having huge beach parties once a month on the full moon.
The shore entry here is very easy and the reef is relatively close. We saw quite a few divers here. There was no current worth mentioning. The reef was in good shape. It would be a nice place to spend the day. Bring a couple of tanks (or rent on site), pack a lunch, and enjoy a nice shady spot. You may have to leave the cooler in the car as i don't think they allow them on the beach. However they do have a "security guard" (i use that term lightly) watching the lot. So your stuff in the car “MAY” be safe if you get a parking spot close to the entrance.
Over all......
The island is not exactly a tropical paradise. It is more desert like. The west end is more mountainous and we heard the hike in the hills was pretty cool. The city was very interesting with lots of shopping and restaurants around. You can eat pretty cheap or blow the wallet if you choose. It is nice to have both options.
I would avoid the Mambo beach area unless you like over crowding and parties. Be aware they charge a fee to access this area. It is definitely not our scene anymore. But for the younger crowd it is probably the place to be.
BRING BUG DOPE. I suffered quite a bit from reactions to the local insect population. Maybe they just loved my Canadian blood. It honestly was pretty bad. Hopefully most people will not be as sensitive to them as I was.
We found most if not all places were honest when dealing with money exchange (unlike many places in mexico for example). We met some very nice people. But to be honest, we were surprised how many people were not so friendly. Especially those in a customer service roll. To be fair i think perhaps that much of the population here does not speak english, so that language barrier (which is our fault not theirs) may be why many seem "unfriendly". It just seemed odd because we find most people in the Caribbean to be so warm and courteous.
We would return. We were happy we chose to try both ends of the island to see what each had to offer. It was a nice balance between the peaceful quiet of the west end versus the city that offers so many options.
Any questions or comments.....fire away
Here is a short vid. i was using single tank sm this trip. It was awesome for the shore dives.
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