Shore Diving in Curacao-- Depth?
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It does vary significantly, and since it is shore diving, you can largely choose your depth. I suppose some sites require greater depth to fully enjoy them. I was in Curacao a couple months ago. Since my youngest son is only 11, he is limited to 40'. On occasion I would do a deeper dive with my older son while the 11 year old stayed more shallow with his mom, but most often I was content keeping to the shallower depths.
I am guessing here that you are not wanting to go too deep due to your limited dive experience. You should be fine. Actually, unless you are looking for a wreck or a specific swim-thru or a certain creature that likes depth, I think diving in the 30-50' range is underrated on this board. The light is better, there is more color and the dives are longer.
Here are a couple links, from the Dive Bus and Curacao Actief websites, that talk about many of the dives. That should give you some good information and I am sure they would be happy to talk to you. They know a lot more about this than do I.
The Dive Bus - Shore Diving Sites
Curaçao Actief
Hope this is helpful
I am guessing here that you are not wanting to go too deep due to your limited dive experience. You should be fine. Actually, unless you are looking for a wreck or a specific swim-thru or a certain creature that likes depth, I think diving in the 30-50' range is underrated on this board. The light is better, there is more color and the dives are longer.
Here are a couple links, from the Dive Bus and Curacao Actief websites, that talk about many of the dives. That should give you some good information and I am sure they would be happy to talk to you. They know a lot more about this than do I.
The Dive Bus - Shore Diving Sites
Curaçao Actief
Hope this is helpful
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Like Draq said you can go as deep or as shallow as you want. I did a couple of deeper dives while I was there for specific shots, but for the most part I enjoyed the shallower dives. I could take my time, and do some longer dives. This is great when shooting macro as you can really take your time on subjects.
As stated above to depth of 60 ft. there is plenty of light and a lot of small stuff to see. When you want to go deeper, there are some wrecks at 100 ft. or even deeper.
It is what you want: both shallow and deep is possible.
Hope you have a pleasant stay at Curacao.
It is what you want: both shallow and deep is possible.
Hope you have a pleasant stay at Curacao.
bubblejunki
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Hi there,
Don't go boat diving, Curacao is a shore diving paradise.
Happy Diving
Don't go boat diving, Curacao is a shore diving paradise.
Happy Diving
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We tried to stay in what we thought was the optimal area across a dozen divesites. My shallowest dive was 68', the deepest 90'. There's also good stuff to see below about 40'. Tugboat is a pretty good dive in 20'. We saw seahorses at 40', Turtles in 10', one deeper wreck in 80' etc.
An advanced wreck dive that's deeper is the Superior Producer. Two of the best dives on Curacao are boat dives only, Mushroom Forest and Watamula.
The shorediving is among the easiest I've seen anywhere in the Caribbean, generally sandy beach entries, not a lot of current, a lot of sites have on-site or nearby tank rentals. It's a longer surface swim out the the reef at some locations, but easy to navigate, the reef mostly parallels the shoreline.
An advanced wreck dive that's deeper is the Superior Producer. Two of the best dives on Curacao are boat dives only, Mushroom Forest and Watamula.
The shorediving is among the easiest I've seen anywhere in the Caribbean, generally sandy beach entries, not a lot of current, a lot of sites have on-site or nearby tank rentals. It's a longer surface swim out the the reef at some locations, but easy to navigate, the reef mostly parallels the shoreline.
lmorin
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Except that many of the very best dives are pretty much boat dives.
I don't agree. Living in Curacao for 14 years I know from personal experience most of the dive sites (I am one of the authors of the Curacao Diving Guide). Although there are some very nice sites that cannot (easily) be reached from shore, the majority of the dive sites are easily reached from shore. Not too long ago I dove Mushroom forrest from shore (drift dive, jumping in the water at the Blue Room cave and from there to Santu Pretu; a long dive but doable). And Alice in Wonderland, an easy shore dive, has the same large formations of Mountainous Star Coral. Watamula, as it is done as a boat dive can indeed not be reached from shore, but given the fact that it is next to Alice in Wonderland, I consider that dive site equally good. I dive Watamula from shore (jump in the water at the "hole of Curacao" at Watamula and from there to Playa Gepi, but in that dive you don't reach the coral formations that the boat divers consider the boat dive site Watamula. East point and the other dive sites East from Barbara beach certainly cannot be reached from shore unless you get permission from the owner of the property but there are not many boat dive operators that dive there. North side is accessible from shore if the conditions are right and provided you are with an experienced guide and have yourself sufficient experience for these kind of dives.
So, if you like boat dives, go with a boat dive operator, but you don't miss much if you dive from shore. And you have much more freedom diving from shore. There are certainly more than enough good sites, accessible from shore, to fill several of your vacations in Curacao
So, if you like boat dives, go with a boat dive operator, but you don't miss much if you dive from shore. And you have much more freedom diving from shore. There are certainly more than enough good sites, accessible from shore, to fill several of your vacations in Curacao
Diver OnLu
Contributor
Hello,
I don't want to add to the discussion if shore or boat dives are generally better on Curacao - I think there are very nice sites for both.
Talking about depth my experience after more than 500 dives around Curacao is that generally you don't increase your chances to see cool stuff by going deeper than 60ft. I have seen all kind of eels, barracudas, jacks and tunas, turtles, eagle rays and sting rays, seahorses and frogfish and even dolphins much shallower than that.
So just jump in the water and enjoy!
Andreas
I don't want to add to the discussion if shore or boat dives are generally better on Curacao - I think there are very nice sites for both.
Talking about depth my experience after more than 500 dives around Curacao is that generally you don't increase your chances to see cool stuff by going deeper than 60ft. I have seen all kind of eels, barracudas, jacks and tunas, turtles, eagle rays and sting rays, seahorses and frogfish and even dolphins much shallower than that.
So just jump in the water and enjoy!
Andreas
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