Wow! Curacao has some great macro photography!

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

My family and I just returned from a fabulous week in Curacao. We were there for a Dive Medicine Conference sponsored by the Hyperbaric Medicine Department at Long Beach Memorial Hospital. We stayed at Habitat Curacao and dove with Diversity. Habitat Curacao in undergoing some construction but the rooms were clean and comfortable, the food at the restaurant outstanding, and the diving was great. Their house reef is one of the best I’ve seen. While there was not a lot of “big stuff” there were lots of beautiful coral gardens, walls, and lots of macro life.
Here are a few photos:

Other photos are here:
debersole.com

 

[RJP]

Nice shots - thanks for taking the time to share them!

 

[joyceschur]

I also just returned from Curacao. I'm not a UW photographer, but I hooked up with another ScubaBoard family (JDCPA) who scored some similarly fabulous shots. Curacao is absolutely perfect for macro-diving because there are many dive sites where there's practically no current (in addition to the excellent vis). I've been in Cozumel so many times I nearly forgot it's possible to do something other than a high-speed drift dive. Some of those Curacao slow-motion dives were positively ZEN. Thanks for posting your pictures (for those of us can't manage a camera and buoyancy control).

 

[Reef Tank]

A couple of these images seem familiar. Did you post them elsewhere?

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

Only over at Rebreatherworld (Rebreather World - Rebreathers for Scuba Diving - the next step) as it was a rebreather trip for me and my wife and daughter (though they had to share!).

Thanks for the kind words, everyone.

Joyceschur -- I agree completely with you that the macro photography is much easier than in Cozumel. Or even than drift diving in West Palm -- my home turf.

Doug

 

[Korsu]

Nice shots.
After three years on the island, I still am not bored with the underwater photography! Macro is more about seeing. All reefs have small stuff but its finding it that is the challenge. Slowly Curacao is becoming a "new" Caribbean option for divers and I hope the island will respond by doing more to protect its reefs.
While I live within walking distance of Habitat, I have been waiting for somebody to post about staying there since coming under new ownership. More details from your stay might be helpful for Board members. While all I see are marked increases in prices at the restaurant (the service is better), I am concerned that the hotel wants to become a spa as opposed to a dive destination. That would be a shame but it is to early to tell. The dive staff has remained a constant, and they are great.
Glad you had a fun trip.

http://sbysshe.smugmug.com/

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

Thanks, Korsu. Habitat Curacao was very nice. While under construction, it was not that apparent during our stay. The rooms were large and comfortable with air conditioning, small refrigerator, and a safe. The fixtures in the bathroom were a little dated but there was plenty of hot water and good water pressure. The only complaint my wife and I had was there were no blankets/comforters for the bed. Just a thin sheet. Minor annoyance, really. Additionally, we had a very nice patio in our ocean-view room.

The pool was also very nice though we did not use it much other than as a "rinse" of ourselves after diving.

There was a very nice large conference room which we used for a Diving Medicine conference -- the purpose of the trip

There was wifi in the lobby but not the rest of the resort. Upgrading that would be nice. There is also a small shop for drinks, snacks, etc.

The restaurant was great. I didn't think the prices were extravagant, but I don't know what they were before. We tried a lot of different entrees and desserts and all were outstanding. Service was very good as well.

The dive shop is under construction but the staff was very friendly and helpful with very good dive guides. There were no dive lockers while we were there but they are planned. We used two open large areas to hand wetsuits, etc overnight.

The shore dive was one of the best house reefs I've been on in the Caribbean. It was also really nice to have a rope from the dock all the way out to the reef and down to 90 feet. Makes navigation a breeze!

All in all, it was a great trip and I would highly recommend Curacao and Habitat Curacao to anyone out there!

Doug

 

[skynscuba]

Thanks for the report and photos.

I'm always amazed at the subjects that divers can find, let alone the skillful photography. I've been to Bonaire 3 times, still without seeing a sea horse or a frog fish.

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

The key to finding a lot of macro subjects that is to go with a local guide. They dive the sites every day and "know" where the good stuff is. In all my years of diving I think I've found one frogfish and three seahorses without someone showing it to me or at least telling me where to look!

 

[Korsu]

Caribbean Frogfish - sbysshe.smugmug.com

Well we do have a few Frogfish !
The more you find, the more you see them.