Curacao- June 18 thru June 28

[lovetodive-travel]

We are starting to plan our trip to Curacao and there will 3 to 5 of us going. We have been to Bonaire a few times and I absolutely love Bonaire.
... right now we are looking at Ocean Encounters as the dive shop, possible staying at All West. I have been reading the comments.. great comments.... My questions are
Shore diving-
do you recommend that we rent a truck for our shore diving adventures? some comments recommend trucks over cars...
recommendations for shore dives... just go with the dive shop recommendations and/or your recommendations or do you recommend any online or printed material???
any definite shore dive that you would recommend that we hire a dive guide for....
if we decide on more distant location shore dives and we don't have enough Nitrox tanks from ocean encounters...do most dive shops carry Nitrox???
Boat diving with ocean encounters-
for Klein... I know that it can be based on weather, current etc but how many days ahead can we plan the trip?
our the boats usually packed.... I ask because then we will do less boat diving and more shore diving....

All West- where are the nearest food markets/shops???

What restaurants are a must? Thank you for any help....

 

[tarponchik]

Rent a truck. This will allow you to access San Juan sites (Mansalina, Shon Mosa etc), these are worth it. Also, if you'd like to hike Cristoffel on your last day or check out the East side, truck is much better (though some folks do it by car IMHO it is risky).

When you dive from All West, go south. They'll tell you it is good both ways but we never saw anything to the north except for the Neptune statue. Do this at night, it is pretty cool.

As for the groceries, go S along the shore till you see this:

 

[jdcpa]

Please see my comments below.

We are starting to plan our trip to Curacao and there will 3 to 5 of us going. We have been to Bonaire a few times and I absolutely love Bonaire.
... right now we are looking at Ocean Encounters WEST as the dive shop, possible staying at All West. I have been reading the comments.. great comments.... My questions are
Shore diving-
do you recommend that we rent a truck for our shore diving adventures? some comments recommend trucks over cars... You must rent a truck. You need it to get around. They rent trucks at All West.

recommendations for shore dives... just go with the dive shop recommendations and/or your recommendations or do you recommend any online or printed material???

Ask Bryan, he knows the sites well. Potro Marie both ways is a good one.
any definite shore dive that you would recommend that we hire a dive guide for....
if we decide on more distant location shore dives and we don't have enough Nitrox tanks from ocean encounters...do most dive shops carry Nitrox???
Boat diving with ocean encounters-
for Klein... I know that it can be based on weather, current etc but how many days ahead can we plan the trip?
our the boats usually packed.... I ask because then we will do less boat diving and more shore diving.... Again, ask Bryan. He is the shop Manager, and he will know that. Please let me know as we will be there then as well. But no, the boats are not usually packed, but he does get some groups down.

All West- where are the nearest food markets/shops??? California- about 15 minutes back down the main road. Be careful, sometimes there is not anyone in the store that speaks english.

What restaurants are a must? Landhius Misje, Sol Food, Kura Hulanda Lodge

Thank you for any help....

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

All righty then.... the lions definitely have me stumped. In front of which grocery store did you find them?
Rent a truck. You can do this along with your rental at All West.
A lot of dive sites have shops; Porto Marie, Cas Abou, Lagun and Playa Kalki on the West End. Not sure about Habitat. It saves a lot of lugging tanks around, you'll have some interaction with the onsite dive op and you won't have to pay a fee to use the facilities.
We enjoy shore diving. That said there are a few only by boat dives that are pretty special; Watamula, Elvin's Plane Wreck (for the reef), Redhio and Scooter next door, (far) east end dives and Seldom (just kidding Bryan!). Mix up your diving and expand your experiences.
Email me for a lot of words about the West End of the island. curacaosunshine@gmail.com I highly recommend stopping for groceries at Centrum (a few miles from the airport) before heading out to Westpunt.

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

Hi John (and all)
Louis is now renting trucks/cars at the Lodge as well. Make sure you let Joyce know your dive dates, she'd like to come back this year and enjoyed diving with you.

 

[tarponchik]

I may have forgotten the exact location but I think it is right N of Soto. We liked it more than another shop at Weg Naar Westpunt which has a very small parking lot and was always crowded. This one is also located very handy along the route to dive sites at San Juan and/or Cas Abou etc.

 

[diversteve]

My top 5 shore dive list - listed by distance (I think) from Westpunt:

Playa Kalki - both directions.
Playa Lagun
Porto Mari
Habitat's Reef
Varsenbaai

I highly recommend stopping for groceries at Centrum

I do also, they sell disposable coolers for the ride out. Instead of going right (west) at the rotary south of the airport, go straight through and it's either the 2nd or 3rd stoplight on your right. Get a good road map. Some of the minor roads leading to the divesites aren't well marked out west. I'm pretty sure we used this one: http://www.strictlyscuba.com/products/299-franko-maps-curacao-guide-and-dive-map.aspx

If you're near Willemstad, The Ribs Factory in Salina was good. http://www.bigredislandguide.com/theribsfactory
Our apt. mgr. also recommended Landhuis Daniel but we didn't get there.

 

[tarponchik]

Kalki is perfect because the reef is nearby, and they have some unusual stuff hard to find at other sites. For example, I saw sargassum triggerfish on every dive at Kalki but nowhere else. But I would add Jeremy, both Kenipas, San Juan dive sites, Cas Abou and Watamula (by boat) to the list. On the other hand, Habitat was a disappointment. The reef is close to the shore but this was the only advantage they have. They forced us to rent tanks from them, and then we found that corals were in bade shape and there was not much life life there. Porto Mari is the one with the double reef that opens their gate at 9:30, right? These guys have an eatery and lockers, but again, their reef looked damaged. Our impression was that anything south of San Juan and Cas Abou is not worth your time. We did not go south of Habitat, though; maybe there are some good sites there.

 

[TheWizard]

I do also, they sell disposable coolers for the ride out. Instead of going right (west) at the rotary south of the airport, go straight through and it's either the 2nd or 3rd stoplight on your right. Get a good road map. Some of the minor roads leading to the divesites aren't well marked out west. I'm pretty sure we used this one: Franko Maps Curacao Guide and Dive Map

The Curacao Dive & Drive map is quite excellent both for secondary roads getting to dive sites and for streets around Willemstad. But you may not be able to buy one until you hit a dive shop, so have something else in your carry-on bag.

We got our food from Centrum to AllWest just fine back in March without a cooler (but inside our A/C pickup). I don't think it's a problem assuming your room is ready for you to move into...

 

[diversteve]

Kalki is perfect because the reef is nearby, and they have some unusual stuff hard to find at other sites. For example, I saw sargassum triggerfish on every dive at Kalki but nowhere else. But I would add Jeremy, both Kenipas, San Juan dive sites, Cas Abou and Watamula (by boat) to the list. On the other hand, Habitat was a disappointment. The reef is close to the shore but this was the only advantage they have. They forced us to rent tanks from them, and then we found that corals were in bade shape and there was not much life life there. Porto Mari is the one with the double reef that opens their gate at 9:30, right? These guys have an eatery and lockers, but again, their reef looked damaged. Our impression was that anything south of San Juan and Cas Abou is not worth your time. We did not go south of Habitat, though; maybe there are some good sites there.

Maybe it was the time of day (afternoon) but we thought Jeremi was a big disappointment. We went west out of the cove and didn't see much of anything. For the OP - it's one site where you'll need to bring everything.

We saw some big eels at Habitat - it's unclear if Diverversity is even still there since the resort closure. IDK about the gate at Porto Mari - we were there in the afternoon. But it is a double reef site with locals on the beach. Sounds like the same place.

Tugboat was a good dive if you find yourself in east Willemstad - it's actually the next town over but IDK the name. The better diving is not the boat (20') but the wall around the point to the east. And I've read the pier if there's no ships moored - we couldn't dive it as there was active traffic in the area.

My buddy's wife used to guide dives on Curacao - she said Snake Bay is one of the better sites - we didn't get to it.