Curacao Trip Report April 2011

[RJP]

Tarponchik,

What do you mean by "Northern Curacao", do you mean the north coast?

I think when it comes to Curacao, many visitors say "North" when they mean "West"

 

[tarponchik]

Tarponchik,

What do you mean by "Northern Curacao", do you mean the north coast?

The island is shaped like a banana, so what the locals call "West" is in reality more like "North" once you get away from Willemstad. So if you are shore diving at some spot like Lagun you will be heading straight West when you go out and straigh East when you come back. And if you drive along the Western shore which we did most of the time you will be going North-South, not East-West. Naturally, what the locals call "West" (because they have to go "West" from Willemstad to get there) becomes "North" for you.

 

[RJP]

The island is shaped like a banana, so what the locals call "West" is in reality more like "North" once you get away from Willemstad. So if you are shore diving at some spot like Lagun you will be heading straight West when you go out and straigh East when you come back. And if you drive along the Western shore which we did most of the time you will be going North-South, not East-West. Naturally, what the locals call "West" (because they have to go "West" from Willemstad to get there) becomes "North" for you.

As the island sits almost at a 45deg angle, in most respects heading "North" means you're heading "West" as well, or vice-versa. Either way, I'm sure a "local" appreciates you schooling him on the island's geography and proper terminology.

 

[tarponchik]

Well, if you are shore diving using your compass to avoid bumping into an endless cliff on your way back, you would call directions what they are according to the little magnetic arrow, not what they are called traditionally.

Same thing in US: though the latitudes of LA and Atlanta are about the same, when Americans say "South" they do not include California which in their minds is "West".

 

[Nivek Llekots]

Let's not get to technical, here in Curacao we refer to "WestPoint" as being the west end of the island, and "EastPoint" being the east end of the island, the north side of the island is the windward facing coast where the airport and "Playa Kanoa" are, and the south side is the leeward side where most of the popular dive sites are. I know it doesn't line up perfectly with the compass, but those are the names on the maps.

Anyway my real question was what do you mean by:

"I strongly disagree on the value of shore diving at Northern Curacao; however, this is a question of personal preference."

What do you disagree with?

 

[tarponchik]

In the report, bobmndc wrote: "We found that Curacao is not as compatible with shore diving as Bonaire. The western end of the island is a lot like the area of Bonaire around Karpata, Oil Slick and Thousand Steps, but without the easy access. The main road is a mile or two inland, so you have to take secondary roads down to the water, and they mostly only go to the bays. The swim outs from the bays to the deep water looked to be typically 1/4th mile or more. Once there, there is no way out in most places because the cliffs drop straight into the water...So we made all our dives from the boat."

1st, in Kalki, AW, the San Juan area sites and Porto Marie the reef wall is as close to the shore as on an average site at Bonaire, and the access is just as easy. 2nd, swimming over the shallows in bays like Lagun, Jeremy etc where the reef wall is indeed 1/4 mile away is fun too. This is where you can see fluying gurnards, flounder, squid, schools of silversides, eels of the sharptail/goldenspotted type and turtles, and an occasional scorpionfish or lobster if you swim along the cliff. You go on a boat and you gonna miss al that. So IMHO shore diving in Northern/Western (whatever) Curacao is not a single bit worse than in Bonaire, except for the general difference in sea life. However, the abovementioned abscence of large fish and turtles in Curacao is more than compensated by the incredible abundance of stuff for macro: nudibranches, anemone shrimp etc etc.

 

[bobfmdc]

RE: Where to go when not diving--We hit a couple of bays just for coctails. As Curacao Sunshine pointed out, some have open air restaurants (e.g., Portomarie). In Willemstad, we went shopping on the Punda and went through the old Market. I was there twice 10 years ago on u/w archaeology projects, and thought the Maritime Museum in Willemstad was very good (maybe an hour to tour). The "Slave" Museum on the Otrabanda is also worth seeing. Quotes because there is much more there than slave stuff. One of the people where we stayed this time said the aquarium was good (east of Willemstad). For a real outing, go to the park on the west end and climb Mt. Christoffel (sp?). One of our archaeologists did that on an earlier trip; she came back tired but happy.

 

[bobfmdc]

Yeah, I probably seemed too critical of the east/south--whatever you call it--more out of ignorance than anything else. Ten years ago on an archaeology trip we dove in and around Carracas Bay, and it was nice. We also went to Boca Sami on an excursion, and it was forgettable (yes, it is actually a few miles north of Willemstad). We had some local divers participating with us who said the best places were up west/north. This time we had some on the boat who dove a few times out of the resorts near Willemstad and they said it was not good. I personally do not get excited about artificially sunken ships or junk dives (e.g., car bodies), so maybe some of my personal views crept in--but I will have to say you would have trouble beating Watamulla around the point in Westpunt, on Curacao, at least.

We could not make connections to get to Klein Curacao, but I hear that is a good trip.

 

[bobfmdc]

Curacao Sunshine has all the places to eat in and around Westpunt; read her post.

And she is right, I had a bit of a literary hernia.

 

[bobfmdc]

Re: Tarponchick's comments about the large fish--There were some 5 to 10 pounders, mostly hog and yellow snapper, under the coral in the holes. You could see them out in the open as you descend, but as soon as you got within 20 or 30 feet, they ran in the holes. I used to spearfish years ago, and that is the way they act when their buddies have been shot. They learn really quick.

As for fishing, lines were all over the place and I counted maybe 12 rebar anchors stuck in the rocks.