keesmon
Contributor
OK, before it all starts to become a blur, here's the trip report for our week in Westpunt:
This was a guys trip, 3 friends from the US and The Netherlands. We were looking to shore dive mostly, and take a few boat dives and a Peak Buoyancy Class as well.
Flights were from NY through Miami. I made sure to have a lot of time on the way there in MIA, so our dive bags made it to Hato with us. The layover on the return was shorter, so I expect American do deliver my bags to my apartment at some point today. The amount of traffic they generate around 7PM at customs is almost comical.
Truck was through Alamo. $367 for the week with the extra $14.95 insurance from Amex. Nice 2011 Nissan Frontier. Only thing missing was a tank rack, but Curacao is not a dive only place like Bonaire.
We stayed at Rancho El Sobrino in an apartment. Rancho is cheap, has a pool and works just fine as a basic dive apartment with no frills. The tank fill onsite was OK at best. We used it once and got low fills so didn't use it again.
We did our checkout, boat and class dives with Ocean Encounters West. The shop has had plenty of ink here and for good reason.
It is a professional, courteous and well running shop.
The boats were full (20 divers), but the 2 dive masters, Dirk and Robert kept the dives from feeling too crowded. Everyone dove their profile up to 60 minutes.
The PPB class proved to be fantastic for 2 of us. I dropped 4 pounds of lead, shifted the remaining lead around to improve positioning in the water,and improved my SAC rate significantly. Our instructor seemed hesitant about the need to teach us the course at first, called it the easiest class ever etc., but when we sat down with him and gave him our individual goals for the class he latched on and got some great results for us.
Most of our diving was done via shore, from St. Marie up to Westpunt. Through the help of fellow SBers I had compiled a list of dive sites, and whether there was a shop present for air and the system worked flawlessly. Feel free to PM me and I'll send you the excel version. We rented tanks at OEW for the sites with no facilities, and rented tanks locally whenever possible. Having extra O rings around proved to be important with all the tanks rolling around in the back of the truck. A special thanks to Sunshine and Dave for their local tips. Their information is endless and much appreciated.
The diving was fantastic overall. Visibility was great, shore dive sites were deserted and the fish life was equal to what I remember for Bonaire on previous visits. I thought overall the dive sites were more varied than Bonaire as well, though getting to them takes a lot more time. The swim outs are longer, but some things are just meant to cost a little work. The rewards most certainly were there.
Food and drink was very scarce in Westpunt. We ate well, but getting things like fresh bread or restocking groceries was not easy, as there is no real store nearby. The road to Centrum off the circle by the airport was closed, so we stocked up at the Cost U Less a few miles away upon arrival. On departure day we did find the way around to get to Centrum, but it was a little late for us by then. Dinners at Sol, Misje and Jaanchie's were good, but I'm not sure that I would spend more than 1 week in the area due to the relative scarcity of food options. We did not find a bar or something like that, though we managed to make it though a few cases of Polar at the apartment without a problem.
We did 19 dives in total, and i thought that was about the max we could really get in. The last dive was #100 for me, luckily in warm waters. Stayed a little further off the reef for fear of an unfortunate scrape or curious fish
This was a guys trip, 3 friends from the US and The Netherlands. We were looking to shore dive mostly, and take a few boat dives and a Peak Buoyancy Class as well.
Flights were from NY through Miami. I made sure to have a lot of time on the way there in MIA, so our dive bags made it to Hato with us. The layover on the return was shorter, so I expect American do deliver my bags to my apartment at some point today. The amount of traffic they generate around 7PM at customs is almost comical.
Truck was through Alamo. $367 for the week with the extra $14.95 insurance from Amex. Nice 2011 Nissan Frontier. Only thing missing was a tank rack, but Curacao is not a dive only place like Bonaire.
We stayed at Rancho El Sobrino in an apartment. Rancho is cheap, has a pool and works just fine as a basic dive apartment with no frills. The tank fill onsite was OK at best. We used it once and got low fills so didn't use it again.
We did our checkout, boat and class dives with Ocean Encounters West. The shop has had plenty of ink here and for good reason.
It is a professional, courteous and well running shop.
The boats were full (20 divers), but the 2 dive masters, Dirk and Robert kept the dives from feeling too crowded. Everyone dove their profile up to 60 minutes.
The PPB class proved to be fantastic for 2 of us. I dropped 4 pounds of lead, shifted the remaining lead around to improve positioning in the water,and improved my SAC rate significantly. Our instructor seemed hesitant about the need to teach us the course at first, called it the easiest class ever etc., but when we sat down with him and gave him our individual goals for the class he latched on and got some great results for us.
Most of our diving was done via shore, from St. Marie up to Westpunt. Through the help of fellow SBers I had compiled a list of dive sites, and whether there was a shop present for air and the system worked flawlessly. Feel free to PM me and I'll send you the excel version. We rented tanks at OEW for the sites with no facilities, and rented tanks locally whenever possible. Having extra O rings around proved to be important with all the tanks rolling around in the back of the truck. A special thanks to Sunshine and Dave for their local tips. Their information is endless and much appreciated.
The diving was fantastic overall. Visibility was great, shore dive sites were deserted and the fish life was equal to what I remember for Bonaire on previous visits. I thought overall the dive sites were more varied than Bonaire as well, though getting to them takes a lot more time. The swim outs are longer, but some things are just meant to cost a little work. The rewards most certainly were there.
Food and drink was very scarce in Westpunt. We ate well, but getting things like fresh bread or restocking groceries was not easy, as there is no real store nearby. The road to Centrum off the circle by the airport was closed, so we stocked up at the Cost U Less a few miles away upon arrival. On departure day we did find the way around to get to Centrum, but it was a little late for us by then. Dinners at Sol, Misje and Jaanchie's were good, but I'm not sure that I would spend more than 1 week in the area due to the relative scarcity of food options. We did not find a bar or something like that, though we managed to make it though a few cases of Polar at the apartment without a problem.
We did 19 dives in total, and i thought that was about the max we could really get in. The last dive was #100 for me, luckily in warm waters. Stayed a little further off the reef for fear of an unfortunate scrape or curious fish
