Curacao Dec 5 - 19

[Storm]

Hey folks.

It's been a long while since I posted (been too busy with work, life and oh yeah diving ) so I’m going to make it up all in one post.

My wife and I are heading to Curacao this December and I wanted to get some advice. I've browsed through some of the trip reports here and on tripadvisor.com and from what I've read, it sounds likes there really no bad place to dive, but that the west end has some of the better diving sites. Both Judy and I are AOW certified, so diving is going to one of the focuses of our trip.

We're staying at the Lions Dive Hotel (we took and oceanfront room) and plan on using Ocean Encounters for some of our diving, The Dive Bus for a day or so, rent a car for a couple of days of independent shore dives out to the west side, and might even attempt using one of the charters for a day on the north side.

I sent an email to OE a couple of days ago to ask for pricing on some charters, (especially some of their "special day charters") and the price on renting tanks for a few days but haven't heard back from them yet. I'm sure I will eventually.

I've already sent for a few books to read; one on dive sites, the other on culture and history, and on one Papiamentu. I always try to learn the basics of the language of the country I am visiting. I may end up butchering the language a bit, but learning the local language always adds more to the travel experience.

Anyway until I delve a bit deeper into the vacation planning, I have few preliminary questions that will help get me on my way with the planning.


I guess the basics first:

What type of weather can we expect in early to mid December?

Is there an issue with mosquitoes or sand flies?

What will the water conditions be like at that time of the year?

What about wildlife? (the wet kind not the night life) what can we expect/realistically hope to see

Our only ocean diving experience was last year in Cuba, where the reefs were gorgeous, but there was not much in the way of sea life. All our other diving has been on century old wrecks in the murky, cold, current infested water in the St. Lawrence River.

We usually dive 7 +7 mm wetsuits up here in the land of the moose, a 5/4 when the waters finally reach a balmy 65 degrees but were were thinking of taking along our 5/4 mm full suits and maybe a 3mm full suit for single dive days.

What types of cylinders are available for rental, AL 80's or steel?

We dive BP/wing with a long hose set up, will we run into any hassle with our "tech" gear.

I'm pretty rigid as to my dive gear, especially the exposure protection. I have a slight allergy to insect and animal toxins, so I always wear my 3mm reef gloves. Judy and I practice no impact diving. Up here touching anything on a historical wreck is a real good way to get banned from dive groups and charters.

Are there any issues with wearing gloves?

Also I absolutely refuse to dive without my safety gear and that includes a small (2 inch blade) dive knife (used for cutting line, entanglements etc. At 45 years old, I’m a little too old and too portly to be playing He-Man with sharks and a frog sticker Are there any issues with diving with a dive knife.

We spend much of our dive time with Judy pointing out targets and me shooting them, with my camera of course. Do the charters/ shore dive areas have dip tanks for UW photography gear?

We'd like to get a few night dives in, which sites are best for night dives, and which operators run night charters? Would it be more economical to haul our rechargeable batteries and dive light down, or can batteries be easily and economically purchased on the island. Do any of the Dive Ops rent lights for night dives?

Also does anyone have any experience diving the north side? As I understand the situation the dives are more advanced, and surface conditions and current can be issues, but has anyone got in water experiences that they could relate?

I am also wondering if anyone knows if it’s possible to split dive day packages between OE and OEW?

Now to some land based questions.

I take it a lot of the expected dress at hotels and restaurants si casual. By casual I take it we are talking slacks and collared shirt?

I've read that dining can be anywhere from 30.00 to 300.00 per dinner. As we are staying at a hotel where meals are not included (our choice as we want to see the island and meet the people, and not just hang out at the resort) can anyone suggest a really nice place where I can take my wife to celebrate our tenth anniversary? We hit tens years in June and decided to defer our celebration until we hit the island.

I’ve read some place that the Lions Hotel was planning on some renovations, and a new pool. Should I be concerned about construction at the hotel when were there?

I’ve also heard about some sort of rotating happy hour at the hotels along the stretch were we are staying, can anyone elaborate? It sounds like a good way to meet folks.

Also,

If any of the local folks who hang out here happen to see an old fart, slightly portly, with a close cropped beard and moustache, glassesa and wearing a Canadian Flag bandana on his head, don’t be shy; walk up and say hello. I don’t bite.

BTW I also wear the same type bandana when diving, unless it up here and then it’s a hood or beanie.

Thanks.

Rick

 

[Kukuisa]

That are a lot of questions, to much to handle in one time, so i start with some answers and maybe other Scubaboard members will fill in the gaps.
Let's start with the weather: December is the rainy season, so expect rain and when the rain stops there are mosquito's.
The watertemperature will be around 80-82 degrees F.
There are no real big creatures underwater, so focus on the smaller stuff. Macro photography is good.
Tanks: almost every dive operator has 80 Alu.
Knife: no problem with that.
Gloves: i don't know, because i never waer them. Aks your dive op.
Night dive: an excellent place is Mariepompoen ("Pierebaai"), the house reef of the Dive Bus. Most ops rent dive lights. If you have rechargeble batteries, bring them along.

So far my 2 cents.

 

[dragonhd]

Well you are in for some wonderful diving! I was there the first of July. Sunshine is a font of wonderful information, not to mention her and David run a nice restaruant are great dive buddies to hook up with!
all the dive companies I dove with did not allow gloves, to protect the reefs. Casual there is mostly shorts and whatever for a top but you will be there in a wetter time then I was. Long pants are recomended in the evenings to avoid the pests.
As for sea life.... I saw lots of different types of eels and a BIG morey eel, many juvenile drums and adults, top hats, file fish, the usual assortment of Parrot fish and trunk and cow fish. Many nudiranchs, flamingo tongues, slipper lobsters, spiny lobsters, octupus, one very large sting ray (others saw the eagle rays, and a shark). Then there are the schooling fish, lots of variety's, the damsels, gobies, angels, seahorses (hard to spot, even when you know they are there, lol), scorpion fish, peacock flounders, crabs, turtles, lots more stuff I didn't know what to call, lol. The night dives where my favorite but try to make it a true night dive. At least 2 hours after sunset. My best dive was at ten pm. Okay, enough typing for me......someone else want to take the next question?
Wish I was heading to Sunshines place for Pizza and a beer, then out for a night dive with David....My own version of a heavenly day

Keep wet...Dragon:14:

PS click on the 42 by photos under my pic, you will see a few of the 650 shots I took while there, lol.

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

Hi Rick,
I sent you an email and hope it went through....
Anyway we can make specific plans as your vacation draws nearer but if you would like to plan a night dive on your Thursday; we have an evening worked out with our guests and other visiting divers. We start the night dive just a bit early around 7:15 as the sun sets. Dragon HD prefers to start after 10PM..... Anyway, we suggest to folks that we go to Lagun because... Bahia Inn has a BBQ that starts around 8PM with the food being ready around 8:30. (33 guilders or $18.86 per person not including drinks) This works out well for an hour dive, quick rinse and change before dinner. Lagun is approx. a 45 minute drive from Lions Dive but if you were interested, perhaps you could plan on visiting the West end, either diving Watamula (boat) or Alice in Wonderland (or both) in Westpunt, hanging with us, maybe Andreas (from Scuba Board) for a while and then going on the night dive. This is just something for you to think about as you plan your week. I'm sure we'll hear from you before you land on the island.
Weather wise we get most of the rain from November to March, sometimes heavy but usually for short bursts of time 10 to 15 minutes and it's still 86 degrees. But since you'll be wet anyway it shouldn't matter. The mosquitoes will be out at night so bring a lightweight pair of long pants and closed shoes for comfort.
The way the island is situated the west end tends to have flatter water than the east end although the beach at Lions Dive is in a bay and very protected from the chop.
If you rent a car, you can visit some of the other sites before or after your dives. For your consideration; the Ostrich Farm, Hato Caves, Shete Boca/Boca Tabla and Landhuis Ascension since you'll be here on the 1st Sunday, the 7th of December. You can take a bus to the Punda/Otrabanda sites like the Synaguogue and the Kura Hulanda Slave Museum. It's a couple of miles walk to town. The neighborhoods are not as bad as some people post on Trip Advisor. I've walked to town a couple of times; it's where the locals live. But it is a hot walk when a bus is just a couple of guilders. Depending on just how young an old fart like you really is... the bars on your beach start getting exciting at 10 or 11 PM and go to I think 6AM. Too late/early for me, and a very young crowd. Maybe after your midnight dive
If you plan just to drive, dive and drive back; consider diving with the Dive Bus.
With 2 weeks, you'll find you can relax a bit with your schedule. Happy planning!
Sunshine
Curacao Sunshine - Rental Property on the Island of Curacao

 

[TN Traveler]

Looks like there might be a "crowd" the week of the 13th to 20th. We will be at Kura Hulanda with 7 divers.

Tell David he will definately have company for a couple of night dives.

Sunshine - thanks for the clothing tips.

 

[Storm]

Thanks all for the advice, keep it coming.

Sunshine,

Got your email....many thanks. Once I get a chance to read it all hoepfully I'll have a better idea of that we're going to be doing. I'm sure I'll have more questions.

Judy and I WILL be heading to Westpunt for more than a few days worth of touring/diving. I've been in contact wth the Dive Bus already, and have sent an email to OE, but they seem to have either misplaced it or have decided not to jump on the answer right away. It's a bit discncerting not to have gotten even an acknowledgement from them, then again, the trip is still several months away and they're probably busy.

Right now Judy and I are planning our "dry" days based on the desired museum/tour availability days. Once we know that schedule, we can look at the few boat dives and excursions we are thinking of doing. After this, it's the east end shore dives, Dive Bus/rent a car days out to the Westpunt days, then finally its the "beach/recovery days".

From what I've read so far, some of the boat dives that are a "must" are The Superior Producer and Tugboat (for wrecks...and Judy and I LOVE wrecks; it's all we've got to dive up here the land o moose) The Mushroom Forest, and one other around Westpunt, but I don't have it's name on hand at the moment. Once I can figure out the scheduling for these, I'll have a clear idea what shore dive sites and days we'll have. It's a terrible thing to have to plan out two weeks of paradise diving, but I think I can bear it


Hey TN,
Once you get an idea what nights your group is planning on going out, and if you don't mind another couple of divers, let me know. Judy and I definately want to do some night dives while we're there. Our last trip to Caribbean was tp Cuba, and they didn't have any night diving, so we most definately want to do both twilight and moon light dives.

 

[dogenia]

I'd recommend the Dive Bus night dive, tell me when and I might even join you.

Dove Directors Bay last saturday with Silent Immersion and water temp was 28.3 C @ 2 pm.

Don