My wife and I just got back from an amazing week of diving in Curacao. For those that just want the pics and a short recap, here you go:
Short Recap:
Picasa Web Albums - Chris - Curacao '09
We booked through the NM Scuba Center and got good prices on a 7 night, 6 day diving package. Stayed at Breezes all-inclusive resort and dove with Ocean Encounters (Curacao Padi Scuba Diving - Ocean Encounters Curacao). Did a total of 12 boat dives including a night dive. Ocean Encounters was a great operation to dive with. Great boats. Very safe. And great dive masters. Breezes was just "average", but we'd stay there again if that rates were good.
Long Story:
We flew American and got delayed in Dallas due to mechanical issues. Missed our connection in Miami by 10 minutes. AA put us up in a hotel for the night and gave us meal credits for the following day. We met a nice couple on the Dallas flight that was headed to Bonaire, via Curacao to go diving. They were flying stand-by though (employees) and didn't get the free hotel so we asked them if they'd like to share our free room. They did and that made the extra full day stuck in Miami a little more bearable (they even bought us dinner at "Catch Of The Day" that evening... thanks!).
We were able to slide the entire trip 1 day to make up for the extra day of travel, so no missed dives or wasted hotel days. The travel agency took care of those changes with no problems!
Once in Curacao we were able to catch the shuttle very quickly and made it to Breezes late in the evening ( 9:30PM ). Checked in with no problems and lugged all our gear to the farthest possible building, on the 3rd floor, with no elevators. At that point it didn't matter, I just wanted to get to sleep. We found out the next day we were in the absolute furthest possible room/floor from the dive shop so we got our exercise walking to/from the buffet, dive shop, etc. all week.
The rooms at Breezes are old, but we didn't have any major problems. Lamp fell off the wall. Drains were a bit clogged up. But no mold/mildew smell. And they were clean with remodeled bathrooms. The pillows were horrible, bring your own. And the bed was firm (but I was happy with that). Flat screen TV on wall had a crappy picture like it was hooked up to rabbit ears and kept dropping the signal. Power is a bit sketchy so the clock kept resetting. We relied on wake-up calls for our alarm instead.
Food at Breezes was average. Breakfast was good, but lunch and dinner was a bit hit/miss. We did 2 of their special (Reservation required) restaurants and they were alright. We made the mistake of booking their outdoor beach dinner the same night as Karaoke....won't do that again. The buffet had a variety of food, but it wasn't anything spectacular. Tough meat. Bland sauces. But filling after a long day of diving and I'd eat it again
Being an all-inclusive, Breezes has some entertainment, a casino on-site, and other various activities. We might as well stay in a hotel/apartment in the future as we don't take advantage of any of the "extra" stuff, but it did provide something to watch as we re-hydrated in the evenings.
Dive Operation:
We had a 7 night - 6 day 2 tank boat dive package (Curacao Now I believe was the name of the package) with Ocean Encounters (Curacao Padi Scuba Diving - Ocean Encounters Curacao). We had read we would have to do a checkout dive before getting on the boat so we showed up at 8:00AM to the shop and got signed in. After a little confusion, we were able to skip the checkout dive with our Stress & Rescue certification and most recent dives just a few weeks ago. The boat picked us up at Breezes every morning and usually made 1 more stop at another hotel or back at Lions Dive to pick up more people. The boats were in great shape. Dive masters (Elric, Andy, Lynne, Kaya, Remy) were awesome. They did a good job pointing things out, and keeping everyone safe. We had a couple dives with heavy currents and some choppy surf to deal with and I never once worried. The boat captain (Carlos) was fun and did a great job as well. All around a great dive op with some great staff. They've also got a nice little shop at Lions dive with lots of t-shirts, hats, gear, etc.
Diving:
The diving in Curacao was amazing. Beautiful reefs. Clear water. Lots of sea life. We did 13 dives, at 11 different dive sites. 2 dives were at Tug Boat, one at night. And 2 at Directors bay due to heavy currents. We did not get to dive the Car Pile or Superior Producer, but would like to make it back some time to do both. Tug Boat was probably by far our favorite dive site. We didn't do Mushroom Forest, or Klein and heard both were great, so if you get a chance to do the special dives, probably worth it
I think the 2 most exciting finds were 2 octopuses on the night dive, and a hawksbill turtle at Saba on the last day.
This was only our second ocean dives (first as certified divers) and the first time in open water with my new camera and case (point and shoot). I also tried out a Ikelite DS51 strobe, but it flooded on the second dive.
Pictures really sum it up: Picasa Web Albums - Chris - Curacao '09
Here's a few of my favorites:
Short Recap:
Picasa Web Albums - Chris - Curacao '09
We booked through the NM Scuba Center and got good prices on a 7 night, 6 day diving package. Stayed at Breezes all-inclusive resort and dove with Ocean Encounters (Curacao Padi Scuba Diving - Ocean Encounters Curacao). Did a total of 12 boat dives including a night dive. Ocean Encounters was a great operation to dive with. Great boats. Very safe. And great dive masters. Breezes was just "average", but we'd stay there again if that rates were good.
Long Story:
We flew American and got delayed in Dallas due to mechanical issues. Missed our connection in Miami by 10 minutes. AA put us up in a hotel for the night and gave us meal credits for the following day. We met a nice couple on the Dallas flight that was headed to Bonaire, via Curacao to go diving. They were flying stand-by though (employees) and didn't get the free hotel so we asked them if they'd like to share our free room. They did and that made the extra full day stuck in Miami a little more bearable (they even bought us dinner at "Catch Of The Day" that evening... thanks!).
We were able to slide the entire trip 1 day to make up for the extra day of travel, so no missed dives or wasted hotel days. The travel agency took care of those changes with no problems!
Once in Curacao we were able to catch the shuttle very quickly and made it to Breezes late in the evening ( 9:30PM ). Checked in with no problems and lugged all our gear to the farthest possible building, on the 3rd floor, with no elevators. At that point it didn't matter, I just wanted to get to sleep. We found out the next day we were in the absolute furthest possible room/floor from the dive shop so we got our exercise walking to/from the buffet, dive shop, etc. all week.
The rooms at Breezes are old, but we didn't have any major problems. Lamp fell off the wall. Drains were a bit clogged up. But no mold/mildew smell. And they were clean with remodeled bathrooms. The pillows were horrible, bring your own. And the bed was firm (but I was happy with that). Flat screen TV on wall had a crappy picture like it was hooked up to rabbit ears and kept dropping the signal. Power is a bit sketchy so the clock kept resetting. We relied on wake-up calls for our alarm instead.
Food at Breezes was average. Breakfast was good, but lunch and dinner was a bit hit/miss. We did 2 of their special (Reservation required) restaurants and they were alright. We made the mistake of booking their outdoor beach dinner the same night as Karaoke....won't do that again. The buffet had a variety of food, but it wasn't anything spectacular. Tough meat. Bland sauces. But filling after a long day of diving and I'd eat it again
Being an all-inclusive, Breezes has some entertainment, a casino on-site, and other various activities. We might as well stay in a hotel/apartment in the future as we don't take advantage of any of the "extra" stuff, but it did provide something to watch as we re-hydrated in the evenings.
Dive Operation:
We had a 7 night - 6 day 2 tank boat dive package (Curacao Now I believe was the name of the package) with Ocean Encounters (Curacao Padi Scuba Diving - Ocean Encounters Curacao). We had read we would have to do a checkout dive before getting on the boat so we showed up at 8:00AM to the shop and got signed in. After a little confusion, we were able to skip the checkout dive with our Stress & Rescue certification and most recent dives just a few weeks ago. The boat picked us up at Breezes every morning and usually made 1 more stop at another hotel or back at Lions Dive to pick up more people. The boats were in great shape. Dive masters (Elric, Andy, Lynne, Kaya, Remy) were awesome. They did a good job pointing things out, and keeping everyone safe. We had a couple dives with heavy currents and some choppy surf to deal with and I never once worried. The boat captain (Carlos) was fun and did a great job as well. All around a great dive op with some great staff. They've also got a nice little shop at Lions dive with lots of t-shirts, hats, gear, etc.
Diving:
The diving in Curacao was amazing. Beautiful reefs. Clear water. Lots of sea life. We did 13 dives, at 11 different dive sites. 2 dives were at Tug Boat, one at night. And 2 at Directors bay due to heavy currents. We did not get to dive the Car Pile or Superior Producer, but would like to make it back some time to do both. Tug Boat was probably by far our favorite dive site. We didn't do Mushroom Forest, or Klein and heard both were great, so if you get a chance to do the special dives, probably worth it
I think the 2 most exciting finds were 2 octopuses on the night dive, and a hawksbill turtle at Saba on the last day.
This was only our second ocean dives (first as certified divers) and the first time in open water with my new camera and case (point and shoot). I also tried out a Ikelite DS51 strobe, but it flooded on the second dive.
Pictures really sum it up: Picasa Web Albums - Chris - Curacao '09
Here's a few of my favorites:
