Question 1st time to Curaçao

[Jayfarmlaw]

What to do?????? Dive 10 dives a day on the house reef! It’s one of the best wall dives I’ve done. Our trip in April as not as good as it should have been because we were plagued with wind and currents so I didn’t get near the dives in I wanted. A bad knee and strong currents are not a good combination. Jorge and Chrissy run the dive shop and just let them know how many tanks you will need for the day. You hang your gear in a locker room and have access to it 24/7. Swim through the cut in the rock break wall and the flat part of the reef runs from about 13 feet to 40 ish. Then the wall starts. You can work the wall in 10 foot depth increments and never see the same thing twice. I went to 180 feet so you can get as froggy as you wish, within your skill level of course…. The flat has lots of marine life too. Scorpion fish galore!

I had a wrecked knee and had no problem coming up he swimming pool ladder at the end of the pier. There is a rope as well to pull your gear up if need be. I would set my gear up on the upper ledge of pier, strap it on, and walk 5 feet and giant stride in.

don’t forget to do several night dives and one of my favorite dives is a twilight dive watching the colors change as the sun comes up.

for the shear number of quality dives possible, Sunscape is a great choice! By the way, Jorge likes his coffee with lots of milk, Chrissy likes hers with several sugars. Please tell them that Jay from Oklahoma says hello.

safe travels,
jay

 

[Redtwo]

+1 for divecharter Curaçao boat trips to the east point! Great diving and indeed lovely people!

 

[Mason Gierke]

Thanks for all the great advice. @Jayfarmlaw and @drrich2 your trip reports are the ones that sold us on Sunscape and Curaçao. We plan on using the house reef to really up our dive count. Most of our trips are spent driving and having to meet others schedules. Can't wait to dive the house reef.

 

[Jaan]

IIIRC Curacao uses US style outlets.

Are you going to have a car?

Marriott curaçao has the 220 round adapters with two prongs. There IS a USB too.

 

[digdug87]

I will be staying at Sunscape 7/20 - 7/30. This will be my 2nd trip there.
The there are electrical US style outlets in the rooms.
The house reef is great!
Feel free to contact me if your there at the same time.

 

[hilljo88]

+1 Dive Bus to Tug Boat, Director's Bay, their House Reef, etc.

Food and Drinks in town:

Gouverneur Pub

Wine Cellar for fine dining

Fish and Joy small plates

Mundo Bizarro funky spot

 

[Owen ONeill]

Some newer hotels are running 110V with YS style three prong outlets but other places do NOT. We stayed at Scuba Lodge, which has a separate dive shop attached. I opted to use the services of Scubacao. It's a small independent operation in a relatively convenient location that is operated by a husband and wife with one or two employees. The dive shop on Cozumel where I got my AOW certification in 2003 never turned that paperwork in to PADI. I decided to do the recertification program, the price including equipment rental wasn't a lot more than just doing 3 days of guided diving. My instructor Matts was excellent, and it was just the two of us for all of my dives. I was unimpressed by the wreck that we dove out near the pier, but the other guys were quite enjoyable. Didn't see a lot in the way of marine life other than a few eels and a few large sea turtles. I'm sure it's better in other parts of the island where I didn't dive. Sandy beaches in most places made for really easy shore entry.

We reserved a rental car through Avis at the airport, and it was a nightmare. They didn't have enough cars and it appeared that we were going to have to wait at least 90 minutes to 2 hours to get any kind of a car from them. They were pretty indifferent to the issues, but allowed us to cancel the rental with no penalty. We got a cab to our lodgings and then rented from a local company the next day, which is the only way I would do it in the future. I think the rental company was called Sunscape but I'm not 100% certain of that. They were highly professional, brought the car to a set of hotel, and we were able to return it to them at their shop which was just outside the airport, and they drove us to the terminal.

Unlike many Caribbean islands, the tap water everywhere on the island is clean, tasty, and safe to drink. Dutch government financed a large desalination plant some years ago. The first thing we do and most tropical locations is by jugs of water to use for drinking, brushing our teeth, making coffee etc. No need to do that on Curacao.

English and Dutch is spoken everywhere. American dollars are also universally accepted, but we have credit cards that give us bank rate conversions with no foreign currency exchange charge, so we mostly stuck with credit cards. The food was pretty decent but if you want to get authentic local cuisine than the best thing to do is seek out some places that will be off the side of the road with tents and picnic tables.

 

[RumJunkie]

Some newer hotels are running 110V with YS style three prong outlets but other places do NOT. We stayed at Scuba Lodge, which has a separate dive shop attached. I opted to use the services of Scubacao. It's a small independent operation in a relatively convenient location that is operated by a husband and wife with one or two employees. The dive shop on Cozumel where I got my AOW certification in 2003 never turned that paperwork in to PADI. I decided to do the recertification program, the price including equipment rental wasn't a lot more than just doing 3 days of guided diving. My instructor Matts was excellent, and it was just the two of us for all of my dives. I was unimpressed by the wreck that we dove out near the pier, but the other guys were quite enjoyable. Didn't see a lot in the way of marine life other than a few eels and a few large sea turtles. I'm sure it's better in other parts of the island where I didn't dive. Sandy beaches in most places made for really easy shore entry.

We reserved a rental car through Avis at the airport, and it was a nightmare. They didn't have enough cars and it appeared that we were going to have to wait at least 90 minutes to 2 hours to get any kind of a car from them. They were pretty indifferent to the issues, but allowed us to cancel the rental with no penalty. We got a cab to our lodgings and then rented from a local company the next day, which is the only way I would do it in the future. I think the rental company was called Sunscape but I'm not 100% certain of that. They were highly professional, brought the car to a set of hotel, and we were able to return it to them at their shop which was just outside the airport, and they drove us to the terminal.

Unlike many Caribbean islands, the tap water everywhere on the island is clean, tasty, and safe to drink. Dutch government financed a large desalination plant some years ago. The first thing we do and most tropical locations is by jugs of water to use for drinking, brushing our teeth, making coffee etc. No need to do that on Curacao.

English and Dutch is spoken everywhere. American dollars are also universally accepted, but we have credit cards that give us bank rate conversions with no foreign currency exchange charge, so we mostly stuck with credit cards. The food was pretty decent but if you want to get authentic local cuisine than the best thing to do is seek out some places that will be off the side of the road with tents and picnic tables.

Great info. Can I ask you about the local authentic eating places off on side the road? Did you use credit card for those places, or pay with cash? Thank you.

 

[tkaelin]

The food was pretty decent but if you want to get authentic local cuisine than the best thing to do is seek out some places that will be off the side of the road with tents and picnic tables.

For local, I recommend Komedor Krioyo out west on the way to westpunt or Purunchi Koredor closer to town. Both uniquely local. May not be the best for the unadventurous though. Check them out in advance online. Recommend the goat or papaya stews at Komedor and whole fried fish at Purunchi.

 

[JohnN]

Great info. Can I ask you about the local authentic eating places off on side the road? Did you use credit card for those places, or pay with cash? Thank you.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the 'Old Market' in Willemstad A favorite with the locals, usually quite busy at lunch. Gotta love goat stew and dirty rice