Advance Reservations Needed for GoWest Boat Diving?

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BarnBrat

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Messages
31
Reaction score
16
Location
Charlotte, NC
# of dives
100 - 199
We are planning our first trip to Curacao the week of Thanksgiving. We have a house rented at Marazul and plan to do at least 3 days of boat diving with GoWest diving. I know they have their daily destination schedule published and I was wondering how far in advance their boats usually fill up if at all, especially on popular destination days like Watamula? Thanks in advance for any input!
 
We will be doing something similar in January. Staying at Marazul but only doing a 2 tank boat dive to Watamula, so definitely following. Will also be curious about your experience at Marazul. I realize they are private owned condos, so more about the common areas. Also, are you planning on using Sublime dive shop for tanks for shore dives? If so, I would love to hear about your experience.

Erik
 
Why not call them and talk to them about it? Or email if phone shy. Without knowing the answer, I'd be more concerned with trips not making but who knows. If my trip was certain, I'd book as far ahead as I could provided their cancellation policies are not draconian.
 
I wonder if they have any sort of cancellation policies for walk-ins. We stay at AllWest and sign up for all boat dives on day 1, so... I don't think I've seen anybody turned away, but that doesn't mean much.

It's best to ask them, IME they do answer e-mails even if on "island time" sometimes.
 
Please keep us posted.. planning a trip there with some friends looking for recommendations:cool:
 
My personal viewpoint is I would just wait til I arrived. I looked at their page and it doesn't look like very forgiving cancellation policy. Anything less than 3 days and you are SOL.This is the stated policy. Whether it's enforced like that in practice, I don't know.

In some destinations, where if the boat is full you just aren't going to be diving, you might have to take your chances. Curacao has great shore diving so you will be diving in clear water with lots of fish and coral whether you get on the boat or not.

What is your cancellation policy for diving?


  • Cancellations made 7 days or more prior to the first scheduled dive day will receive a full refund.
  • Cancellations and/or changes in reservations 3-7 days out will be charged a $25.00 per person administration fee.
  • Cancellations received within 3 days (72 hours) are non-refundable and non-transferable. No-shows are non-refundable.
 
We're going to Curacao the week of December 4th. Emailed Go West to get on their Mushroom Forest trip....no response. Ended up booking the Westpoint trip at Dive Charter Curacao (Watamula/Mushroom/Blue Room)....and the Eastpoint trip the following day, and we got the last two seats on both! Granted, they dive a small RHIB. But for what it's worth, the calendar was filling up, so I'd book in advance with whomever you decide on.
 
My personal viewpoint is I would just wait til I arrived. I looked at their page and it doesn't look like very forgiving cancellation policy. Anything less than 3 days and you are SOL.This is the stated policy. Whether it's enforced like that in practice, I don't know.

In some destinations, where if the boat is full you just aren't going to be diving, you might have to take your chances. Curacao has great shore diving so you will be diving in clear water with lots of fish and coral whether you get on the boat or not.

What is your cancellation policy for diving?


  • Cancellations made 7 days or more prior to the first scheduled dive day will receive a full refund.
  • Cancellations and/or changes in reservations 3-7 days out will be charged a $25.00 per person administration fee.
  • Cancellations received within 3 days (72 hours) are non-refundable and non-transferable. No-shows are non-refundable.
Totally agree with this ...normally. :) But if you want to dive Watamula, Mushroom Forest, etc you pretty much need a boat. Shore diving not an option due to where it's situated on the coastline.
 
Thanks everyone,

I did end up registering in advance, one of the days was already full but we were able to get spots the other 3 days. Go West was very responsive to emails and easy to reserve the spots ahead of time.
 

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