Trip Report Back from visit #6

[AdivingBel]

D) In Curacao there is a greater distance between dive sites. Typically we would pick a site, dive to the right, take our Surface interval then head left. Typically, we only do two dives a day. For the hard core divers who do 4+, Bonaire will offer more bang for the buck.

For this reason I think it's more important to pick a location with a good house reef when diving Curacao. I can comfortably get 3/4 dives a day (not counting night dives ), when I want to, if I can supplement with the house reef. IMHO, Marazul has a wonderful house reef. There are other good reasons to stay there, but this is high on my list.

I think @morecowbells has excellent taste in dive locales. We'll be heading back soon.BTW, I enjoy both Bonaire & Curacao. Gotta luv dive freedom...

 

[tkaelin]

Nice Report. The nitrox thing can be an issue. Renting them at Gowest when you plan on using them elsewhere is a deal breaker for us. We are just not going lug the tanks up and down from the tank storage to the parking lot. For our stay at Lagun Blou they had our nitrox tanks available on site but they had to be requested in advance. We did not lug tanks anywhere on the last trip. Simply rented the nitrox tanks where we dove (Cas Abao and Gowest).

Glad you experienced a bait ball. I never get tired of seeing them.

Glad you tried Cactus Café. Our favorite on this side of the island.

A good house reef, whether Bon or Cur is a major consideration for us.

Glad you had a nice trip. You always find ways to improve and do things a little different next time.

 

[tkaelin]

Time to try CUR. It is less expensive that BON and if diving and staying in the Lagun / Westpunt and you like peace and quiet you might enjoy it. Diving though for us in done differently than Bon. On CUR I think it makes more sense and certainly a lot less work staying at a place with a good house reef with tanks on site. Don't lug tanks to other sites unless some really good reason. Dive a couple other sites that have tanks on site. There really is no need and no benefit to try to hit a/on of or as many other shore dive sites. Hit a couple for variety but hit your house reef a lot at different times, slow down the dive and keep an eye out. You will not get bored and each dive will be a little different and there could be a lot of surprises. Also depending on where you stay you may have the house reef all to yourself.

 

[CosbySweater]

Thanks for the report and taking the time @morecowbells
I have 5 trips and 9 weeks on Bonaire, but have yet to go to Curacao. You have obviously been there numerous times and I know you have Bonaire experience, as well.

I am not looking for a full blown breakdown and comparison, but I am curious as to the following:

If you were going to sell someone (me) on why they, or (I) should choose Curacao over Bonaire for a dive vacation, what would you say?
1. Eliminate airfare and airfare costs- they are relative
2. Eliminate food and beverage unless you think it is a strong thing to consider (see 3F below)
3. Eliminate the quality of the beaches- I already know that Curacao wins that comparison hand down!
4. Focus (for me) would be on the following:
A) Cost of diving (Assume mostly shore diving)
B) Ease of dive site access from shore (entry and exit and distance from shore to reef)
C) Ease of picking up and dropping off tanks on a daily basis (assume 4 dives per day at various sites)
D) Ease of getting to and driving to and from multiple dive sites and getting tanks on a given day
E) Are you going to be assured of seeing something in Curacao that you wouldn't in Bonaire? or assured of seeing something more regularly?
F) Proximity to the best diving; in relation to the proximity of where most people would choose to stay during a given week or two
1) I guess this question would relate to a perception I have (perceived or real) that the best places to stay, best access to decent food (restaurant and otherwise), best access to night life is very different from the best diving?

I'll provide my two cents. I've been to both BON and CUR recently and have another trip to CUR planned in two weeks.

A.) Cost of diving is similar to BON. One benefit of CUR is the number of dive sites that have a dive shop on site which makes sourcing tanks easier. Most of the popular sites have a house shop close by.
B.) Entries in CUR are easier. Most are soft sand entries with little to no wave action. distance from entry to the reef is further than BON but not so much as to make it inconvenient. Some sites in CUR require climbing stairs to get from the parking area to the beach (Director's Bay and Playa Kalki are two examples).
C.) Easier than BON in my opinion because of the location of dive shops at or near most of the more popular dive sites. That being said, we stayed near a popular dive shop last year and sourced the majority of our tanks through them. Economically it might make sense to find a good dive shop nearby and use them for tanks throughout the week, so you can take advantage of any package discounts they offer. The Dive Bus in Willemstad is a great shop (shameless plug, they're awesome!)
D.) CUR does not have as many named sites as BON. The sites on CUR are more spread out and require more driving. I find the roads to be in better shape in CUR than in BON so it's a little easier to drive around. Watch out for stray dogs though!
E.) i saw significantly more turtles in CUR than in BON. Playa Grande is the hot spot for turtle sightings but we saw them frequently at other sites too. I remember seeing a small green turtle in 4 feet of water at Playa Lagun last year. Pretty cool to see one that shallow.
F.) You can stay in and around Willemstad or in and around West Punt. Both ends of the island offer good diving. West Punt is definitely more rural and laid back and has the prettier sites IMO, although there is a lot of good diving around Willemstad (Director Bay, Tug boat, Pier Baai to name a few). If you want to be closer to shopping and restaurants and such then Willemstad is a better choice. I stayed in Willemstad last year and am doing the same this year. We'll dive both ends of the island throughout the week. It's a 45ish min drive from downtown Willemstad to West Punt. We typically pack for a full day (food, water, etc.) and spend the whole day out West when we go there. There is also a lot of great diving in the middle of the Island too (Cas Abao, Porto Marie, Kokomo Beach to name a few). Where ever you chose to stay, I'd recommend renting a car so you can experience the whole island.

In summary, CUR and BON are very similar but I prefer CUR because it's a little easier to get around the island, the diving is fantastic, there is more to do in Willemstad than Kraledjiyk during non-diving hours, and the abundance and price of AirBnB's are better than BON (I'm not a resort type guy so it's a cost savings thing for me).

 

[tkaelin]

I think CosbySweater pretty much nailed it.

I am curious to make a fresh comparison as I was in CUR in Jan and will be in BON in June. I am thinking that the Westpunt area is much prettier, more scenic and peaceful than most of the places you can stay on Bon (from around just below the airport up to Andrea I) but we will shall see.

CUR is decidedly less expensive for us flying out of the NYC area but that may be because we can take JetBlue nonstop to CUR and consistently find fares $400 or less and typically closer to $300 whereas our only nonstop choice is United from EWR consistently runs $700-$1000.

 

[drrich2]

One benefit of CUR is the number of dive sites that have a dive shop on site which makes sourcing tanks easier.

I would think it’d be easier to haul tanks from your main dive op. with you to sites.

Seems like what you describe would entail checking in with onsite dive shop and showing c card and filling out paper work and paying at each site where used and on site shop.

Is that easier or an advantage?

 

[CosbySweater]

I would think it’d be easier to haul tanks from your main dive op. with you to sites.

Seems like what you describe would entail checking in with onsite dive shop and showing c card and filling out paper work and paying at each site where used and on site shop.

Is that easier or an advantage?

I agree and that's what we did for the most part. There was one occasion when we decided to stay at a site for an extra dive, didn't bring enough tanks to make that work, but instead rented tanks from the dive shop on site. I think CUR gives you more flexibility to change plans like that.

We also had an incident with one of the tanks we brought to a site that rendered the tank unusable (valve issue). We just rented an extra tank from the shop on site. No big deal.

On site shops have additional benefits too, not the least of which being local knowledge of the dive site.

 

[tkaelin]

I would think it’d be easier to haul tanks from your main dive op. with you to sites.

Seems like what you describe would entail checking in with onsite dive shop and showing c card and filling out paper work and paying at each site where used and on site shop.

Is that easier or an advantage?

Let me give you an example. Bonaire: We load up the car, drive to a dive site, gear up, dive, take all the gear off, throw in truck, come back, rinse, hang dry and repeat.

Curacao: We throwh our mesh gear bags, no tanks, a beach bag (books, sunscreen, etc.) and drive to beach. Park next to dive shop (this example Cas Abou/Bdiving). The parking spot is right next to the dive shop so much reduced risk of truck break in.

We walk 10 feet from the truck to the shop where there is a shaded dive set up area with benches, storage areas, rinse tanks. Yes it takes a couple minutes to do the paper work and pay for the tank but while we are doing this we are getting up to date current info on the dive site, latest conditions, latest critter spottings. Invariable we learn of a seahorse here, a frog fish there.

While setting up in the shade on benches, we are offered cold water and coffee.

They will take our wallets, phones, valuables and store them behind the counter.

Soft sand calm beach entry short walk. No ironshore rough entries.

After the dive, if doing another dive, we set up our 2nd tank on the bench, will likely rinse and hang dry layers. We will then grab some food and drink from the snack bar, set up on beach chairs under shaded palm huts and relax for or SI, maybe read, maybe take a quick snooze. All our gear is with the shop and watched by them.

After the second dive we will rinse everything at the beach. Hang it up to dry and hang out a little longer. The gear thrown back in the car is dry and clean and we head back home.

I know in one form or another you can do something similar in Bon but there are advantages and some things can be easier and more fun as I had hoped to point out. It can certainly outweigh or justify the little bit of time needed to fill out the paper work.

TK

 

[drrich2]

Informative, good description. Thanks. Makes me wonder how well non-divers could stay entertained at Casa Abou and similar sites while the diver dives.

 

[tkaelin]

I suppose that depends on the person but I don't see why not. There are beach chairs, shade huts, beach, bathrooms, water sports, snack bar, showers, swimming.