Best Curacao Shore Dives...

[netta]

We did Bonaire 3 years ago, but want better beaches and something new so we are trying Curacao in May. Bonaire had a great little book we took around with all the descriptions of the shore dives and their difficulty level, it was great. Is there any more info on Curacao shore dives other than shorediving.com? Looking for the best, we are pretty new to diving, around 50, so nothing too difficult. We also don't care about paying, shorediving is sooo cheap it doesn't matter. Thanks for the replies!

 

[herman]

Put Porta Maria and Cas Abo on your list. Really nice beaches, tikli huts, restaurant (pretty good and not overly expensive), restrooms and rinse tanks. The entry fee was around $2-2.50 US for all day. You can take your own tanks or rent there. We dove Curacao for the first time last year. We are all big Bonaire fans and the only reason we even considered Curacao was the trouble all the airlines were having. We did not regert our decision. We still prefer Bonaire, mainly because of it's small size but all of us would go back to Curacao in a minute. We stayed at Holiday Beach Resort. It's walking distance to town and maybe 20-25 miles from the dive site above. We chose to be closer to town and drive to dive. They also have a pretty nice beach and the shore dive there is not bad at all. The dive shop is not too great but since all we wanted/needed was tanks and to be left alone, they were fine. If you want a more personal shop, other places may be better for you.
http://www.hol-beach.com/index2.html#

 

[herman]

Oh yea, Welcome to the board.

 

[WicketsMom]

We were in Curacao in September at Habitat Curacao and loved it! Our package included unlimited shorediving and we bought a map with our rental car that showed most of the dive sites. We found out about some others that weren't on the map (scary stairs and playa hundu) from the dive shop at Habitat - they were very helpful, and the house reef there is great too!

Like Bonaire, the food on Curacao leaves something to be desired, but the diving is incredible! We plan to go back...

 

[Damselfish]

I bought 2 local dive guides in Curacao the first time I went, maybe more recent versions would be available in one of the shops.

Complete Guide to Landside Diving and Snorkeling Locations in Curacao -1990 (Published by Lions Club, I'm guessing I bought it at Lion's Dive as that's also where I stayed that time.) Lists 42 sites around the whole island with excellent descriptions. I just looked and it does list Playa Hundu.

Guide to the Curacao Underwater Park -1989
(Published by STINAPA which is the park foundation.)
This one isn't so useful for shore diving only lists 3 shore access sites, there wasn't much shore access in the park area at least back then but even the other book lists a few more. Worth browsing the book anyway if you find it, lots of general information about Curacao and the diving.

 

[sharon]

Playa Kalki should be on your list to do. It is a fantastic dive. Closer to town, we really enjoyed Vaarenbaii AKA the police beach, very easy entry. I have done many shoredives on Curacao and have not yet found one that I didn't enjoy.

 

[O'Malley]

Here's the link to the Curacao Diving Operators Association (CDOA) and the Drive and Dive Curacao Roadmap. I'm not sure about Habitat but I did see it on the shelf at Sunset Waters or you can order online...

http://www.cdoa.org/

 

[fins]

I would recommend Porto Mari and Habitat Curacao. Both locations (very near each other) are great locations that have enough diversity that you will not run out of new things to see even after several dives each.

Habitat: swim out to the reef, go left or right. The reefs starts at about 30fsw and while not a vertical wall it does drop off very quickly. Watch the current though, while normally very light (if it exists at all) I have been there a couple times where the current has picked up and even changed during the dive. Most of the dives I have done here have been, go out at xxfsw, upon reaching turn pressure ascend to xxfsw and leisurely return back to the dock.

Porto Mari: Really nice double reef with a sand patch between the two portions. There is a map of the reef posted in the bar & grill at the beach. You can choose to dive anywhere from 30fsw all the way to 100fsw

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

Director's Bay is a lesser-dived site near where the famous Tugboat is. Porto Marie and Jan Thiel were also ones we frequented and enjoyed.

Check www.shorediving.com for great writeups on loads of sites on Curacao and other islands.

 

[dyarab]

Here's a pretty good list for all divesites in Curacao:

http://www.curacao-actief.com/index.php?id=3