MY01SHADOW:
Ronbeau:
Wow, Thanks for the reply. I would love to hear what you have to say about the resort/restaurants and if there are any can't miss dives that are in a close proximity to the resort. Right now I'm leaning toward using Ocean Encounters and The Dive Bus pretty much exclusively as we don't plan to rent a vehicle. We will have 3 maybe four dive days and will probably take full advantage of the daily free shore dive. So I would welcome all advice and suggestions.
You've gotta love this board and the number of people it reaches as well as the info shared here.
Look forward to hearing from you!
Mike
Since you are only going to be there for 4 days I would suggest you get your reservation in for the Pastafaris and Munusan restaurants early. The reservations are made at the guest services desk which diagonally across from main check-in desk (right next to the Hertz and Thrifty rent-a-car tables.
Pastafaris is the Italian restaurant while Munusan is the Japanese restaurant. I highly recommend both restaurants and that is coming from a person who does not eat in Japanese restaurants that often.
You have a choice of either sitting around the grill or at a table that is not around the grill. I highly recommend sitting around the grill. It is very interesting and entertaining to watch the chef prepare your meal. Munusan is a covered open-air Japanese restaurant.
At Pastafaris you have a choice of sitting inside in the air conditioning or out on the veranda. My family and I choose to eat in the air conditioning.
The other choice for dining is at Jimmy's buffet. Your breakfast and lunches are served at Jimmy's buffet.
The dive shop is located at one end of the resort next to the disco. The dive shop is closest to the rooms in the "high-rise" building (only 5 stories high). The other rooms are in 20 or 3 story buildings. These other buildings have outside entrances and no elevators.
If you are into gambling there is a casino on the premises. I you are going to exchange your USD for NAF (Netherlands Antilles Florin - better known as Guilders) you are much better off doing so in the casino. If do it at the front desk they will make money of you on the exchange rate going in both directions. The exchange rate in the casino is the same going in both directions.
The only dive I did with Ocean Encounters was the Superior Producer and Saba (dive site not the island of Saba). The Superior Producer is a freighter that sunk in the 1970's with the keel at 105 feet and the deck at 85 feet. I enjoyed the dive. There was no a lot of fish life on this dive but it was interesting going around the ship. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from this dive since I chose not to take the camera since this was my first dive greater than 80 feet.
There was more fish at the second dive site. The maximum depth on this dive was 54 feet.
We dove 3 days with the Dive Bus and went to the following 3 sites
Porto Marie
Caracas Bay (Tug Boat)
Director's Bay
Porto Marie has two reefs with a valley between them. There was plenty of fish at this dive site. We did one dive in the morning and ate lunch during the surface interval. We did the second dive after lunch.
Caracas Bay (Tug Boat) has a two-tiered reef that drops off to 40 feet, then 60 feet and beyond. The nice part is that when you turn around at 1/2 a tank you ascend up the reef to the Tug Boat where there are tons of fish. This is also the world's longest and interesting safety stop since the Tug Boat sits in about 17 feet of water. We took tons of pictures around the Tug Boat.
We saw the following (in no particular order)
Blue Tang
Spotted Trunk Fish
Juvenile Trunk Fish (daughter spotted this rare find)
Parrot Fish
Blue Head
Damsel Fish
Trumpet Fish
Four-eye Butterfly fish
Jacks
Peacock Flounder
Yellow-tail snappers
Others I can't remember
We enjoyed the time with the Dive Bus folks. Make sure you copy down the Dive Bus phone number from their web site before you leave since you can't find it in the local telephone book (cell phone).
The Dive Bus hut is right next door to Breezes.
If you come out the front entrance to Breezes and take left your will see a dive flag sign after you get past the end of the Breezes property. The Dive Bus hut is located behind the Surf and Turf restaurant (I believe that is the name of the restaurant).
If you are looking for a night dive, the Dive Bus does night dives once per week. I believe the same is true of Ocean Encounters.
I dove in a Bare 1 mm dive skin the whole time I was in Curacao. My 12 year old daughter dove in a full length Bare 3 -2 mm jump suit. The water temperature never dipped below 82 degrees (even at 105 feet).
There is a towel hut on the beach that opens at 8:00 AM. You can swap out your beach towels as often as you like. We placed the beach towels in the bottom of the closet in the room. We then hung up my full 1 MM dive skin, my daughters 3-2 mm wet suit, and my wife's Lycra dive skin (after ringing them out) and 2 BCs in the closet. The beach towels collected any water that gravity took out of the equipment as it dried.
We swapped out the beach towels for new one sin the morning on the way out to dive.
Ocean Encounters offers a free guided shore dive at 2:30 PM in the afternoon. If you intend to go on any of the boat dives with Ocean Encounters do the guided dive first and use it as your "check out" dive. The "check out" is merely to determine that you are properly weighted and that you are not likely to drown yourself.
You can also do the free shore dives at Breezes anytime between 8:30 AM and 4:30 PM (tanks have to be turned in before 4:30 PM) on your own as long as you have a buddy and are certified. They will provide your with tanks, weights and a dive flag at a minimum. If you don't have your own equipment with you they will also supply you with life support equipment and fins at no cost for the daily dive at Breezes Resort.
The drinks at the bar include everything from soda and water to top shelf liquor such a Southern Comfort, Amaretto d' Sarono, Johnny Walker, Wild Turkey, Jack Daniels etc. These are all free (included in the all-inclusive price).
If you happen to run into Jeff who manages the food and beverage operation you will find him quite entertaining, friendly and helpful. He is also a diver. He happened to see a tee shirt I was wearing one day and struck up a conversation. It turns out that he started his career as a chef years ago in a restaurant about 15 miles from my house in western Massachusetts.
If you run into any problems, immediately go to the Guest Services Manager. Her desk is located directly across from the main check-in desk.
Hopefully this post is helpful to you and not just a rambling post <smile>.
If anything is unclear, don't hesitate to ask questions. If you have questions I did not answer feel free to ask those questions also.
I don't mind. It is my chance to give something back for all the value I have obtained from Scuba Board.
