We are staying in curacao 6 days and Bonaire 5. I noticed in Bonaire divers are strongly urged to rent trucks for their shore diving and never cars. In curacao I see almost no truck rentals and also havent seen car rental agencies discouraging dive gear in their cars. Does anyone have insight into this? I dont want to be charged damages for putting tanks and gear in a car, which is what I have read can happen in Bonaire.
Car rental for divers
- Thread starter Shelly N
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Check out the Dive Bus - They are now doing some form of Drive & Dive packages....
AdivingBel
Diver
I rent a mid-size car from Daniel at D&D rental when in Curacao. He knows we're divers and what to expect as far as a bit of sea water and sand. The mid-size trunk easily handles 4 tanks and we setup on the "lip" of the trunk when we're in sandy areas without any problems. Daniel is a nice guy and we try to be dainty, but he knows the score. Nice cars as well and a prepaid phone is included at no extra charge if you ask. He also has GPS units for an extra charge if you want one. We pay in cash at the end of the trip. Our choice. All IMHO, YMMV.
D&D Car Rental Curaçao
D&D Car Rental Curaçao
I've rented cars from Just Drive Curacao twice now. Good people, good cars and good rates. No problems using the cars for diving, I even went diving with the car keys in my swim suit pockets. No problems with that either. Try: info@justdrivecuracao.com
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We rented from Budget at the CUR airport. As there were 6 of us - a small Jeep and a 2dr pickup truck for tanks. IIRC the Jeep had some sort of plastic liner in back - may have been standard equipment. Nice thing was it had a cargo cover we used when we left equipment back there while diving. We had the truck but I don't see any reason 4 tanks couldn't have gone in back also.
If there was an exclusion for diving, my buddy never mentioned it. I know we did not do any cleanup b4 dropping the vehicles at the airport the morning we left.
Unlike Bonaire - at the vast majority of dive sites on Curacao you will find a dive operation that rents tanks for a nominal fee so you would not have to haul any. Playa Jeremi being an exception - there's nothing there. It's on the north end of Lagun though and Discover Dive about 10mins. south at Playa Lagun. They have a drive up tank loading dock.
At some like Playa Kalki/Alice in Wonderland you want to use their tanks as they're staged 20' from the dive dock. To get down to it is a flight of rough stone stairs - they had a tank trolley next to them but it looked like it gave out years ago.
If you dive the old Sunset Waters site (plane wreck) the resort closed years ago so you'll need bring everything. I think only one of the Gnip sites has a shop although there's 2-3 dive sites along the same road.
Also the dive school at the Tugboat seems to go out on a regular basis. We were able to get tanks from them - I've heard others in later years were not.
Look at the dive listings at www.curacao.com - a lot of the shop names give away their locations. Or there's Relaxed Guided Dives on the main road heading west - they have an on-site fill operation and rentals.
We did many of the known western shore dives over 10 days of diving. I can't think of any that were very far off the main road or an improved dirt road used by a lot of people daily. At several sites there were small low cars parked while locals used the beach or dove - like Toyota Corolla's or equivalent.
If there was an exclusion for diving, my buddy never mentioned it. I know we did not do any cleanup b4 dropping the vehicles at the airport the morning we left.
Unlike Bonaire - at the vast majority of dive sites on Curacao you will find a dive operation that rents tanks for a nominal fee so you would not have to haul any. Playa Jeremi being an exception - there's nothing there. It's on the north end of Lagun though and Discover Dive about 10mins. south at Playa Lagun. They have a drive up tank loading dock.
At some like Playa Kalki/Alice in Wonderland you want to use their tanks as they're staged 20' from the dive dock. To get down to it is a flight of rough stone stairs - they had a tank trolley next to them but it looked like it gave out years ago.
If you dive the old Sunset Waters site (plane wreck) the resort closed years ago so you'll need bring everything. I think only one of the Gnip sites has a shop although there's 2-3 dive sites along the same road.
Also the dive school at the Tugboat seems to go out on a regular basis. We were able to get tanks from them - I've heard others in later years were not.
Look at the dive listings at www.curacao.com - a lot of the shop names give away their locations. Or there's Relaxed Guided Dives on the main road heading west - they have an on-site fill operation and rentals.
We did many of the known western shore dives over 10 days of diving. I can't think of any that were very far off the main road or an improved dirt road used by a lot of people daily. At several sites there were small low cars parked while locals used the beach or dove - like Toyota Corolla's or equivalent.
jeepguy
Contributor
We normally rent something along the lines of a RAV4 and rent tanks from The Dive Bus. Works pretty well for two divers. I normally take a 6 x 8 blue tarp with me to line the rear of vehicle and leave tarp with Dive op when done. They always can use a tarp. Planning trip in May and using the Drive and Dive deal with them.
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I should mention the truck was a stick shift.
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