Considering Curacao and have questions....

[DESIGNERDIVER]

Dive bus?? i dont understand?

 

[Damselfish]

Dive bus is a dive operation that focuses on shore diving. The Dive Bus - HOME

 

[seacharmer]

I've only stayed at 3 places, though I've visited many of the others.

Lion's Dive, long ago. I personally wouldn't stay there now because the area has gotten so much busier and IMO both shore and boat diving options are better towards the western end of the island anyway. The dive op there (and IMO far too many places on Curacao) is Ocean Encounters, which I'm not fond of.

Habitat, many times. Great dive op and set up (though the shore dive there, while still nice, is showing the wear.) Hotel itself used to be nice enough but it's seriously suffering from lack of maintenance, and I probably won't go back there until/unless I hear they've improved things.

Kura Hulanda Lodge. Very nice place with a great shore dive, as good or better than most boat dives. Dive shop is Ocean Encounters West, which is better in some ways than the main Ocean Encounters. The dive setup there is pretty good though not nearly as convenient as it could be - it's been described in other threads here. I would love to stay here again, but Ocean Encounters did a number of things that really pissed us off so I'm not sure. (Problems with management, not the dive staff which was great.)

Dear Damselfish,
would you mind going into a bit of detail on what you are unhappy about with OEW? I am planning to dive with them and would really appreciate a heads up as to your experience.
Thanks

 

[chauncy19]

yes damelfish i am also comtemplating diving with OEW next winter.
thanks

 

[Damselfish]

I did most of my whining on this thread. It was about 1.5 years ago, I don't know the current status of things.

 

[frdm2004]

We just returned from Curacao - had a FANTASTIC time. We stayed at Kontiki Dive and Beach resort (opened May 08) which was great except for Sat nights - they are right next to an outdoor disco which didn't stop until 4 AM. Other than that we had NO complaints and were extremely happy. We dove with Ocean Encounters and they treated us fantastic. For one dive all other divers cancelled, but instead of canceling the dive, they gave us a private dive with great individual service. I can't say enough good things about Ocean Encounters.

 

[Bryan.]

Hi everyone,
My Fiance and I are considering a few destinations for a 5-7 day dive trip,one of them being Curacao. My one major question is this.........is Curacao (like its sister island Bonaire) mainly for shore diving? I understand Shore diving is great and cheap and all that............however we arent looking for that. We would prefer to go out by boat and dive off of the boat. Now do not get me wrong we will try a shore dive while we are there. I do not however want that to be the focus of the trip.
any input would be greatly appreciated
thanks

Hey there DesignerDiver!

I am happy to hear that you are considering Curacao for your 5-7 day dive trip! That is awesome!!

My name is Bryan and I am one of the managers for Ocean Encounters Diving. We have 5 locations on the Island (Lions Dive/Seaquarium, Kontiki, SuperClubs Breezes, Hilton Curacao and Ocean Encounters West which serves Kura Hulanda Lodge, Allwest Apartments and Marazul Dive Resort). In addition to that, we serve most of the other major hotels on the island with free pick-up and drop off.

If you are looking for boat diving, then check us out! We have 4 custom dive boats on the East end of the island and an additional 2 on the west end! We are the One Stop Dive Shop on Curacao and we can take as far east and as far west plus all the best dive spots in between!!

Please PM or email me directly and I will be more than happy to put a package together for you that shows you the best diving the island has to offer!

Our website is attached along w/ my email address!! Also, please check out what our guests had to say about us on our guestbook page!

If you have additional questions, let me know as I am always happy to help!!

Safe Diving!!

Bryan

 

[ApexLongimanus]

i cannot speak for ocean encounters west since they seem to be not as integrated into the ocean encounters family as the other locations (ocean encounters curacao). we did two boat trips with ocean encounters curacao last week. one of them was great (musroom forest) and the other one was logistically srewed up (klein curacao) and should not have been the way it was run that day.

i also did a night dive with jeremiah from ocean encounters at the hilton and have only extremely good things to say about him and his staff there. he did way more than was ever expected of him - absolutely highest marks.

 

[morecowbells]

We didn't encounter any problems with OEW. They were efficient, courteous and very safety conscious. I loved having 'Naldo as our guide. He was great at pointing out many things I would have passed by. I just don't like a lot of people on the boats when diving. On one day there were 18 people on the boat. They did however split us up into two groups. I just prefer small boats with few divers. I think I have been spoiled by diving in Cozumel where the max number of divers is 6 when using my usual dive op.

When shore diving in Curaco we spent a morning at Cas Abao. Not only was it a great shore dive but I was very impressed by their dive shop. They were friendly and helpful with tips on their shore dive sites. It was small and service is limited but they only take out small numbers of divers. On my next visit to Curacao, I definitely plan on booking a dive with them. Curacao Diving | Cas Abao Beach Watersports and Shop If anyone has experience diving with them, I would love to hear about it.

 

[Bryan.]

i cannot speak for ocean encounters west since they seem to be not as integrated into the ocean encounters family as the other locations (ocean encounters curacao). we did two boat trips with ocean encounters curacao last week. one of them was great (musroom forest) and the other one was logistically srewed up (klein curacao) and should not have been the way it was run that day.

i also did a night dive with jeremiah from ocean encounters at the hilton and have only extremely good things to say about him and his staff there. he did way more than was ever expected of him - absolutely highest marks.

Thanks for the honest review. I will pass on your feedback both positive and where adjustments need to be made.

Thanks again!