Curacao advice wanted...

[Draq]

Because we can get much better airfare to Curacao, my family (4 divers) is thinking of going there in October, instead of Bonaire, as originally planned.

We like to do shore dives and typically would do at least three per day, sometimes 4 dives, and often including night dives and dawn or pre-dawn dives. So we like to try and stay someplace with a nice house reef for some of those super early dives, but also be close enough to other sites. Oh and one of our group is a Jr. Diver, so we like to hit a fair number of shallow dive sites for his benefit.

We don't need anything fancy, and prefer more laid back surroundings to a lot of activity. We have no interest in casinos or nightlife. But it has to be clean and well-maintained and suitable for 4 people. We like to explore different eating options, so some restaurants within reasonable range would be nice, but it can also be nice to have a kitchen to make at least some lunches and breakfasts.

In Bonaire we would be staying at Den Laman or Buddy Dive, as examples.

So far I am considering Habitat and Kura Hulanda. Sunset Waters is too expensive. Curacao Sunshine looks appealing but isn't available when we are there.

We have never been to Curacao before, so I need some help finding a good spot. I suppose we don't need to be in a resort if there is a nearby dive op we can use, but we want mostly shore dives.

Oh, and I have searched extensively and read a lot of information here; that is how I learned of Curacao Sunshsine. But, things change and our needs may be different than others and there may be new folks with good information.

Thank you for any help.

 

[diversteve]

You've pretty much described Habitat in a lot of ways. Kura Hulanda is nicer but it's farther west and so more limited in restaurants, availability of food for cooking, dive sites are all east from there. It's a 45 min. drive from KH to Willemsted should you do that. Probably 20mins. from Habitat to town. If you're familiar with Bonaire, Habitat is like a small Buddy Dive. About the size of the Divi but without the beach. Although almost all the resorts on the West End are a lot more vertical, it's 3 flights of stairs down from the resort/pool/rest. level at Habitat to the dive dock.

Some things to know:

Curacao isn't like Bonaire. The reefs are farther out and a lot of the divesites in the west are in little sandy coves - easy entries but a kick out in a lot of areas. And unlike Bonaire just about every dive site requires a drive in from the main road. So the logistics of doing 4 dives/day usually means you do two at one site then two at another. We managed 4 dives/day twice by doing that.

Habitat is located in a housing development and except for their restaurant, the closest food of any kind is at one small market nearby or back in Willemsted. We stayed in Lagun and bought food at Centrum Market in Piscadera before driving out. They sell cheap throw-away coolers if needed.

There's not a lot of restaurants outside of town. Several in West Punt and a couple more along the main road. Other than that it's local snak's (Curacao fast food) or a drive to town. There's both good restaurants in town, some touristy ones along the harbor and even McD's/Pizza Hut etc.

Habitat has an excellent reef and good facilities. The reef starts just offshore, there's a good section at 40' (I did two dives there waiting for my buddies) and some interesting stuff closer in. When we were there (a year ago) there was a resident octopus in about 10' of water and a barracuda lived under the diveboat dock. So your jr. diver would have plenty to see.

Otoh, Playa Kalki/Alice in Wonderland is one of the best dives on the West End, it's the KH house reef. Ocean Encounters West is there but I've heard you have to make special arrangements with them for tanks outside of normal hours. At Habitat I don't think there's even a door on the tank room. For shorediving Habitat also has a tank fill near the parking lot so you don't have to lug them up the stairs. There's less stairs at OEWest but they're steep. And the tank trolley didn't look like it had worked for years.

Isn't Kura Hulanda more expensive than Sunset Waters though? I would've thought it would be, it's much nicer.

Another dive that would be good for your group is Varsenbaai. There's resident seahorses at the base of the ball 40' deep, going east there's a pontoon boat wreck at 80' and turtles feeding in the shallows at 6' on the way back in. Two of my buddies did 148' there so it offers something for everyone.

Another good dive (although a bit of a drive) is Tugboat. The Tugboat itself is in 20' of water but the reef around the point past it is a great dive for critters. There were eels in a cliff along the shore. So good for your jr. diver. It's probably an hour from Habitat each way. You could combine it with a trip to the Sea Aquarium in the same general area. They do various dolphin encounters there also.

Most of our dives started out shallow with the option to roll over the edge of the reef and go deep. But almost all of our dives were in the 40-60' range - we found the most life in that range.

One other thing that's different than Bonaire is that a lot of the shoredive sites have some sort of facilities on them and you pay a small usage fee. Most offer tanks/weights also. An exception is Playa Jeremi, there isn't even a bathroom there.

 

[Diver OnLu]

Hi Draq,

You don't mention when in October and for how long you want to stay on Curacao; I am working for All West Apartments in Westpunt as well as for Ocean Encounters West at Playa Kalki. We are fairly booked out in October, just like Sunshine, but from Oct 25th til Nov 1st I still could offer you an apartment with a king size bed in the bedroom and a queen size couch in the living room suitable for a maximum of 4 guests at a rate of 99 US$ per night + 5% tax (for more information please check out ..:: All West Curacao ::..). We have a spacious dive locker with filling station on site, and a wonderful housereef you can do many different dives (deep or shallow) without ever getting bored.

If you want to dive several times per day I recommend you go for a non-limit shore dive package (22 US$ per person and day + 5% tax), and you will have access to the dive locker and full air tanks 24 hours a day.

We can also offer you a pickup truck included in a package with the accomodation and diving, if you like. There are many interesting shore dives at a driving distance of half an hour or less. You find information for several dive sites following the link ..:: All West Curacao ::...

There are some restaurants in Westpunt (personally I prefer to have dinner at Sunshine's place on the weekends), but in our apartments you also find a fully equipped kitchen as well as big grills to do the BBQ on the balcony for common use.

If you are interested, just email me to andreas@allwestcuracao.com, and ask for more detailed information.

Best regards from sunny Curacao

Andreas
..:: All West Curacao ::..
..:: Ocean Encounters West ::..

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

Hi Draq,
I'll give you our opinion but since David and I chose to move to Westpunt last year we're fairly biased. There are over 80 dive sites in Curacao including a couple on the north shore. There is something special at each one; for example you can see tarpon in town but rarely out west. There are wall dives at Caracasbaai and Blue Bay but not at our end and the wreck of the Superior Producer is in Willemstad. That said, the health and size of the coral is pretty spectacular "out west" especially at the Watamula (boat) dive site. We visited Bonaire a number of times and agree that it's a premiere dive destination but Curacao comes pretty close. I think the shore diving is easier for different reasons. When the sea was choppy in Bonaire, I had a little trouble maneuvering over the iron coral on exiting the water. The way this island is shaped, the sea is very flat at the west end. Entering and exiting is easy although there is quite a bit of coral pieces at a number of sites that require booties of some sort. I don't mind the surface swim to the reef. It's from 30 to 50 yards from shore but since I often dive with visitors, it gives us a chance to understand each other's dive practices as well as submerging my ears and starting to eqaulize. Afterwards we slowly make our way back to shore thus enjoying our safety stop in the shallows. On the west end you can get air and lunch at Habitat, Porto Marie, Cas Abou, Sunset Waters, Lagun and Playa Kalki. Dive the reef in both directions and you have a dozen dives. There are dive resorts at Habitat, Sunset Waters, maybe the Lodge Kura Hulanda because Ocean Encounters WEST is adjacent, and All West Apartments because they are affiliated with OEW. You would need to pay a facility fee if you don't rent air at the dive sites but want to use the showers and rinse tanks. I rent so I don't have to lug the tanks around and I get to vist with the different dive shops. The cost runs from $6 to $8 (USD) per tank. All West also has air on premise 24/7 and a great house reef both day and night. We agree with sjspeck; Alice In Wonderland is our favorite shore dive, even better since it's almost in our back yard. Most of the dives with the exception of Porto Marie are perfect at 45feet for your junior diver. Stop by, we'd love to meet you. As of today our apartment is available Oct. 13th through the 25th if anyone else is looking to come for the coral spawning (17-23). Email me, and I'll send you my notes on Banda Bou (West End). curacaosunshine@gmail.com Hope to see you next month.
Sunshine
Curacao Sunshine - Rental Property on the Island of Curacao

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

I wrote a reply but didn't hit the send button for over an hour. Andreas beat me to it. Still, you might hear from other divers about our local dive sites. Sunsh

 

[lmorin]

Draq--I think you should re-check your prices. I have looked at the offerings of the three places you mention and, if booked through BayAdventures.com. The pricing is different from what you say you have found. Note particularly that Sunset Waters is an all inclusive, that includes 6 days of diving. The others are not all inclusive and the dive deal for Kura Hulanda is for 5 days of diving. There is a $400 pp meal charge for Habitat, if you don't wish to shop and cook for yourself. For Kura Hulanda, the meal charge is $120 pp/day (unless you shop/cook)! You may be able to get better deals than offered by BayAdventures, of course.

 

[Divedoggie]

We had 4 in our group and stayed at All West. Absolutely great trip. The dive OP is located at Kura Hulanda so we did many of shore dives there and enjoyed the Kura Hulanda's beach restaurant for lunches.
Night dives in front of All West were spectacular. If you stay there, make sure you stock up on groceries and charcoal before driving out to Westpunt. Be prepared to cook for yourselves most of the time.
If you want some luxury and service, the Kura Hulanda is fantastic.

 

[scubachica]

We stayed at Lodge Kura Hulanda a few years ago and loved the property and west side of the island. Rooms are great (much nicer than Buddy Dive) and on-site restaurant & beach bar are decent. We did boat dives with their on-site dive op, Ocean Encounters West, which was top-notch. House reef is fantastic and my favorite Curacao dive site (Playa Kalki/Alice in Wonderland); only dove it twice (one day and night dive) as I didn't check it out until late in my trip and wish I had skipped some of the earlier boat dives to dive it more. Some people who were staying at All West (just around the corner from KH) dove with us during the week and really liked the place so that would probably be a very good choice, as well. There aren't many dining options on the west side of the island but there are a few restaurants in the area and the drive into town is very easy (made the trip a couple of times). For us, the diving and idyllic setting was worth having fewer (but enough) dining options.

 

[reefbuilder]

I have been to Curacao twice and both times at Habitat. Great shore diving as well as boat dives. But, I will never go back there again. My daughter and I had quite a bad experience when someone came in our second floor ocean front door at night and stole a computer, camera, cash, etc. The worst part of it all was the staff was very uncooperative when we informed them of what happened. It all pointed to an inside job although I had no way to prove it. Fortunately we were safe and our passports were not in the purse they took. Too bad, it is a nice place but not safe in my opinion. I will be back to Curacao soon but not to Habitat.

 

[polyester1970]

I just stayed at the Lodge Kura Hulanda's ocean front studio. They have a 'garden-view studio' as well but they are nothing alike. The ocean front studio is more like a suite - it has 2 queen beds (enough for 4 ppl), sofa, 4 pp dining table and a kitchenette that has a stove, microwave, small fridge, sink, tableware, and silverware. You can totally cook in the ocean front room. this also has a bath tub whereas the garden view only has a standup shower so you can rinse your gear. Then it has a big fancy bathroom, huge patio with a couple couches, 2 lawn chairs, view of the ocean... Generally - this room is $50-100 more than the garden view ($175+), but worth it if you can swing it.

The garden view, which we stayed in for 2 nights, is about 1/3 of the size, has 1 king or 2 queens, a small fridge and that's it. It's fine if you just want a place to sleep in a nice resort.

I just read the poster before - I didn't even think about crime/safety while I was there - felt fine to me - but the lodge is gated so that should make it a lot safer from the rif rafs.