Curacao, better to get tanks from 1 place, or from each dive shop?

[keesmon]

Hi, we plan to be shore diving Curacao in April. On shorediving.com there is a suggestion to rent tanks from each individual shop at the various dive sites, rather than getting an unlimited package from one shop. Not looking to pinch pennies, but rather looking at convenience. Are there a lot of dive sites where there is an on site dive shop, where it may be useful to just rent the tanks as we go, or will most shore dives require us to bring our tanks with us? We've done Bonaire twice, so that is the setup we are used to. We plan on using Oceans Encounters West for boat dives and as our "home base" if that helps.
Thanks for your input.

 

[diversteve]

Some details to help you decide - this info is 3 years old.

OEWest has a flight of about 18 rough rock/concrete steps down to the water where the tanks are stored. There was a tank shuttle next to them - cart on rails with a winch at the top. When we were there it looked like it had been broken for a while.

We did either/or at other dive sites. At Habitat, the water is 3 vertical flights of stairs down from their parking lot so if you plan to dive Nos Kas (you should) rent from them as they stage tanks at the bottom. However I recently read they're building a new diveshop so don't know what has changed. They also had a small shack just off the parking lot to load tanks for other sites.

At Porto Marie nearby they rent tanks on-site. We did that - not for any particular reason.

At Playa Jeremi there are no facilities on-site. Discover Dive might be the closest place for tanks.

At Playa Lagun - (you want to do this dive) - Discover Dive is at the entrance and has a pickup height loading area. We rented tanks from them for several dives in the area. The Lagun beach entry is about a short block past their location.

At Varsenbaai it's a wash. They rent tanks/weights - weights are included in the small fee you pay to access the site/dive dock. When we were there cleanliness was an issue (the bathroom/change room reeked) so I'm glad we brought our own air. Some locals rented tanks while we were there though so maybe it isn't.

After that we moved to the Piscadera Bay area and did a couple local dives at sites w/o onsite operators - can't recall the names currently. We rented tanks/weights from Hooks Hut - it's a very casual combo beach bar/dive op.

Further east we only dove off OE's boat (dolphin dive) and then did the Tugboat. There's a dive school and they have tanks close to the entry point so I'd rent from them - where we parked was a couple hundred yards away.

What you might do is rent a couple tanks from someone and keep them with you. The difference between Bonaire and Curacao is that many more of the dive sites are a 10-15min. or so drive off the main road that bisects the island in the west. So if you get somewhere w/o facilities - or they're closed you could still dive. Just about every diveop we went to (Habitat, Sunset Waters (now demolished), OEWest, Discover Dive) closed around 5PM. At Habitat there was 24 hr. access to tanks at the dock - we night dove there once. We did an interesting night dive at Sunset Waters - the breakwater/cove leading out to the site is probably still there. I don't know if they're blocking the road up at the top though - if so don't bother - it's a long walk down a steep hill to the beach.

hth,

 

[Diver OnLu]

Yes we do have a compressor at All West, and fill tanks for our guests there

Greetings from Curacao
Andreas

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

K Are you staying in Westpunt? My favorite shore dive is in front of Ocean Encounters West. Since it's our back yard, we also like the dives (different directions) in the bay - in front of All West Apartments. Both the dive shop and the apartments have a compressor to fill tanks.
You do need to carry the tanks up the stairs from OEW, not my favorite but we do rent our air there when diving at sites without facilities (San Juan, Jeremi, Grote Knip....). If you are diving a site with a dive shop and bring your own tanks, you need to pay a facility fee to use the bathrooms, showers, rinse tank etc. This is just about the price for the air so I would recommend renting your tanks on site if possible. You also get a chance to talk to the dive team and find out about sightings, currents and other pertinent info.

 

[Damselfish]

It's much more of a mixed bag than Bonaire and will totally depend on which sites you dive.

Unless something has changed, I do think you have to carry tanks up the stairs from OEW. That winch thing is a nice idea but looked like it was long rusted in place when I was there 4 years ago. If your goal is convenience, I'd keep some tanks in the vehicle in case you need/want them, but rent when you can. That's going to be more convenient some places, but avoid carting tanks up and down the cliff at OEW each time you do it. If you care about that.

If you're only boat diving some days, you may as well choose shore diving at the deserted beaches without facilities for those days and taking advantage of your unlimited tanks.

 

[keesmon]

See, this is why scubaboard is such a sweet site. This is invaluable info for the vacation diver. Thanks everyone

 

[Seaside Curacao]

For Banda Abou dives OEW is a well respected operation...Westpunt has lots of great dives 4-5 by boat and 15-20+ are doable from shore. Try getting Seldom on your boat list and check with various operations what their schedule is, but the water also has to be pretty flat. Trunk Divers go everywhere including North Shore...

 

[morecowbells]

There are advantages and disadvantages to doing both. It is a major pain in the a$$ to load up the tanks and carry them to each site. However it does offer some peace of mind knowing you are getting tanks through a reputable dive op with tanks completely filled at or above 3000 psi. Some of my favorite dives were at remote sites without a dive op thus you had to transport your own tank.

One thing that I noticed in Curacao with people bringing their tanks from outside dive ops, they would not only use the on site benches, tables and space(some rather spread out with personal belongings), expect the dive op to babysit their belongings while diving or eating lunch, seek advise from the on site dive op and not offer a tip. That really irked me. Just something to keep in mind when bringing in your own tank.

Also try to get an idea of how many dives you will be doing per day. That will also help you figure out if a package deal is economical or not.

 

[B Lo]

... We rented tanks/weights from Hooks Hut - it's a very casual combo beach bar/dive op...

I cannot say enough bad about Hook's Hut. The dive shop that was on site appeared to be run by a different staff than the bar. In fact, I think the dive shop has different ownership. That is a good thing!

I must say that the owner/manager of Hook's was a royal arse. Really, really, terrible. When I mentioned this to one of his servers, even she agreed and said so... quietly. It's the only place in Curacao that I would not return to if it were free.