Curacao (but I'm late for work as it is!!) and the Western side

[maggs_the]

When I can, I will give more details, but I've played around too long and will be late for work HAHA!! but here's the quick version!!

Stayed at All West Apartments in West Punt.
Dove the house reef (Playa Piscado) and the reef 2 minutes down the road (Alice In Wonderland) at Ocean Encounters West.

Decided those were the two best reefs we dove all week!

We did the two days of boat dives so we could see the talked about Mushroom Forrest and Watamula. They were great dives too, but we still preferred our two closest sites.

Snorkled with turtles 3 -4 days in the sandy shallows (7 feet or less) just outside our apartments.

Saw a multitude of eels ranging from several Green Moray to the Spotted Eels of various sizes and the Sharp Tail Eel. Lots of fish life... plenty of Scorpionfish, Seahorses, Squid, and all the rest. We, sadly, didnt see any "big" stuff like sharks or rays, but had a pod of dolphins hang out at our reef (I just couldnt convince anybody we could swim out to them before they left).

The apartments have basic utensils for cooking but absolutely no food stuff (no condiments, spices, salt, etc) but your first stop is the grocery store. And they are a little relaxed on telling you when and how they will collect your money so it feels a bit too relaxed.. but they will eventually ask for you to pay Everything was just very laid back.

We made two trips (one at nite and one during the day) into Willemstad and while it was neat to see, we were 100% glad we were staying on the west side of the island.

Sunshine's Sol Food is only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday but it did live up to the hype!! It was like going to a good friend's house for supper if that good friend is also a former caterer from the States!

 

[HotDiverChick]

Ditto to everything Maggs said! The trip was incredible and we would stay at All West and dive with OEW again in a heart beat.
The view from All West is amazing and I don't think there is a bad dive to be had-great for macro life!
And yes, Sunshine's lives up to its reputation

 

[maggs_the]

one of our best trips yet

Curacao is an arid rocky island with only about 150,000 residents and has a wide variety of cultures mixed together (for details, go to The island of Curacao - A real, different Caribbean vacation | Bon Bini Curacao which is their official tourism site). It was easy enough to get through customs and the airport was not as hot as other tropical airports we've been in. From the airport to any of the resorts is a drive, but the island is not that big and the most it should take is an hour.

Westpunt is on the western side of the island away from the capital of Willemstad. It is less inhabited than the eastern side and you hav plenty of room to move (the roads are all small... I am just saying, in general, you dont run into any crowds). We were able to find everything we needed within a 15-20 minute car ride so while it felt isolated, again, it's a small island.

All West Apartments (..:: All West Curacao ::..) rented us a studio apartment (twin beds in living room/kitchen) for more than 50% less than the standard rate at Habitat or SS Waters. Of course, we would provide our own food and cook our own meals, but All West picked us up at the airport, let us follow them to the main grocery store to pick up supplies and then follow them to the apartments. A/W provides utensils, gas stove, oven, refrigerator, 4 plates cups bowls etc., a few pots and pans (without teflon) but no food items. They have a coffee maker and a grill outside but no tv, no telephone, no bathtub (shower only). The thing A/W DOES have is an incredible view over Playa Pescado and close proximity to Alice In Wonderland (Playa Kalki). If you need salt, pepper, oil, etc., you can find them all plus specialty breads, spaghetti noodles & sauce, even stuff to make satay and gumbo (yum!). Plan it right and you can spend very little money to get you fed for the week. Our truck was a small diesel 4-door that sometimes struggled to make it up the steeper hills with 4 adults and 4 sets of gear plus 8 tanks, but it did make it (the little truck that could) and was included in the package (along with unlimited tanks for shore diving and the apartment). When the week ended, we simply drove ourselves to the airport, left the key in the ashtray and left the truck on the airport lot.

Everyone we met at OE West (..:: Ocean Encounters West ::..) were great to talk with and dive with. They patiently answered all of our diving and non-diving (where's the closest gas station?) questions. We didnt meet "staff" so much as we met new friends.

We heard so much about Mushroom Forest (paired with Grote Knip) and Watamula (paired with Sponge Forest) that we had to do 2-days of boat diving with OE West just to see those sites. None of the dives we did were less than great, but after hearing so much about these two, we were somewhat surprised to decide we loved our own A/W house reef (Playa Pescado) and the OE West house reef (Alice In Wonderland) best of all. We made a day of shore diving so we could also see Porto Lagun, Porto Marie and St Marie (Habitat's house reef). Again, all were good but we decided we didnt need to drive anywhere or take boat dives with our two favorite sites right outside our door.

Tons of eels including 4 or 5 green moray (I lost count during the week) blue and also red-banded shrimp, small turtles that hung out in front of our apartments eating sea stars around 5pm each evening. Two seahorses in the shallows in front of our apartments and a couple more down at OE West. Spotted morays and sharp tail eels all over and more scorponfish than you would believe. Wondrous mushroom coral formations that explain the name "Alice In Wonderland." Vast amounts of trumpetfish and all those pretty butterflyfish, large kingcrabs and schools of squid. Very little if any current.

But... for the shorediving... several sites have steps to go up and down carrying your gear. It isn't the easiest thing I've done, but I am truly out of shape. I am afraid of night dives, but with all things considered, I agreed to a night dive and it was fantastic.

Our time schedules. Our profiles (rarely had a dive UNDER one hour long). Our cooking. Our way.

And Sunshine's Sol Food (Curacao Sunshine - Rental Property on the Island of Curacao) is only open Fri-Sat-Sun but absolutely lives up to the hype

We made two trips to Willemsted to see the capital and try to find gifts to bring home, but we could not get back to Westpunt fast enough. We were already spoiled by the quiet and beauty of the west side.

The entire package is definately on our "do again" list if we ever get thru the "do it at least once" list.