Curacao car rental and $$...

[netta]

We dove Bonaire a few years ago and rented a RAV 4, do we need the same in Curacao since we will only be doing shore diving or would a car be okay? Also since all the shore dives were free in Bonaire, didn't really worry about having cash with us. It seems in Curacao alot of the shore dives cost a few bucks to get into, should we have some guilders( I think that is the $$) on hand or could we use US currency?

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board.
I would suggest you get a truck on Curacao as well. We rented a 4dr diesel last year and it worked great. Plenty peppy, good fuel economy and was perfect for diving.
The pay sites we visited were pretty cheap, 3 or 4 guilders ($2-3 US). We carried guilders but I would bet USD would be fine. The sites are real nice and secure so I would not worry about leaving something in the truck. Some of the sites had "lockers" for you to store stuff in, not really secure but with a simple lock on them and with everyone in the restaurant watching them, not likely anyone would mess with anything. You can rent tanks at most of the pay places so you could get away with a car but our tanks were included so we wanted to use them.
You will find the drives a lot longer on Curacao but the beaches a lot nicer.

 

[Knight1989]

Unless things have changed in the last few years since I lived in Curacao most of the shore dives are free. The ones that you did have to pay for were only like 2$ (cant remimber if that was US or Guilders though) but they were cheap. And like was said, the beachs are very clean and for the most part secure. I wouldn't leave the car unlocked however. Most of the shore dives in the Williamstead area are within about a 10 to 15 min drive from one anouther but if your going out towrds the west end of the island it can be as much as about a 45 min drive. A lot of it depends on where your staying, for example, Habitat as great as a resort as is it, is preatty isolated and can be a good drive to get to many of the other sites on the island.

 

[pigletfish]

We did a ton of shore diving when we visited Curacao two years ago, and we had a rental car (vs. the truck we'd had on Bonaire). It was no problem -- just packed the tanks and gear into the trunk and off we went! Some of the sites (such as Porto Mari) do have a small fee, and also a snack bar where you can spend your surface interval. We just brought some coins diving with us. Have fun!

 

[CheddarChick]

We were just in Curacao in Feb. We rented a Kia from Michaels Car Rental for 12 days for $360. Small but everything fit. Most of the beaches are easy to get to and are marked with Red dive flag. There were only a few places that were what I thought were unsafe. If you need more info please pm me!! IT WAS SPECTACULAR... 22 dives in 11 days.
Cheddar

 

[scubatexastony]

We were just in Curacao in Feb..........IT WAS SPECTACULAR... 22 dives in 11 days.
Cheddar

Two dives a day average! If I could keep that pace I'd be over 250 here so far. Well, as is, I've made a bit over 100, so not too shabby, with work and all... Bren will be comming back down in June, so maybe she'll pick the pace up and make up for her time off since Christmas.

tony