Curacao dive books?

[billmosel]

We're going to Curacao in November. I've been looking for a guide like from "lonley planet" or "Bonaire Shore diving Made Easy" and so far no luck.

Any suggestions.

Thanks

 

[jd950]

There is a Curacao dive guide available on the island, but you can't get it before you get there. Someone will chime in with more info, I'm sure. I got mine from Sunshine and if you are staying in Westpunt, I am sure she or someone from OEW can line one up for you.

There is also "The dive sites of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao: Comprehensive Coverage of Diving and Snorkeling by Jack Jackson, but it is about 10 years old. The same book was re-released with a slightly different title a couple years ago, but from what I have heard, it is not updated.

Otherwise, if you search here and take a look at some of the websites for Curacao dive ops and for Sunshine and David's apartment rental, you can get a lot of information.

There is also a drive and dive map available on the island, but it doesn't contain any info about the sites, just their general locations.

 

[Diver OnLu]

Hi Bill,

There is one book written by two Curacao resident divers - one of them is our SB-friend "Gustele". If you send him a private message he will be able to give you a list of points of sale for his book on Curacao. I know Sunshine has them for sale in Westpoint.

On the other hand, just go to any professional dive shop on the island, and you will get a full set of suggestions for your diving around Curacao - I use the Curacao Drive and Dive map for this purpose.

If you come out to the West during your trip in November, visit us at OEW (..:: Ocean Encounters West ::..)

Greetings from Curacao
Andreas

 

[billmosel]

Thanks Andreas. We are staying at Habitat but plan on diving out your way. I have heard of doing Alice in Wonderland and a couple of other sites in that area. Looking forward to meeting you. We are arriving from Bonaire on the 7th of November to the 14th. Hope to see you then.

 

[bkpix]

I got a great map at the DEMA show in Las Vegas last year. It's called the smart driving Curacao road map. Try getting it at: info@kriskrasonline.com.

We really enjoyed our shore dives at;Playa Shon Mosa, Playa Largo, Alice in Wonderland and the house dive at AllWest Apartments, which is a great place to stay as well.

It's worth doing a few boat dives out there as well. You can only get to Watamula by boat, but it is one of the best dives on the island. Ocean Encounters West can hook you up. Andreas, who posted on this thread, works for both OEW and Allwest, he will give you good info.

Have fun! BK

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

Playing online? You can check out Curacao Actief's dive guide Curaçao Actief Personally I think a few of their listed boat dives can be accessed from shore but sometimes the mooring buoy is at a different section of the reef. As an example, Lagun. I prefer to go out of the bay and go left. The Ocean Encounters West buoy is much farther to the right past the area I would see it I were to hang a right from the bay. Yes, we have Gustele's book for sale and a copy of Jackson's book if you'd like to read it. We have a few pages of notes of dry land info (only on the West end of the island) and a long list of links on our web page, Curacao Sunshine - Rental Property on the Island of Curacao The shore diving here is wonderful, but if I were to suggest just one boat dive it would be to Watamula. Enjoy both Bonaire and Curacao!

 

[gustele]

Hi Billmosel

You have seen some references to the Curacao Diving Guide in this thread already. I am one of the two authors. Unfortunately because of the unreliability of the mail from and to Curacao we don't sell the guide abroad with the exception of The Netherlands.
For planning purposes you can check my website Curacao - Diving Paradise; there is a section with (shore) dive sites that you can explore. And there is lot of information and pictures of what to expect under water.

The location nearest to Habitat where you can buy the guide would be PortoMari Sports; that is the dive shop at the beach of Porto Mari. That is almost next door from where you are staying. Other locations nearby are Relaxed Guided Dives (dive shop at Martha Koosje) and Trunkdivers (dive shop at plantation house Daniel) both along the Road to Westpoint.

 

[jd950]

I had another thought, in case you want Curacao guide sooner. I am going to Curacao in a couple weeks. I can pick one up for you if you want, and mail it to you when I get back to the states. Or, I can sell you mine and send it to you now, and then get another when I get to the island. Send me a PM if you are interested.

 

[mintaka]

Thanks Andreas. We are staying at Habitat but plan on diving out your way. I have heard of doing Alice in Wonderland and a couple of other sites in that area. Looking forward to meeting you. We are arriving from Bonaire on the 7th of November to the 14th. Hope to see you then.

We spent a week at Habitat just last week... the dive ops are wonderful (Hugo, Angela, Kurt and Clark).. the boat dives were all awesome and the house reef is beautiful and very easy to dive. Also, new owners have just taken over and the food at the restaurant was remarkably good (I'm pretty picky).

The only negative was there was a TON of mosquitoes .. every evening and morning. Definitely bring some deet-based repellent. I was swarmed while rinsing gear after night dives... and while gearing up in the morning before boat dives. The dive locker and pier area were the worst as far as mosquitoes went.

 

[billmosel]

Thanks mintaka. we always bring our "deet" but maybe will bring extra.