thespoons
Contributor
I've been meaning to get around to writing up a dive report and was just thinking about it today for the first time in a while. Then I come how to a PM asking me kindly to write up my experiences to help a fellow diver who plans to go in January. Who am I to deny fate? 
Fair warning - it takes me a while to get to the diving. Skip down to the paragraph starting with "And now for the diving" if you aren't interested in some of the non-diving stuff.
We flew into Curacao (via Miami) on August 6th and flew back out on August 13th, for a total of 7 nights. "We" being my wife and I, both self-admitted "vacation divers". We'd love to dive more often, but as we live in Minnesota and neither of us fancy the drysuit wreck diving in the great lakes, we take what we can get.
To give you a little background, our first ever non-cert dives were on the GBR aboard the Spirit of Freedom liveaboard on our honeymoon in 2009. We set the bar high, but honestly it hasn't spoiled us too much. We were still newbies at that point so I'm sure it'd be much different going there now when we feel much more experienced (hopefully on the 10 year anniversary!)
Then early 2010 we went to Bonaire (sad to say that I must have never got around to writing a report) and just loved it. Namely, we loved the ease of shore diving on our own schedule. We logged quite a few dives, often doing between two and three a day. As we're late risers (when we can be), this was quite a busy schedule for us. This was to be our last dive for a while, as we were soon bring a new little scuba buddy into the world!
Finally, in 2012 we got to go on another dive trip, with both grandmothers in tow at one point or the other. This time it was Key Largo, as it was within budget and logistical possibility for the grandmothers. This was an ill fated trip, indeed. Everyone got head colds. We logged two dives and a lot of snorkels. Were generally just not impressed by Key Largo (no trip report needed).
"But what about Curacao??", you might rightly ask. Okay, we're finally there. We really wanted a trip to Bonaire to work again but the flights there from where we live are just about impossible. Especially with the dream of dropping off our now-2 year old with the Alabama grandmother. So that's when I got the idea to look into Curacao. My wife was very interested, as she felt all the non-diving parts of Bonaire left a lot to be desired. Curacao it was! We booked the flights and I tried to cobble together the semblance of a trip plan.
If you've read any of my other threads, you saw that I waffled a bit on accommodations. I finally landed on a private studio apartment in Willemstad that was in the fenced courtyard with the owners house across the pool from it. I booked it on airbnb.com, feeling like I couldn't do much better than the $63/per night (after fees). Our host was Angelina "Inge" Staarman, and she was a good host indeed. The apartment was clean and comfortable, with a great ceiling fan and A/C for when we broke down and couldn't take sleeping in the heat. You can read my longer review of the place on airbnb if you google for "Holiday apartment with private pool" and look for the airbnb hit.
Let me back a bit, though. We arrived in Curacao at about 9:30pm. Right off the bat, we could tell that the airport was a lot nicer than Bonaire. Bonaire has great diving, but the airport was definitely one of the low points for us (especially on the trip back, where we had to line up outside even before it opened). We were able to get through customs fairly quickly and pick up our car at Budget. One note for those who might not expect it - many US car companies automatically cover your spouse as an additional driver for free. This does not apply for Budget in Curacao (nor the other companies, I suspect). I wasn't surprised and asked in advance. But something to know, in any case. The experience of getting the car was fine, though it was a little disappointing that they ran out of maps. But we had good directions to the apartment so what could go wrong? (That's called "foreshadowing.")
One of the factors of picking Willemstad is we didn't want to have to navigate the 45 minute drive out to Westpunt at 10pm. We remembered some times when we got off the beaten path in the Bonaire villages and got totally lost. We chose the city for a little less stress in that department. Ironic then when we hopped in the car and set out for the apartment, immediately dooming ourselves by turning west onto the road next to the airport instead of East. Even more fun since the standard operating procedure at the car rental place was to give you 1/4 of a tank of gas. We eventually did find a gas station amidst our wanderings and tried to ask the attendant for help, only to find that we'd found the only one with a character out of a movie where the person talked in a low mumble that was (not exaggerating) completely indecipherable. It wasn't Spanish, English or Papiamentu. It was Mumble, plain and simple.
The fiasco's high point was also one of Curacao's high points - THE BRIDGE! I'm sure I've been on higher. But much like going 50 on a windy road will seem much faster than going 70 on an interstate, this bridge feels like the highest I've ever been on. Especially when we had no idea the scale of the bridge and popped out of two corkscrews to get up there (we felt some impending dread). Then out onto what felt like a tiny road hanging in midair. Once this was over, we were prepared for anything and eventually got back on track and found our apartment.
And now for the diving. The next day we got our feet wet at nearby Marie Pampoen. This was late in the day after having gotten set up at Relaxed Guided Dives as our LDS for the trip. I picked it because it was centrally located and I figured it might be the most convenient for our setup. It had the downside of being closed on Monday, which could have been quite problematic had our flight been earlier on Tuesday. They also closed at 5pm, which could sometimes be a slight hassle but overall not a big deal since we could just get extra tanks or rent from a dive shop on the beach.
Marie Pampoen was lackluster but that's okay as it was basically our refresher and weight check. It was also a good reminder that we're no longer in Minnesota, where it's light out until about 10pm. We went into the water a bit after 6 and it got dark in a hurry. We had a short dive and there was little light left when we got out. Good lesson to learn!
The next day we dove Port Marie twice, which was much nicer (my wife's notes are "nice, but not amazing"!) The following day we dove Playa Lagun twice - once during the day and once as our first unguided night dive! This was a great site, and we spotted our first ever seahorse in a fairly shallow sandy area on the way back in. You could have seen him while snorkelling. On our night dive, we saw our first ever squid. Quite exciting for us. He actually hung around for quite some time, putting up with our lights. Gave us a nice little demonstration of his color changing ability as well. Another highlight which my wife didn't see (but that was for the best) was the biggest eel I've ever seen. I'd say his neck was probably the size of an American football. As morays do, only his head and neck was sticking out of a large rock sitting on the sandy bottom, and he retreated as I shone my light.
Playa Jeremi was the next day. The dive was nice but we overshot a bit and fought some surge near the rocks, wearing my wife out a bit. So that was it for the day. The next day we went to Playa Grandi and it was excellent. So many fish! Later that day we dove Playa Kalki and saw some another big eel. Not as big as the night dive but several feet nonetheless. It really freaked my wife out when it came charging out of its den at us, so I didn't get to stick around and take pictures. We came back the next day and saw TWO big eels. In general, I found there to be more eels in Curacao than any place else I've been. Alas, it was time to go the next day so that was all the diving we got in.
In general, I found the diving to be on par and sometimes better than my experience in Bonaire in 2010. Though I didn't find a snorkeling site that came near to Lac Bay on the east side of Bonaire. Though that was luck as it changes depending on the winds and can often be quite challenging. We found Curacao to be far, FAR easier in terms of the shore entries. Curacao actually has sand instead of just hard, sometimes jaggy coral. We went down on that hard surface a few times when waves crashed into us. This was never a problem in Curacao. My wife greatly appreciated this feature, and to be honest so did I. We didn't do any dive trips but I'm sure after going again a time or two we'll get around to it. Vacation is about relaxing for us, not schedules.
The shore diving on Bonaire is much more of a no-brainer in terms of finding your dive site, though. That's where the desolation kind of comes in handy, as you can drive the beach road and just see yellow dive rock after yellow dive rock. On Curacao, it's definitely trickier and take a bit of learning. The way can often not be obvious. And sometimes there are sites where you have to rent with the LDS if you want to use their facilities. But that's actually a blessing in disguise as you can avoid lugging tanks and wearing suiting up until you are closer to the beach. Bonaire has the advantage that you drive right up to the beach and suite up on your tailgate and walk right in. Curacao sites often involve a bit more gear lugging, sometimes up and down steps. So each have their pros and cons.
The island of Curacao was also much more hospitable to us than Bonaire. Don't get me wrong - I loved my time in Bonaire. But it doesn't really seem like a place people should probably live. Curacao actually had loads of greenery. We loved driving through the "hollows" (my Southern term for them), with the trees bending around the road to form a little forest cave. And we really enjoyed having restaurants right there on the beach so you could come out from a dive and have some lunch and maybe some ice cream. It was also nice to have places where there were plenty of other people around at the beach so you didn't feel like your vehicle was in as much peril. However, we did see the aftermath of a car broken into at Playa Kalki right at the top of the stairs above the Go West shop. Compare this with the one car we saw broken into at Bonaire in 2010. So just because there are people coming and going doesn't mean you should ignore good practices of never leaving out stuff that people will find it worth to smash and grab.
I have to take a moment here now that I'm thinking of Westpunt and mention that Sunshine at Sol Foods is just exactly as nice and helpful as you'd hope she would be. Right off the bat when I saw her Honda Element, I knew she was good people. She'll talk your ear off and you know what, so will I so that was just fine and dandy. The pizza was great, the hot dog tasty and the brownie sundae just fantastic. We went there both days we could, it was so great. Oh, and we had excellent fruit drinks that my memory is fuzzy on. I just know they were tasty and we wanted MORE (and had them).
Westpunt was terrific and we will likely stay there next time. But I don't regret staying in Willemstad the first time. It was nice to get a feel for the place. I feel like on subsequent trips we will already feel like we know our way around and feel comfortable popping in whenever we want. The Ribs Factory was terrific, of course (try their fruit punch - AMAZING!) And good funchi fries. A surprise was our accidental dinner at Scuba Lodge. The past was some of the best I've ever had, and the bartender knew her business and made us some of the best pina coladas ever. I found the drinks in Curacao to be far above average everywhere, but this was the best. But I can't guarantee that as bartenders come and bartenders go. Another highlight was the beef stew (stoba) sandwich at the restaurant on the beach at Playa Lagun.
We didn't really see many of the sights of the island, I have to admit. We were very focused on the diving. But they're not going anywhere. We plan on making Curacao our regular dive destination, so there's no harm in stretching out the sightseeing over many trips.
And back to the topic of the airport - yes, it was MUCH nicer flying back out.
All in all, we had a fantastic trip. It was a much needed vacation for my wife and I, the first one away from our son since he was born. In fact, the first time he'd spent the night anywhere than his Minnesota grandmother's just a few miles away. (He did fantastic, btw!) With plans for little scuba buddy #2 in the works, it needed to tide us over for at least a couple of years at the minimum. Curacao didn't let us down.
---
If I left anything out, please don't hesitate to ask question. It was getting to be long enough that I wonder if anyone will want to read it anyway. To reward you, here's a pic I took of some pretty soft coral.
Fair warning - it takes me a while to get to the diving. Skip down to the paragraph starting with "And now for the diving" if you aren't interested in some of the non-diving stuff.
We flew into Curacao (via Miami) on August 6th and flew back out on August 13th, for a total of 7 nights. "We" being my wife and I, both self-admitted "vacation divers". We'd love to dive more often, but as we live in Minnesota and neither of us fancy the drysuit wreck diving in the great lakes, we take what we can get.
To give you a little background, our first ever non-cert dives were on the GBR aboard the Spirit of Freedom liveaboard on our honeymoon in 2009. We set the bar high, but honestly it hasn't spoiled us too much. We were still newbies at that point so I'm sure it'd be much different going there now when we feel much more experienced (hopefully on the 10 year anniversary!)
Then early 2010 we went to Bonaire (sad to say that I must have never got around to writing a report) and just loved it. Namely, we loved the ease of shore diving on our own schedule. We logged quite a few dives, often doing between two and three a day. As we're late risers (when we can be), this was quite a busy schedule for us. This was to be our last dive for a while, as we were soon bring a new little scuba buddy into the world!
Finally, in 2012 we got to go on another dive trip, with both grandmothers in tow at one point or the other. This time it was Key Largo, as it was within budget and logistical possibility for the grandmothers. This was an ill fated trip, indeed. Everyone got head colds. We logged two dives and a lot of snorkels. Were generally just not impressed by Key Largo (no trip report needed).
"But what about Curacao??", you might rightly ask. Okay, we're finally there. We really wanted a trip to Bonaire to work again but the flights there from where we live are just about impossible. Especially with the dream of dropping off our now-2 year old with the Alabama grandmother. So that's when I got the idea to look into Curacao. My wife was very interested, as she felt all the non-diving parts of Bonaire left a lot to be desired. Curacao it was! We booked the flights and I tried to cobble together the semblance of a trip plan.
If you've read any of my other threads, you saw that I waffled a bit on accommodations. I finally landed on a private studio apartment in Willemstad that was in the fenced courtyard with the owners house across the pool from it. I booked it on airbnb.com, feeling like I couldn't do much better than the $63/per night (after fees). Our host was Angelina "Inge" Staarman, and she was a good host indeed. The apartment was clean and comfortable, with a great ceiling fan and A/C for when we broke down and couldn't take sleeping in the heat. You can read my longer review of the place on airbnb if you google for "Holiday apartment with private pool" and look for the airbnb hit.
Let me back a bit, though. We arrived in Curacao at about 9:30pm. Right off the bat, we could tell that the airport was a lot nicer than Bonaire. Bonaire has great diving, but the airport was definitely one of the low points for us (especially on the trip back, where we had to line up outside even before it opened). We were able to get through customs fairly quickly and pick up our car at Budget. One note for those who might not expect it - many US car companies automatically cover your spouse as an additional driver for free. This does not apply for Budget in Curacao (nor the other companies, I suspect). I wasn't surprised and asked in advance. But something to know, in any case. The experience of getting the car was fine, though it was a little disappointing that they ran out of maps. But we had good directions to the apartment so what could go wrong? (That's called "foreshadowing.")
One of the factors of picking Willemstad is we didn't want to have to navigate the 45 minute drive out to Westpunt at 10pm. We remembered some times when we got off the beaten path in the Bonaire villages and got totally lost. We chose the city for a little less stress in that department. Ironic then when we hopped in the car and set out for the apartment, immediately dooming ourselves by turning west onto the road next to the airport instead of East. Even more fun since the standard operating procedure at the car rental place was to give you 1/4 of a tank of gas. We eventually did find a gas station amidst our wanderings and tried to ask the attendant for help, only to find that we'd found the only one with a character out of a movie where the person talked in a low mumble that was (not exaggerating) completely indecipherable. It wasn't Spanish, English or Papiamentu. It was Mumble, plain and simple.
The fiasco's high point was also one of Curacao's high points - THE BRIDGE! I'm sure I've been on higher. But much like going 50 on a windy road will seem much faster than going 70 on an interstate, this bridge feels like the highest I've ever been on. Especially when we had no idea the scale of the bridge and popped out of two corkscrews to get up there (we felt some impending dread). Then out onto what felt like a tiny road hanging in midair. Once this was over, we were prepared for anything and eventually got back on track and found our apartment.
And now for the diving. The next day we got our feet wet at nearby Marie Pampoen. This was late in the day after having gotten set up at Relaxed Guided Dives as our LDS for the trip. I picked it because it was centrally located and I figured it might be the most convenient for our setup. It had the downside of being closed on Monday, which could have been quite problematic had our flight been earlier on Tuesday. They also closed at 5pm, which could sometimes be a slight hassle but overall not a big deal since we could just get extra tanks or rent from a dive shop on the beach.
Marie Pampoen was lackluster but that's okay as it was basically our refresher and weight check. It was also a good reminder that we're no longer in Minnesota, where it's light out until about 10pm. We went into the water a bit after 6 and it got dark in a hurry. We had a short dive and there was little light left when we got out. Good lesson to learn!
The next day we dove Port Marie twice, which was much nicer (my wife's notes are "nice, but not amazing"!) The following day we dove Playa Lagun twice - once during the day and once as our first unguided night dive! This was a great site, and we spotted our first ever seahorse in a fairly shallow sandy area on the way back in. You could have seen him while snorkelling. On our night dive, we saw our first ever squid. Quite exciting for us. He actually hung around for quite some time, putting up with our lights. Gave us a nice little demonstration of his color changing ability as well. Another highlight which my wife didn't see (but that was for the best) was the biggest eel I've ever seen. I'd say his neck was probably the size of an American football. As morays do, only his head and neck was sticking out of a large rock sitting on the sandy bottom, and he retreated as I shone my light.
Playa Jeremi was the next day. The dive was nice but we overshot a bit and fought some surge near the rocks, wearing my wife out a bit. So that was it for the day. The next day we went to Playa Grandi and it was excellent. So many fish! Later that day we dove Playa Kalki and saw some another big eel. Not as big as the night dive but several feet nonetheless. It really freaked my wife out when it came charging out of its den at us, so I didn't get to stick around and take pictures. We came back the next day and saw TWO big eels. In general, I found there to be more eels in Curacao than any place else I've been. Alas, it was time to go the next day so that was all the diving we got in.
In general, I found the diving to be on par and sometimes better than my experience in Bonaire in 2010. Though I didn't find a snorkeling site that came near to Lac Bay on the east side of Bonaire. Though that was luck as it changes depending on the winds and can often be quite challenging. We found Curacao to be far, FAR easier in terms of the shore entries. Curacao actually has sand instead of just hard, sometimes jaggy coral. We went down on that hard surface a few times when waves crashed into us. This was never a problem in Curacao. My wife greatly appreciated this feature, and to be honest so did I. We didn't do any dive trips but I'm sure after going again a time or two we'll get around to it. Vacation is about relaxing for us, not schedules.
The shore diving on Bonaire is much more of a no-brainer in terms of finding your dive site, though. That's where the desolation kind of comes in handy, as you can drive the beach road and just see yellow dive rock after yellow dive rock. On Curacao, it's definitely trickier and take a bit of learning. The way can often not be obvious. And sometimes there are sites where you have to rent with the LDS if you want to use their facilities. But that's actually a blessing in disguise as you can avoid lugging tanks and wearing suiting up until you are closer to the beach. Bonaire has the advantage that you drive right up to the beach and suite up on your tailgate and walk right in. Curacao sites often involve a bit more gear lugging, sometimes up and down steps. So each have their pros and cons.
The island of Curacao was also much more hospitable to us than Bonaire. Don't get me wrong - I loved my time in Bonaire. But it doesn't really seem like a place people should probably live. Curacao actually had loads of greenery. We loved driving through the "hollows" (my Southern term for them), with the trees bending around the road to form a little forest cave. And we really enjoyed having restaurants right there on the beach so you could come out from a dive and have some lunch and maybe some ice cream. It was also nice to have places where there were plenty of other people around at the beach so you didn't feel like your vehicle was in as much peril. However, we did see the aftermath of a car broken into at Playa Kalki right at the top of the stairs above the Go West shop. Compare this with the one car we saw broken into at Bonaire in 2010. So just because there are people coming and going doesn't mean you should ignore good practices of never leaving out stuff that people will find it worth to smash and grab.
I have to take a moment here now that I'm thinking of Westpunt and mention that Sunshine at Sol Foods is just exactly as nice and helpful as you'd hope she would be. Right off the bat when I saw her Honda Element, I knew she was good people.
She'll talk your ear off and you know what, so will I so that was just fine and dandy. The pizza was great, the hot dog tasty and the brownie sundae just fantastic. We went there both days we could, it was so great. Oh, and we had excellent fruit drinks that my memory is fuzzy on. I just know they were tasty and we wanted MORE (and had them).Westpunt was terrific and we will likely stay there next time. But I don't regret staying in Willemstad the first time. It was nice to get a feel for the place. I feel like on subsequent trips we will already feel like we know our way around and feel comfortable popping in whenever we want. The Ribs Factory was terrific, of course (try their fruit punch - AMAZING!) And good funchi fries. A surprise was our accidental dinner at Scuba Lodge. The past was some of the best I've ever had, and the bartender knew her business and made us some of the best pina coladas ever. I found the drinks in Curacao to be far above average everywhere, but this was the best. But I can't guarantee that as bartenders come and bartenders go. Another highlight was the beef stew (stoba) sandwich at the restaurant on the beach at Playa Lagun.
We didn't really see many of the sights of the island, I have to admit. We were very focused on the diving. But they're not going anywhere. We plan on making Curacao our regular dive destination, so there's no harm in stretching out the sightseeing over many trips.
And back to the topic of the airport - yes, it was MUCH nicer flying back out.
All in all, we had a fantastic trip. It was a much needed vacation for my wife and I, the first one away from our son since he was born. In fact, the first time he'd spent the night anywhere than his Minnesota grandmother's just a few miles away. (He did fantastic, btw!) With plans for little scuba buddy #2 in the works, it needed to tide us over for at least a couple of years at the minimum. Curacao didn't let us down.
---
If I left anything out, please don't hesitate to ask question. It was getting to be long enough that I wonder if anyone will want to read it anyway. To reward you, here's a pic I took of some pretty soft coral.
