Curacao diving

[coevan]

We are on a cruise which stops in Curacao and Aruba. Searching for dive shops in Curacao, I noticed the photos were pretty bland. I did not see much coral, mostly turtles and wreckage's on sand bottom. Am i missing something? Will Aruba be better diving or should i stick with the Leewards and Windwards which I love.

 

[The Chairman]

Curacao is great diving. We're heading there again as a group next year.

 

[AdivingBel]

Am i missing something?

IMHO you're missing something...in very simplistic terms if you like Bonaire diving, you'll like Curacao diving (not that they are identical). The rub might be if you're diving via cruise ship you may be limited to the sites near town and while they are certainly worthwhile and interesting, I prefer the diving further west on the island. Go ahead and have a search. There's lots of info concerning Curacao on SB. Just recently started it's own forum (like Bonaire) YMMV. Have fun.

 

[drhappy]

Reach out to the folks at the Dive Bus! Welcome to The Dive Bus, Curacao - The Dive Bus Curaçao They come and get you, the equipment is top notch and the dive masters are awesome!

 

[tkaelin]

Cruisers hmm

 

[diversteve]

Reach out to the folks at the Dive Bus! Welcome to The Dive Bus, Curacao - The Dive Bus Curaçao They come and get you, the equipment is top notch and the dive masters a re awesome!

Actually that's Incorrect - cruise pax have to go to their location. I agree their awesome though.

The Dive Bus doesn't provide transportation to / from the cruise ship terminal because special permits are issued to qualifying, official / licensed taxi and bus drivers, specifically for pick up / drop off at the cruise ship terminal (and airport.) Instead of taking business from the pockets of the folks who've earned and paid for their license - and plenty of other dive "shops" do - we stick to our business and livelihood and let others stick to theirs.

Try Bas Harts Diving - Dive Curacao with BAS HARTS DIVING CURACAO to be picked up at the port.

There's two signature wrecks on Curacao - Superior Producer and Tugboat. Your ship arrival closes the Producer to diving as it's near the Megaport - I think it's closed to diving now anyway due to port construction. The Tugboat is a little east of town and while interesting is only 17' deep, Actually the cruise lines run snorkel trips there - we watched one drop about 30 snorkelers there one morning.

The plane wreck is too far west to be possible on a cruise schedule.

I personally think that most of the Curacao diving we did - 20+ sites over 10 days, was better than Bonaire. It is mostly small stuff on either.

 

[coevan]

Cruisers hmm

what does this mean?

 

[tkaelin]

Not sure, but candidly probably derogatory so my apologies. I think I was trying to understand your unique assessment of the quality of the diving in Cur and because I already don't understand those traveling, vacationing and diving by cruise ship I probably assumed that my inability to understand one was associated with my inability to understand the other.

 

[coevan]

I own a boat in BVI, look at my Avatar. Sometimes we like to be served instead of serving others as Captain and first mate. I have well over 500 dives, you paint with a broad brush. Unique assessment? I am looking at dive photos from Curacao dive shops and the bottom looks barren compared to the Virgins

 

[AdivingBel]

Yeah, the "Cruisers" comment was a bit regrettable (and a bit out of the norm for @tkaelin , though in his defense he is a fellow Curacao lover ). Curacao (as well as Bonaire) is as much about the experience i.e. dive freedom, no schedules as much as it is about the "pure" diving. Given you're diving via cruise ship you might not be able to garner the entire experience that is Curacao. That said, the diving is good for the Caribbean and if you are an avid diver that loves getting wet you shouldn't miss it even if your situation doesn't allow you to really partake of the best the island has to offer in either sites or "the dive freedom" experience. The "pure" diving doesn't equal Little Cayman, French Cay (T&C), Palancar sites (Coz) or maybe even the outer atolls of Belize (we'll see, I'm doing those in May ) which I see as the tops of my list of Caribbean diving (just my list, not looking to start a fight ). I would easily put "just the diving" Curacao on par with what I've experienced in the BVIs or VIs, though every site is different on different days (that's just diving, as I'm sure you know). All IMHO, YMMV. Have fun.