Curacao....First Month

[saltywater]

Here he is. I Saw him last week. Can't wait to go back.

@ Porta Marie? We haven't found him/her yet, but am told it's there in 60 +/- on the second reef.

Cozumel in Curacao..... Big showers and thunderstorms Friday night made for an interesting dive at both Mushroom Forest and Black Coral Gardens. Well, actually the currents we so strong our drift dive at Mushroom covered three dive sites in just over an hour and two sites on our second dive. Not condusive to great photography, but it was nice and effortless..... but..... dodging the schrooms was interesting.

whew, all this typing....time to rest

tony

 

[CheddarChick]

Hi,
Just checking to see if you have had a chance to use the dive op at the Marriott, Caribbean Sea Sports. We are going to be in Curacao in Jan/Feb. Are you still going to be there then? I like reading your evaluations of the sites.
Cheddar

 

[scubatexastony]

is a good operation, we've made a couple boat dives with them in late August, did car pile and Blue Gardens. The house reef there is nice and an easy entry and dive, watch the current, (if there's any) and start you dive into the current. They have a nice facility and if you want to do a night shore dive (un-excorted) just let them know and they'll give you a key to the lock up to get your gear. I think Thursday is the night they lead a night dive.

As to whether we'll be here next year depends if we get a signed contract to build the new hotel/casino. We are currently working with the local subcontractors to get the price acceptable to the owner....till then, we'll keep diving!

We dove Porta Marie saturday, just one dive and laid on the beach a bit, sunning. The fall weather makes for amost nightly rain and the viz drops and currents pick up and change. It was a nice dive 70' / 62min. with literally tons of fish surrounding us.

If we're still here, I'll shoot you a PM later and give you a contact number, we'll be glad to share our prespective of dive sites, travel routes, and the good folks here.

tony

 

[scubatexastony]

so I thought it was time for a little update.

Number one Update: is next Firday we'll be headed home to see the family for a week! Grandbaby we're never held, hugs and kisses for the others, and all our family.

Fall brings showers to the island in the evenings and sometimes mornings. If the currents come straight onshore, the viz drops and you get weird currents to contend with, nothing exceptionally bad.... although there was the 10 October dives akin to Cozumel diving. Yesterday we hit Blue Wall from the south into a light current, straight out from the beach down to 120 and up the slope to the wall, made a nice hour dive back with the current easing us along. Squid, barracuda, blue nose trumpets 3 or so feet long, and the usual gang of critters. Viz was down to 50 or so, but it was a nice dive. Last Sunday, my co-worker and I made Holiday Beach house reef while Brenda checked the casino out.....HUGE eel.

I just about have navigating about the island down now... The lack of road signs tends to have you learn by landmarks and solar navigation....lunar at night? The port with the stacks and such give you a reference. The "ring" or beltway, loop, is the circle around the port, so any sign that points to the "ring" is a sure way to get back a reference. Out west gets shorter every drive, when we first drove to Coral estates,(Habitat) it seemed far...not so, 25 mins from the east side of the port (Van Engelen) where we live. Blue Bay is 15, Sunset 25, West Punt 35/40. It would have been nice to have a house right on the water, but shopping is close and we found a nice secured complex with a swimming pool....Ryan (grandson) thinks that's cool. He'll be comming back with us after the visit home, if we get the contract. OH... yes, 5 days and change and we get to go home for a week and visit.., we're pumped!

So in the comming weeks, looks like visits to Sea Aquarium, Hato Caves, Boco Tabla are in order. It'll be fun seeing Ryans veiw of the island.... oh, and the zoo is just down the street a bit. Till next time, dive safe, enjoy the fall weather... believe it or not, I'm beginning to miss it already

from endless summer,

tony

 

[herman]

thanks for the update. keep them comming