Curacao for July...need new info

[csick]

I've just collected all the Habitat posts to send to my dive buddies as we were on the fence with Sunset Waters and Habitat. They saw a bedbugs/rotten mattress post for Sunset and all I read about Habitat is lousy food. I do not go on vacation to cook meals and my friend has some food allergies. Also, I want an all-inclusive set up with 24/7 diving so I won't get seasick. Not too much to ask, right? This seems to be offered at these places--sort of--poorly.
Most posts are too old. Please help. :06:
PS-we picked Curacao cause we don't want to go back to Bonaire again just yet and all the FF tickets work out.
New to the board, hope I did this right.

 

[2psquared]

I went to habitat 2 years ago and had a blast. House reef is a wonderful dive. Made total of 26 dives in 6 days. 4 were boat dives. I got a room about a 4 minute walk from the dock. I would say 90 percent are that close. We had a large patio with stove top. I am not much on cooking but not very fussy either. I thought the habitat restaurant was medium ok. I don't go diving to eat great food. We went into town two nights and enjoyed the fine selection of restaurants. The diving at house reef is directly off of the dock. Large rope goes down to about 90 feet so you can go left or right and always return to the rope and then follow it up to the dock. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ronbeau]

My wife, daughter and I are staying at Breezes in Curacao during the same time period that you are planning. We are staying at Breezes Curacao. It is an all inclusive and includes one shore dive per day.

Ocean Encounters handles the diving at Breezes.

This is our first time going to Curacao but others have told us that they were very happy with Breezes. They said the food, entertainment and accomodations were very good.

You might want to check it out.

http://www.superclubs.com/brand_breezes/resort_curacao/

 

[Damselfish]

Habitat is a great place to stay for 24/7 diving. I've stayed there 4 times. The first was right after they opened and the restaurant was quite good then. Every time since (last time July 03) it's been mostly lousy. It's not such a problem as long as you know that ahead. I don't want to cook on vacation either and the kitchenettes at Habitat aren't great for real cooking anyway. Here's our "avoid the crappy food at Habitat" strategy for what it's worth.

The included breakfast buffet is fine.

For lunch we:

- have a couple lunches there - something like a burger or grilled cheese is fine, and they do pretty good sate. Usually first one heading back to the room from the morning diving stops by the restaurant and orders lunch takeout. Then one of us goes over to get it after cleaning up. Aside from the food, they tend to be really slow and it's irritating to be waiting forever in the restaurant when you want to get back in the water. Takeout works much better.

- pick up some stuff at a grocery store in town for some easy lunches like sandwiches or salads and snacks. It's always fun to check out the junk food in another country anyway.

- a couple days I invariably wind up eating dinner leftovers for lunch, again the fridge & microwave comes in handy.

We get a rental car and go out for most or all dinners. It's not that far a drive to town once you know your way around and there's some restaurants out in the area or on the way to town that are much closer. (eg. Landhuis Daniel is not too far and has been quite good.) Habitat has a BBQ night that was pretty good. There are lots of very good and interesting restaurants in Curacao, it's one of the great things about the island and a shame not to take advantage of it. We just do the closer places when we want to night dive. Or sometimes we take an afternoon off diving, play downtown for the afternoon and have an early dinner there, than head back for some night diving.

 

[csick]

Thanks, but I need to skip the boat if I want to which could mean 3 shore dives a day and the one thing everyone seems to agree about is that the house reef at Habitat is nice. My first choice this year was Utila (to clarify the kind of quiet diving we like) but whale sharks will wait till next year-small breakfast, dive, lunch, dive, relax, dinner, night dive, nightcap, sleep.

 

[Scubagal]

We just got back late last night from our first trip to Curacao, stayed at Sunset Waters and dived with Sunset Divers. Had a fabulous trip! That being said, the resort is not a posh one. We did not experience bedbugs at Sunset Waters. There are no-see-ums and mosquitoes, so you do need to bring bug spray. Although that may not be much of a problem during the non-rainy season.

Our friend's room had air conditioner problems that the staff couldn't fix, so they moved them to another room. We also had an air conditioner problem as well. We were in a loft suite and it started leaking on the bed. We simply moved the bed and put a waste paper basket under the leak. Didn't mention anything to the staff, and after our diving the next day someone was there to fix it. The ocean views from both our room and our friends room were spectacular, which more than made up for a few minor inconveniences.

The staff at both Sunset Waters and Sunset Divers were excellent. Very accommodating, always friendly, we were always greeted with a "good morning" by all members of the staff. Jim the manager came up to us on the 1st day, introduced himself, knew who we were, and made himself very visible during our entire stay. I would not classify the food as gourmet, but we all enjoyed it and there were always lots of choices. We loved the nightly entertainment, even had a steel band play during lunch one day. Small pool with a nice swim up bar and a jacuzzi (not hot, hot, but it was warmer than the pool, perfect in my opinion).

Had 6 days of boat diving with Sunset Divers, never had a dive under 60 minutes, logged 16+ hours underwater. The house reef is great, lots to see, did 2 day shore dives and 2 night dives. 2 resident sea horses are there, the dive staff gave us perfect directions for locating them. Loved their gear setup situation. They give you a laundry basket for your stuff, they already have your BC and reg on the boat, you just load the basket on the boat.

We've taken dive trips to Cozumel, Turks and Caicos, St. Lucia, Nassau and Freeport, Bahamas, Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii, Tortola, BVI, and this trip is right up there at the top. Not a lot of big sea life, but tons of fish, healthy reefs, little if no current, and fairly short boat rides to the dive sites. Feel free to ask any questions. We normally don't go back to the same place, like trying new ones, but I would return to Sunset Waters in a heartbeat.

 

[sharon]

If you are not wanting to do any boat diving, will your dive buddies be doing so? Or will you rent a vehicle to enjoy all the fantastic shore diving sites out on the westend of the island? From what I understand most of the dive boats usually go out on short trips. The water along the western shore is usually very calm. You may want to consider trying some of the boat trips if the conditions are calm.

 

[Damselfish]

The water is usually pretty calm and the trips usually not too long, not as calm or short as Bonaire on average but can be a boatable place for people who get seasick. The reason we started going to Curacao was my husband gets seasick easily and couldn't deal with most places on just Dramamine during the years the Scop patch was off the market. We got tired of going to Bonaire and he could deal with the boat trips in Curacao, besides having the shore diving.

 

[csick]

Thanks all.

 

[smokey braden]

scubagal,
glad to hear y'all had a great time at sunset.
while doing the house reef did anyone see the statue of the lady?
we will return there one day for another great dive holiday.
regards,