Curacao Hotel and good house reef

[robbcayman]

Okay, my wife and I have decided on Curacao. However, in order to please her she wants a nice hotel. She is what I call a semi diver/snorkeler, so she's not huge on if there is reef outside the hotel. It is important to me though. I would like to find a hotel that has good house reef with unlimited diving and the hotel is nice. Yes, we want our cake and we would like to eat it too.

In short, does a place like that exist?

 

[reefdiva]

We are avid Bonaire divers but have been to Curacao on business several times. We have enjoyed our stays at the Marriott. Lovely facility with friendly staff, nice grounds and good restaurants. Because our trips have been short ones we have not done any diving in Curacao but did check out the dive shop at the Marriott. The folks were friendly and professional. We did do some snorkelling and also saw some people doing shore dives from there. We stayed inside the "breakwater" for snorkeling, which was OK but not great -- guess we are spoiled by Bonaire! But as for facilites I would highly recommend the Marriott.

 

[ronbeau]

Okay, my wife and I have decided on Curacao. However, in order to please her she wants a nice hotel. She is what I call a semi diver/snorkeler, so she's not huge on if there is reef outside the hotel. It is important to me though. I would like to find a hotel that has good house reef with unlimited diving and the hotel is nice. Yes, we want our cake and we would like to eat it too.

In short, does a place like that exist?

You might want to PM ScubaTexasTony. He is an American ExPat living and working in Curacao.

THe only place I have stayed on Curacao is Breezes Curacao which my family was very happy with but it is not a fancy hotel (not 5 star Marriot or Hilton).

 

[codecruncher]

I second the Marriott. Expensive, but fabulous. My wife just loved the place. Never dove the house reef there however - heard it is a bit exposed. Short drives away are fabulous shore diving sites.

Our last day we drove and looked at the Hilton, Sunset Waters, Habitat, Kura Hulanda Lodge, Breezes, and the Lions Dens. The Hilton isn't much cheaper than the Marriott and in our opinion wasn't anywhere near as nice. Sunset Waters also looked really tired compared to the rest. Breezes was packed with families and kids doing the all inclusive thing. Habitat was very nice, but a bit isolated - very quiet and peaceful, but a bit of a drive if you want to get to town. Lions Den seemed like a cheap alternative to the Marriott that I could stay at - but I never saw a room - just the pool/bar/beach area.

Regardless, you'll love the island. Really wonderful vacation.

 

[ronrosa]

Kura Hulanda Beach Club

 

[Damselfish]

Kura Hulanda Lodge is beautiful as is their house reef. Going by your criteria "I would like to find a hotel that has good house reef with unlimited diving and the hotel is nice." it may be perfect for you.

The diving routine and gear storage at the on site shop Ocean Encounters West is not as convienient in many ways as someplace like Habitat (which is similar to many places in Bonaire and about as convienient as it gets.) I described it in another post someplace here as have a couple other people. But it's better than other places, at least it's there. Don't count on the OEW boat running if that is important to you - if it is sign up for the dive package through the hotel and make it clear how often you want to boat dive from there and if they sell you the package they say they will make sure the shop lives up to it. Kura Hulanda is a long drive from town or much of anything other than shore dive sites that end of the island, so you will probably tend to hang out and eat at the lodge alot. This is not really a bad thing as it's lovely there and the food is pretty good. Last trip we finally made it to the famous Jaanchie's nearby, it was indeed kind of unique and fun and the food was tasty.

From what I've seen and know I would pick the Marriott over the Hilton. I see Habitat and Sunset in the same general category/location and I'm not sure which of those I would choose, as I don't have first hand experience with Sunset and haven't even been there in quite awhile. I personally would skip Breezes/Lion's Dive but alot of that is my preference to get away from things and be near the west end dive sites. I did stay at Lions Dive and it was nothing fancy but a perfectly fine divers hotel. But this was a long time ago, the basic aquarium was there I think fairly new, but the area was still fairly quiet, there's alot more going on around there now for better or worse.

 

[scubachica]

My boyfriend and I (both advance divers) stayed at the Lodge Kura Hulanda last September and had a very lovely time. We were very happy with the lodge and its location, as well as the dive operator. I think would be perfect for you and your wife if you're looking for a quiet, relaxing location that's away from everything. I think Damelfish's post describes the dive shop and resort perfectly. We had an oceanview room that was spacious and exceeded our expectations, particularly the very large outdoor patio and, in addition, private walkout circular lounge/sunning area. The hotel beach isn't large but wasn't crowded in September so it felt spacious enough.

We bought a five-day dive package with Ocean Encounters West when we booked our hotel and did morning boat dives. OEW was a good dive shop, although I wish they had a bigger gear storage/suiting up area. (I've been spoiled by CoCo View Resort's (Roatan) gear area! Lodge Kura Hulanda is a more comfortable/upscale resort, though.) We also dove the house reef, which is really wonderful. I think some of our best diving in Curacao was at that reef; lots of amazing coral, ton of moray eels, crabs, spanish lobster, shrimp, parrotfish, etc.

We did rent a car for the week as we wanted to see the island and eat outside of the resort a few times to supplement our 4 or 5-day meal package. (There was some confusion on the part of hotel staff when sorting out our meal package when we arrived (a common problem described in other postings) but it got sorted out.) We drove into town for dinner two or three times, ventured out for lunch a couple of times (great lunch venue down the road, better than Jaanchies), drove to Boca Tabla (worth it if you have the time), and went sightseeing in Willemstad (Kura Hulanda Museum is great). It is a bit of a drive into town, but it's a straight shot and a pleasant drive across the island.

I highly recommend the Lodge. It's a great place for divers given the good dive shop and great house reef, as well as non-divers who want some r&r in a very comfortable and beautiful setting.

 

[robbcayman]

I'm going to look into the Kura Hulanda Lodge for sure. I was wondering if the dive-bus would pick up from this location, or is it too remote? My wife likes to scuba dive, but would prefer to do so from the shore. The Kura Hulanda Lodge seems to fit our needs very well. Is shore diving free there or do you pay every dive? We are going to stay for 7 days, so I don't want to get bored just diving the house reef. Lastly, can anyone give me some names of good shore diving around the island? Thanks for all the help

 

[jeepguy]

Porto Marie and the Tugboat (including the wall dive) are our favorites. And the night dive at Pierbaii. Email Suzy at doris@the-dive-bus.com and she can answer your questions about pickups or anything else. They are really awesome people! We are going back for 2 weeks mid-August. We stay at Breezes (4 times) mainly because the all inclusive is simple and easy. Have a great trip.:14:

 

[ronrosa]

I'm going to look into the Kura Hulanda Lodge for sure. I was wondering if the dive-bus would pick up from this location, or is it too remote? My wife likes to scuba dive, but would prefer to do so from the shore. The Kura Hulanda Lodge seems to fit our needs very well. Is shore diving free there or do you pay every dive? We are going to stay for 7 days, so I don't want to get bored just diving the house reef. Lastly, can anyone give me some names of good shore diving around the island? Thanks for all the help

Rent a car. Plenty of great shore dive sites near Kura Hulanda. You can easily drive to Porto Marie, Cas Abao, Sunset, Habitat. You can buy a unlimited shore dive package at Kura or rent tanks at the dive sites I mentioned.

Check the link below. Kura Hulanda house reef is divesite 1 AKA Playa Kalki.

shore dive sites