Curacao, North vs. South ?

[ronrosa]

I will spending a week in Curacao this coming March.

Because my wife does not dive, we will be staying at the Marriott on the south part of the island. From what I've heard, the better diving is up north near Habitat.

I plan on diving with the Marriott house operator and doing shore dives on their house reef.

How much will I be missing out on if I don't dive the northern sites such as Mushroom Forest ?

 

[Maui Bound]

We stayed at Sunset Waters in October. Went with our dive shop and a bunch of very experienced Caribbean divers. Because we were up north, we did most of the reefs up there.

Wow. Everyone was ultimately impressed. So much so that the dive shop may be going back next year. If so, we will sign up. Also, several folks are heading back for more diving with Sunset Waters this winter.

You might want to look into getting up there and dive with Susest Divers. Mike and Kurt and gang are first rate.

Have a good trip.
Jeff

 

[O'Malley]

Wife and I are also visiting Curacao in January and staying at the Marriott. I had posed the identical question as you have...my wife, similarly, does not dive. Certainly, Caribbean Sea Sports is the most convenient option but I chose to dive with Sunset Divers (Sunset Waters Beach Resort, 25 minutes from the Marriott) to dive the northwest sites. Carribean Sea Sports seem to concentrate on the southeast dive sites according to it's dive schedule. This is our first visit to Curacao but from I have read and been told, the northwest dive sites are more remarkable.

Everyone was ultimately impressed

....reassuring to read this!

 

[DiveNJ]

I've stayed at both the Habitat and the Marrriott. You made the right choice of the Marriott is your wife does not dive. There is really very little to do at the Habitat if you don't dive. However, the best diving is up north. Don't miss mushroom forest! It's one of the best dive sites anywhere. Call the Habitat and ask when they will be going, and join them that day. It's worth the cab ride.The shop at the Marriott will not go to the mushroom forest.

 

[herman]

Do what we did. We stayed at Holiday Beach Resort which is walking distance from town and rented a truck, your really going to want a vehicle anyway. That way we were close to the shops and restaurants and then drove to the dive sites. We would load up the truck in the morning and drive to the northern sites, pick one of the sites and stay all morning. It's a 20 minute or so drive but I like wondering around the island anyway. A couple of sites we dove were Cas Abao and Porta Maria. These are both pay sites, a huge Nfl3 to 3.50 (less than $3US) for all day entry. If your wife is content to hang out on a nice sand beach with tiki huts, restrooms and some pretty good food, these are perfect places for you to dive while she hangs out on the beach. These places have families running around and struck me as very safe so from a security standpoint I would have no concern at all about leaving my wife on the beach alone. The only hitch may be if you are the only diver and don't solo dive. These reef are very easy dives so personally I don't have a problem going solo.

 

[sharon]

Stay in town but contact Allwest diving and arrange some shore dives at Playa Kalki beach with them, your wife can wait for you on a beautiful beach. Allwest/Ocean Encounters West, usually does a 2 tank dive, 1st site is a driftdive at Watamula, 2nd dive is Mushroom Forest. Louie the boat captain/owner will let your wife come with you on the boat if she wants. Tell him that Sharon and Rob sent you. Have a great trip.