scubawife:
fisheyeview, thanks so much for the info! I was a little concerned about the outlets as we also have lots stuff that needs daily charging.
82-84, huh? I know lots of people are gonna laugh at me, but I will likely take the 5mm suit. I chill very easily and with around the same temps in other places doing 2-3 dives a day it's perfect for me. We hope to get in 3-4 dives a day most days in Curacao.
If you don't mind me asking, how did you like Habitat and how was the diving on the house reef?
I would wear a skin for the first couple of dives a day, but then switched over to a 1mm suit for the last 2 or 3 dives later in the day. But then, I don't get cold easily.
The misses brought a 0.5mm suit and wore it the whole time. She wished she had brought her 3mm with her.
As photographers you know you will not be moving around a lot if you are shooting macro, so if you get cold easy make sure you have all the suit you will need.
We loved Habitat, and are planning to go back. The rooms are comfortable, and a lot bigger than the places we usually stay at in the Keys. The food is excelent, and the staff could not be better. This goes for both the dive shop, the hotel and the restaurant. Brush up on your papiamento before you go. We did and the staff got a kick out of us.
There is a little kitchenette in the room. (small fridge, 2 burner stove, coffee maker, toaster, pots, pans & dishes.) There is a grocery store between Habitat and Willemstad.
When you come out of the airport and head to Habitat you come to a traffic circle. To go to Habitat you go to the right. To go to the grocery store you go straight at the circle. At the 2nd traffic light (there are usually humping goats at the intersection) you turn right and there is the store. (I'm not kidding about the goats. They were every where.)
We stocked up on lunch meats, bread, snacks, breakfast stuff & of course beer. It was great and a real time saver for us. We would usually sit on our balcony and prep our cameras as we had our breakfast.
I think the Habitat House Reef (Sainte Marie/Rif) is the best house reef on the island. It is easy to dive and there is a ton of stuff to shoot there. We did a lot of our dives on the house reef, and all of our night dives.
There is a rope that leads from the dock to the reef. It goes down the wall to 90'. In about 30' of water just off the rope there is a hugh soft coral. At dusk a pair of Yellowtail Hamlets meet there to mate. They meat up in the soft coral and then swim up in the water column as they intertwine. They do it several times in a row, and then swim away. They do this each night.
If you have a focus light for your camera use a red filter for these shots. Without it they are too scared to mate there and will swim away.
It's not the best shot, but here's what it will look like.
I just updated my website with a Curacao gallery last night. A lot of the shots were taken on the house reef.
www.fisheyeviewphoto.com There is a land gallery as well as an underwater gallery.
If you are renting a truck and plan to do a lot of shore diving I would also recommend The Valley at Port Marie. This is a great double reef that is a short drive from Habitat. I would also highly recommend Alice in Wonderland up at Playa Kalki. It is a fantastic dive, but go to the right once you hit the reef. The left half is not as good as the right half. We found tons of stuff there.
We also drove up to Sunset Waters and dove their house reef late one afternoon. It was okay (we found 2 seahorses and a ton of slender filefish), but to me it was not worth the drive. We thought about staying at Sunset Waters, but were glad we didn't. It is a nice place, and the people at the dive shop are great (Hi Mark & Lynn), but the resort was a little too bohemian for our taste.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
