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Flamingo Villa is in Coral Estates. Habitat is just down the hill from it.
Since you're staying there see what the dive options are off the former Habitat resort now. That was one of the better dives we did all week. The site is called Nos Kas on some maps - there used to be a dive dock at the water level with setup benches, a tank house, etc. Even if the dive shop is gone, I would assume some of it the structures are still there - Habitat guests used the same stairs then turned right to go to the "beach" - mostly coral rubble but there was a small raised deck there. We also met several Coral Estates residents on the dock one day. Or maybe Goby Divers have taken over those facilities?
We dove it both ways and went back one night. Lots of bigger moray eels, fish, crabs, lobsters etc. Also a "resident" barracuda usually hovering under the diveboat dock next to the large pile of boulders.
Another option for guided shore dives might be to meet the The Dive Bus - WELCOME somewhere. They won't pick you up that far out but you can meet them at a dive site out west.
There's not much shopping out there - St. Wilbrordjus isn't a very big town. So unless you're having the villa pre-stocked, you'll likely have to drive back to west Willemstad for the nearest decent market. It's called Centrum and is a couple miles south of the airport. As you approach the rotary there's a sign pointing to Westpunt to the right - normally you'd do that to go to FV. Instead go straight thru and the market is on the right - 2nd stoplight IIRC. There's a old white water tower on the hill next to it. They sell cheap styro coolers for perishables, you're probably looking at 20mins.+ drive to Flamingo Villa from there. We went first before driving out. (to Lagun - slightly farther)
Let us know how the villa worked out. I read about it a couple years ago but we made other plans. If we ever go back it's an option due to location. Lagun was too far from town for us yet we liked diving the west side better.
Relaxed Guided Divers has the advantage of being along a main road so it's easier access to swap tanks if needed. In some cases we just rented from the on-site operator instead, there's one at most of the better dive sites. Go West is off Playa Kalki, Porto Marie Sports off Porto Marie, Discover Dive off Playa Lagun - it's close enough to Playa Jeremi to work also. And a dive operator on-site at Varsenbaai also. There's others, I just don't remember the names/locations - we also got tanks in Piscadera Bay one day. And near the Tugboat dive on the east side. If you dive it, the best part is the deeper wall around the point, then drift back in over the boat as it's on the bottom at 20'.
Since most of the dive sites on Curacao are 5-10 minutes off the main road - not a lot of street signs once you leave town either - we spent a lot of time traveling to/from sites - more than we expected. Get a good dive site map in addition to the car rental map. I was the navigator and am usually very good at it but at some turns, I just guessed.
Since you're staying there see what the dive options are off the former Habitat resort now. That was one of the better dives we did all week. The site is called Nos Kas on some maps - there used to be a dive dock at the water level with setup benches, a tank house, etc. Even if the dive shop is gone, I would assume some of it the structures are still there - Habitat guests used the same stairs then turned right to go to the "beach" - mostly coral rubble but there was a small raised deck there. We also met several Coral Estates residents on the dock one day. Or maybe Goby Divers have taken over those facilities?
We dove it both ways and went back one night. Lots of bigger moray eels, fish, crabs, lobsters etc. Also a "resident" barracuda usually hovering under the diveboat dock next to the large pile of boulders.
Another option for guided shore dives might be to meet the The Dive Bus - WELCOME somewhere. They won't pick you up that far out but you can meet them at a dive site out west.
There's not much shopping out there - St. Wilbrordjus isn't a very big town. So unless you're having the villa pre-stocked, you'll likely have to drive back to west Willemstad for the nearest decent market. It's called Centrum and is a couple miles south of the airport. As you approach the rotary there's a sign pointing to Westpunt to the right - normally you'd do that to go to FV. Instead go straight thru and the market is on the right - 2nd stoplight IIRC. There's a old white water tower on the hill next to it. They sell cheap styro coolers for perishables, you're probably looking at 20mins.+ drive to Flamingo Villa from there. We went first before driving out. (to Lagun - slightly farther)
Let us know how the villa worked out. I read about it a couple years ago but we made other plans. If we ever go back it's an option due to location. Lagun was too far from town for us yet we liked diving the west side better.
Relaxed Guided Divers has the advantage of being along a main road so it's easier access to swap tanks if needed. In some cases we just rented from the on-site operator instead, there's one at most of the better dive sites. Go West is off Playa Kalki, Porto Marie Sports off Porto Marie, Discover Dive off Playa Lagun - it's close enough to Playa Jeremi to work also. And a dive operator on-site at Varsenbaai also. There's others, I just don't remember the names/locations - we also got tanks in Piscadera Bay one day. And near the Tugboat dive on the east side. If you dive it, the best part is the deeper wall around the point, then drift back in over the boat as it's on the bottom at 20'.
Since most of the dive sites on Curacao are 5-10 minutes off the main road - not a lot of street signs once you leave town either - we spent a lot of time traveling to/from sites - more than we expected. Get a good dive site map in addition to the car rental map. I was the navigator and am usually very good at it but at some turns, I just guessed.
