Curacao: rent tanks piecemeal or pay for all-you-can-breathe?

[thespoons]

We'll be in Curacao next week (wait, REALLY??) and I'm trying to decide the best tank rental strategy. We already have our car and hotel, BCDs and fins. Now we only need weights and tanks (just air for us). I've read about many dive sites requiring you to rent tanks from them. Is this enough of an issue that I should just always pay per/tank, or do you still come out ahead by paying for an unlimited tank option from a dive shop and just paying extra at those places to make them happy?

We'll be staying in Willemstad if that matters. We might make it all the way up to Westpunt this time. We'll be hitting the spots that look promising for our skill level (medium).

 

[tajkd]

In my experience, there are some dive shops that require you to rent from them and some of that information is online. I'd try to get a package rate and then rent by day at the sites that require it. See my trip report here. I only wanted one site that had that requirement and I promptly went to the next bay and had a great dive. You can better plan all your diving if you prepay anyway.

 

[Damselfish]

It really depends what sites you plan on diving, so if you're out to save every last buck only you can do that math. Maybe an unlimited package for the week works out in your favor even if you rent from other places sometimes. Or you could get get unlimited tanks by the day, group your days into sites where you would rent and sites where you would bring your own, and maybe save a few bucks. But that's less flexible, for example it might make sense to do a combination on a long drive to the west. And since an air package is going to include the weights too, it could be a nuisance. If you don't have an air package for the day will your original shop let you use the weights anyway, or charge you (probably), or will you be switching out weights all the time to use weights from someplace else. That would be a pain.

It's typical for unlimited shore diving tanks on the same day to come with a boat trip. So if you are doing any boat dives, check into that and you could plan your shore dives accordingly. Try and go to to the sites where you bring your own tanks on those days, and save places where you would rent onsite on days you're not boat diving. Same potential issue with the weights though.

Personally I'd just get a unlimited air/weight package for the week, or on any days you're not boat diving, and be done with it. If you have to rent someplace it's not that expensive, and you're also getting use of whatever facilities they have.

 

[diversteve]

For tank rentals in Willemstad, the Dive Bus or Atlantis Diving are semi-convenient. The Ocean Encounters shops are all on resorts so less convenient for offsite diving. Just west of town Relaxed Guides Dives is a rental/fill location along the main road. Most of the sites that require a fee are only going to charge you a usage fee if you don't rent from them. And it's a few guilders (like $4). Anywhere we rented tanks/weights, they waived the fee. Typically it's because you're using their dock/patio or other facilities.

Sites we dove - when we rented onsite it was mostly for convenience.

sort of West to East:

Playa Kalki - Go West diving. Nice facilities. Nice dock and they'll lock the locker room while you're out. You are on their/Lodge KH property to access the dive so likely need to rent from them - I would anyway.
Playa Lagun - Discover Dive - truck height dock pickup at the entrance to the beach. You can also drive right past it with your tanks. Don't sit on the plastic chairs, they're owned by the beach operator. The covered concrete picnic tables are public.
Playa Jeremi - no facilities but 5mins. from Discover Dive.
Porto Mari - Porto Mari Sports is onsite but they don't own the beach. I believe we brought tanks there.
Varsenbaai we paid/rented from Kokomo diving as it was convenient. Also we used their dock and tables.
Sunset Waters - the resort was razed as was Sunset Divers so bring yours. Drive down to the beach but park on the road - the sand is soft. Assuming the breakwater is still there, the dive is thru the break in it. Right there in 40' is the Cessna wreck. That dive is better to the east, there's a boat channel west.
Blue Bay - we didn't dive there but Diveversity is onsite. Since it's a private resort, I'd guess they charge for both.
Piscadera Bay - we didn't dive there as the reef is a swim. Caribbean Sea Sports at the Marriott or Ocean Encounters at the Hilton.
Pierbaai - bring yours or rent from the DiveBus across the street. Ask Suzy what's being seen locally currently if you do. She suggested a few good options even after knowing we weren't diving with them due to schedule conflicts. Nice people...
Directors Bay - no facilities
Tugboat - the school there is closed recently so bring your own. Park then enter the property to the left. Walk past what's left to the narrow beach. The Tugboat is off one of the larger pilings. The better dive is the wall around the point. The boat makes a good safety stop as it's 14' deep. The pier there is also a good dive if there's no ship working/tied up otherwise it's illegal.

hth, we mostly hauled tanks except we rented at Playa Kalki and Lagun. I would've probably rented at Porto Mari had I known they were there. We paid usage fees at Varsenbaai and the Tugboat since the school was still open. Also they wanted a beach usage fee at Sunset Waters but not any more...lol.

---------- Post added August 5th, 2013 at 10:15 PM ----------

P.S. if you dive the Tugboat mid-morning the 100 snorkelers from the cruise ship also make a pretty good marker. My friends were on it when they all dropped in unexpectedly. We watched - from shore.