Curacao Shore Diving

[JJPCheers]

We are going to Curacao over New Years and are looking for easy shore dives. We are travelling with our 13 year old son so he can only go to a max depth of 60 feet. We are staying at the Breezes Resort and are aware that they have a "house reef" but we also want to check out other reefs/wrecks. Also, is it recommended that we rent a car and go on our own or go with a tour operator?

 

[keithdiver]

we are going to curacao over new years and are looking for easy shore dives. We are travelling with our 13 year old son so he can only go to a max depth of 60 feet. We are staying at the breezes resort and are aware that they have a "house reef" but we also want to check out other reefs/wrecks. Also, is it recommended that we rent a car and go on our own or go with a tour operator?

save ur aggrevation, go to bonaire ! You will not be disappointed at all:d

 

[petemoss]

You will not be dissappointed with Curacao either. There are many recent and past threads discussing Curacao shore dives. You also do not have to worry about going past 60 feet. Check out Dive Bus for guided shoredives. If you travel Alice in wonderland is great. Pierbaai and Habitat are good and all easy in and out. These locations have dive shops and tanks there. There are other good ones and I hope others will chime in. I assume you are comfortable shore diving yourselves. The reefs are easy to navigate. Portomari (The Valley) is a little different. Have a good time

 

[curious2dive]

On curacao there are a lot of spots accessable from shore. You can dive on your own by car or you can join a company to do guided dives. Curious2dive can bring you around the Island, but we also advise people where they can dive on their own if they want to travel with their own car.
And it's not neccesary to pass the 60 ft we have beautiful spots where you can dive in the range of 45-60ft. Most of the spots we have a short description.

Regards
Hans Pleij

 

[JJPCheers]

Thank you. This is my first time posting and the first response was a bit scary. We are recently certified and would prefer to go with a certified diver. We will be bringing our own gear except tanks.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

If you're staying at Breezes, the house op is Ocean Encounters. Boat diving, fairly large groups.
If you prefer small groups, then The Dive Bus is right across the street. Mark & Suzy are great. We did 10 dives with Mark in early November.
Depth will not be an issue. The typical Curacao dive is: walk into the water, surface swim 20-30 feet to the edge of the reef. Decend, follow the reef out to the wall. Drop down to 50-60 feet and drift along the wall tilll someone is at half a tank. Then come back up to the top of the reef and follow it back to your entry point. There's no safety stop, since you're following the bottom contour back up. You'll spend ample time in the 15 ft range.
The Dive Bus is a regular poster here. Sue and I endorse them without reservation. You'll have a great time.

 

[diversteve]

+1 for the Divebus. http://www.the-dive-bus.com/ You can contact Suzy here: [user]TheDiveBus[/user]

Also check out the Tugboat just east of Breezes (it's on the bottom at 20') and the pier nearby. Easy entry off the beach and dive school on site for air.

West of town - Habitat's house reef (Nos Kas) - I did a whole dive there in much less than 60'. Probably less than 40'. Lots of eels, flounder and there was a house octopus just 20 yards offshore 3 years ago. His burrow was marked by coral rubble that divers had piled up.

And maybe Varsenbaai - there were Seahorses at the mooring ball at exactly 40' and Turtles feeding in the shallow grasses - less than 10'. Ask the dive operator for directions. You can also go very deep down the reef. There's a Pontoon boat at 80' and my buddies went to 148' there.

Habitat and Varsenbaai have a dock - I've read Habitat is building a new diveshop currently so that may have changed. If you go to Habitat, it's inside the gated entry to Coral Gardens.

You can also enter at Varsenbaai off the beach as the dock is kind of sad (and slippery). Probably can't at Habitat - IIRC their beach was mostly rocks/ironshore.

Descriptions/Entry pictures for a lot of Curacao sites:
Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: Curacao, ABC Islands

There's a potential for theft at the more remote western sites. Two schools of thought - one is leave nothing of value in the car and the windows/doors open. The other - according to our apt. mgr. (lives in the area) is hide everything out of sight and lock it.

 

[irie1029]

+ 1 for curious to dive. Just back yesterday... Great unique entries and places to dive. Made it very easy for my lame knee. PM me if you need contact info for Curious to Dive.

You will love Curacao also great local places near Breezes for cheap eats.

 

[GeneV]

Another plug for the Dive Bus. They're close to Breezes, small groups and they'll be able to accomodate your diving needs.

 

[Bryan.]

Hi JJPCheers,
If you are renting a vehicle... don't forget to check out the west end of Curacao!! Westpunt and the western areas of Curacao have some amazing shore dives. Examples are Alice in Wonderland, Playa Jeremi, Lagun, Porto Marie, Playa Largu, Cas Abou, Daaibooibaai, Playa Shon Mosa, etc... Additionally, if you are up on this end you should also check out by boat Watamula and Mushroom Forest!!

There are some great land activities up here too... Shete Boka National Park for example and then there are the beaches like Playa Kalki, Grote Knip, Klein Knip, etc...

Then... for a great bite to eat check out SOL FOOD (open Fri. Sat. and Sun) for lunch and dinner!! Or... Landhuis Misje (open Tues - Sat) for dinner!!

If you need any additional information or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me by email.

See you soon on Curacao!!