Curacao - Shore or boat? Package or on your own?

[Rand]

Another thing to keep in mind, at least at Kura Hulanda, is they say you don't need adaptors for the electrical outlets, however, they only have one US type outlet PER ROOM. The rest are the straight two rod types. I ended up blowing a fuse the first night down there with a power strip and a lot of battery chargers all plugged into the one outlet. They came and fixed it very quickly, but you can avoid it all by having the adaptors.

Also, they have free internet (it's 56K on a good day), buy don't forget to bring an ethernet cord. You can rent them from the front desk if you forget or don't have a spare.

 

[Damselfish]

They actually have a little room near the lobby with 2 computers with internet access, free for use. And wireless in that area.

 

[Reefraff2]

Driving In Curacao can be tricky, the roads are narrow, and gas prices are high. Also don't leave anything in a rental car, at dive sites. You can bet it will get broken into. I stayed at Breezes (AI) with rental car service at resort, and OE at resort as well, so why not mix it up, boat and car.

 

[natalieinca]

Can we get away with renting a car or do you really need a truck? There are only two of us so seems like everything would fit ok in a car.

New travel agent is saying that you're better off renting a truck because they'll charge you if you get sand in the cars.

 

[Divedoggie]

We used a "club" on the steering wheel of our truck, and never left anything in it. As a result, we had no problems.

 

[TheDiveBus]

Hi there,

We run a small shore diving company in Curacao and have a LOT of independent shore divers coming through our place to dive the Car Pile and Pierbaai Reef.

Best tips we can give you about shore diving here is:

- get a car NOT a truck, that way you can 'hide' stuff in your trunk. 'Stuff' being spare tanks; you shouldn't take anything you won't need for the day along with you just in case. (Sadly the reports of theft from vehicles are true so be sensible).

- yes, some of the car rental companies are a bit snotty about sand in their cars and can charge you to have it cleaned. So instead bring a tarp with you or buy one on the island for a couple of bucks to line the trunk / back seats, whatever.

- get one of those waterproof cases for cigarettes to take your keys, c-cards, money, whatever, on the dive with you. Some dive sites have secure lockers but not that many.

- get yourselves a Drive and Dive map which will significantly improve your chances of finding the dive sites... sign posts are somewhat few and far between here so don't blame the navigator WHEN (not if!) you get lost ;o)

- You can pick up tanks on site at quite a few dive sites but not all. Vaersenbaai is a must dive site BUT definitely take your own tanks to that one.

- if you want any advice on dive sites or whatever, swing by The Dive Bus (by Breezes hotel) and we'll be very happy to point you in the right direction. Alternatively there's info about our favourite shore diving sites on our website.

Happy planning and have a great vacation )
Suzy & Mark

www.The-Dive-Bus.com

 

[natalieinca]

We'll definitely stop by the Dive Bus.

 

[jeepguy]

We'll definitely stop by the Dive Bus.

Consider some of the shore dives with the Dive Bus. They run a great operation and are just fun people. They know and have access to all of the best sites. We will be there mid August and are looking forward to diving with them again this year.:14:

 

[fisheyeview]

We are heading to Curacao in September (8-18) and are having trouble picking a hotel, as well as dive package.

We are deciding between Habitat and Kura Hulanda Lodge (leaning toward Kura Hulanda).

Everything I've read sounded like Curacao was about shore diving, but our travel agent is saying you really need to boat dive - that the shore entries are too rough?? (There are definitely some boat sites we wanted to check out, but thought it would mostly be shore diving).

What I'm wondering is would we be ok booking a hotel and car now and then working out the dive stuff once we're there? We thought we could just rent tanks/weights and do mostly shore diving.

Any other tips or hints? We're checking out the trip reports and other post here as well.

Just got back from Habitat. We loved it. 8 days of shore diving, and 3 boat dives. The shore entries at some dive sites are not as easy as others, but in no way were they too rough. Some of our best dives were drive & dives.