Curacao-Suset Waters, AllWest, and Habitat

[cmm1970]

It seems that there is a lot of interest in Curacao and a number of you have visited the island fairly recently. I would love to condense information about Sunset Waters, AllWest Apartments, and Habitat Curacao. Information that would be extremely helpful to all planning trips here would include:

1. Accomodations-Is the Air conditioning adequate, are all rooms cooled, are the rooms equipped with all necessary cooking gear if they have kitchenettes.
2. Resort-Distance from town, is the staff on site reliably, are they helpful, you know, all the little important things that help an expensive vacation not be an exercise in frustration
3. The Diving-since shore diving is so prevalent here, talk about the "house reef" at whatever location you have stay at in the past. Of particular interest would be: entry conditions...is there a dock with stairs or is the entry off a beach at the resort or hotel, distance of swim to the reef (can be approximate time or an estimate of distance), currents, surge and finally quality of reef. Finally, any experiences with the boat diving out of these resorts would be interesting also.

I am hoping that a wealthy string of posts will result. If you have had negative experiences, post them. If you have good things to say, post it. Let's get some good info going on these places. If you stayed somewhere else that has the diving integrated with the lodgings, post those also.

Thanks for helping!
Mike

 

[fins]

Mike,

I can only speak for Habitat as I have not stayed at Sunset Waters or AllWest but here goes:

1. Yes, A/C is good, kitchenettes and sufficient gear Yes
2. About a 20 minute drive (much closer than either SW or AW) and the staff is pretty good, especially the folks at the dive shop
3. The house reef here is great. Very nice dock with good stairs, distance to reef is less than 100 yards and have seen many interesting things to and from the reef (octopi along the rocks, small eels, lots of flounder etc.) Currents if present were very light, some surge on windier days but not worth worrying about. Sorry, did not boat dive with them (just shore dives) but did hear many good comments from others at the resort.

Hope this helps.

 

[snorkelgeek]

It seems that there is a lot of interest in Curacao and a number of you have visited the island fairly recently. I would love to condense information about Sunset Waters, AllWest Apartments, and Habitat Curacao. Information that would be extremely helpful to all planning trips here would include:

1. Accomodations-Is the Air conditioning adequate, are all rooms cooled, are the rooms equipped with all necessary cooking gear if they have kitchenettes.
2. Resort-Distance from town, is the staff on site reliably, are they helpful, you know, all the little important things that help an expensive vacation not be an exercise in frustration
3. The Diving-since shore diving is so prevalent here, talk about the "house reef" at whatever location you have stay at in the past. Of particular interest would be: entry conditions...is there a dock with stairs or is the entry off a beach at the resort or hotel, distance of swim to the reef (can be approximate time or an estimate of distance), currents, surge and finally quality of reef. Finally, any experiences with the boat diving out of these resorts would be interesting also.

I am hoping that a wealthy string of posts will result. If you have had negative experiences, post them. If you have good things to say, post it. Let's get some good info going on these places. If you stayed somewhere else that has the diving integrated with the lodgings, post those also.

Thanks for helping!
Mike

Sunset Waters:
1. A/C was very efficient, operated by remote control with finite tuning - different adjustments for fan and temp. Didn't have a kitchenette (though some suites do have kitchenettes) - took the AI option, which at SW is highly recommended since the food is so excellent there. We're talking gourmet here...steak and prawns, prime rib, etc. Our deal didn't include dives, but the AI plan was $85 per person per night. A steal because that's in $CDN. Granted, it was an internet deal, which can be hard to find, but definitley well worth it. An internet deal is out there right now for the garden view rooms (also nice rooms, just no ocean view) for $175 per room.
2. SW only about 25 minutes from Willemstad. Not so much further than Habitat! Resort provides free shuttle into town, usually couple times a day, but arrangements can be made for just about any trip, with the shuttle drivers. Shuttle drivers will even do an island tour for you if you arrange with them. They will also do trips off hours, but you may be charged a fee for off hours - $5-35 depending on exactly when. Note taxi is $40, so still a deal.
3. Resort has a dive shop with excellent rep. They go out 2X per day to the sites which are all fairly near the resort. Shore dive entry is from beach, in particular, through the man-made lagoon. First dive site, the airplane wreck is just outside the lagoon. Drop off is just a few feet past the wreck. Though I'm not a diver, so can't compare the resorts for diving, the divers when we were there were all extremely happy with the dive shop and were very happy doing shore dives. Many of them would go out with the boat during the day and then do night dives from shore. We snorkeled probably at least 4-5 hours mostly every day, so plenty to see out there. The most amazing snorkeling we've had and our group has been many places around the world.

Brenda

 

[Kat]

1. Habitat - A/C was great. Kitchenette seemed to be well equipped, but we did not cook. We had a 1st floor ocean view room. The view was breath-taking. Even though we were not in the room much, the extra cost for O/V was worth it to me.

SW - I have not stayed there, but it seemed like most of the rooms were a long way from the dive shop. There was also a smell on the property that was offensive. Very strong smell...like a diaper pail...gone bad. I do not know if this was a 1 time thing, an occasional problem or something that is there day in & day out. But it was bad & I was very pleased that we were not staying there.

AllWest - Did not see any accomodations while we were diving there.

2. Distance from town: All are a good drive from town.
Habitat is closer (based on these three properties), Sunset Waters a little farther out & AllWest is the farthest away.
We had some experience with all 3 on site dive shops, as we had to pay to dive the house reefs at SW & AllWest. They all were helpful & seemed very good. Only did shore dives on Curacao, so no boat experience w/ any of these dive op.

3. The best house reef, imho, is AllWest. They call it Alice in Wonderland. You can enter off the dock, or beach.
SW has a nice reef w/ the plane to see. We had the sea get rough while diving & a tough time getting back through the opening of the breakwall of the lagoon. This is a beach entry.
The Habitat house reef is nice too. Entry is stairs from the dock. Entry is easy for all three.

Hope this helps a little.

 

[snorkelgeek]

SW - I have not stayed there, but it seemed like most of the rooms were a long way from the dive shop. There was also a smell on the property that was offensive. Very strong smell...like a diaper pail...gone bad. I do not know if this was a 1 time thing, an occasional problem or something that is there day in & day out. But it was bad & I was very pleased that we were not staying there.

Definitely a one time thing. Never smelled anything while we were there for two weeks and have never read of anyone smelling things in any of the forums we researched before choosing SW. This is the first time I've ever heard of a smell. The rooms were indeed a long way from the dive shop. Not a problem. All the gear was stored at the dive shop, so it's not like you had to lug it back and forth. Dive groups that came in by bus just left their gear by the office and dive shop staff transferred it down to the shop via pick-up. People that arrive by themselves can drop their gear at the shop. The dive shop bends over backwards to accomodate. The only reason for the distance is that the hotel buildings are at the top of a small cliff - something that is much appreciated when enjoying the views, and the dive shop is down on the beach. Of the four of us that went, 2 have bad knees and one a bad hip (had hip replacement). None of us had problems going to and from the beach. And not once did I hear any of the divers complaining about distance between rooms and dive shop. In fact, I think they appreciated not having to lug gear any distance at all. The dive shop is also a bit of a distance from the shore entry, in terms of lugging gear, but again no problem. The shop is armed with several wheelbarrows and the guys will wheel your gear out to the entry, if you require or wish assistance. But that distance, we're only talking a couple hundred feet maybe.

Brenda

 

[sharon]

Allwest.

Accomdations are fair to good, depends on how picky you are. I like clean places and I was very happy there. AC worked well, infact the apts have 2 units. Kitchens are small but I managed, the provided cookware, plates, silverware. There was a coffee maker, toaster, frig with freezer, stove with small oven.

2. Located 45 minutes west of main town and the best grocery store. 40 minutes from the airport. Small operation, only 4 apts and 3 studios. They don't even have a check in desk. Operation is they know you are coming, they meet you at the airport and tell you your apt number and you are on your own. Might not be want you want as far as support and direction from staff at a hotel. We enjoyed our first 3 week trip with them so much that we returned the following year for 3 more weeks. We are pretty independent travelers and my husband thankfully does extensive research of any place that we do venture to. We go for the price, the location, and the views from the deck. You sign up for diving at the diveshop. You pay your bill at the dive shop. Tanks are available 24/7 at the apts. There is also an outdoor shower and rinsetank.

3. Diving. Another poster stated that the housereef was Alice in Wonderland, that is not correct. Alice in Wonderland is located at Playa Kalki beach where Allwest has opened a new diving center. The dive center used to be located at the apts just around the bend. The housereef at the Allwest Apts is fair. The entry is down some steps from the apts. Easy shore entry. The reef itself is about a 2 minutes slow swim out, less than a minute is you are in a hurry. I'm not really good at estimating distances, maybe less than 100 feet. There is also the fishing pier a short walk to the west, but the beach entry is closer and easier. Just west of the fishing pier in about 30 feet of water you will find an underwater statue of Neptune. You can see a picture of this on Allwest's web site. It's very cool to see. We did many night dives on the house reef. We also did night dives at Alice in Wonderland(Playa Kalki). Saw an 6 foot blue conger eel swimming on the reef, it was the color of Kentucky Blue. The reef at Playa Kalki is beautiful and you should plan to dive it in both directions more than once. Allwest also has a boat that will take you out on a 2 tank trip, first dive is Watamula, fantastic drift dive and second dive is Mushroom Forest, fantastic. Even if you don't stay at Allwest you can contact them about their boat dive schedule. On the westend I have only ran into currents once, on a night dive at Playa Kalki, we got caught in an up current, a little freaky, but we all handled the unexpected rapid rise as we had been taught and quickly chosed to turn around and head back to the entry site. The only real surge issues we encountered was on the Superior Producer, I understand that the earlier in the day you do this dive from shore the less surge. I'm sure from time to time there can be more of a current or surge issue. But in the 40+ dives I have done there, only the 2 instances stand out in my mind.

Good luck in making your decision. Curacao has fantastic shorediving. Have you checked out www.shorediving.com?

It seems that there is a lot of interest in Curacao and a number of you have visited the island fairly recently. I would love to condense information about Sunset Waters, AllWest Apartments, and Habitat Curacao. Information that would be extremely helpful to all planning trips here would include:

1. Accomodations-Is the Air conditioning adequate, are all rooms cooled, are the rooms equipped with all necessary cooking gear if they have kitchenettes.
2. Resort-Distance from town, is the staff on site reliably, are they helpful, you know, all the little important things that help an expensive vacation not be an exercise in frustration
3. The Diving-since shore diving is so prevalent here, talk about the "house reef" at whatever location you have stay at in the past. Of particular interest would be: entry conditions...is there a dock with stairs or is the entry off a beach at the resort or hotel, distance of swim to the reef (can be approximate time or an estimate of distance), currents, surge and finally quality of reef. Finally, any experiences with the boat diving out of these resorts would be interesting also.

I am hoping that a wealthy string of posts will result. If you have had negative experiences, post them. If you have good things to say, post it. Let's get some good info going on these places. If you stayed somewhere else that has the diving integrated with the lodgings, post those also.

Thanks for helping!
Mike

 

[Kat]

Allwest.
3. Diving. Another poster stated that the housereef was Alice in Wonderland, that is not correct. Alice in Wonderland is located at Playa Kalki beach where Allwest has opened a new diving center. The dive center used to be located at the apts just around the bend.

That was me.

That would explain why I did not see any apartments when we were at Allwest.


Snorkelgeek, I have always found that the hotel dive shop will store your gear for you. So that is no selling point for SW. As far as the smell goes, I also have not heard about anyone else having a problem with offensive smells at SW. But I feel it should be mentioned because it was there & it was nasty. Not sure how you know it was a one time thing, however.
The dive shop is far from the rooms, down a hill. Being young & in somewhat good physical shape & my boyfriend in excellent physical shape, with all our moving parts in great working order - we found that walk unpleasant.
Obviously, many people like SW. Based on what I saw (smelled) I was unimpressed.

 

[cmm1970]

Kat,

Thanks for the info on how far the walk from the hotel to the dive shop. My honey and I are big into underwater photography and my camera rig alone weighs over 20lbs. I carry this back and forth to the room during each dive day multiple times. If there is a huge walk, this is definitely a negative for me when say, Habitat's walk is much smaller. Thanks for reiterating that point.


Keep the comments coming, we are slowly dragging a lot of really great, not published, information on each of these locations!

 

[snorkelgeek]

Kat,

Thanks for the info on how far the walk from the hotel to the dive shop. My honey and I are big into underwater photography and my camera rig alone weighs over 20lbs. I carry this back and forth to the room during each dive day multiple times. If there is a huge walk, this is definitely a negative for me when say, Habitat's walk is much smaller. Thanks for reiterating that point.

The distance at SW does depend on which room you're in, you could certainly request one of the closer rooms. As a note, when we were there, there was a pro photog there with all his underwater gear and the dive shop people drove him to/fro the shop each time to within a few feet of his room door. Also as another note, of the 4 of us that stayed there, 3 have bad knees and hips and found no difficulty walking from the room to the beach each day, loaded down with probably about 20 lbs of snorkel gear and floaters and other paraphenalia.

Just to say the walk isn't really all that bad. And there were a number of divers there at the time too that had underwater video equipment and I never heard any complaints from them......We were very concerned about the walk because we saw some of the pics of the beach before we went. But we were reassured by someone who'd been there that her grandmother didn't have a problem with the walk, so we shouldn't. She was right.

Brenda

 

[khobday]

We spent the 1st week in August at Habitat Curacao in one of the Lanai villas which include an outdoor (covered) kitchen. The rooms were comfortable and the kitchen was nicely equipped. AC worked well.

The dive operation is excellent for the most part. You store everything in lockers right by the dock. If you need it, the rental equipment is top notch (if all Caribbean operations had equipment this modern and well maintained, more divers could get by easily with rental). They also have a good tech on staff if any of your gear develops problems. My only complaint is that you have to be quick to sign up for the next day's dives as soon as they post them. The AM dives tend to fill up quickly; the PM dives always had room when we were there. Not a huge deal as you can always dive the house reef in the AM, but we missed Mushroom Forest because of being slow on the draw (I prefer operations where you are assigned to a given boat for the whole week) Divemasters let you dive your own profile as long as you are back on the boat in 60 minutes (+/-). Nitrox was a bit expensive at $10/tank but you got a break if you did at least 10 tanks.

The pool at the Habitat is quite nice -- one of those infinity pools that are so chique.

I do not recommend the restaurant AT ALL -- it is under separate management and offers mediocre food and downright awful service. It was a big negative in what was otherwise a great dive resort. For this reason, I would lean towards SW in the future (or the brand new Kulanda resort at the West end).