Curacao Trip Report 4/4-4/11

[morecowbells]

There is no place on earth like Saba. I have had better diving elsewhere, but topside and the general vibe of the island are what makes it such a special place. Grand Cayman was somewhat disappointing. Too developed and not very attractive topside. I would like to visit Little Cayman, Grand Turk or Dominica soon. I hear great things about those places. However, returning to Curacao is also appealing. You are far enough south that you don't get the winds from the north making things chilly and it is not a lengthy/painful journey getting there.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

Hey, I'm on a mission to go to every island in the Caribbean! I'll go wherever. I'll dive wherever. I look for travel deals to places I've never been to before. Great diving is a definite bonus but I'll try any island with even decent diving. I've found the most satisfying destinations for me are the ones off the beaten path with little or few amenities, no stop lights, and no McDonalds!!! (Little Cayman, Grand Turk, Saba) The less it looks and feels like Florida the happier I am (no offense to the Floridians in the crowd).

You ought to really enjoy St. Eustatius then once you get there! We visited Saba once but like Statia better, enough to visit twice and consider a third visit.

We really liked Dominica mid-island, on the west coast between the two main urban areas. Can't say we really liked Portsmouth or Roseau too much. Unfortunatley the place we really enjoyed staying at went out of business a year after we visited, but there are a couple more opportunities in that area still. Air travel to Dominica from the lower 48 seems to be more of a PITA finding a decent routing these days as well.

Little Cayman was nice but a place with more shore diving opportunities strikes our fancy most these days.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

There is no place on earth like Saba. I have had better diving elsewhere, but topside and the general vibe of the island are what makes it such a special place. Grand Cayman was somewhat disappointing. Too developed and not very attractive topside. I would like to visit Little Cayman, Grand Turk or Dominica soon. I hear great things about those places. However, returning to Curacao is also appealing. You are far enough south that you don't get the winds from the north making things chilly and it is not a lengthy/painful journey getting there.

I hear that. I loved Saba and what keeps me from Dominica is the two stop nature of the flights to get there.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

You ought to really enjoy St. Eustatius then once you get there! We visited Saba once but like Statia better, enough to visit twice and consider a third visit.

We really liked Dominica mid-island, on the west coast between the two main urban areas. Can't say we really liked Portsmouth or Roseau too much. Unfortunatley the place we really enjoyed staying at went out of business a year after we visited, but there are a couple more opportunities in that area still. Air travel to Dominica from the lower 48 seems to be more of a PITA finding a decent routing these days as well.

Little Cayman was nice but a place with more shore diving opportunities strikes our fancy most these days.

Statia is on the list but Dominica is on the short list! I just wish it was easier to get there.

 

[Bryan.]

The travel. Delta through Atlanta direct to Curacao. No complaints. Rented a car and thought it well worth it. travel on the island was relatively easy although street signs can be sporadic.
The island. This island is relatively urban in character. The developed areas seemed relatively large in comparison to Bonaire. The "crowded" feel to the island itself is probably the number one reason I probably would not return. Not my style. If you go make sure to check out the Hato caves and the ostrich farm. We also did a dune buggy tour and a daysail. Both were well worth it and kid favorites.
The resort. We stayed at the Royal Sea Aquarium Resort. Great great resort. No complaints whatsoever. The aquarium is right next door and admission is free if you stay at the resort. If you have kids this is THE place to stay. Highly recommended.
The diving. I liked Curacao diving and found it very comparable to Bonaire. It may have been just the right time to be there but there were swarms of schooling juvenile reef fish. The reef itself is very healthy and the variety of soft and hard corals was impressive. The only thing missing was the big stuff. I only saw one turtle and one eagle ray in four days of diving.
The dive operation. Dove with Ocean Encounters. Very good op. All dives were conservative and well monitored. The boats were typical but clean and well maintained. Fruit was served after dives and there was ample water and juice at no charge. Overall an A operation. I can't think of any negatives.
The food. This was a real bummer. Ate at Hemingways, Agustos, Mambo Beach and the casino retaurant in Wilemsted. They all pretty much sucked. Bland, bland, bland. I'm not a gourmand but for gods sake make an effort people.

Hey Tim!
Thanks for the review!

Appreciate the honesty and I am sorry I did not get the chance to meet you while you were here! Happy to here everything worked out!!

All the best and safe diving!

Bryan

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

Statia has a single Shel filling station - next door to the power & water plant. If you rent a car, you can't fill the tank back up if it's a day when there's no fuel at the filling station - and no need to rent a car for more than one day. It'll be quite a while before McDonald's and Starbucks find Statia - the big celebration on our last visit was having a refrigerated container finally that delivered ice cream to Statia in solid instead of soup form - that's the kind of place it is.

On Dominica, we really enjoyed diving with Harald & Bea - it was like having some lost cousins umpteen times removed in the Caribbean!

East Carib Dive

At the time, the ITME research folks were diving off their boat with us - nice to have a PhD and group of grad students to discuss your dive with during surface intervals and boat transists to & from the dock.

ITME Institute for Tropical Marine Ecology Inc.

 

[muzicgirl]

My favorite restaurant in Curacao is Rijstafel Indonesia....a little bit of a ride outof the city but amazing food and well worth it - not expensive at all!