Trip Report Curacao Trip Report Jan '20

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tkaelin

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Just returned from another great trip to Curacao. 4th January trip. JetBlue nonstop flight from JFK. Stayed at Lagun Blou for the week. LB picked us up at the airport and stopped at Centrum so we could shop for food & beverage before heading out. Rented a SUV with LB for the week. Pictures of LB posted under the "Daydreaming of Curacao" thread.

Most of our diving was right from the LB. We had two dives over at Cas Abou one day and two dives over at Playa Kalki another. While we had unlimited tank packages with Lagun Blou we rented tanks on site with Bdiving/Cas Abou and Gowest/Playa Kalki. The diving everywhere was very good with water temps mostly 81 with one day dipping to 79. Weather generally good with widely scattered showers some days. One early morning dive at LB was aborted because of a ripping current. It was gone in a couple hours. Our last day diving at LB had limited vis in the shallows due to swells rolling in from the north. Vis for the week was good - 80' to 100'+. Some dive pics and videos posted on the DOC thread.

Diving highlights include watching and following on octopus for about 10 minutes, eagle ray spotting, moray eels of just about every stripe: green, spotted, chain and golden. Tons of goat, parrot, butterfly, damsel and trunk fish and brown and blue chromis. A few peacock flounders, lobsters and cowfish. Schooling barracuda was also a first: small maybe 2' and in groups of 12-30. Enjoyed also exploring the cave at Lagun which had numerous lobsters and crabs and two groups of schooling glassy sweepers. One pea sized yellow and black juve smooth trunk fish - always a fun find. No squid or turtles this time.

Most meals were in. Units have full kitchens and outside grills. Went out for two lunches and dinners. Both dinners were at Cactus Café formerly Trio Penotti which is at a much better location roughly across the street and service is kicked up a notch as well. Food still fantastic and great value. One lunch at Sol Food and always great to chat with Curacao Sunshine. Pizza and salad with an extra pizza to go. Food was also very good and a great value. The other lunch was at Bahia in Lagun was fine and had a nice view.

We had a great time diving and relaxing and will definitely return. Was nice to experience sunshine, warmth and longer days to breakup short dark cold January New England Winter days.

Bonaire is up next for this Summer.

Happy diving. TK
 
Thanks for the report! We will be there in 3 weeks and it cannot come soon enough. I have never encountered schooling barracuda; I cannot imagine the thrill tinged with fear:wink: I have not heard of Cactus Cafe. It is good to know there is an additional dining option(cannot go to Sunshine's everyday). Is Landhaus Misje still around?
 
Is Landhaus Misje still around?
It appeared to be. It has been on our list to try. BTW if you find yourself diving Playa Kalki/Gowest and are hungry, they deliver. There is a take out lunch menu in the dive shop. Cactus Café is in Christoffel and is worth a try.
 
Thanks for the trip repot. We are there in late February for 2 weeks.

Please tell me more about... Enjoyed also exploring the cave at Lagun

There will be 4 divers on our trip. The others not as skilled or experienced as myself. Is this cave a place for an open water diver or an Advanced open water diver? Current in or out of the cave? Depth? Etc. thanks
 
Please tell me more about... Enjoyed also exploring the cave at Lagun
The cave is part of the coral cliff formations at the oceans edge. There are two openings. A large one very close to the surface and a smaller one just below. The depth of the entrances are just below the surface, maybe 5-10' depending on the tide. The cave room is large enough for a couple of divers to enter and explore, maybe 30' in where you can always see the entrance/exit. There can be a surge in and about the entrance and cave but you can view it for yourself before entering. I think anyone with basic skills can enter and exit pretty easily with the biggest concern is with not touching or scraping against the coral and rock on the entrance and exit. Couple pics from inside looking an the upper entrance/exit. There is another more open cave just east of this cave, maybe another 15' further east.

It is about a 6-8 swim from the ladder at Lagun Blou east/south along the wall. The depth under the ladder is about 25' and you can follow the wall to the entrances.
From Lagun beach you head out keeping the cliffs on the east/south side on your left. Round the corner in a minute or two you should see the ladder coming down from Lagun Blou. I would guess the swim from Lagun Beach to Lagun Blou ladder about 10-12 minutes. Easy to navigate. Just find the cliff wall and keep it on your left until you see the ladder and then the cave.
 

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Thanks for the report! We will be there in 3 weeks and it cannot come soon enough. I have never encountered schooling barracuda; I cannot imagine the thrill tinged with fear:wink:

They are harmless so long as you don't flash shiny objects or shine a light in their eyes. The boat I work at Flower Gardens off Texas has barracuda school under it night and day. At night to take advantage of the boat lights and at day to take advantage of the shade. I've been in schools hundreds of times, often doing safety stop with barracuda on either side of me. They aren't afraid but will ease out your way when you move.

barracudaboatelh.jpg
 
Thanks for the report! We will be there in 3 weeks and it cannot come soon enough. I have never encountered schooling barracuda; I cannot imagine the thrill tinged with fear:wink: I have not heard of Cactus Cafe. It is good to know there is an additional dining option(cannot go to Sunshine's everyday). Is Landhaus Misje still around?

If you'd really like barracuda, and frankly tons of other sealife, I'd recommend overseas to Sipadan, in Malaysian Borneo. Several resorts on Mabul Island (cannot stay on Sipadan Island, it's a coast guard outpost and protected national park), but the best for divers is Seaventures; an old oil rig repurposed as a dive platform. They have the best ratio of guests/permits of all the resorts (limited permits to dive Sipadan every day), more likely to get to Sipadan then; otherwise you dive Mabul / Kapalai, which is quite good. Regularly see tornados of giant barracuda, in the hundreds. No fear, though, they have huge teeth but never bother divers. You'll also see loads of reef sharks of all types, as well as turtles, octopi, great macro, hammers, and recently whale sharks.
 
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