DivingPanda
Contributor
Just returned from a great week in Curaçao, where we stayed at Lodge Kura Hulanda and dove with Ocean Encounters West.
Summary
Lodge Kura Hulanda
Very nice enclosed luxury resort in Westpunt, with restaurant, pool, poolside bar, and beach (down steps from resort). Garden View rooms are a short walk from the restaurant/pool/beach, more expensive Ocean Front rooms are next to the restaurant/pool and look out over the water.
• Pros: well-appointed rooms, nice pool, small but nice beach, great staff, good value (not the all-inclusive)
• Cons: restaurant service generally inept, food hit or miss and fairly expensive, far from other restaurants & grocery stores
Ocean Encounters West
Dive shop is next door to the resort at beach-level with steps up to its own parking lot. They run 2-tank AM boat dives and 1-tank PM boat dives up to 30 min from the resort and can take up to 20 divers. Easy access to shore diving from small pier with sandy area in 8-15 ft for training and short swim to edge of reef at 25-90 ft.
• Pros: absolutely outstanding dive staff, good facilities and boat, great house reef Alice in Wonderland, good rental equipment
• Cons: partial pressure blended Nitrox expensive at $10/tank, need to move gear to hotel lockers for use after 5pm
Full Details
Getting There
We flew in on the American flight from Miami, which was delayed a couple hours. That put us into the Curaçao airport at 10pm, and after collecting our bags and clearing customs (x-ray), we made it to the rental car counter at 10:45pm, just before they closed at 11pm! As a National Emerald Executive, we got upgraded to an SUV and the attendant showed us how to crank down the spare tire from beneath the rear (fortunately...). National gives you a good full-sized roadmap, and the drive across the island to Westpunt took us about 40 min on the main road. I enjoyed the drive, but if you haven't driven in the Caribbean before, be aware that the road is a bit narrow, has some sharp turns, and is not well-lined. It is, however, lighted until you get up to Christoffel Park. The resort is just a few minutes off the main road, and the turns are well-marked to help you get there.
Lodge Kura Hulanda
The resort is enclosed by a small wall and there is a guard posted (although occasionally snoozing) at the main gate. The central area of the resort consists of a large main building, two covered open-air restaurant areas, a covered open-air bar, a moderate sized swimming pool (with a small waterfall!), and a stone staircase leading down to the beach about 30 ft below. The main building includes the front desk, sundries shop (snacks and drinks), and meeting room (check out the big map in the back with their plans for a 10-fold expansion in the coming years!) Access to the dive shop is via the stairs down to the beach, but note that there is a gate that is padlocked after hours (see below).
The Garden View Lodges are just across the parking lot from the main resort building and each consists of two Garden View Rooms on the ground floor and one Garden View 1-Bedroom, which takes up the entire second floor. We stayed in a 1-Bedroom, which was nicely appointed with good A/C, TV, safe, a small vanity and shower, an enclosed (non-A/C) toilet, and a large balcony with tables and couches, great for drying swimsuits and dive gear! There is an enclosed (non-A/C) kitchen just off the balcony with a sink, stove, microwave, toaster, small fridge, and dishes. The Garden View Rooms were basically just the bed and bathroom, each with a small deck just outside. Another couple in our group stayed in an Ocean View 1-Bedroom Suite, which was quite nice, with a smaller balcony, high ceilings, and an additional outdoor shower (strangely accessed only thru the bedroom).
While the Lodge boasts two restaurants on their website, Watamula and Christoffel, only Watamula is actually open during the low season, although you can order off either menu if you ask (same kitchen). We opted NOT to get the all-inclusive plan, and found it to be much more economical; unless you're a heavy drinker (and we had 1-3 per day), the a/i is NOT worth it! That also allowed us to venture out for a couple nice dinners at Daniel (near Tera Cora) and Fort Nassau (in Willemstad), which were actually cheaper than eating at the resort. The hot breakfast buffet is excellent, including omlettes to order, but a bit pricey at $17 after tax; there is a continental option for $8. Lunch ran us about $20-25 and was served down on the terrace; the baguette sandwiches were pretty good, but the pizzas did not sit well with some in our group. Dinner ran us about $45-60 and the meats, fowl, fish, and other seafood were all hit or miss, ranging from very good to overcooked / oversauced / oversalted. The biggest issue was the service. It was generally slow (beyond just being on 'island time'), inattentive, and inept. There were a couple servers who were very nice and pretty efficient, but most of the rest had trouble keeping track of orders, bringing out food in the right order, and charging things to the right people in our group. It's a tough job, to be sure, but for the most part, they just didn't seem to care much. As is standard in Curaçao, you get hit with a 12% service charge on every meal, with the option of adding a few % extra for your server.
Ocean Encounters West
OK, on to what you really care about! As many others have reported here, the dive staff at OEW is absolutely superb. Each and every one of them were friendly, outgoing, helpful, and went out of their way to accommodate us. Many times, I'd see one of them stop whatever they were doing to ask someone if they needed any help. Importantly, they also respected each diver's individual abilities and preferences, looking after our less-experienced divers, while letting those with more experience dive their own profiles based on computers.
The dive shop is open 8am-5pm and has good Cressi rental gear (including some weight-integrated BCs), a large common room for gear storage, lots of BC and wetsuit hangers, two rinse tanks (one for regs and masks only), and a freshwater shower. Nitrox was partial pressure blended (30-33%) and cost $10/tank extra
.
Boat Diving
We did the 2-tank AM boat dive every day on their 20-person boat, the Palavos, departing at 8:30am and returning around 12:30-1:00pm. Most of the time we were there, we only had 5-10 divers, so there was plenty of room to maneuver and gear up. The boat has O2, first aid kit, and a marine radio, although a cell phone is used to call the shop due to the lack of a base station. It does get a little wet as the cabin is not enclosed and the wind blows the spray up, but there is a dry compartment in the bow and also a large dry box. Water, Tang(!), oranges, and raisin bread were available for SI's. Look for TONS of flying fish on every trip!
We had 2 divemasters (+ the captain) for most dives, allowing us to dive as either one large group or two smaller groups. Entries are giant stride off the stern, with a single, very steady ladder (never saw it bounce once) for exits. Max dive time was 60 minutes (although the staff was very nice when we ran a few minutes long once). Depths were generally 40-60 ft, although the reef goes down to 80-90+ ft at some sites, then thins out near a sandy bottom at 100-110+ ft. Temps were 80-83 °F, waves were 6-12", and currents were mild to non-existent. Most dives ran on a standard rectangle (deeper outbound, turn at 1/2 tank, shallower return), although we did a couple drift dives, too. Nav is super easy, of course, with the reef running parallel to shore, usually N/S. Surface intervals are a full 60 min, spent motoring to the next site, snorkeling in the Blue Room cavern, or stopping back at the dock.
We dove Mushroom Forest, Black Sand / Wreck of the Catherine, Plane Wreck, Radio City, Paradise, Sponge Forest, Hulu, Jeremi, and our absolute favorite - Watamula (way better than Mushroom Forest, which all the dive magazines write about). The coral is dense and healthy. We saw lots of schooling fish (bar jacks, chromis, blue tangs, creole wrasses), along with the usual assortment of parrotfish, angelfish, damselfish, trumpetfish, and trunkfish. We were lucky to see a pair of cowfish spiral 30 ft up the water column mating, and a number of steely gray sergeant majors aggressively guarding their purple egg patches. The creole wrasse also seemed to be mating and, while I'd seen grunts do it many times, I saw a pair of these gaping for the first time. Lots of corkscrew anemones with Petersen and banded coral shrimp; not many larger crustaceans, though. There were also a lot of eels, including some nice big greens and spotteds! We also saw one 18" hawksbill turtle, three spotted eagle rays, a pair of reef squid, and some big 2-ft pufferfish.
The Wreck of the Catherine at Black Sand beach is also worth exploring, with some good penetration opportunities for those interested, at a depth of 20-25 ft. We found a huge 4-ft (no joke) dog snapper living in a compartment amidships on the North (port) side (the ship is inverted), and there is a larger compartment toward the bow (light, but no egress, to starboard or aft). Several in our group were doing their Wreck certifications and this turned out to be perfect for it! (We did not dive the Superior Producer because it required a long, early morning drive down to Ocean Encounters (East), and their divemasters were unsure of how good the penetration training opportunities were.
Shore Diving
Another big plus at OEW is the great house reef, Alice in Wonderland. Entries are either giant stride off the lower deck of the pier or via the ladder (which needs wider rungs and a better handrail). There is a large sandy area in 8-15 ft with four buoys that's great for training (did my S&R) and also has some interesting critters - about 15 ft to the left (S) of the first buoy, is a small 2-ft round coral head where an octopus sometimes lives (it was there for a few days). Closer to shore, there's also an engine block that some shrimp have turned into a cleaning station. Lots of sharptail eels in the coral rubble, and some iridescent blue lettuce worms. Just off the beach, we saw some juvenile 1" sergeant majors! We did a couple night dives, and the coral polyps start coming out between 7:30-8:00pm - my first time seeing brain coral feeding! Top of the reef is about 25 ft and it continues down to 80+. We dove both to the N and the S, but it's supposed to be better to the N.
There are a few caveats to shore diving at OEW. First, if you want to leave or return after the dive shop closes at 5pm, then you need to move your gear (and some tanks) to the hotel locker room, just next door at beach level. The individual lockers are large, but have no hangers and limited ventilation. Keys for padlocks are available at the hotel front desk, and you'll need your room key for the door. Second, be sure to let the hotel front desk know what time you'll be back, or the Kura Hulanda guard may padlock the gate on the stairs up to the resort as early as 6pm. Third, even if the dive staff leaves the rinse tanks full, someone else may pull the drain plug, and the freshwater shower is turned off after hours. If that happens, you can hike your gear up the stairs to the resort, where there is a shower near the top of the stairs.
We did only one shore dive 'off-campus' - in that respect, we were a bit disappointed that shore diving is not as straightforward as in Bonaire, but the great house reef made up for it. Theft has apparently become an increasing problem in Curaçao, even in the parking lot of OEW, so we were advised not to leave anything in the car except for towels and spare tanks, not even a gear bag - don't bother trying to hide things in the trunk as you may be watched. It also turned out that many of the beaches are either private or require an entry fee, and close at 5pm. At any rate, we still had an enjoyable dive, which included a safety stop with a bit 2-ft pufferfish trolling around.
Conclusion
Overall, we very much enjoyed our trip to Curaçao and would definitely return to KH and OEW!! The reef is in great shape, the diving is easy, and the OEW staff are top notch!
One last vignette - on the way to the airport at 6:30am, we managed to get a flat tire. Couldn't figure out how to get my intl phone to call roadside assistance. Fortunately, we were able to pull off a NASCAR pit crew routine and get it changed in about 20 minutes (after spending 5 min searching for the jack - the National attendant showed us how to lower the spare tire, but not where the jack was). The great part was that a very nice local couple, also on their way to the airport, stopped and helped us complete the change and put all our luggage back into the car - the guy even had some Purell so we could clean our hands afterwards! A big thank you to them!
For a few recent reports by others, see:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ab...hulanda-ocean-encounters-west-9-3-9-12-a.html
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/abc-islands/293252-trip-report-bonaire-curacao.html
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/abc-islands/240462-curacao-trip-report-6-14-6-24-a.html
Summary
Lodge Kura Hulanda
Very nice enclosed luxury resort in Westpunt, with restaurant, pool, poolside bar, and beach (down steps from resort). Garden View rooms are a short walk from the restaurant/pool/beach, more expensive Ocean Front rooms are next to the restaurant/pool and look out over the water.
• Pros: well-appointed rooms, nice pool, small but nice beach, great staff, good value (not the all-inclusive)
• Cons: restaurant service generally inept, food hit or miss and fairly expensive, far from other restaurants & grocery stores
Ocean Encounters West
Dive shop is next door to the resort at beach-level with steps up to its own parking lot. They run 2-tank AM boat dives and 1-tank PM boat dives up to 30 min from the resort and can take up to 20 divers. Easy access to shore diving from small pier with sandy area in 8-15 ft for training and short swim to edge of reef at 25-90 ft.
• Pros: absolutely outstanding dive staff, good facilities and boat, great house reef Alice in Wonderland, good rental equipment
• Cons: partial pressure blended Nitrox expensive at $10/tank, need to move gear to hotel lockers for use after 5pm
Full Details
Getting There
We flew in on the American flight from Miami, which was delayed a couple hours. That put us into the Curaçao airport at 10pm, and after collecting our bags and clearing customs (x-ray), we made it to the rental car counter at 10:45pm, just before they closed at 11pm! As a National Emerald Executive, we got upgraded to an SUV and the attendant showed us how to crank down the spare tire from beneath the rear (fortunately...). National gives you a good full-sized roadmap, and the drive across the island to Westpunt took us about 40 min on the main road. I enjoyed the drive, but if you haven't driven in the Caribbean before, be aware that the road is a bit narrow, has some sharp turns, and is not well-lined. It is, however, lighted until you get up to Christoffel Park. The resort is just a few minutes off the main road, and the turns are well-marked to help you get there.
Lodge Kura Hulanda
The resort is enclosed by a small wall and there is a guard posted (although occasionally snoozing) at the main gate. The central area of the resort consists of a large main building, two covered open-air restaurant areas, a covered open-air bar, a moderate sized swimming pool (with a small waterfall!), and a stone staircase leading down to the beach about 30 ft below. The main building includes the front desk, sundries shop (snacks and drinks), and meeting room (check out the big map in the back with their plans for a 10-fold expansion in the coming years!) Access to the dive shop is via the stairs down to the beach, but note that there is a gate that is padlocked after hours (see below).
The Garden View Lodges are just across the parking lot from the main resort building and each consists of two Garden View Rooms on the ground floor and one Garden View 1-Bedroom, which takes up the entire second floor. We stayed in a 1-Bedroom, which was nicely appointed with good A/C, TV, safe, a small vanity and shower, an enclosed (non-A/C) toilet, and a large balcony with tables and couches, great for drying swimsuits and dive gear! There is an enclosed (non-A/C) kitchen just off the balcony with a sink, stove, microwave, toaster, small fridge, and dishes. The Garden View Rooms were basically just the bed and bathroom, each with a small deck just outside. Another couple in our group stayed in an Ocean View 1-Bedroom Suite, which was quite nice, with a smaller balcony, high ceilings, and an additional outdoor shower (strangely accessed only thru the bedroom).
While the Lodge boasts two restaurants on their website, Watamula and Christoffel, only Watamula is actually open during the low season, although you can order off either menu if you ask (same kitchen). We opted NOT to get the all-inclusive plan, and found it to be much more economical; unless you're a heavy drinker (and we had 1-3 per day), the a/i is NOT worth it! That also allowed us to venture out for a couple nice dinners at Daniel (near Tera Cora) and Fort Nassau (in Willemstad), which were actually cheaper than eating at the resort. The hot breakfast buffet is excellent, including omlettes to order, but a bit pricey at $17 after tax; there is a continental option for $8. Lunch ran us about $20-25 and was served down on the terrace; the baguette sandwiches were pretty good, but the pizzas did not sit well with some in our group. Dinner ran us about $45-60 and the meats, fowl, fish, and other seafood were all hit or miss, ranging from very good to overcooked / oversauced / oversalted. The biggest issue was the service. It was generally slow (beyond just being on 'island time'), inattentive, and inept. There were a couple servers who were very nice and pretty efficient, but most of the rest had trouble keeping track of orders, bringing out food in the right order, and charging things to the right people in our group. It's a tough job, to be sure, but for the most part, they just didn't seem to care much. As is standard in Curaçao, you get hit with a 12% service charge on every meal, with the option of adding a few % extra for your server.
Ocean Encounters West
OK, on to what you really care about! As many others have reported here, the dive staff at OEW is absolutely superb. Each and every one of them were friendly, outgoing, helpful, and went out of their way to accommodate us. Many times, I'd see one of them stop whatever they were doing to ask someone if they needed any help. Importantly, they also respected each diver's individual abilities and preferences, looking after our less-experienced divers, while letting those with more experience dive their own profiles based on computers.
The dive shop is open 8am-5pm and has good Cressi rental gear (including some weight-integrated BCs), a large common room for gear storage, lots of BC and wetsuit hangers, two rinse tanks (one for regs and masks only), and a freshwater shower. Nitrox was partial pressure blended (30-33%) and cost $10/tank extra
.Boat Diving
We did the 2-tank AM boat dive every day on their 20-person boat, the Palavos, departing at 8:30am and returning around 12:30-1:00pm. Most of the time we were there, we only had 5-10 divers, so there was plenty of room to maneuver and gear up. The boat has O2, first aid kit, and a marine radio, although a cell phone is used to call the shop due to the lack of a base station. It does get a little wet as the cabin is not enclosed and the wind blows the spray up, but there is a dry compartment in the bow and also a large dry box. Water, Tang(!), oranges, and raisin bread were available for SI's. Look for TONS of flying fish on every trip!
We had 2 divemasters (+ the captain) for most dives, allowing us to dive as either one large group or two smaller groups. Entries are giant stride off the stern, with a single, very steady ladder (never saw it bounce once) for exits. Max dive time was 60 minutes (although the staff was very nice when we ran a few minutes long once). Depths were generally 40-60 ft, although the reef goes down to 80-90+ ft at some sites, then thins out near a sandy bottom at 100-110+ ft. Temps were 80-83 °F, waves were 6-12", and currents were mild to non-existent. Most dives ran on a standard rectangle (deeper outbound, turn at 1/2 tank, shallower return), although we did a couple drift dives, too. Nav is super easy, of course, with the reef running parallel to shore, usually N/S. Surface intervals are a full 60 min, spent motoring to the next site, snorkeling in the Blue Room cavern, or stopping back at the dock.
We dove Mushroom Forest, Black Sand / Wreck of the Catherine, Plane Wreck, Radio City, Paradise, Sponge Forest, Hulu, Jeremi, and our absolute favorite - Watamula (way better than Mushroom Forest, which all the dive magazines write about). The coral is dense and healthy. We saw lots of schooling fish (bar jacks, chromis, blue tangs, creole wrasses), along with the usual assortment of parrotfish, angelfish, damselfish, trumpetfish, and trunkfish. We were lucky to see a pair of cowfish spiral 30 ft up the water column mating, and a number of steely gray sergeant majors aggressively guarding their purple egg patches. The creole wrasse also seemed to be mating and, while I'd seen grunts do it many times, I saw a pair of these gaping for the first time. Lots of corkscrew anemones with Petersen and banded coral shrimp; not many larger crustaceans, though. There were also a lot of eels, including some nice big greens and spotteds! We also saw one 18" hawksbill turtle, three spotted eagle rays, a pair of reef squid, and some big 2-ft pufferfish.
The Wreck of the Catherine at Black Sand beach is also worth exploring, with some good penetration opportunities for those interested, at a depth of 20-25 ft. We found a huge 4-ft (no joke) dog snapper living in a compartment amidships on the North (port) side (the ship is inverted), and there is a larger compartment toward the bow (light, but no egress, to starboard or aft). Several in our group were doing their Wreck certifications and this turned out to be perfect for it! (We did not dive the Superior Producer because it required a long, early morning drive down to Ocean Encounters (East), and their divemasters were unsure of how good the penetration training opportunities were.
Shore Diving
Another big plus at OEW is the great house reef, Alice in Wonderland. Entries are either giant stride off the lower deck of the pier or via the ladder (which needs wider rungs and a better handrail). There is a large sandy area in 8-15 ft with four buoys that's great for training (did my S&R) and also has some interesting critters - about 15 ft to the left (S) of the first buoy, is a small 2-ft round coral head where an octopus sometimes lives (it was there for a few days). Closer to shore, there's also an engine block that some shrimp have turned into a cleaning station. Lots of sharptail eels in the coral rubble, and some iridescent blue lettuce worms. Just off the beach, we saw some juvenile 1" sergeant majors! We did a couple night dives, and the coral polyps start coming out between 7:30-8:00pm - my first time seeing brain coral feeding! Top of the reef is about 25 ft and it continues down to 80+. We dove both to the N and the S, but it's supposed to be better to the N.
There are a few caveats to shore diving at OEW. First, if you want to leave or return after the dive shop closes at 5pm, then you need to move your gear (and some tanks) to the hotel locker room, just next door at beach level. The individual lockers are large, but have no hangers and limited ventilation. Keys for padlocks are available at the hotel front desk, and you'll need your room key for the door. Second, be sure to let the hotel front desk know what time you'll be back, or the Kura Hulanda guard may padlock the gate on the stairs up to the resort as early as 6pm. Third, even if the dive staff leaves the rinse tanks full, someone else may pull the drain plug, and the freshwater shower is turned off after hours. If that happens, you can hike your gear up the stairs to the resort, where there is a shower near the top of the stairs.
We did only one shore dive 'off-campus' - in that respect, we were a bit disappointed that shore diving is not as straightforward as in Bonaire, but the great house reef made up for it. Theft has apparently become an increasing problem in Curaçao, even in the parking lot of OEW, so we were advised not to leave anything in the car except for towels and spare tanks, not even a gear bag - don't bother trying to hide things in the trunk as you may be watched. It also turned out that many of the beaches are either private or require an entry fee, and close at 5pm. At any rate, we still had an enjoyable dive, which included a safety stop with a bit 2-ft pufferfish trolling around.
Conclusion
Overall, we very much enjoyed our trip to Curaçao and would definitely return to KH and OEW!! The reef is in great shape, the diving is easy, and the OEW staff are top notch!
One last vignette - on the way to the airport at 6:30am, we managed to get a flat tire.
Couldn't figure out how to get my intl phone to call roadside assistance. Fortunately, we were able to pull off a NASCAR pit crew routine and get it changed in about 20 minutes (after spending 5 min searching for the jack - the National attendant showed us how to lower the spare tire, but not where the jack was). The great part was that a very nice local couple, also on their way to the airport, stopped and helped us complete the change and put all our luggage back into the car - the guy even had some Purell so we could clean our hands afterwards! A big thank you to them! For a few recent reports by others, see:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ab...hulanda-ocean-encounters-west-9-3-9-12-a.html
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/abc-islands/293252-trip-report-bonaire-curacao.html
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/abc-islands/240462-curacao-trip-report-6-14-6-24-a.html
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