Just coming back from a wonderful trip to Curacao, me and my brother spent two weeks diving in January 2009.
We stayed at All West Apartments & Diving in Westpunt. Didn't really know about that place before, but it was an excellent choice. Organization was perfect, we were picked up at the airport and got our rental car immediately. The guy that guided us to All West was very friendly and even went with us to the nearby Centrum Supermarket before heading north to Westpunt so that we can make our grocery shopping!!
The one thing that stands out in All West is total freedom and independence regarding diving, and they have probably the best view / terrace on the island. The resort is located on top of the cliffs (approx. 20 ft. high) directly oceanfront. Every appartment has sea view and a private terrace. There are BBQ grills on the public part of the terrace.
Regarding diving it's the perfect place to be. I said freedom - that means you just pick up a tank at the diving room at All West (24h available) and go diving. Or you load your car with as many tanks as you want and go diving on some other spot on the island. No questions asked, no restrictions, no nonsense. That's how it should be, and we have seen in other hotels (e.g. Habitat) that this is not always the case.
A small drawback on the diving room is the cleanliness of the floor - sometimes you can practically wash your divesuit when it drops on the floor - and the plastic boxes for carrying your dive gear are almost all damaged and unusable. Removable wooden floor covers would be nice and are standard in many other places.
The Ocean Encounters West dive center is located about half a mile north from the resort. You need to go there to check in, and if you want to rent gear or do a tour with the boat. People are very friendly and helpful there, and their level of service is superb. But don't expect too much of the boat dives - you can do almost everything from shore if you have a car. Of course the social aspect of a boat dive is nice so be sure to book at least a couple of them.
Westpunt is quite far away from the island's center - Willemstad - and there's not much life there. Which is perfect for a dive holiday, but if you want to go out dancing at night it is of course difficult. In any case, you can enjoy hanging out with buddies at the Apartment's wonderful terrace or go socialize with good food & beer at Sunshine's Sol Food Restaurant.
Regarding the divesites on the island - which I will describe below - my favourites have been Playa Porto Mari, the Superior Producer shipwreck and the Tugboat.
Playa Porto Mari because of the excellent facilities (it's a developed beach), the free use of the dive shop facilities and the friendly people there, and the excellent circular reef they have there, stuffed with lots of marine life. And the restaurant offers a superb view and good food at reasonable prices.
The Superior producer is a 240-foot shipwreck located in front of the port entrance in Willemstad at 100ft depth and is an excellent wreck dive with good visibility.
The tugboat is a nice divesite in the south of Jan Thiel Beach / Caracas Bay. It is a small vessel located not very deep (about 15 feet) but with very nice marine life. People frequently report sea horses there. If you dive along the shore after passing the tug boat, there's a nice steep wall you can dive along. It's a giant rock in the sea and offers spectacular views as well as the possibility to do a nice deep dive.
I will post detailed descriptions of the dive site later below on this thread.
I uploaded several photos and videos to this site as well as to my blog at Travel tips, recommendations for travellers | Puertoricanrum.com!
We stayed at All West Apartments & Diving in Westpunt. Didn't really know about that place before, but it was an excellent choice. Organization was perfect, we were picked up at the airport and got our rental car immediately. The guy that guided us to All West was very friendly and even went with us to the nearby Centrum Supermarket before heading north to Westpunt so that we can make our grocery shopping!!
The one thing that stands out in All West is total freedom and independence regarding diving, and they have probably the best view / terrace on the island. The resort is located on top of the cliffs (approx. 20 ft. high) directly oceanfront. Every appartment has sea view and a private terrace. There are BBQ grills on the public part of the terrace.
Regarding diving it's the perfect place to be. I said freedom - that means you just pick up a tank at the diving room at All West (24h available) and go diving. Or you load your car with as many tanks as you want and go diving on some other spot on the island. No questions asked, no restrictions, no nonsense. That's how it should be, and we have seen in other hotels (e.g. Habitat) that this is not always the case.
A small drawback on the diving room is the cleanliness of the floor - sometimes you can practically wash your divesuit when it drops on the floor - and the plastic boxes for carrying your dive gear are almost all damaged and unusable. Removable wooden floor covers would be nice and are standard in many other places.
The Ocean Encounters West dive center is located about half a mile north from the resort. You need to go there to check in, and if you want to rent gear or do a tour with the boat. People are very friendly and helpful there, and their level of service is superb. But don't expect too much of the boat dives - you can do almost everything from shore if you have a car. Of course the social aspect of a boat dive is nice so be sure to book at least a couple of them.
Westpunt is quite far away from the island's center - Willemstad - and there's not much life there. Which is perfect for a dive holiday, but if you want to go out dancing at night it is of course difficult. In any case, you can enjoy hanging out with buddies at the Apartment's wonderful terrace or go socialize with good food & beer at Sunshine's Sol Food Restaurant.
Regarding the divesites on the island - which I will describe below - my favourites have been Playa Porto Mari, the Superior Producer shipwreck and the Tugboat.
Playa Porto Mari because of the excellent facilities (it's a developed beach), the free use of the dive shop facilities and the friendly people there, and the excellent circular reef they have there, stuffed with lots of marine life. And the restaurant offers a superb view and good food at reasonable prices.
The Superior producer is a 240-foot shipwreck located in front of the port entrance in Willemstad at 100ft depth and is an excellent wreck dive with good visibility.
The tugboat is a nice divesite in the south of Jan Thiel Beach / Caracas Bay. It is a small vessel located not very deep (about 15 feet) but with very nice marine life. People frequently report sea horses there. If you dive along the shore after passing the tug boat, there's a nice steep wall you can dive along. It's a giant rock in the sea and offers spectacular views as well as the possibility to do a nice deep dive.
I will post detailed descriptions of the dive site later below on this thread.
I uploaded several photos and videos to this site as well as to my blog at Travel tips, recommendations for travellers | Puertoricanrum.com!
