Curacao: What has better diving: Westpunt vs Willemstad sides

[Damselfish]

I agree the diving is generally better as you move well away from the city, towards the western end of the island. I prefer it to the diving I've done towards the eastern end. Not because the northeastern sites are calmer, which I don't think they are, but because what's underwater was better. Curacao conditions tend to be fairly mellow in general unless you are getting towards the very tips of the island, and seem more affected by local orientation and details of a site.

I believe the health of the reefs is heavily influenced by the amount of development on land. Curacao has a long history of commerce and development. The far west has always been less developed, as it's much more remote. The city and surrounding built up area is large for the region, with lots of industry and a busy port. Refining and transshipping oil from Venezuela is a big thing.

The far eastern end is not as remote (or far) as the west, but has been mostly undeveloped until recently because it was all owned by oil industry or a large landowner. (When we started diving in Curacao 20 years ago, we were basically told "don't go there or they will shoot.") I believe some still is off-limits, but tourism and other development has crept in that direction.

It's still well worth diving to the east, where the marine park is. But I always thought it ironic that the current marine park covers an area where the diving is not quite as nice. I would say this was a case of closing the barn door after the horse is out. I hear they are try to extend the park to the eastern end of the island.

Curacao has always been a compromise between staying closer to better diving, and staying closer to a variety of places to stay/eat/shop/etc. Curious where you were thinking of staying near the city that your friend didn't think was a good idea?

 

[DevilEyeDog]

I agree the diving is generally better as you move well away from the city, towards the western end of the island. I prefer it to the diving I've done towards the eastern end. Not because the northeastern sites are calmer, which I don't think they are, but because what's underwater was better. Curacao conditions tend to be fairly mellow in general unless you are getting towards the very tips of the island, and seem more affected by local orientation and details of a site.

I believe the health of the reefs is heavily influenced by the amount of development on land. Curacao has a long history of commerce and development. The far west has always been less developed, as it's much more remote. The city and surrounding built up area is large for the region, with lots of industry and a busy port. Refining and transshipping oil from Venezuela is a big thing.

The far eastern end is not as remote (or far) as the west, but has been mostly undeveloped until recently because it was all owned by oil industry or a large landowner. (When we started diving in Curacao 20 years ago, we were basically told "don't go there or they will shoot.") I believe some still is off-limits, but tourism and other development has crept in that direction.

It's still well worth diving to the east, where the marine park is. But I always thought it ironic that the current marine park covers an area where the diving is not quite as nice. I would say this was a case of closing the barn door after the horse is out. I hear they are try to extend the park to the eastern end of the island.

Curacao has always been a compromise between staying closer to better diving, and staying closer to a variety of places to stay/eat/shop/etc. Curious where you were thinking of staying near the city that your friend didn't think was a good idea?

Awesome insights. I was looking at Sunscape or LionsDive. It seems LionsDive is more diving oriented and has a house reef, but an all inclusive sounds enticing. I was also looking at Scuba Lodge & Suites.

 

[Damselfish]

Nothing wrong with staying and diving at Sunscape or Lions, depends what you want. Like most places, it's helpful to get there once and get the lay of the land for future trips.

I'm aware of Scuba Lodge but never been, and have never quite figured it out. There's accommodations, and a dive shop, but it's unclear if they have (good) shore diving on site, and AFAIK don't have a dock or run a boat. The most dive resorty aspect of the place always seemed to me to be the name. They now seem to have a bus they use for diving excursions of some sort, but I don't know if this is something they use for daily diving, or what exactly. You could stay lots of places in or near town and drive to shore diving out of town on your own, or use an op like the Dive Bus who will pick up many places around town. If you want nice looking accommodations on the water in the thick of things, possibly with divers hanging out and some dive atmosphere, it seems like it might be a nice place. But I'm really unclear how the scuba part works there and their website is not very clear about that, I suspect intentionally.

 

[DevilEyeDog]

Nothing wrong with staying and diving at Sunscape or Lions, depends what you want. Like most places, it's helpful to get there once and get the lay of the land for future trips.

I'm aware of Scuba Lodge but never been, and have never quite figured it out. There's accommodations, and a dive shop, but it's unclear if they have (good) shore diving on site, and AFAIK don't have a dock or run a boat. The most dive resorty aspect of the place always seemed to me to be the name. They now seem to have a bus they use for diving excursions of some sort, but I don't know if this is something they use for daily diving, or what exactly. You could stay lots of places in or near town and drive to shore diving out of town on your own, or use an op like the Dive Bus who will pick up many places around town. If you want nice looking accommodations on the water in the thick of things, possibly with divers hanging out and some dive atmosphere, it seems like it might be a nice place. But I'm really unclear how the scuba part works there and their website is not very clear about that, I suspect intentionally.

Thanks for your thoughts. I agree the Scuba Lodge is a bit vague, but on review sites it comes up with great reviews consistently. May I ask if you have any recommendations? For me, I'm looking for a nice house reef (seems like Lions has that), good dive operator and a place with a lounge chair and drinks. My friend had recommended Go West and staying at the Westpunt Apartments. My only concern with staying around Westpunt is it seemed like my toes in the sand (it could be a strip of sand and I'd be thrilled) and a nice chair may not be possible in that area. That said I'm a diver first and your thoughts on a healthier reef system in the reef intrigued me.

 

[Damselfish]

Thanks for your thoughts. I agree the Scuba Lodge is a bit vague, but on review sites it comes up with great reviews consistently. May I ask if you have any recommendations? For me, I'm looking for a nice house reef (seems like Lions has that), good dive operator and a place with a lounge chair and drinks. My friend had recommended Go West and staying at the Westpunt Apartments. My only concern with staying around Westpunt is it seemed like my toes in the sand (it could be a strip of sand and I'd be thrilled) and a nice chair may not be possible in that area. That said I'm a diver first and your thoughts on a healthier reef system in the reef intrigued me.

SL does get great reviews. But the ones that I've seen never seem to mention diving. Very few mentions of the place here, and no followup reports from people that might have gone. I think you should go there and report back to us.

Are you sticking to shore diving or do you also want boat diving? On site or off?

Where to stay and dive on Curacao is a tricky question, always has been. We used to go there alot but now it's been awhile (long long before Covid) and lots of things have changed. A couple good places are gone or changed alot, and some dive sites may not be what they once were (like anywhere.) Makes me think we should get back there, but I'm not sure myself where we would stay. Have to think about it, and it's probably more than I have time to type right now.

 

[Damselfish]

One place you might consider is Enjoy your Stay @ Coral Estate Luxury Resort Curaçao

It was formerly the Habitat dive resort, which was an awesome place in it's day where we stayed a bunch of times. And a nice compromise location between the far west end boonies and the city. Got run down and sold, tons of work was done on the place and it looks very nice now. Don't know details of the on-site op Coral Divers, or what the diving is like there now, but I think they have a good rep.

Habitat was more marketed to the US, the new place more to the Dutch market, so you tend not to see much about it here anymore. But might check your boxes.

 

[arew+4]

One place you might consider is Enjoy your Stay @ Coral Estate Luxury Resort Curaçao

It was formerly the Habitat dive resort, which was an awesome place in it's day where we stayed a bunch of times. And a nice compromise location between the far west end boonies and the city. Got run down and sold, tons of work was done on the place and it looks very nice now. Don't know details of the on-site op Coral Divers, or what the diving is like there now, but I think they have a good rep.

Habitat was more marketed to the US, the new place more to the Dutch market, so you tend not to see much about it here anymore. But might check your boxes.

Add I said earlier, we stayed here in a 4bdrm VRBO on the hill. Would highly recommend. Some photos

 

[arew+4]

Thought I had some of the dive shop, water entry but cannot find them. The reef it front was only OK, better as a night dive.

 

[Damselfish]

Thought I had some of the dive shop, water entry but cannot find them. The reef it front was only OK, better as a night dive.

Sorry, missed that post. Good to see some more info on the place. I had concerns about the house reef, which used to be great but had definitely gotten less great after being heavily dove for so many years. But it’s at least super convenient, and a decent location and setup for driving to shore sites in the area.

Did the CE shop run a reliable schedule of boat dives? At least 2-tank am and maybe some afternoon? (Of course with covid I don’t know if current volume allows normal.) Habitat typically went to town once a week to hit the superior producer, and did some sites just east of CE, but mostly headed west.

 

[arew+4]

Sorry, missed that post. Good to see some more info on the place. I had concerns about the house reef, which used to be great but had definitely gotten less great after being heavily dove for so many years. But it’s at least super convenient, and a decent location and setup for driving to shore sites in the area.

Did the CE shop run a reliable schedule of boat dives? At least 2-tank am and maybe some afternoon? (Of course with covid I don’t know if current volume allows normal.) Habitat typically went to town once a week to hit the superior producer, and did some sites just east of CE, but mostly headed west.

We did not do any boat dives, but they did seem to have a regular schedule with many divers from the resort, as well as scheduled night dives on the house reef.