Curacao without a car?

[Malene]

Hello,
I am planning my holidays for September and would like to try the Carribean (I live in France and "normally" go diving in SE Asia or Egypt).

Diving in Curacao seems great and I'd like to try this destination. But... I don't drive (yes, you can live without a car or driving license). Is it possible to do without a car in Curacao?

Thanks

Malene

 

[diversteve]

I'd say it's very possible - depends on where you plan to stay.

Very much oversimplifying Curacao, there's three main areas:

East Willemsted along the cost where you'll find several resorts: Breezes, Lions Dive and others near the SeaAquarium park/resort area. Most have shore diving and an on-site dive operator for boat diving.

Downtown with minimal/no shore diving but shops/restaurants etc. But there's no real diving in that area due to proximity to the port etc. and I believe you'd need a ride to one of the nearby dive operations boats.

Further west where there is good diving (imo the best) but most divesites are spread out around 10-15 mins. driving distance from each other. There are a couple of semi-AI resorts in that area, Habitat Curacao and Lodge Kura Hulanda are two, but they're pretty isolated. At LKH you could walk to a couple nearby restaurants in Westpunt, Habitat is on the coast in a housing development so nothing else is nearby. Westpunt is also 45mins. from town so it would be a pricey cab ride. I've been in a suite at LKH, they're pretty nice. It's one of the leading small hotels of the world.

For shore diving, a good option might be the Dive Bus, they offer free pick up at most of the resorts in town and take you diving to some of the better sites both east/west. The Dive Bus - HOME

They're located adjacent to Breezes slightly east of town. They have a decent shore dive on site also. Suzy/Mark are good people - recommended here often. I've only met Suzy but she was very helpful to us in recommending good dives in their area - due to scheduling she knew we couldn't even dive with them at the time.

Another option for staying might be Piscadera Bay, a resort area slightly west of downtown - the Marriott and Hilton are there among others. The Marriott has an on-site diveop also and the Hilton is one of the Ocean Encounters locations but the reef is farther out there so a longish surface swim. Hilton's reef also has a lot of manmade debris on it so not a great dive. There are a couple of restaurants within walking distance also. About 10mins. by cab from downtown staying in that area. And it's pretty quiet at night. Would be a reasonable cab ride from the airport. The Dive Bus picks up there also.

Or maybe book a package with Ocean Encounters. They pick up via boat at 3-4 in-town resorts for boat dives and their main facility is adjacent to Lions Dive/SeaAquarium. Afaik, they also have some way (van?) to get you out to their OEWest Westpunt facility to dive some of the better sites out west. If you're interested in the Dolphin Dive, they do it for the SeaAquarium. We booked it directly with Ocean Encounters.

For getting around town, I'm pretty sure the bus system is somewhat reliable. We saw locals using it - IIRC even farther out west. One of the diveops in the Lagun area mentions on their website there's a bus stop nearby.

 

[jd950]

Diversteve pretty much covered it. If you want to do a lot of shore diving, and would like to get to a variety of sites, I have two words for you....dive bus. The Dive Bus - HOME

If you are looking more for boat dives, and/or are happy shore diving at just a couple of locations, then there are a lot of other options, including staying at AllWest or Lodge Kura Hulanda on the West end and diving with Ocean Encounters.

 

[jdcpa]

Yes, I agree with the above.

You can pretty much do it without a car.

I rarely use our car when there except to and from the airport. Dinner at the Lodge or Sol Food and you can walk there.

All West would get you the same answer.

Plus if you stay in town, Dive Bus is a must!!

 

[Damselfish]

We always rent a car because we prefer to have the flexibility, but it's definitely possible to do without. Great summaries and info above. Just chose where you stay based on what you want to do and what sort of trip you want. Do you want to relax away from it all or be more in the middle of stuff?

I think the Marriott Beach is a pretty good compromise. Nice resort, from all reports decent shore dive on site and pretty good dive op that does some sites further west (and on average, the further west the better the diving.) There are some other hotels and restaurants you can walk to from there and a taxi to downtown for shopping and lots more restaurants wouldn't be unreasonable. You could easily also hook up with the dive bus if you want to get picked up to do some shore dives other places,

My other choice would be Lodge Kura Hulanda, if you're looking to get away from it all, especially i you are mostly interested in boat dives or shore diving on site. The shore diving on site is great, but without a car getting around to other shore dives probably wouldn't be an option. Your eating options will be much more limited too, but as mentioned there are a couple places you could get to and the food at the lodge is pretty good. I'd be content with the food options for a week..

I probably wouldn't stay at Habitat, I really think it's a good place to have a car and the place is kind of in flux right now anyway. Driving to town isn't bad if you have a car, but a cab to town or even the closest outside restaurant will be outrageous, They have a shuttle of sorts but the schedule is not at all convenient.http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/abc-islands/338973-curacao-without-car.html

Of course, you could stay anyplace in town and use the dive bus. Downtown hotels won't be set up to be convenient for dive gear, but you can walk to lots of stuff. Or you can stay at one of the resorts near the Seaquarium (not downtown, but not too far lots of other activity and mostly more suitable for divers ) and use the dive bus or the on site dive ops.

There's also a place called the Scuba Lodge which is in town but has a shore dive and sounds like they may arrange dives other places I've never been there and haven't heard much about it since it opened but might be worth investigating.

 

[joyceschur]

Just got back from 2 weeks diving in Curacao. I originally was going to plan the trip WITHOUT a car, but ended up getting one as part of a package deal with All West Apartments in Westpunt. In retrospect, having the car was convenient but not at all necessary.

As you've repeatedly read, you can stay just about anywhere in the Willemstad area and use The Dive Bus (which is exactly what I did the first 4 days of my vacation when I didn't have a car) and it was perfect). Great operation and I highly recommend them.

If you want to stay in Westpunt or just visit for a day, there are public buses that frequently run there (as the cost of a one-way 45 minute cab ride is roughly $65 US).

If staying in Westpunt, upscale accomodations can be had at Lodge Kura Hulanda which is adjacent to Ocean Encounters West Dive Shop (then you have the option of rolling out of bed and doing boat dives or shore diving right there at Playa Kalki).

An extremely cost effective option for staying in Westpunt is All West Apartments (and since it is connected to the Ocean Encounters West Dive Shop you can arrange rides on the days you want to dive). The big disadvantage of staying at All West Apartments without a car has to do with meal planning. There are no grocery stores or mini-markets within walking distance.