Just back from my second trip to Curacao, another great adventure! This time we only did shore dives, we had planned to dive Klein Curacao off the Mermaid but flight delays and the 6:45 departure prevented this. Heavy rains cost us one mornings diving as we watched the water turn from azure blue to coffee brown at Playa Grande. Water temps were a consistent 83 degrees and visibility averaged around 60'.
Highlights were a great Turtle encounter at Playa Kalki, exploring the San Juan area dive sites and a couple of spectacular wall dives at Directors Bay. We also saw the Flamingos at St. Willibrordus which are a true wonder of nature.
Here are some notes regarding the shore dive sites we dove.
Directors Bay
This was my buddy Monkeydirts favorite dive of the trip. We did two dives here, first left then right. A little tricky to find but we were on good road all the way. Steps lead down to gorgeous little cove with shade trees and benches on a rubble beach.
A very short swim leads to a sand chute which drops off into the abyss. This is a deep wall starting at 15 and going at least 200 deep. Almost vertical ridges of plate corals alternate with sand shoots as one goes left along the wall. Wreckage in the form of pipes are abundant from 50 feet on up on the left side. These are the remnants of a shark proofing system set up for the directors of Shell oil who used to swim here. We found Octopus and Squid amongst the wreckage at the end of the dive.
To the right the wall seems to have more contours and crevices. A classic wall dive, we found a huge Green Moray under an overhang at about 70 feet. French angel fish oblivious to our presence, and schools of yellowtail snapper. In shallow there is a rock cove with tons of cup corrals and nice light effects. Best wall dive we did this trip.
Playa Canoa
North side diving is quite challenging with substantial surge and rough entries. We did
Playa Canoa as our advanced adventure dive. There was current on this one as well but nothing major. Entry is at the dilapidated fishing harbor which is in a protected bay. A boat ramp provides easy entry into shallow harbor with poor 3 visibility. Snorkeling out to where the surf starts we submerged to swim under the 5+ waves that break into a big cove. People were surfing the far side of the beach while we were here.
Visibility eventually improves as you exit the cove, hardpan with Holly like Algae continues for quite a long way till you reach a small sloping wall leading to a sand bottom at aprx 110. Following the wall interspersed with Algae and hard corals we saw Queen Trigger and Black Durgon which we did not note seeing on the south side. We did not find sharks which the north side is known for.
Now for the fun part, returning to the cove visibility again declines to about 10 so we surface to spot the cove entrance. We are at the surfing end of the beach and from our perspective in the water the waves look to be 10 high. Fortunately we were able to swim back across the surf to the fisherman's bay. With the low vis, big surf and long swim out to the wall, this is truly an advanced dive, Not recommended for the inexperienced or feint of heart. We heard divers had had problems here in the past and there was talk of closing Playa Canoa to diving?
Playa Largu
Playa Largu in the San Juan area was a great adventure. Following dirt roads past a partially restored Landhuis, where an elderly gentleman collects a small entry fee aprox $5, staying left as you go leads to a long abandoned beach. We had a truck but others were exploring the area in cars, even after heavy rains the roads were rough but passable.
We dove the far left end of the beach and went left along the wall into a light current. Nice healthy wall sloping down at a 50% angle, starts at about 20 and bottoms out at 100 Great variety of sponges and corals along the wall with a nice stand of Elk horn in 15 at the end of the dive. Clouds of Brown Chromis and Creole Wrasse were atop the wall. We had fun with a bunch of Squat Anemone shrimp living under the abundant Sun Anemones in shallow as well. The white sand bottom here provided lots of light, and we recorded 80 foot visibility best of the trip, beautiful dive.
Playa Shon Mosa
Playa Shon Mosa just west of Playa Largu, there is a painted stone at the right turn to get to this little cove. Coral in shallow as we head out to the sloping reef. This is not quite a wall. more an Intricate series of large coral masses with amazing sponges. As we reached 90 I thought I could see a sea mount as a dark shadow rising off the main slope?
We saw a school of small Barracuda cruising along as well as Jacks, Cerro and big Snapper. Lots of fish here, I got the sense that anything could cruise by. In shallow there was a big Flamingo Tongue and lots of Lettuce sea slugs amongst the coral rubble.
The reef structure here was unlike any other sites we dove, abundant game fish and the sense of adventure getting here made this my favorite dive site of the trip.
Playa Kalki aka Alce in Wonderland
We revisited this site for a warm up dive at the beginning of the trip. Streaming blue Boga schools are a highlight at this site with its strange coral formations. We also found a small sea turtle to hang out with, the only one of the trip.
Playa Kalki is a very popular site so we saw other divers underwater every time we dove here.
Playa Grande
Playa Grande, similar formations to Playa Kalki but on a more sloping wall. Mature Barracuda were present again this year. As the name implies this is a big bay and a big dive site, lots to explore. Neptune statue with a crown of sponges a hoot. Old anchors in harbor, and lots of Tube dwelling anemones in the sand.
As a working harbor there is lots of man made objects interspersed with the reef giving it a less 'pristine' feel. Watch out for boat traffic.
Klein Knip
We revisited Klein Knip which was our favorite shore dive last trip. This time the beach was crowded with sunbathers. The dive here was ok but not as great as last time. Just goes to show that ones impression is subjective. Lots of factors come into play. The first time we dove here we had the beach to ourselves providing a real sense of adventure and we saw a Snake Eel which is rare. This time the long swim out and familiarity of the site took something away from the overall experience. I guess the great thing about Curacao shore diving is the sense of exploration and discovery. There are lots of of sites left to dive so Im sure we will be back.
. The south mooring is almost always there.
