Destination Comparison: SV&G, T&C, or C

[Nomad]

We are working on vacation plans and have narrowed it down to three options:
Curacao
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Turks and Caicos

My wife won't be diving this time, due to her "condition". (Once again, my boys got through...)

We are looking for a resort (most likely an all-inclusive) where:
My wife will be perfectly safe while I am diving.
My wife will be able to find something to do while I am diving.
My wife will have a comfortable bed, and a room with AC.

Any later than April or May and the little lady probably shouldn't travel Internationally.

Since my dive buddy will not be diving with me this trip, I will need a pick-up dive buddy for all shore and boat dives.

I am a fairly advanced diver. I enjoy diving walls, reefs, wrecks, and I wouldn't mind having some large animal encounters.

I would like to dive 2 to 4 tanks per day.

My wife might be interested in watching bubbles/snorkling on one or two dives.

Anybody been to all three locations? I am interested in a straight comparison, destination details, and of course any resort / Dive Op recommendations for the various destinations.

Tanks

 

[BurBunny]

I cannot comment on St. Vincent/Grenadines, but would be happy to give a comparison of Turks & Caicos and Curacao.

First off, both are truly lovely destinations. Turks & Caicos along Grace Bay is a long, beautiful stretch of beach with many gorgeous resorts. It's rapidly growing right now, so you will see signs of construction everywhere, but if your wife likes the beach, this is fabulous.

Curacao in my mind is one of the most picturesque islands in the Caribbean, not for it's necesarily classic tropical beauty, but because of its Dutch heritage. A walk along the wharf and downtown, you feel like you're in Europe somewhere - and in a way you are. This island is a major oil producer, so you will need to look past the holding tanks in a few locations, but that's not a major issue.

Both feature resorts from the more basic dive accommodations up to true luxury. I often travel alone, and have never felt unsafe in either location. There may be a bit more overt drug activity in downtown Curacao, but not in a threatening manner.

Regarding snorkeling, if your wife is wanting to do it from shore while you're diving, I'd recommend Curacao. The fringing reefs are closer in and more vibrant there, whereas the best topography for Turks & Caicos I believe is accessible only by boat.

For resorts, in Curacao you'd probably enjoy either Habitat or Marriott. Sunset Waters is excellent, but more designed for divers. In Turks and Caicos, there are so many to choose from.

Dive Operators, Habitat, Marriott and Sunset Waters all have excellent operators, and there is excellent shore diving as well. In Turks & Caicos, I recommend Caicos Adventures or Provo Turtle Divers.

Hope that helps!

Both are truly wonderful. Have fun choosing!

 

[crb792]

I cannot comment on the other sites, but if Curacao is your choice; Sunset Waters is my recommendation. It is a bit secluded, very safe and is centered on the best diving in Curacao. Food is good, rooms clean and the staff very friendly. We have been there twice and have no problems with returning. Contact me if you have any question.

Chuck

 

[Damselfish]

I've been to all 3. Your wife will be safe on any of them. Use common sense anywhere as always.

As far as things to do, what sorts of things would she be looking for besides the pool/beach routine?
Curacao there is lots of sightseeing and shopping and activities, but this ranges from at resort, to nearby, to a 30 min or more drive, depending where you stay. Some hotels have good snorkeling and many of the dive sites start shallow enough to snorkel, by far the best of the 3 destinations for snorkeling. In general the diving is better the further you stay from civilization and stuff, so there's a tradeoff there. I think there is only the one true AI there (Beaches) but you can get meal plans many places. IMO Curacao has so many good restaurants it's a shame to do AI unless you are really into the whole AI experience. At Habitat I would avoid the meal plan. At Sunset meals seem to get pretty decent reviews lately, but I haven't been there. If you search someone recently wrote a nice comparison of these 2 places. The Marriott is a nice resort, not as good shore diving as someplace like Habitat, and their boats don't do the best sites because of their location, but might be a good compromise in your situation. You always could drive to Sunset or Habitat some days and dive with them and your wife could hang out there or snorkel. There is a newish place Lodge Kura Hulanda on the west end of the island which sounds like it may be worth checking out, but I haven't been there.

T&C (Provo) there is some shopping scattered around, snorkeling in a few places but not at most of the resorts and not great at most of the dive sites which tend to start deeper. Not really a lot of sightseeing. Incredible beach. I think Beaches is also the only real AI there but there are so many nice resorts I would skip that myself, and I wouldn't want to dive with Beaches anyplace. There's also plenty of good restaurants not hard to get to.

St. Vincent there is gorgeous scenery but typically you'd want a half to all day drive or boat trip to see it and you'd probably want to go along. (Dive St Vincent does a day trip up the coast to a waterfall where you can swim, with a couple dives and a stop at a local restaurant for lunch, which would be a great bubble watching trip.)


A comfy bed with AC should not be a problem anyplace, with one exception - in St. Vincent we always stay at Young Island, which is lovely and inclusive for meals, but no AC. Normally this would bother me and it would definitely bother my husband, but we don't mind not having it there. The cottages are surrounded by foliage and have stone half walls with louvered screened walls on 3 sides, between all that and the fan/breezes we're fine with it, though I wouldn't do it in the summer. No AC is true of a number of places in the Grenadines as well - seems the more expensive the less likely to have AC - so don't assume if this is required. The next best place to stay on St. Vincent is probably Mariner's hotel, which does have AC but is just not anywhere near as neat a place to stay as YI and doesn't have an actual beach. (Not nearly as expensive either.)

The diving is great all 3 places but very different. You will have the best chance to see large critters in T&C. St. Vincent is more about the small stuff, but you do get to see seahorses, frogfish, and assorted unusual stuff. Curacao is in between someplace in that department.

You can get the most diving in Curacao, especially someplace with good shore diving like Sunset or Habitat, and you can shore dive many places almost like Bonaire. St Vincent is usually 2-3/day unless you try hard. Provo 2-4, but be aware the boat rides to the good stuff are longer here so you'll spend alot of time on the boat.

 

[ImaDivingMom]

Thanks for all your input. We decided to go to Curacao the last week of April/first week of May.

Tina

 

[O'Malley]

We decided to go to Curacao

My wife and I visited Curacao in January, stayed at the Marriott and absolutely loved it. As Damselfish recommended, I drove up west daily to dive the more coveted sites with Sunset Divers while my non-diving wife happily took in the sun on the beach at the Marriott.

Enjoy!

 

[Nomad]

I found a special where I can rent unlimited air and weights for $85 for the week in Curaçao.

How easy will it be for me to find a pick-up buddy for shore dives?

 

[O'Malley]

Finding a buddy to do an occasional shore dive with at the Marriott was tough. Perhaps, this is easier at a resort more dive orientated such as Habitat or Sunset Waters.

 

[herman]

Here may be an option for you on Curacao. I have not used them but one of the SB regulars likes them.
http://www.the-dive-bus.com/

 

[gypsyjim]

My girl friend and I are also going to Curacao in late April. We were planning to go to Bonaire, but hooked up with a local DM putting together a small group trip to Sunset Waters. From all the posts I read on SB Sunset Waters/Sunset divers and Curacao sound like a pretty good bet. Have not done ocean shore diving since Massachusets and Maine in the 70's, which brings back BAD memories of some very rough entries, but ABC shore diving sound a bit less stressful than rocky Maine and the Atlantic! The water is warmer too!