Did I miss the better sites on Curacao?

[Trailboss123]

Everybody, thank you for your feedback. It sounds like there is a lot more on Curacao that I did not see last time.

I knew when I went there that most divers said that the western part of the island had the best diving, but I think I did not realize how far west they meant. I thought that they meant "west of Willemstad," i.e. as opposed to the eastern half of the island. Most of the sites that I dove were on that western half of the island, but only about half way up, just past "Williwood," and next to or not far from each other (from east to west: Daaiboi, Porto Marie, Cas Abou, Playa Largu, and Playa Shon Moza). These dives generally had richer marine life than the ones further east, so I figured that that was what they meant.

Based on the answers I have heard here, it sounds like they may have meant "the extreme northwestern tip" of the island, based on the dive sites that contributors to this thread have named. Does that sound right to you? At what dive site or how far west does would you say that this extreme northwestern tip of the island with the better diving starts? Or is it a gradual transition from east to west? @tarponchik @Trailboss123 @tkaelin @scubadada @diversteve

@Bas Harts I see that you now run Dive Lagun at Playa Lagun. Do you now bring many of your shore diving trips to this far northwestern tip of the island?

I have never been to Curacao as yet, but considering it. So, I have been watching this thread closely. Might have confused me due to recent Bonaire and Grand Cayman posts. I have posted on Northwest Bonaire dive sites. Furthest NW sites outside of the national park (like Playa Franz, Nukove and Candyland), as well as dive sites up north within the national park.

 

[scubadada]

I could do a night dive every night at Playa Kalki, each would be different. I'm not at all sure you could not do it solo. Your restriction regarding renting a car is very much too bad.

 

[AdivingBel]

Wife and I stay at a Marazul VRBO which has a wonderful house reef. I didn't see the San Juan sites mentioned. Awful road, but you're rewarded with beautiful little beaches in private coves with nice dives at the drop-offs. We take lunch and a trunk full of tanks and make a day of it. I recall it being 45 min or so from Westpunt to Willemstad, but that's picking nits. Point being I wouldn't do it without a vehicle for the traveling to town and far more importantly the DIVING. If you're looking for the best Caribbean diving without a vehicle, I would go to Little Cayman and call it a day, but that's just me. YMMV.

 

[diversteve]

With all due respect, Westpunt is a lot further west than dmaziuk indicated. google it. Willemstad to Westpunt; 56 min (45.8 km) via Weg Naar Westpunt

That has to be $75 or so - my friend joined us in Lagun once a day late and was quoted $50+tip from the airport - we picked her up instead.

Also none of the non-dive stuff you mentioned is there. Westpunt is a small residential town with maybe 1-2 streets in town - the Lodge Kura Hulanda - Go West's main shop is onsite there as are their boats. It's one end of the Playa Kalki reef which runs down the bay east to around their other location at All West Apartments - often mentioned here. If you were to rent there and cook, you'd likely have to buy food in Willemstad first on the way out - an airport cab would probably wait for you for a fee.

Go West does not offer a shuttle. The Lodge does so their guests can visit downtown but IDK the days.times.
Every other resort in that area is a condo/small apt. property and most won't have any food options. We were in Rancho El Sobrino's bar once after a later dinner - when we left they turned off the lights - mid-week.

There's only about 6 restaurants in Westpunt and depending on where you stay you could walk to maybe 4. A couple like Sol Foods only open on weekends. I think there's a bar at Janchies and sort of one at the Lodge in their dining area but I can't think of another - and we would've looked.

Stay in/near town or budget a lot for cabs. I'm not even sure they'd drive out to Westpunt for you w/o some sort of prior arrangement.

I can't stress this enough - it's REALLY QUIET out there at night. If that's what you want, fine but you won't find any nightlife there. The nearest is probably the Pirates Bay beach bar in Piscadera which is north Willemstad - due west of the airport (the jets fly over it) The Hilton there also has a beach bar and a small casino, the Marriott next door closed for reno some time ago.

That's actually not a bad area to consider, you could walk to Pirates Bay from the Hilton or nearby condos - there's some studio condos at a nice looking complex up the hill from the beach (Palm something on airbnb)
and Carib Sea Sports dives from the Hilton.

Pretty close to the airport so a cab would be reasonable. Also it's 2-3 mi. east (seems like south) to the north side of the harbor downtown - in that area you've got the Rif Fort/Renaissance Mall shopping/dining area plus the casino at the Renaissance is the biggest on Curacao. The Megapier is just west of there so that drives some traffic also during the day for shops etc.

Plus you can walk across the swinging bridge to the other side of downtown - all the multi-colored shops are there as well as a farmers market and lots of food options. Many of the small hotels in that area have casinos - there's a lot of them on Curacao..

Another thing to consider is the Dive Bus - they're slightly chaaper than boat dives and there's a whole list of hotels they pick up at in town. They do 2 dives at some of the better sites,

 

[tarponchik]

I can't stress this enough - it's REALLY QUIET out there at night.

Unless you stay there around New Year when everyone and their Grandma shoot fireworks around the clock.

 

[tarponchik]

I can't rent a car (a long story).

Oh boy. You better find a friend who can.

 

[Damselfish]

This seems like another conflicting set of requirements, and the car thing is probably a deal breaker here. For many reasons I can't imagine staying around Westpunt Curacao without a car, and even if you had/drove one, you'd probably find you don't want to drive all the way into town often. It's a bit of a haul, and dodging potholes and goats make it seem even further, especially at night. (Car is good for getting out there and back, groceries, shore dives, driving to the scattered restaurants around that end of the island, and maybe a couple trips to town or sightseeing.) If staying solo at one of the west end places, finding someone to dive with every night (or even a couple) seems like it would be difficult. And it's hardly a hotbed of nightlife out there. Staying close enough to town to more easily do some things there, I don't think you will have access to the best sites. You could be picked up in/near town by a few ops, but I don't think you're going to get as far west as you would want, and certainly not every day. Maybe you could do one of the north coast trips if you're up for it, or Klein Curacao, if transport works.

I've long been a Curacao fan, probably one of the earlier ones on this board, and definitely agree diving is mostly better to the west. But honestly I don't think it's so fantastic that you'll be happy overall when you have to compromise on everything else you want. What I can get there happens to work for me, but maybe not for you.

The old Habitat resort at Coral Estate might have of worked for you in it's day, being in a location sort of halfway west and the kind of place you could probably find a buddy at night by hanging out at the dock or asking on the boat. It's been renovated and reopened, but as a resort with a dive shop rather than a dive resort. I've not heard much about diving there but I don't get the sense it's the sort of place anymore where you can rely on morning and afternoon boats, or pick up a buddy on the dock at any hour. Sunset Waters was further west and another place (which I never stayed at) that might have worked ok in its time. Finding a shop offering a group trip to Curacao might be your best bet, as it may get you built-in buddies and drivers. But most group trips that stayed west went to Habitat or Sunset. A group trip now is likely to be staying at Lions Dive or Sunscape AI, which leaves you diving east again.

Unless something has changed, the schedule of the Kura Hulanda shuttle is inconvenient. It seemed as much (maybe more) oriented to employee transport and incidentally available for guests. It would interfere badly with doing many daytime dives, and in the evening was at best useful for a fairly early dinner, not hanging out in town for the evening.

 

[tarponchik]

@Damselfish : Habitat Curacao has a humble house reef and I won't stay there w/o a car. If renting a car is a big no-no, I'd stay at Plaia Kalki where they have their own eatery now. And their boat will take me to all dive sites nearby.

 

[Bas Harts]

As a local and professional, for the benefit of the group, and assuming experienced divers, would you mind suggesting a list of dive sites that you think would make for a nice week of diving?

My personal favorites on the west side are:

1. Hundu
2. Largu
3. No-Name
4. Jeremy
5. Shon Mosa
6. Piscado

 

[Bas Harts]

@Bas Harts I see that you now run Dive Lagun at Playa Lagun. Do you now bring many of your shore diving trips to this far northwestern tip of the island?

We still run our dive safari trips to the "remoter" dive sites in the west, but they are done separately from Dive Lagun.

At dive Lagun we offer guided dives at Lagun and surrounding dive sites, tank and equipment rental, DSDs and all PADI courses and fresh coffee in the morning.