Dive 'n Curacao, any input?

[diversteve]

Doesn't Go West on the Top of the hill at AllWest Apt's also rent tanks for offsite use? The shop was in front of where we parked about 40' away IIRC

Is Discover Diving still in Lagun? They had a very convenient tank loading dock. No idea what the rental charge was.

If you find yourself driving south to dive Relaxed Guided Dives is a quick pull-in off the main road. They offer different tank rental pkgs. as all they do is shore diving/support.

Thinking it was like Bonaire we hauled too many tanks around all week (5 of us so we rented a truck also) I can only think of 3-4 dives where we used "our" tanks instead of renting onsite.

 

[drrich2]

Thinking it was like Bonaire we hauled too many tanks around all week (5 of us so we rented a truck also) I can only think of 3-4 dives where we used "our" tanks instead of renting onsite.

This frustrates me when considering planning a possible future trip to shore dive western Curacao. I was blessed with boat diving on a family trip to the east; a solo trip to shore dive the west sounds good!

But I see a map with a series of shore sites, then ask 'Okay, which have on-site facilities where I ought to rent tanks, and which are places I should bring my own?'

I can tediously research it site by site for some, but there's no one stop easy flow. In Bonaire, load tanks in the back of the truck, hit the road, maybe have a couple sites in mind or just wander the coast seeing what calls to me, go back for lunch, same thing that afternoon, house reef night dive and done.

Western Curacao shore dive planning sounds more awkward by comparison. Thoughts anyone?

 

[ReefHound]

This frustrates me when considering planning a possible future trip to shore dive western Curacao. I was blessed with boat diving on a family trip to the east; a solo trip to shore dive the west sounds good!

But I see a map with a series of shore sites, then ask 'Okay, which have on-site facilities where I ought to rent tanks, and which are places I should bring my own?'

I can tediously research it site by site for some, but there's no one stop easy flow. In Bonaire, load tanks in the back of the truck, hit the road, maybe have a couple sites in mind or just wander the coast seeing what calls to me, go back for lunch, same thing that afternoon, house reef night dive and done.

Western Curacao shore dive planning sounds more awkward by comparison. Thoughts anyone?

I've also looked without success hoping to find some kind of dive site listing in a grid format with columns for key info like "on-site tank rental". Having on-site facilities is nice but sorta pointless if I have to haul around tanks all the time just in case. (Based on your other trip research, I figure you will eventually do it. )

 

[drrich2]

(Based on your other trip research, I figure you will eventually do it. )

I started trying awhile back and gave up in frustration. From my very limited notes:

Playa Jeremi
No on-site facilities and has a reputation for theft from vehicles parked during shore dives. DiverSteve noted the parking lot’s not seen from the main road, and the beach below has no view of the parking lot.

Cas Abou (‘Lower House’).
Tkaelin noted beautiful beach and a nice dive shop – Bdiving. For the price of tank rental you can also use their shaded setup area, rinse tanks and get advice. In Jan. 2018, for 2 divers tanks & weights were $24, $18 for 2 more tanks (tanks $9, tanks & weights $12 per person), it was a short walk to the water and a short swim to the reef. Small fee for beach loungers, and also for bathrooms/showers. He noted a roughly 40-minute drive to Lions Dive Resort, neither easy or direct.

For a shore diving-focused Westpunt-based trip, by reputation Go West Diving is the operation to dive with, and All West Apartments gets a lot of attention. Go West has a gear room at All West Apartments, but it’s about a 2-minute drive to the main Go West dive shop, where you boat their boat for boat dives. That dive shop is at another property, Nos Krusero, and Go West offers dive/stay packages at both All West and Nos Krusero with similar pricing, and both sites have a praised shore diving site. So, how to choose? TKaelin stayed at both and thought Nos Krusero was less expensive, but specials might change that. Nos Krusero has a pool area; All West Apartments does not.

Nos Krusero packages by Go West don’t include a rental vehicle; I was told by a Go West representative the trucks and cars at All West Apartments are all reserved for their guests. I was told Nos Krusero is across the street from (about 1-minute walk) the dive shop (where you can store your dive gear), which has both air and nitrox tanks. TKaelin noted his apartment was basic and mosquitos problematic despite screens; he liked the sweeping views of the ocean and hills of Christoffel Park, and said their 3rd floor apartment has a great porch and view, and the location and price were unbeatable.
The onsite shore dive is Playa Kalki (a.k.a. Alice in Wonderland). TKaelin preferred it to Playa Piscado (more interesting reef, shorter swim out, less boat traffic), and said diving it was very easy without small boat traffic, and with a line from dock-to-reef, navigation was a snap. Tkaelin noted Go West has a nice setup with tanks, benches, shade, showers, lockers, storage and a retail store, coffee for their divers and a small beach bar serving food starting around noon. Unlike at All West tanks are not available 24/7 – Go West hours are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. (as is your tank & gear access); you can get your gear and some tanks out during business hours if you plan to dive outside them.

All West Apartments is a 2-story complex with about 15 ocean-front/facing units and no pool. Go West packages can include rental cars (automatic) or trucks (manual transmission). Tkaelin indicated it’s 30-something steps down to the water for the shore dive. They don’t have a dive shop but have a gear/tank room – but you can only get air tanks here, not nitrox. If you stay at All West and want to dive nitrox, you’ll need to drive about 2-minutes to their dive shop to pick up nitrox tanks. Tkaelin had a room beside the gear/tank room but they left their gear on the porch and walked over to pick up tanks. Go West employee Andreas left weights in Tkaelin’s room so they could start diving their arrival evening.
All West has grills and charcoal.
The onsite shore dive is Playa Piscado (a.k.a. Grandi). Tkaelin said diving there requires being observant of small boats as it’s an active area for fisherman; there’s a dock and ~ dozen small boats. He was complimentary of both shore sites, but deemed Playa Kalki superior to Playa Piscado (but thought Piscado had more bait balls/turtles). An All West advantage is air tanks are available 24/7 and you have a key to the gear room. Dmaziuk noted their gear room is nice – spacious with wind blowing through so gear doesn’t smell like stale pee the next morning.

Cas Abou (‘Lower House’).
Tkaelin noted beautiful beach and a nice dive shop – Bdiving. For the price of tank rental you can also use their shaded setup area, rinse tanks and get advice. In Jan. 2018, for 2 divers tanks & weights were $24, $18 for 2 more tanks (tanks $9, tanks & weights $12 per person), it was a short walk to the water and a short swim to the reef. Small fee for beach loungers, and also for bathrooms/showers. He noted a roughly 40-minute drive to Lions Dive Resort, neither easy or direct.

But here's my dive site listing for the west end region:
Watamula
Alice in Wonderland
Playa Kalki
Playa Piscado
Playa Forti (‘Sweet Alice’)
Grote Knip
Playa Jeremi
Playa Lagun
Santa Cruz
Mushroom Forest
The Blue Room
Sponge Forest
Playa Hulu
Rediho
Black Coral Garden
Hell’s Corner
Mako’s Mountain
Airplane Wreck
Harry’s Hole
Playa Hundu
Boka Grandi
Playa Mansalina
Big Sponge
Playa Largu
Porto Marie (‘The Valley’)

So, if I were going solo to the Westpunt area, I'd have a hard time hair splitting my way to deciding between All West Apartments and Nos Krusero, be scared to hit Playa Jeremy for fear my rental vehicle would be broken into (I've read there's been trouble there), would want to hit Cas Abou...but then what? I'd want to book a boat dive to Watamula, but then what? Being used to Bonaire, I'd want to hit a bunch of the shore sites.

 

[tkaelin]

Western Curacao shore dive planning sounds more awkward by comparison. Thoughts anyone?

You may be overthinking or overplanning. I don't see the point in planning a solo shore dive trip where you try to hit as many different sites as possible. That is Bonaire thinking. Find a good place to stay with a good house reef and you should be able to dive it all week without getting bored and with seeing something new each dive even if on the same reef. You could dive the same reef dozens of times in the course of a week or two and see something different on each dive. You could try a different site or two during the week here and there but it is really not that complicated. Either grab a tank from your base or rent one on site.

 

[diversteve]

I don't believe there is a map/guide that indicates which sites have on-site facilities. Some of them have changed in the past few years also so unless kept updated might be inaccurate.

 

[ReefHound]

I don't believe there is a map/guide that indicates which sites have on-site facilities. Some of them have changed in the past few years also so unless kept updated might be inaccurate.

Yeah, that's basically the case with any information online.