Dive operator - Ocean Encounters

[cruzbound]

Hi All,

We are staying at Lion's Dive Beach Resort since the Hilton closed - we are the ones that were using Hilton points and now Hilton has agreed to pay for our stay at Lion's, very good customer service of them. Anyways, I sent an inquiry via email to Ocean Encounters with some questions about their diving and I have not heard back from them. Do they normally take a while to respond? Can anyone provide some insight in regards to using them? We are using an operator two times while we are there who can take us to very far east and very far west for boat diving as it seems most of the dive operators do not offer this.

Any other dive operator recommendations would be great. We are nitrox and advanced Padi certified. We are open to boat and/or shore diving. However we will not have a car to go it alone so we need to work with a dive shop. Also, any recommendations on actual dive sites to go to and why would be helpful.

We will be in Curacao during Thanksgiving week.

Thanks!

 

[Altamira]

I did three two tank dives with them on previous visits to Curacao, but as one day stopovers, and not staying at the resort. On all three occasions, I found their communications to be responsive and timely. I would re-send your inquiry because I have had emails disappear into the ozone layer, especially when sent to foreign countries. I wanted to dive with them next month on a one day stopover, but the dive boat schedule was not compatible with my availability. Ocean Encounters runs an excellent dive op with good boats, crew, and dive equipment (if you need to rent). They also have a very nice beach for easy shore dive entries, and the restaurant on the beach has good food, Their house reef is very nice. I highly recommend them, so try to contact them again. The person I corresponded with trying to set up my dive in Sept is Victoria Viana - Liendo at info@oceanencounters.com.

 

[diversteve]

OE goes pretty far east certain days - as far east as Klein Curacao, from their Lions Dive facility. The day we were there (dolphin dive) they were sending a boat east later that morning.

The Lion's Dive dive is not bad and it's an easy entry off the beach. OE is about 100 yds. east of LD and there's a boardwalk. Also for $200+ PP there's the Dolphin Dive. Kind of fun once they settle down - at first they fly by so fast you blink and you miss them.

Not having a car is going to make other nearby shore dives difficult.Some have no facilities on-site or are pretty remote. Others could be a reasonable cab ride away. There's almost no diving betwen Lions Dive and downtown that I'm aware of except at Pierbaai Beach. The Dive Bus us across the street and they do shore dive there. (more on them later) It's actually the Carpile site but it's pretty deep and they're badly decomposed. Along some of the resorts in that area there's reef access - some are blocked by the breakwater which you can see on most overhead views.

Then you get into downtown, the Megaport and the harbor so no decent diving till a long swim out in Piscadera Bay off the now closed Hilton - there may be a shop next door at Pirates Bay Beach Bar - it's odd but they have a compressor and a dive desk. Get to the reef on the surface to save air. Probably a $20+ cab ride since they have to go inland over the big bridge then back to the water. Caribbean Sea Sports used to be at the Hilton and the Marriott next door but moved to the Hilton when the Marriott closed for reno. I've heard it's scheduled to reopen next month (Sept.) so maybe they're moving back. Two nice boats and one is a jet drive so no prop. They used to go pretty far west from there. Superior Producer is off the Veneto (sort of) but you can't dive there if a cruise ship is at the Megaport or in transit. The shops that do it - including the Bus - do it at night.

I'm going to jump between east/west sites to mention closer ones as I think of them.

Just past Piscadera Bay - which for reference is the north side of downtown is Blue Bay Wall - a shore dive off the beach. In fact one way there is around Piscadera Bay just to the east. IDK what shop is there now but think there would be.The reason I'm mentioning shops is I don't think most cabs will want to transport full tanks.

I'm kind of vague on anything west of there till you get out to about Lagun which would be a $40ish ride one way. Except Varsenbaai which is a good dive with Trunk Divers on-site. Locals beach, easy entry and there's even a short dive dock. If you get out there, head east. Look for seahorses near the ball mooring (30') then east till you spot the pontoon boat starting around 80' - dropping to almost 100'. It's actually the boat they used for the cars at Carpile and they dumped some deeper there also - I've heard around 120'. Coming back in hug the beach and surface when you get within 100 yards of the parking lot - usually turtles join you - the shop attendant
said they've been there for decades. Varsenbaai might be $30 or more from Lions Dive.

A cab east to Jan Thiel wouldn't be overly expensive and I believe there's still a shop there for tanks.
Somewhere in the same area is Director's Bay but afaik there is no shop there.

Some other options:

Bas Harts Diving will pick you up for diving. They do shore diving to some of the lesser known sites,

The Dive Bus is near you in Pierbaai. They pickup, handle the gear and take you to many of the mid-island sites - including possibly Varsenbaai. Usually two escorted dives at the same site.Suzy (owner) is good people, she helped us choose sites even after knowing out schedules did not mesh.

Goby Divers used to/could be at the Veneto in Piscadera Bay. They have free pickup with a radius - you could take the Lions Dive shuttle downtown and walk across the Swinging Bridge to be more than close enough. The Renaissance is right there and they have one of the better casinos if you have to wait.

Relaxed Guided Dives is farther west on the main road to Westpunt - the name indicates,what they do. Not sure if/where they pick up.

Last but not least, Hemingway at Lion's Dive is supposed to be good food and it's right on the water. Other options a very short walk away -
Mambo Beach Boulevard, the place where urban meets the sea!
THE 10 BEST Restaurants Near Mambo Beach Boulevard in Willemstad, Curacao - TripAdvisor <- IDK any of these or where they are.

hth

 

[diversteve]

If you can rent a car for 1 day, head west. Take the inland road to Westpunt (saves time but boring) and dive one/both ends of Playa Kalki. Then continue east along the coast and you'll encounter several dive sites, Lagun is good for turtles, Jeremi also but no facilities so you have to go past it to Lagun for tanks then double back (5 mins.)
Porto Mari is a good double reef dive with facilities followed by a few other dive sites. Eventually you get Varsenbaai also.

Look at a map though as for some you drive back out to the main road then back in at a later turn-off.Also street signs were highly lacking.

 

[cruzbound]

Thank you for the responses. I finally heard back from OE - it appears they take what I consider large groups a lot (like 10 or more) and I don't think I want that. We already have two days of far east and far west boat diving scheduled with Dive Charter Curacao. I am thinking that we will probably plan two days of shore diving with some dive operator so we do not have to worry about renting a car and figuring out how to get to the dive sites. I have been in contact with a small one person operator called Rebel Diving. Any one use her? We have also used Hans with Curious2dive in the past so I know we could work with him again. So the last question is for our fifth day of diving, should we book a shore or boat dive? I have hear very good things about the far east and west diving, if we book a boat dive for the 5th day, should we go to either the far east or west and do a couple of different sites? Or are there some closer boat sites that you all would recommend we not miss and if so, what are some of those dive site names?

 

[The Chairman]

I've dove with Ocean Encounters and had a great time with them.

 

[KC Diver]

Thank you for the responses. I finally heard back from OE - it appears they take what I consider large groups a lot (like 10 or more) and I don't think I want that. We already have two days of far east and far west boat diving scheduled with Dive Charter Curacao. I am thinking that we will probably plan two days of shore diving with some dive operator so we do not have to worry about renting a car and figuring out how to get to the dive sites. I have been in contact with a small one person operator called Rebel Diving. Any one use her? We have also used Hans with Curious2dive in the past so I know we could work with him again. So the last question is for our fifth day of diving, should we book a shore or boat dive? I have hear very good things about the far east and west diving, if we book a boat dive for the 5th day, should we go to either the far east or west and do a couple of different sites? Or are there some closer boat sites that you all would recommend we not miss and if so, what are some of those dive site names?

I don't know if you ended up using Rebel Diving, but Daan is great! I did some AOW dives with her, and she is by far one of the best I have ever seen. She is extremely thorough , conscientious, and one of the most enthusiastic instructors I have come across. I did 8 shore dives with her, and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. I now consider Daan a friend, and will definitely dive with her again the next time I am in Curacao.

 

[cruzbound]

We leave in November 22 and we are doing two days of shore diving with Daan and two days of boat diving with Dive Charter Curacao and we are going Far East and Far West for the boat dives. We left two days open to either relax in the beach and/or sight see, do land stuff. Any suggestions on what we should see/do on land? We thought about going to Klein Curacao for a beach day but I am not sure if I want to take a whole day for that. Is it worth it? Or something we wouldn’t be disappointed over if we didn’t go? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[KC Diver]

We haven't been to Klein Curacao, but spending part of a day/evening downtown in Willemstad was great. That area has a funky vibe, and the architecture is cool, if that's your thing.
If it want to just spend a day on a beach, there are plenty to choose from without taking the trip to Klein. We enjoyed Playa Porto Mari, fwiw.
Except for diving, my wife and I are pretty passive vacationers, and we spent most of our visit there in the water, either on a beach or shore diving.
I will say that we enjoyed Curacao so much that we are considering retiring there.

 

[DoubleAA]

We’ve done Klein with Ocean Encounters before and they’ve always been great. I think it depends on how busy it is with how many people are on the boats.