padi1029:
Hi, I am planning a trip to Curacao in Oct 2007 w/my non diving wife. We are looking at Lions Dive & Beach Club for our resort. Has anyone every stayed at this spot and would you recommend it or another spot. Does it have enough to do for a non diver & what are the rooms, pools, food, etc like? Also, how is the dive operator Ocean Encounters? What did you not like about the resort / dive operator if anything. Thanks I appreciate your input.
If you have an non-diving spouse you might also want to consider Breezes Curacao.
While it is a not dive resort per se it does have a dive shop on-site (run by Ocean Encounters). There is plenty for the non-diver to do at Breezes. One-shore dive per day is included at no extra cost on the reef in front of Breezes.
My daughter and I enjoyed it last year. My wife was was a non-diver last (taking certification course and will be certified by Memorial Day weekend) and she had plenty to do.
I did the shore diving from Breezes and also used The Dive Bus and Ocean Encounters for two boat dives (Superior Producer and Saba (the dive site NOT the island)).
I was very happy with the Ocean Encounters people that ran the dive shop at Breezes when we stayed there. Some other people on ScubaBoard were not real happy with them.
I was very happy with the Dive Bus operation (particularly with Mark & Suzy). The Dive Bus picks you up at Breezes and take you shore diving (complete with lunch during the surface interval) and they return you to the front door at Breezes.
At the front door the bell hop took our dive gear to the room (no tipping anywhere at Breezes).
The rooms at Breezes were good size and the closest was large enough to handle two BCs, two wet suits and two sets of dive booties. We used beach towels that Breezes provides free of charge and laid them on the floor in the closet to catch any dripping water from the drying scuba gear.
The food at Breezes was varied and we found to be very good. Breakfast and lunch are buffet style while dinner is either buffet style or sit-down if you choose to go to Pastafari's (on-site Italian restaurant) or Munusan (on-site Japanese restaurant). They allow you to use each of these restaurants at least once during a one-week stay. Pastafari's is air-conditioned (or you can eat on the outdoor patio) while Munason is an open-air restaurant.
We stayed in early July last year and there were no problems with bugs whatsoever, the sea breezes kept the temperature comfortable (even during the day) and the grounds were always very clean.
We had one electrical problem during our stay (outdoor power transformer blew out) resulting in a loss of hot water but Breezes came to an acceptable accommodation with us for the inconvenience it created and they moved us to another room. They showed us the room to make sure we were happy with it before they moved us.
They have wind-surfing, trapeze, juggling, rock wall climbing karaoke, evening entertainment, snorkeling, an exercise room and free open-bar (including top shelf alcoholic beverages if desired).
This year we are spending one week in Bonaire at the Golden Reef Inn and the second week will be at Breezes in Curacao.
I think we will do shore diving at Breezes combined with shore diving on our own at Caracas Bay (Tug boat) and a few other sites and use the Dive Bus for some dives.
My wife and I are not much for shopping but we enjoyed shopping in Wilemstad and Otrabanda. Depending on what you were interested in the prices were very good. Most of what we bought was in some what clothing related with the exception of some souvenirs for relatives.
We also found the ostrich farm located on Curacaoto be quite entertaining.
Hopefully you will find this helpful.
