Family Trip to Curacao in October

[jd950]

Sunshine:

Before learning about Sol Food, I had not seen so much interest in brownies since my college days. I am beginning to wonder.......

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

Must be the ground scorpion fairy dust
Will you be here for Thanksgiving? I'll try to get a turkey cookie cutter for the brownies that week.

 

[jd950]

Nope, we'll be there for Halloween and the days leading up to it. (I am hoping for more breezes and less bugs than last October and better visibility than in June)

Generally speaking, bigger is better and I don't care about the shapes, but I am sure you can find Halloween theme cookie cutters.

By the way, I will try and remember the music this time and you guys should let me know if you need anything else muled down, like tires, black lights, food items, etc.

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

Thanks, I'm sure in 2 months the club will need more tires. I'll let you know.

 

[jd950]

No problem, I'll be around as I anxiously count down the days. Say hi to Andreas for me. I still owe him a beer.

 

[snoballz]

My schedule currently looks like this:
Tuesday, 10/06: Klein Curacao and East Point with Ocean Encounters
Tuesday Night: Marriott House Reef with Caribbean Sea Sports

Wednesday, 10/07: Small Wall and Saba with Caribbean Sea Sports

Thursday, 10/08: Mushroom Forest with Ocean Encounters

Friday, 10/09: Superior Producer and Cornelius Bay with Ocean Encounters

Thanks everyone for your recommendations and opinions. Unfortunately with a 4 month old in tow, I have to make certain compromises and will have to go with the above schedule. There is no hassle of me having to rent a car and then have to make sure my wife knows where to go with the baby.

With the boat either going out of the Marriott where we're staying or at the Hyatt next door, I go on my dives and come back while my wife can relax poolside with the baby. After I return to the hotel from diving, we can venture out as a family.

Again, thank you!

 

[diversteve]

if I were choosing between Mushroom and Watamula, I'd pick Watamula.

Thanks everyone for your recommendations and opinions. Unfortunately with a 4 month old in tow, I have to make certain compromises and will have to go with the above schedule. There is no hassle of me having to rent a car and then have to make sure my wife knows where to go with the baby.

With the boat either going out of the Marriott where we're staying or at the Hyatt next door, I go on my dives and come back while my wife can relax poolside with the baby. After I return to the hotel from diving, we can venture out as a family.

Again, thank you!

I agree with Damselfish. An instructor/guide at Sunset Divers told us MF is highly over-rated. And due to all the coral piled on top of itself, there's actually less fish life than other areas.

Just about everyone I talked to said Watamula is the best dive in that area.

Just to add more complexity, the Dive Bus also picks up at the Marriott afaik.

To "venture out" from the Marriott, I think you may want a car - at least part of the week. We stayed a week there in condos across the street from the Marriott, but spent most of our time somewhere else. But we dive as much as possible.

The Marriott would definitely be my choice of hotels in that area but there's it, the older Hilton next door and Floris Suites with Hooks Hut bar/grill/beach within walking distance. I think there was a watersports rental place a little down the street on the actual bay - I'd guess the Marriott could shuttle you over - but I doubt you'd be doing that with the baby. IIRC there are city buses in that area - I think they bring the hotel workers back and forth.

Downtown/shopping is about 15mins drive from there and the SeaAquarium resort area is another 10mins. past that. Most of the restaurants are in town, except for Hooks Hut and the Marriott/Hilton restaurants, the only other one I saw in the PB area was across the street - looked to be a fancier Italian (French?) place. PB is a convention area but gets pretty quiet at night. fwiw, I thought it was a real safe area also, unlike some of the grungy areas around the port/refinery.

Nice beachside restaurant at the Marriott btw, we had a memorable last meal there dining right off the surf. And they have a really nice pool complex with pool bar also. Nicer casino than the Hilton's also imo - maybe that's cause I won there...lol.

If you did happen to meet up with someone you'd want to shoredive with, Porto Marie might be a good most of the day option, there's a nice beach, snack shop, and excellent double reef shoredive there. It's a locals beach so there's kids around also.

my .02

 

[Damselfish]

I agree with Mushroom Forest being overrated, or perhaps sort of resting on it's laurels a bit. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice dive and the coral formations there are neat, but it's just not a site I would go out of my way for. I think the whole Mushroom Forest thing started years ago when it really was an amazing dive - and stuck. But like too many dive sites it was a whole lot better many years ago. When we dove it the first time, which was 1996, it really was pretty amazing. As I recall a tropical storm that later went through there (forget what year) did a fair amount of damage, toppling a lot of the taller formations. So it doesn't look like Dr. Suess gone wild so much anymore - it's Mushroom Bushes rather than Mushroom Forest. And the fact that it got so popular as diving in Curacao got more popular and more people started diving that end of the island, probably didn't help either.

 

[seger005]

my wife and I stayed at the Marriott the first week of September. She is a non diver and enjoyed the beach and pool areas. In our three prior trips to Curacao we stayed at Sunset Waters but alas it is no longer an option. the dive operation at the Marriott was very professional. my biggest disappointment was the first week of September was a slow week for diving at the resort so the first two days diving was limited to one shore dive and a one tank the next afternoon as part of the combined snorkel and dive trip. The next three days were good diving. dolphins, turtles, good size fish and healthy reefs. If i were to return, i would be more willing to check out Dive Bus or Ocean Adventures at the neighboring resort. We didn't get a car so we were somewhat limited. all in all, we enjoyed out stay at the Marriott. I definitely miss Sunset Waters - while not the fanciest resort, we enjoyed the staff at the resort and Sunset Waters dive team. we did miss it.