first time visit to Curacao

[scubby-doo]

We want to take a trip to curacao for good diving, and good recreating and siteseeing. we are experienced divers, 50-100+ dives each of us. It looks like all the good diving is on the south side, which is where the town willamstad is. we want to stay in some good quality accomodations, not a big commercial hotel. something small and cozy, but not boring area, close to shopping, dining, diving so we dont have to rent a car. i imiagine 140-250 / night is reasonable.

also recommend some dive boats. pllease help us, i dont know where to begin.

 

[ApexLongimanus]

we just came back from our second trip to curacao this year. my recommendation for a dive outfit is "the dive bus" (The Dive Bus - HOME). we only have the best experiences with mark and suzy. they also pick you up from your hotel if you stay in the willemstad area.

concerning accommodation: on our first trip, we stayed at the hilton. you can see that it is quite old but they have done some extensive renovations. next to it is the marriott, which i heard is also nice. the downside here is that you need a taxi or rental car to get to the city.

on our last trip, we stayed at the "kura hulanda hotel". this is perfectly located, only 5 min from the queen emma bridge but you don't feel you are that close. the downside here is that they are not really "diver friendly", i.e. no place to dry your gear.

give mark or suzy a call (or send an email) and i am sure they have also other recommendations for you.

 

[RJP]

The "downside" to Curacao in terms of what you are requesting (and it's not REALLY a downside...) is that some of the best diving is way up north/west in Westpunt, which is no where near the downtown area of Willemstad.

Accordingly I would suggest that no matter where you stay, for at least one day rent a car and head up to Westpunt for the day. What I would say is to go up first AM and visit Ocean Encounters West at Playa Kalki and do two great shore dives at the Alice in Wonderland reef right there. Hang out at the Playa Kalki beach, get lunch at the restaurant right above the beach. Then do a boat dive with OEW to Watamula in the afternoon. Have a few beers and hang at the beach for a while more. Then visit Sunshine at Sol Food for some great pizza for dinner and the Sunset from their back deck.

You won't be sorry!

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

The not renting a car bit is tough. If you stay at the new Renaissance or the Hotel Kura Hulanda, you'll be able to walk to a number of great restaurants, museums and shopping. Mark and Suzy can pick you up for shore diving with a fun crew. The dive op at the Renaissance is Caribbean Sea Sports the same as at the Marriott.
Then... if you are going on a dive vacation, consider Westpunt. There are a variety of lodgings. The Lodge Kura Hulanda is high end and over $250 a night. All West Apartments are about a hundred a night, have tanks on premise and stairs to the sea. We have a vacation apartment for $200 a night that sleeps 2 to 6 people. There are condos at Marazul and other apartments anywhere between those prices. Ocean Encounters West is the dive op in Westpunt. There isn't much else to do here; no casinos, stores or fancy restaurants. Willemstad is a 40 minute drive away. We all recommend people renting a car to get around the island. Unfortunately, even though there is something for everyone on Curacao; diving, hiking, gambling, golfing and shopping; it's not all in the same area. The Kura Hulanda does have a package 4 days in town and 4 days in the country. Happy planning, Sunshine

 

[lmorin]

.........It looks like all the good diving is on the south side, which is where the town willamstad is. ..............

Not true. See comments above. It can be legitimately argued that the best diving in Curacao is north of where Sunset Waters Resort was. It seems that most folks who dive in Curacao go to the south or to the north/west, but not both. The "downside" of the north/west diving is that many of the best sites are only accessible by boat.

 

[DeputyDan]

Lots of time the diving on an islands like Bonaire or Curacao is not good diving versus bad diving is more about windward versus leeward sides of the island.

The windward side of many islands is simply to rough to provide safe diving for the typical recreational diver.

Thus the leeward side gets all the publicity.

 

[bkpix]

My wife and I just booked our second Curacao dive trip. We will be staying at All West Apartments again and diving with Ocean Encounters West for our boat dives. Will be doing lots of shore diving this time out. All of this is on the west side of the island.

If you are looking for nightlife, you will most likely want to be close to the major town Willimstadt, if you are mostly looking for great diving, the west side of the island would be a good option. Either way, rent a car and you can get across the island in about 40 minutes to enjoy anything available.

The package Sunshine mentioned might be a good choice if you are looking for high end; the Kura Hulanda has the near town location and the Westpunt location too. A bit pricey and I have not stayed at either, but I understand they are quite nice. All West, where we are staying again offers nice apartments at a reasonable price. We are getting a package deal that includes apartment, both shore and boat diving, and a rental truck. They have 24/7 shore diving right outside of the apartments which makes it great for night dives, our favorite kind of nightlife!

Either way, you'll have a great time diving Curacao.

Dive safe, BK

 

[jd950]

If you can book before the end of the month and will be traveling before April of 2010 the very new Renaissance Curacao Resort is offering a 40% discount. They also have a grand opening special good through sometime in December.

I have always stayed and dived on the west end of the island and had a rental car (well, truck) but that doesn't seem to be what you are looking for and on the higher end and east end of the island, this looks like a good deal. The place looks nice and you would definitely be in walking distance of most of the entertainment options in Willemstad. As Sunshine mentioned, they have their own dive op and I imagine the Dive Bus would also pick you up there.

Good luck...enjoy your trip.

 

[scubby-doo]

well, now wait, what you are mentioning sounds interesting, the apartment, the shore diving, and the rental truck. we can drive to the city if we want nightlife. we like latin jazz and carribean cuisine. but we like secluded remote areas of the island better. can my wife walk around the west end by herself , is it safe for a woman by herself ? i mena, is it dark and not well protected for a woman to walk alone and not be bothered ? how do we find the deal with the apartement and the truck ?

 

[jd950]

well, now wait, what you are mentioning sounds interesting, the apartment, the shore diving, and the rental truck. we can drive to the city if we want nightlife. we like latin jazz and carribean cuisine. but we like secluded remote areas of the island better. can my wife walk around the west end by herself , is it safe for a woman by herself ? i mena, is it dark and not well protected for a woman to walk alone and not be bothered ? how do we find the deal with the apartement and the truck ?

Yes, I think it is relatively safe for your wife to walk around the west end by herself, but it is dark at night, and I guess unprotected in the sense there is just not much there, because it is rural. A flashlight wouldn't be a bad idea, but frankly, unless walking to or from dinner, there isn't a lot to see walking around at night.

Apartment and truck? send a PM or email to Andreas or look google AllWest Curacao on the internet.

Here's what we do....within a day or so after getting on the island we drive our truck about 30-40 minutes to Centrum market and buy groceries including snacks and Amstel Bright beer. In the evening, if we are not diving, we might sit on the deck and have a Bright and listen to the waves down below. We also take an MP3 player with a small battery operated speaker that actually sounds pretty nice. I have several gigs of favorite music, including a lot of what I think you mean by Caribbean music, and we may listen to that while sitting on the deck enjoying the warm evening. If you want nightlife, Westpunt doesn't have much and I probably would not want to drive to and from Willemstad at night more than once in a week, maybe twice at most.

It isn't unusual for us to have dinner at the apartment or drive 2 minutes to Sunshine and David's restaurant and eat and hang out there for awhile then go back to the apartment and walk down the steps and do a long night dive.

Other options would include going to Jaanchies for dinner or a 20 minute drive to Daniel Landhouse or a 5 minute drive over to the Kura Hulanda Lodge for dinner or going to Rancho El Sobrino, about 1 minute by car or 5-10 minutes walking. There are a couple of other places around, but not a lot.

An alternative to the apartments would be to stay at the Kura Hulanda Lodge. A very nice property with a pool and what look from the outside like really nice rooms, but no kitchens and the diving is slightly less convenient.

I am sure the situation is similar at Habitat and it is closer to town, but I prefer AllWest from what I have seen of Habitat. It is VERY casual and some would say even a boring on the west end of the island, but it suits us fine.