princesshae81
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Whats a good Dive resort to stay at in Curacao and Bonaire? Is it worth paying for boat diving along with shore diving?
Headed to the ABC islands for the first time
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KeithG
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Hey princess, welcome to SB. If you look back through this forum you will find lots of recent threads with great info about Bonaire and that other place.
If you provide some report criteria, people will be able to give better feedback.
My answers are divi in Bonaire and yes since it is the only way to get to Klein Bonaire.
If you provide some report criteria, people will be able to give better feedback.
My answers are divi in Bonaire and yes since it is the only way to get to Klein Bonaire.
rosebud
Registered
After diving all over the Caribbean, we consider Curacao our favorite dive destination. The reasons: It's a beautiful island with a wide diversity of activities, from diving, to fishing, gambling, visiting beautiful beaches. It is an island with 130,000+ but has the largest population centered around Willemstad. If you go to the west end of the island, it's like being on a totally different island. In Willemstad there are all the amenities, as well as "American style" grocery stores and shopping. But drive out to the west end (Westpunt) and you will be out where the stars are twice as bright, the accommodations are great but low key (and get rave reviews on Trip Advisor) and great reefs are just a 5min or so swim from shore. The first time we went we stayed at Kura Hulanda Lodge, (only because it was an unbeatable price) and did boat dives every morning and shore dives in the afternoons. The shore dives were best! The second 2 times we went we stayed at AllWest Apartments and Diving. They have a 1 bedroom apt. for $99/night, which includes a truck, AND they pick you up at the airport and return you there when you're done. (a $200 savings right there).The apts are directly on a cliff-top at the edge of the water. They have a whole tank and equipment room there.Getting up and in the water on your own schedule is worth a lot to us! The apts do NOT have TV's or Microwaves, but do have a full range/oven and refrig. We love the island so much we even bought a 1 bedroom apartment about a 5 min walk from AllWest in the Marazul Dive Resort. (Sleeps 3-4 w/2 bathrooms, TV, and WiFi, and sitting on the top of a coral cliff with stairs down to the sea. Another good reason for choosing Curacao is that it's fairly inexpensive getting there. We routinely get tickets (RT) from Tampa for under $400. Tickets to Bonaire, altho it's only about 30-40 miles away are routinely $600-700.If you decide to go to Curacao, and if it is primarily for a diving vacation, I would head to the best reefs on the west end. If interested at all in Marazul dive resort, try Marazul Dive Resort Curacao - Oceanfront vacation rentals Curacao. A wonderful manager, Dorothy Owen can put you into the unit that would suit your needs best. (We own unit E2 and are re-doing it in phases. She has pictures of it on her site.) Good luck with wherever you choose to go and have fun, safe dives!
---------- Post added April 11th, 2013 at 12:09 AM ----------
P.S. We no longer do boat dives there, except for one, the trip to Watamula, which is fantastic. The boat diving is expensive and honestly the reefs we can get to by shore are every bit as good and boat dives. It saves all kinds of $$.
---------- Post added April 11th, 2013 at 12:09 AM ----------
P.S. We no longer do boat dives there, except for one, the trip to Watamula, which is fantastic. The boat diving is expensive and honestly the reefs we can get to by shore are every bit as good and boat dives. It saves all kinds of $$.
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Watamula is the boat dive to do. Mushroom Forest is another that's only done by boat. We were actually talked out of Mushroom Forest by the DM - he said that all the coral on coral there makes the fish life sparse since they have nowhere to hide - they took us to a farther away site - Lost Anchor - so I tend to believe him. We liked the Lodge KH also, it's pretty pleasant there - one of the leading small hotels in the world. Their dive is one of the best shore dives also - it's Playa Kalki/Alice in Wonderland. Different in both directions - more vertical to the north.
As you move east there are a lot of good shore dives - the "Gnip" sites, Playa Jeremi, Playa Lagun, Varsenbaai, Porto Mari, all are good dives. Superior Producer the signature wreck is just west of Willemstad also. There's not as much good diving right near town then it gets a little better again east of town - the Tugboat is the other famous site there. The pier nearby is better and the wall around the point is a good dive also. In fact since the boat is only in 20' - do it as a safety stop.
You also can't get out to Klein Curacao any other way than by boat. It's pretty much an all day trip and usually done from the East side. Also any of the East Point dives are boat dives only. We only dove as far east as Tugboat so I don't have any recommendations.
If you wanted to stay closer to town, just about 5 mins. south of town is the SeaQuarium area. The main Ocean Encounters shop is there, they do the Dolphin Dives 5mins. away - the dolphins live at the Seaquarium - and they dive some of the better sites nearby. Lions Dive is a dive resort next to them, it's a little more upscale. Can be done as a semi-AI as they have meal plan options. But there's also several other good restaurants in that area. Next to them is Sunscape - the full AI resort on Curacao - it's an ex-Breezes with another OE shop on-site.
For Bonaire - as mentioned above, Klein Bonaire is only boat accessible. About 1/4 of the Bonaire sites are around it so you'd miss some good ones. Forest was a good dive. But 4-6 boat dives probably covers it. IMO one of the best Bonaire dives - Rappel - is a boat dive only also.
Any of the dive resorts on Bonaire are comparable. Buddy Dive has a lot of fans here. Habitat is just north of it. Both have good house dives but from Habitat you can hit two - Cliff to the north and their house dive - the LaMachaca wreck.
South of there is Sand Dollar and Den Laman condos. They're on Bari Reef, the site with the most counted species of fish in the Caribbean. Both have dive operators - Dive Friends at SD and Bonaire Dive & Adventure at DL. BDA also has a naturalist on-site - his BMP orientation is better than some and they'll dive with you (for a fee) if you want to do a REEF fishcount there.
South of there is Eden Beach, a nicer beach with WannaDive on property. IDK a lot about their dive. As you move closer to town from there, generally the diving isn't as good. The Divi is south of town - probably the only dive resort that you can walk to downtown from. South of there is the Plaza - a larger resort with Toucan Dive on-site. It's a sprawling property with the dive shop/boats on one end and their shore dive on the other. Not as convenient as the north side resorts.
South of there past the lagoon and airport is Belnem. There are some options there also but about the only dive shops are the Dive Friends location at Port Bonaire or the Buddy Dive Shop at BelMar Apts. - there's one more but I can't recall where. Dive Friends has about 5 locations on island for tank exchange etc. Most rental properties in that area - houses/condos etc. also have a dive package deal with someone. Usually some sort of on-site storage facilities also.
We stayed at Belmar. It's a quieter, smaller property. Since they're the other Buddy Dive location, you get use of the Buddy Dive drive thru on the north side also. I think Buddy sends a boat down a couple days a week also. The dive there is part of the Corporal Meiss site, worth doing for your orientation dive but not the best. We dove it twice.
Five minutes south start all the good southern dive sites, the Hooker, Angel City, Invisibles etc. - they run back-to-back past the Salt Pier down to the Lighthouse.
Dive site descriptions/pictures for a lot of sites on both islands: Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands
As mentioned above - if you're considering both on the same trip, fly into Curacao and puddle jump over. It's a lot cheaper, and the local flights midweek are about $60 r/t and it's only 25-30mins. There's also more flights into Curacao than Bonaire. From Phoenix, the only way we can get to Bonaire the same day is the red-eye United flight thru Houston. We were on Curacao by about 2PM thru MIA. http://www.infobonaire.com/airlineinfo.html Insel Air also has a reasonably priced 2PM departure from MIA if you can get there in time.
As you move east there are a lot of good shore dives - the "Gnip" sites, Playa Jeremi, Playa Lagun, Varsenbaai, Porto Mari, all are good dives. Superior Producer the signature wreck is just west of Willemstad also. There's not as much good diving right near town then it gets a little better again east of town - the Tugboat is the other famous site there. The pier nearby is better and the wall around the point is a good dive also. In fact since the boat is only in 20' - do it as a safety stop.
You also can't get out to Klein Curacao any other way than by boat. It's pretty much an all day trip and usually done from the East side. Also any of the East Point dives are boat dives only. We only dove as far east as Tugboat so I don't have any recommendations.
If you wanted to stay closer to town, just about 5 mins. south of town is the SeaQuarium area. The main Ocean Encounters shop is there, they do the Dolphin Dives 5mins. away - the dolphins live at the Seaquarium - and they dive some of the better sites nearby. Lions Dive is a dive resort next to them, it's a little more upscale. Can be done as a semi-AI as they have meal plan options. But there's also several other good restaurants in that area. Next to them is Sunscape - the full AI resort on Curacao - it's an ex-Breezes with another OE shop on-site.
For Bonaire - as mentioned above, Klein Bonaire is only boat accessible. About 1/4 of the Bonaire sites are around it so you'd miss some good ones. Forest was a good dive. But 4-6 boat dives probably covers it. IMO one of the best Bonaire dives - Rappel - is a boat dive only also.
Any of the dive resorts on Bonaire are comparable. Buddy Dive has a lot of fans here. Habitat is just north of it. Both have good house dives but from Habitat you can hit two - Cliff to the north and their house dive - the LaMachaca wreck.
South of there is Sand Dollar and Den Laman condos. They're on Bari Reef, the site with the most counted species of fish in the Caribbean. Both have dive operators - Dive Friends at SD and Bonaire Dive & Adventure at DL. BDA also has a naturalist on-site - his BMP orientation is better than some and they'll dive with you (for a fee) if you want to do a REEF fishcount there.
South of there is Eden Beach, a nicer beach with WannaDive on property. IDK a lot about their dive. As you move closer to town from there, generally the diving isn't as good. The Divi is south of town - probably the only dive resort that you can walk to downtown from. South of there is the Plaza - a larger resort with Toucan Dive on-site. It's a sprawling property with the dive shop/boats on one end and their shore dive on the other. Not as convenient as the north side resorts.
South of there past the lagoon and airport is Belnem. There are some options there also but about the only dive shops are the Dive Friends location at Port Bonaire or the Buddy Dive Shop at BelMar Apts. - there's one more but I can't recall where. Dive Friends has about 5 locations on island for tank exchange etc. Most rental properties in that area - houses/condos etc. also have a dive package deal with someone. Usually some sort of on-site storage facilities also.
We stayed at Belmar. It's a quieter, smaller property. Since they're the other Buddy Dive location, you get use of the Buddy Dive drive thru on the north side also. I think Buddy sends a boat down a couple days a week also. The dive there is part of the Corporal Meiss site, worth doing for your orientation dive but not the best. We dove it twice.
Five minutes south start all the good southern dive sites, the Hooker, Angel City, Invisibles etc. - they run back-to-back past the Salt Pier down to the Lighthouse.
Dive site descriptions/pictures for a lot of sites on both islands: Scuba Shore Diving Region: ABC Islands
As mentioned above - if you're considering both on the same trip, fly into Curacao and puddle jump over. It's a lot cheaper, and the local flights midweek are about $60 r/t and it's only 25-30mins. There's also more flights into Curacao than Bonaire. From Phoenix, the only way we can get to Bonaire the same day is the red-eye United flight thru Houston. We were on Curacao by about 2PM thru MIA. http://www.infobonaire.com/airlineinfo.html Insel Air also has a reasonably priced 2PM departure from MIA if you can get there in time.
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princesshae81
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Wow, thank you all for the great info. We are excited about going there and getting a lot of diving in. We have only been on about 10-12 dives since being certified and never been without a guide or instructor yet. Any input on getting comfortable with shore diving? I am assuming we can go on the first few with a guide and get familar with the navigation aspect, but how about meeting others (more experienced) so we don't get into trouble?
Thanks!
Thanks!
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Both are fairly easy shore dives. The reef typically parallels the coast line and currents are generally mild to non-existent. I have a lot of dives at both and only two have been high-current - one we knew about going in.
On Curacao there's the Dive Bus - that's all they do. You might try going on one of their dives then doing it yourselves. That way you'll be familiar with the site and entry/exit etc. They're also really fun people. Welcome to the Dive Bus One thing about west side Curacao diving is that a good map - or GPS is highly recommended. GPS coordinates are listed on the shorediving site I linked in my previous post. There's a decided lack of road signs once you leave town.
Relaxed Guided Dives might be another option and there's other private operators that do 1on1 guiding also. RGD is centrally located on the main road west if you need tanks also. But most shore dives on Curacao have an onsite operator as well - Playa Jeremi and (I believe) the "Gnip" sites don't. Neither does Directors Bay or the Tugboat on the east side. Relaxed Guided Dives Curacao - Shore Diving Courses - Dive Shop
Curacao entries are also quite a bit easier than Bonaire. Most are off the beach - many of the best beaches are also dive sites. The few on ironshore farther west have dive docks. Some of the mid-island entries are thru small beach cove breaks in the ironshore - the reef/dive start farther out - so maybe do those later in the week - it can be surprisngly hard to spot unless you're right in front of it - the cliffs all look similar. Sites like Playa Lagun or Playa Jeremi are examples. This is Lagun:
On Bonaire the reef is much closer to shore. At most sites, you'll see the ball marking the mooring from shore - typically the start of the dropoff. The difficulty with Bonaire entries is that many are over sharp ironshore at the waters edge - often there's coral rubble in the surf line also. So good treaded boots are a must.
At some sites divers have piled up coral rubble indicating the best entry point. At others there's a break in the ironshore with a narrow sand channel out to deeper water also. Although an advanced dive - Vista Blue, here's a good illustration of that: Shore Diving Site Picture for: Vista Blue of Bonaire South, ABC Islands None of the shore dives outside of the resorts/town area have any sort of facilities either so plan for that. Although a large # of the south sites run back to back - usually you'll see divers at nearby sites - esp. in the mornings. The north side is more hilly so the entry is often a short walk from the parking.
Diving from the resort(s) is also an option there for first divers - almost all have dive docks. Your first dive on Bonaire will be your required BMP Orientation dive. Some shops provide a DM for that, others a brief lecture and turn you loose. There's also a book - Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy - available on-island or online that describes the best entry points. There are independent guides on Bonaire as well - vipdiving.com is one I'm familiar with.
As newer divers don't try the advanced sites here:Info Bonaire - Map of All Bonaire Dive Sites on your own. Mostly they're both ends of the island. Typically they're high-current or more difficult entries/exits.
If you stay at any of the dive resorts, finding buddies shouldn't be a problem. Everybody has a 4dr small pickup so taking extra people is easy. At Habitat I was asked twice if I needed a buddy - while waiting for mine to park the truck after we dropped our gear near the dock. We also met two groups - one we later dove with - at the airline gate waiting for the local flight over.
Curacao might be a little harder - there's very few "dive" resorts. Some that have dive shops on-site are also chain hotels or upscale non-dive resorts as well. Lions Dive is about the only exception afaik. Maybe All West Apt's in Westpunt also.
On Curacao there's the Dive Bus - that's all they do. You might try going on one of their dives then doing it yourselves. That way you'll be familiar with the site and entry/exit etc. They're also really fun people. Welcome to the Dive Bus One thing about west side Curacao diving is that a good map - or GPS is highly recommended. GPS coordinates are listed on the shorediving site I linked in my previous post. There's a decided lack of road signs once you leave town.
Relaxed Guided Dives might be another option and there's other private operators that do 1on1 guiding also. RGD is centrally located on the main road west if you need tanks also. But most shore dives on Curacao have an onsite operator as well - Playa Jeremi and (I believe) the "Gnip" sites don't. Neither does Directors Bay or the Tugboat on the east side. Relaxed Guided Dives Curacao - Shore Diving Courses - Dive Shop
Curacao entries are also quite a bit easier than Bonaire. Most are off the beach - many of the best beaches are also dive sites. The few on ironshore farther west have dive docks. Some of the mid-island entries are thru small beach cove breaks in the ironshore - the reef/dive start farther out - so maybe do those later in the week - it can be surprisngly hard to spot unless you're right in front of it - the cliffs all look similar. Sites like Playa Lagun or Playa Jeremi are examples. This is Lagun:
On Bonaire the reef is much closer to shore. At most sites, you'll see the ball marking the mooring from shore - typically the start of the dropoff. The difficulty with Bonaire entries is that many are over sharp ironshore at the waters edge - often there's coral rubble in the surf line also. So good treaded boots are a must.
At some sites divers have piled up coral rubble indicating the best entry point. At others there's a break in the ironshore with a narrow sand channel out to deeper water also. Although an advanced dive - Vista Blue, here's a good illustration of that: Shore Diving Site Picture for: Vista Blue of Bonaire South, ABC Islands None of the shore dives outside of the resorts/town area have any sort of facilities either so plan for that. Although a large # of the south sites run back to back - usually you'll see divers at nearby sites - esp. in the mornings. The north side is more hilly so the entry is often a short walk from the parking.
Diving from the resort(s) is also an option there for first divers - almost all have dive docks. Your first dive on Bonaire will be your required BMP Orientation dive. Some shops provide a DM for that, others a brief lecture and turn you loose. There's also a book - Bonaire Shore Diving Made Easy - available on-island or online that describes the best entry points. There are independent guides on Bonaire as well - vipdiving.com is one I'm familiar with.
As newer divers don't try the advanced sites here:Info Bonaire - Map of All Bonaire Dive Sites on your own. Mostly they're both ends of the island. Typically they're high-current or more difficult entries/exits.
If you stay at any of the dive resorts, finding buddies shouldn't be a problem. Everybody has a 4dr small pickup so taking extra people is easy. At Habitat I was asked twice if I needed a buddy - while waiting for mine to park the truck after we dropped our gear near the dock. We also met two groups - one we later dove with - at the airline gate waiting for the local flight over.
Curacao might be a little harder - there's very few "dive" resorts. Some that have dive shops on-site are also chain hotels or upscale non-dive resorts as well. Lions Dive is about the only exception afaik. Maybe All West Apt's in Westpunt also.
lmorin
Contributor
My wife and I first went to Bonaire with only 25 dives each. We stayed at the Plaza and did all boat dives with their on-site dive op, Toucan, except for a few on 18th Palm, their house reef. Each of the boat dives was guided. On the next three trips, we stayed at Sand Dollar and did fewer and fewer boat dives and have long since been at zero. The typical house reef shore dive (Bari Reef, for Sand Dollar) has a route that goes straight out from shore to the reef (of course, you can take a different route, if you prefer; that is the nice thing about Bonaire shore diving; you are on your own), then either right or left depending on your whim and the current, followed by a return. Navigation is pretty simple and because of this plus the general absence of current (note-there are exceptions), Bonaire is a good place for beginners. Repetitive diving on the local house reef also boosts one's confidence regarding navigation. I must admit, as newbie divers, my wife and I were a bit chagrined when we first went by ourselves to one of the southern Bonaire shore dive sites during the summer low season. We looked around and saw no signs of another person in any direction. We had to overcome a bit of worry about doing the dive on our own. We are now about 350 dives further on and the worry is long gone.
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princesshae81
Registered
Thank you! you guys have helped a lot, our confidence is going up with shore diving on our own! Further research, we have decided to stay 7 nights in Bonaire and maybe a night in Curacao since we are flying through there like diversteve suggested. I have been researching all the resorts and scuba shops on tripadvisor. There are alot with great reviews. Two that we are looking into are " Den Laman" and "dive hut". Any recommendations on the two? And BDA seems to get great reviews and so does dive friends. Diversteve- I am definitely looking into finding that book!
as far as diving without a guide, my suggestion would be to take it really easy. I have 250 or so dives, but my gf was fresh out of OW when we went to Curacao. We were staying at Kura Hulanda Lodge (which was a massive disappointment, but that's a different story).
She was holding on to her nerves, i later learned, but the whole idea of diving alone was not making her happy. Once we were geared up and in the water, we swam out to the drop off, and she started getting really agitated and nervous and saying "wait, wait, wait". I didn't notice how nervous she was and said "awww, how cute... you're nervous. It's ok". She started crying.
So I stop everything, pull off my mask and tell her it's supposed to be fun and enjoyable. If she's nervous we can go back to the hotel and try again when she's feeling calmer. We floated by the mooring line for 10 minutes or so... she didn't want to back out but wouldn't go forward either. I told her to breath from the reg with her face in the water. Then we calmly recomposed and i told her we could do a 10 minute dive and she could thumb it at any time and we would go straight up and swim back to shore. And that we wouldn't go past 12M.
The dive was great. Lots of things to see, she was calm, we went down to 50bar and 35min later we popped back up at the pier. As we walk back to the shop she says "when can we go again?". we had a great 10 days.
Apparently her main issue was that all her dives so far had been on boats with big groups and guides and someone in the rear herding the group. So suddenly she realized if she went missing nobody would notice for hours or days.
To that I say that you should make your first dive in a really comfortable spot and you'll see that the current is super light or none, the viz is great, and that part of the freedom comes with the fact that you have to be a little more self confident and self-reliant. But once you realise the dives are easy (don't get complacent - it's just that dives are easier there than most places you've trained/dove), and that you can just pop up and make your way slowly to the nearest beach, then you'll see it's a wonderful dive.
The last two days in Curacao she decided to get her Advanced. It was hilarious as she'd say "diving with a guide is so crowded and confined"... it really changes your way to do dives.
The peace of diving in small groups is an unbeleivable thing. And if your first dive is only out to 10m, then so be it! Be safe and have fun, and the rest comes naturally!
She was holding on to her nerves, i later learned, but the whole idea of diving alone was not making her happy. Once we were geared up and in the water, we swam out to the drop off, and she started getting really agitated and nervous and saying "wait, wait, wait". I didn't notice how nervous she was and said "awww, how cute... you're nervous. It's ok". She started crying.
So I stop everything, pull off my mask and tell her it's supposed to be fun and enjoyable. If she's nervous we can go back to the hotel and try again when she's feeling calmer. We floated by the mooring line for 10 minutes or so... she didn't want to back out but wouldn't go forward either. I told her to breath from the reg with her face in the water. Then we calmly recomposed and i told her we could do a 10 minute dive and she could thumb it at any time and we would go straight up and swim back to shore. And that we wouldn't go past 12M.
The dive was great. Lots of things to see, she was calm, we went down to 50bar and 35min later we popped back up at the pier. As we walk back to the shop she says "when can we go again?". we had a great 10 days.
Apparently her main issue was that all her dives so far had been on boats with big groups and guides and someone in the rear herding the group. So suddenly she realized if she went missing nobody would notice for hours or days.
To that I say that you should make your first dive in a really comfortable spot and you'll see that the current is super light or none, the viz is great, and that part of the freedom comes with the fact that you have to be a little more self confident and self-reliant. But once you realise the dives are easy (don't get complacent - it's just that dives are easier there than most places you've trained/dove), and that you can just pop up and make your way slowly to the nearest beach, then you'll see it's a wonderful dive.
The last two days in Curacao she decided to get her Advanced. It was hilarious as she'd say "diving with a guide is so crowded and confined"... it really changes your way to do dives.
The peace of diving in small groups is an unbeleivable thing. And if your first dive is only out to 10m, then so be it! Be safe and have fun, and the rest comes naturally!
OP
princesshae81
Registered
Thank you apadua for that great example! That's what my husband keeps telling me.
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