Hello from Oklahoma!

[KC10Chief]

Hello! I just got scuba certified a couple of weeks ago. I've always had an interest in doing it. I travel a lot for work and have ended up at some great places like Okinawa, Guam, Hawaii, etc where I wish I had a scuba cert. I've always lived in places where there isn't a big scuba scene. Mostly Oklahoma. I have been in Curacao for over a month now and the hotel I'm at has a dive shop. It was expensive but I got it done. I should have done it 20 years ago! I'm hooked! I've done 16 dives since I've been here. I have to go home in a few days though. I plan on getting my advanced certification, nitrox, and then who knows! There's some places to dive in Oklahoma but nothing like there is here in Curacao!

 

[Compressor]

Welcome to Scubaboard KC10Chief. Glad you joined this community. Its wonderful.

 

[TulsaTime]

Welcome from a fellow Oklahoman. I think "I should have done it 20 years ago!" is pretty much the standard response from most new divers, at least it was for me as well. Oh well, better late to the game than never in it at all!

You're certainly right about the difference between OK and Caribbean (or pretty much any ocean) diving but ya gotta work with what you have. A summer under the lake here certainly makes you appreciate the 100' viz there!

If you don't already have a shop in mind for AOW/nitrox training here, I'd highly recommend Tim Knight with Nautical Adventures in Cookson on Lake Tenkiller. My son and I have done OW, AOW, and Nitrox with him and are heading out to Truk Lagoon with him this Sept.

Dive safe and enjoy!

 

[NYCNaiad]

Welcome! It is a wonderful addiction.

 

[drrich2]

It's true you don't have the Caribbean in your backyard. I'm in southwestern KY, so my situation is not all that dissimilar. But let's look at some talking points.

1.) Curacao is reputedly known for diving pretty similar to Bonaire (been to Bonaire 8x's). What I saw on Bonaire was sloping wall reef close to shore, fairly lush reef growth with brain corals, gorgonians, sea fans, etc..., and decent #'s of small fish, and occasionally something with more size (e.g.: tarpon, barracuda, green moray eels, one in awhile a big stingray or tiger grouper, mostly small but some bigger sea turtles). But no sharks in > 150 Bonaire dives.

My point is, even if you lived on Curacao for years, how long would it be before you'd want to try something different? Is there any destination that would independently meet your diving needs? By shifting to other destinations I've missed a lot of fine Bonaire diving, but I've...

-----Been surrounded by sand tiger sharks at off-shore wrecks out of North Carolina.
-----Swam amongst kelp stalks, been buzzed by a sea lion and looked down to find a harbor seal messing with my fin off the Channel Islands of California.
-----Observed a shark feeding dive out of Belize.
-----Experienced the lauded Bloody Bay Wall off Little Cayman, and Nassau groupers so acclimated to humans they were touchable.

2.) Not sure about Edmond, Oklahoma; I fly out of Nashville, TN, and roundtrip airfare (Southwest, 'gotta get away' tickets) with up to 2 free checked bags to Fort Lauderdale runs around $400 - 450. Gotta factor in hotel & rental vehicle but pack a few people into a hotel room & the price/person goes way down. Fort Lauderdale's a decent starting point to head to Key Largo, Jupiter or West Palm Beach.

3.) You're about an 8 hour drive from Freeport, TX, departure point for Fling Charters to the Flower Garden and Stetson Banks. (Undercurrent has a free access trip report).

4.) Airfare to the Bahamas doesn't tend to be bad, booked well in advance. The Bahama's Aggressor is a mid-range (price-wise) live-aboard spending part of the year on an itinerary that could let you see tiger sharks, and this year & last Aggressor ran big sales early in the year (I'm talking around February). Live-aboard's are a great way to pack in a lot of diving.

Straight up...I'm a bit jealous of people living near the east coast of south Florida. No denying that. And you have not chosen a cheap hobby for a non-coastal guy.

Richard.

 

[KC10Chief]

Thanks for the replies! Curacao is definitely fantastic. My dive instructor said she'd been diving there for 20+ years and had only seen one small shark in that time. I did see the reef that drops off into the depths. Tons of great corals, turtles on every single dive, hundreds of thousands of fish, etc. The lady that owned the dive shop said that Curacao is overlooked as a dive destination for a few reasons. First, is that they have a big oil refinery and industry there that employs a lot of people on the island. Bonaire and Aruba don't have that and focus more on tourism. Most Americans go to Aruba if they're going that far south in the Caribbean. American divers seem to end up in Bonaire. Curacao has a lot of Dutch and German tourists. In the almost six weeks I was there, I never ran into any other Americans other than the ones I was with. The lady who owned the dive shop said that Curacao is a lot prettier for diving than Bonaire. She may be biased though! The dive shop was Goby divers and they were right at the hotel I was at. The hotel was terrible. Goby divers was fantastic. I also did a boat dive with Go West charters. The reef there was incredible. It's on the NW tip of the island and they have a nice resort and great food out there too. It's a 45 minute drive from Willemstad. Willemstad is not a very nice place. The NW side of the island is beautiful though.

I've already looked into Fling Charters as well and talked to them. I need to get my advanced certification done and buy my own gear before I can go on one of those trips but it's definitely on my radar. I'm hoping I can go do that in June or July sometime. I've been looking into the diving I can do that's easy to get to. I'm retiring from the Air Force this fall and have three months of vacation time saved up. I plan to get some diving in! I'd also like to get to Florida and do some lion fish hunting. My wife wants to take a cruise too so, I'll plan a cruise that goes to some of the better dive destinations like Roatan. We were there last year. It's beautiful.

 

[drrich2]

Since Curacao vs. Bonaire is a discussion that has come up increasingly often in recent years, I keep a few thread links handy to help people considering Curacao. The impression I've gotten from reading other's reports is that Curacao is much bigger with more topside stuff to do, the sandy beaches are a big advantage for 'beach people' (or those preferring easier entry/exit vs. iron shore) and airfare might be a bit cheaper. So why aren't more of us flooding Curacao?

Why I've passed so far. Diving often cited as similar to Bonaire once you're on the reef, and I've been to Bonaire 8x's. If I'm not going to Bonaire, why not go somewhere 'more different' for diving - like a live-aboard in Belize or the Caymans, or a Channel Islands trip out of California, or try Key Largo, Jupiter or dive with sand tiger sharks out of North Carolina? Which is what I've done... In Bonaire, whether you stay north, centrally or south, you've pretty much got access to the full 'west coast row' of dive sites, with a convenient coast-hugging road. I read in Curacao the road is well-inland, you often turn off onto side roads to reach the dive site, not all are well-marked, time between sites tends to run longer (you can dive a site twice, heading a different direction each dive, to make up for that) and where you stay has a bigger impact on where you spend most of your time and dive (e.g.: better diving out west, the more rustic part). On Bonaire, it's quite practical to get 20+ dives on a 7 day trip (my best was 28, but that's no record!) and many only shore dive. Seems like Curacao trip reports tend to run lower total dive counts and people usually do some (or mostly) boat diving. Bonaire calls to many 'total dive freedom' dive-a-holics who want to load that truck with tanks and cram in a lot of when/where/how-I-want-to independent shore diving.

I thought about it for a family trip with wife, 4-year old daughter & mother-in-law, but total trip cost (look'in at you, airfare!) was higher than some other options.

I, too, wonder how much differences in marketing focus and effort play into the choice, and I read about Curacao a lot more these days than several years ago. I think once you get away from high volume independent shore diving, you get away from a lot of Bonaire's appeal because then you consider Belize, the Caymans, Cozumel, Roatan & Florida Keys.

Curacao vs. Bonaire - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/lesser-antilles/473036-curacao-vs-bonaire.html
Bonaire vs Curacao - http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/bonaire-vs-curacao.535918/
Curacao 1st Timer Trip Report - http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/curacao-1st-timer-trip-report.527457/
Curacao Trip Report - Curacao Trip Report
Curacao Suggestions - http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/curacao-suggestions.536523/
Place to stay in Curacao - http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/place-to-stay-in-curacao.518346/ See Damselfish Post #3.
Curacao Trip with Teenagers in June - http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/curacao-trip-with-teenagers-in-june.525886/

Richard.

 

[drrich2]

Since you mentioned the M/V Fling as of interest, a little more info. I've put together on that. Way back I corresponded with someone who'd worked with the Fling years ago. Unless things have changed for whatever reason, it's my understanding:

1.) Water temp.s are seasonal, as are some viewing opportunities. Years ago I read of people seeing hammerheads, and that was in a colder time of year. If you want warm water, pick your season carefully.
2.) The Gulf of Mexico is not the Caribbean. Winter trips got blown out often those years ago; wonder what their success rate is now?
3.) The trips are short; it's deep diving, not as multi-level as some destinations, and that may help reduce DCS risk vs. extended duration live-aboards.
4.) I asked "I'd like to try the Fling someday. Any recommendations on what time range of the year gives the best odds for a successful trip? Ideally warm water," and was told "July 15 to September 15."

I want to do the Fling someday, but committing to round trip airfare & vacation time use for a short trip apt to cancel & leave me in Freeport, Texas (which doesn't sound like a happening place with lots of good diving alternatives), well, from southwestern KY, that's been off-putting. I hope to someday book 2 consecutive trips with a day in between to off-gas at a hotel, and maybe spend a total of 5 days diving off it. Lord willing and providing, maybe it'll happen.

If you go, post a trip report!

Richard.

 

[KC10Chief]

Yeah. A lot of Curacao's dive sites are reached by boat. There are a lot of sandy beaches though and I was not able to come anywhere close to exploring them all. The road does run through the interior of the island on the west side anyways. There are off shoots that go down to the beaches and dive sites. You could scuba from any of those beaches. There were dive shops at every beach it seemed. One of the things I liked was that it was just as good at 30 feet as it was at 60. There was very little current either. I obviously have nothing to compare it to. The resort area where Go West diving was located was fantastic. You can jump right off of the dock there and see squid swimming around. Swim out 100 feet and it drops off to the deep and you can dive along the steeply sloping wall there. They had a boat that took us out to the Blue Room and Mushroom Forest. Beautiful places. The Blue Room is a cave you can swim into as a regular recreational diver since there is air on top still. Maybe 100 yards into the cliff face.

As for Fling charters, I was aware of their issues with canceling. You get on the boat at 7pm. It may be noon before they decide to cancel. The advantage for me, is I can drive there in a day from Oklahoma City. The risk is that I could be passing through Dallas when they decide to cancel. Not the end of the world. I've noticed that they have cancelled a lot this year. More often than not. Big seas. Also, they told me that the reef tops are at 60 feet and go on down way below the limits of any recreational diver. Prices were anywhere from $500 to $700 depending on how long the trip is. Add $80 more for nitrox. That includes my bed on the boat and all of my food. I've never done a live aboard so, I'll be giving them a shot this summer I think.

 

[drrich2]

Live-aboards are a great way to get a bunch of diving in a week (or more). California has some fine cold-water diving on budget live-aboards (more spartan accommodations than some Caribbean boats, but a lot cheaper) and of course there are the Caribbean boats. I've done a Truth Aquatics Limited Load southern Channel Islands trip, a Sun Dancer 2 trip (now Belize Aggressor IV) & a Cayman Aggressor IV Trip. We got a thread on Choosing a Caribbean Live-aboard. Blackbeard's is a popular budget option; here are some threads about that:

T.C.’s Report on Blackbeards May 2014 - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/bahamas/484271-trip-report-blackbeard-s-cruises-24-30-may.html
Kimbalabala’s Blackbeards review 2013 - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/wo...-liveaboard.html?highlight=Blackbeards+review
Craig66’s Question thread about Blackbeards - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/li...stion-about-dives-blackbeards-liveaboard.html

I'd check into the Juliet as a modestly more expensive alternative with similar dive count, or watch around Jan./Feb. for an Aggressor Fleet sale and target the Bahamas Aggressor (I think they do more dives).

For land-based if you're going with friends of family, there's a lot of recommend Key Largo; area dive shops/clubs seem to love Turquoise Bay Resort in Roatan (haven't been).

Cozumel is often cited as a fine budget destination; hoping to dedicate a week to it one of these days.

Richard.