Help deciding between Curacao and St Maarten

[Cut Throat]

Thanks so much for the help Erik. How did you find the dive sites ? I have been diving in d I Roatan for 8 years and I am looking forward to the shore dives .

 

[iointerrupt]

I've stayed at All West. Mostly depends what you are looking for. If all you care about is getting in the most dives, at the nicest dive sites, All West is hard to beat.

Tradeoff is, it's an apartment in Westpunt. They hand you a set of keys and you are on your own from there. You have to drive an hour to get to the city to buy groceries. It isn't a luxury resort where you can call room service.

As long as you are happy with the tradeoff (I was, certainly others aren't), it's a good deal.

 

[RIHappyDiver]

Thanks so much for the help Erik. How did you find the dive sites ? I have been diving in d I Roatan for 8 years and I am looking forward to the shore dives .

The dive sites were great! We were a bit limited due to 50% of our group not being divers, plus one diver had trouble with her flight and ended up getting there the next day.
We dove Marazul 3 times, 2 day dives, 1 night. The reef is a bit of a swim out, but worth it. We stayed close to the cliff that is the shore line for the night dive. It was very nice for that.
We did a dive on Alice in Wonderland which is a great reef dive. We could rent lockers at GoWest for our stuff, but there is no charge to use their dock. We also did a 2 tank boat dive with GoWest, the first dive at Black Coral Garden and the second at Watamula. We chose the day because it included Watamula, and we were not disappointed!
We’re going to Bonaire next week for the yearly get away but may be back at Marazul next year. Two of the three non divers are doing their checkout dives at Dive Friends this coming Sunday and Monday, so that means more diving is allowed, especially since my wife is one of the new divers, lol.
To @iointerrupt’s point, you are a long way from Willemstad, but we were ok with that, and especially now that testing is no longer an issue. Make yourself up a shopping list before you land then hit Centrum on the way to Westpunt. We did breakfast and lunch at the apartment, usually ate out for dinner. You’ll find threads on where to eat in the Curaçao forum.
Maybe we’ll see you there!

Erik

 

[Cut Throat]

Erik it was awsome to read your reply ! My wife doesn't dive but she is happy to tour around (unfortnuately scared of the water ) I am super stoked to dive in Curacoa this year . Hopefully I can convince my buddy to come and dive with me .Enjoy the rest of your dive holiday .happy bubbles.
Mark

 

[JohnN]

So I spent 3+ weeks on Curacao in December/January (my 6th or 7th trip to the island) and have just returned from a day trip to Saba.

First off, the dive operator "Sea Saba" is first rate. Excellent dive boat, great customer service, all in all a top tier dive operation. I did two dives with them

I was on the "Dawn II" ferry, and although it is a longish ride (90+ minutes) and while other passengers were chumming the fish on both legs, I have no complaints.

I wasn't impressed by the diving though, particularly compared to Curacao. The reef was mostly covered in sand and while there were pelagics (I saw a couple black-tip sharks), the variety and density of life wasn't that great. Not that many fish, the coral was mostly obscured by sand, some sponges, a couple of nice turtles, but overall if I was given the choice tomorrow, Curacao would be a no brainer.

 

[mac66]

Been to both islands several times. Favorite top side excursion in St. Martaan is Rainforrest Adventures which is a multi ziplines place. You can see the whole island from the top. Lots of fun. Curacao however has better diving IMO than SM. Bonaire has really good diving and snorkeling. I dived and my wife snorkeled at the same time if you're interested in doing something like that.