Tennessee Slim
Contributor
I made my first trip to Klein Curacao today. In a nutshell, I didnt think it was worth the money or the trouble or the time.
I booked the trip through Ocean Encounters. Regardless of which dive shop books the trip, its actually the MY Mermaid that provides the transportation and puts on the feed bag.
Its a two hour boat trip, one way. On arrival, the crew of The Mermaid provides a light breakfast before your first dive. Then theres a quite passable BBQ lunch, followed by the afternoon dive. Then its back on the boat for the two hour ride home.
The problem as I see it is that the dive operators and the picnickers are vying for the same all-too-scarce resource: the runabout. There are no piers on Klein Curacao so the boat anchors offshore. Their runabout ferries passengers to and from the island, divers to their dive site, and provides entertainment to the picknickers in the form of towing them about on the giant inflatable banana. In the end, they want to rush all the divers to some nearby point and have them make their way back to the boat so they can go back to entertaining the picknickers (who outnumber the divers by a substantial margin).
Klein Curacao sits abeam of the prevailing Caribbean current, which streams around either end before joining on the islands lee side. The plan was to take us up the shore a bit, drop us off and let the current push us back towards the middle of the island. Its a good plan, provided 1) theres a current and 2) something lies in the path of that current thats interesting to look at.
In truth, the first dive (from the north end) wasnt too bad. There were a few interesting things to look at, but it was far from spectacular. And there was a substantial current. But the second dive (from the south side) was a complete waste of time.
Through no fault of the dive staff, there was no current. This isnt Cozumel so that sometimes happens. But the shoreline south of the lunch hut was pretty much a textbook definition of desolate. For about a quarter of the dive route, there was reasonably healthy reef. The remainder was split between desolate, storm-ravaged reef or flat, sandy bottom. Theres so little to distinguish the last bit before reaching the mooring, they literally have placed a blue arrow Keep Right type sign to aid divers in finding the boat.
I boarded the boat with 1200 psi remaining (which is akin to your teenaged son borrowing Dads Vette on Friday night and returning it vacuumed, washed, waxed and with a full tank of gas).
Im sure there are great dive sites around Klein Curacao (you cant swing a dead cat around here without hitting a great dive site and two unlicensed restautants). And Im sure our divemaster knew their whereabouts. Im just disappointed he didnt put us on one.
The boat leaves ~7 a.m. and returns ~6 p.m. I reckon I could have slept in, done a 2-tank morning boat dive, had a nice lunch at some beachside restaurant, done an afternoon shore dive, been done by 3 p.m., spent less money and had a much better diving experience. But thats just me.
I booked the trip through Ocean Encounters. Regardless of which dive shop books the trip, its actually the MY Mermaid that provides the transportation and puts on the feed bag.
Its a two hour boat trip, one way. On arrival, the crew of The Mermaid provides a light breakfast before your first dive. Then theres a quite passable BBQ lunch, followed by the afternoon dive. Then its back on the boat for the two hour ride home.
The problem as I see it is that the dive operators and the picnickers are vying for the same all-too-scarce resource: the runabout. There are no piers on Klein Curacao so the boat anchors offshore. Their runabout ferries passengers to and from the island, divers to their dive site, and provides entertainment to the picknickers in the form of towing them about on the giant inflatable banana. In the end, they want to rush all the divers to some nearby point and have them make their way back to the boat so they can go back to entertaining the picknickers (who outnumber the divers by a substantial margin).
Klein Curacao sits abeam of the prevailing Caribbean current, which streams around either end before joining on the islands lee side. The plan was to take us up the shore a bit, drop us off and let the current push us back towards the middle of the island. Its a good plan, provided 1) theres a current and 2) something lies in the path of that current thats interesting to look at.
In truth, the first dive (from the north end) wasnt too bad. There were a few interesting things to look at, but it was far from spectacular. And there was a substantial current. But the second dive (from the south side) was a complete waste of time.
Through no fault of the dive staff, there was no current. This isnt Cozumel so that sometimes happens. But the shoreline south of the lunch hut was pretty much a textbook definition of desolate. For about a quarter of the dive route, there was reasonably healthy reef. The remainder was split between desolate, storm-ravaged reef or flat, sandy bottom. Theres so little to distinguish the last bit before reaching the mooring, they literally have placed a blue arrow Keep Right type sign to aid divers in finding the boat.
I boarded the boat with 1200 psi remaining (which is akin to your teenaged son borrowing Dads Vette on Friday night and returning it vacuumed, washed, waxed and with a full tank of gas).
Im sure there are great dive sites around Klein Curacao (you cant swing a dead cat around here without hitting a great dive site and two unlicensed restautants). And Im sure our divemaster knew their whereabouts. Im just disappointed he didnt put us on one.
The boat leaves ~7 a.m. and returns ~6 p.m. I reckon I could have slept in, done a 2-tank morning boat dive, had a nice lunch at some beachside restaurant, done an afternoon shore dive, been done by 3 p.m., spent less money and had a much better diving experience. But thats just me.
