Looking for advice re: courses and boat diving and what to do with my gear!

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NootFish

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Solo traveler, advanced open water/nitrox, heading to Aruba or Curacao Feb 12-19. Goals are to do rescue diver course and as many dives as possible in addition. I have my own gear. I was not planning on renting a vehicle.

1. What do I do with my gear? What dive operations have gear storage? I've mostly done liveaboard diving and 2 weeks with Buddy Dive in Bonaire. (The flights to Bonaire just don't work out for me this time.)

2. What companies would you recommend for the rescue dive course.

3. Anyone want to dive with me? :)
 
If you dive with Palm Beach Divers in aruba they can store your gear. If you stay at an airbnb you can rent a car and still come out ahead. Taxis are expensive if you intend to do any exploring (not guided tours) you will need a car or atv
 
Ocean Encounters in Curacao will give you a locker plus hanging racks in an area that’s locked up at night.
 
What hilljo88 said...at the main OE shop next to Lions Dive resort.

We just kept our gear in the condo. Both properties we've stayed at had fences and security - I wouldn't leave anything outside overnight to dry though.

Bring a lock...

Curacao is a big island so you should rent a car to get to more of it. If not, look at Lions Dive or the Royal Seaquarium condos across the channel - besides Ocean Encounters plus a shore dive there's Mambo Beach Club a short walk away and Mambo Blvd. shops/restaurants also. Hemingways at Lions Dive is one of the better restaurants on island.
Lions Dive is a little south of downtown but they offer a daily shuttle if your plans include going there.

The hotels downtown are not as optimal for diving since there is almost none in the area. Except Scuba Lodge which has a house reef. A little south of downtown is the Sunscape AI resort - there's an Ocean Encounters shop on site and a house reef. The 2019 SB Surge is just back from there so there's a lot of info in that forum.

If you stay in Willemstad, the Dive Bus will pick you up for escorted shore diving but it's almost as expensive as boat dives.

But when the cruise ships are in, you'll wish you weren't downtown.

I think, but am not sure that Bas Harts Diving also picks up for shore diving.

I could make a case for Piscadera Bay also. It's a resort area 5mins.north of downtown so cabs would be reasonable. It's the closest resort area to the airport and there's an average shore dive there. Carib Sea Sports is at the Hilton for boat dives and there's a lot of condo rentals in the area. The Hilton is really old - the building looks like it's from the 60's.Nice grounds,outside bar and a small casino.

Pirates Bay beach club has music some nights and a shore dive that's a long surface swim out. At various times there's a shop there for tanks - sometmes not.

Goby Divers is based at the Veneto - maybe a mile south closer to town. They pick up in the area also.
There's a Denny's in the Veneto parking lot.

There's also the Renaissance but it's right next to the Megaport so gets a lot of cruise traffic walking by. Rif Fort/Renaissance Mall is another shopping complex there and about 200 yds away is the north end of the famous Swinging Bridge (walking) - the other end takes you to the heart of downtown.

If you are going to get a condo/cook, Centrum Market or Cost U Less are between the airport and Piscadera Bay. The drive is a couple of miles but cabs are still pricey even for short trips.I've read it's $40 from the airport to downtown. P-Bay is pretty quiet at night though - just some activity around the couple resorts.

rethink a car.
 
It's starting to sound like I would be happier flying to Bonaire and diving there... I'm really not into crowds of tourists and just want to dive and do work online from my room when I'm there. I travel on a low budget (hopefully lodging $50/night) and don't eat at restaurants often.

@diversteve wow that is so much info, very very helpful!
 
For low budget diving, Roatan.

You will pay a lot more for flights than Bonaire but everything else is cheap. We thought food on Bonaire was among the highest we've ever seen - both in markets and restaurants. It's much lower on Curacao since it's the deep water port so everything for Bonare goes thru there first.

Stay in the West End, you won't need a car. There's at least a dozen dive shops to choose from, about 30 restaurants ranging from street food to the nicest on Roatan, A small apt with a small kitchen is easily in the $50-60/nt. range. Even less there's two hostels - Chilies is owned by the same family that owns Native Sons Diving. Everybody offers 10 boat dives for $350 - some still $300. A cab ride there from the airport is $5 and should you want to go elsewhere - I used about 6 cabs during the week to goto locations east or south to Cocen Hole - that was the most expensive at $15. There's two small markets in town, Woody's which is like a big 7-11 and the Coconut Tree makret which is smaller. Also the food trucks line one street daily, they sell produce and even fresh fish - it's all on ice and looked decent. We bought fruit from several of them.

I rented a 3br house on the water for $1500 - split 3 ways my total cost for everything including a week of diving, eating at some better places plus we did the dolphin dive at AKR nearby - $1700. I could have done i tfor 1/2 of that. One of our group rented a cabin at Coconut Tree - full kitchen, dive shpp on site, food store on-site, restaurant upstairs. for $45/nt Not all their cabins have kithcens but most at Posada Los Arcos a block away do. It's fronted by the Argentinan Grille and they also make the sandwiches for Sundowners Beach Bar across the street.

Except for flight costs - mine was $785 - it's the cheapest dive week I've ever done. Lots of bugs though.They recommend the Malaria treatement and that will set you back about $200 - look for a travel nurse in your area - cheaper than a travel clinic.
 
I've done a week on Bonaire and a week on Curacao. Different than yours as I like a little nicer place, we do rent car(s) and we do eat out. Bonaire was much higher - flights were especially pricier than going to Curacao.

I stayed a few days at My Dream Apts in Lagun on Curacao once - $65 nt.- full kitchen. Oceanfront but not beachfront - it's 60' straight down. Since you mentioned quiet, it is, The owners stopped by once to see how we were doing, otherwise it was just my group of 5 there all week. (there's only 10 apts)

Playa Lagun nearby is a shore dive and both Discover Diving and Bahia Apts/Diving are there. Bahia also has a cliffside grille.

You would need a car though as it's 30 min. from town. Most people staying out there buy food at Centrum b4 they drive out, it's just south of the airport. If "work" requires internet access - it's not the place for you - find something on airbnb in town.

There's some affordable studio/1br condos in Piscadera Bay - they're up the hill and across the street from the water. I think one is called Royal Palms.
 
This info is so helpful. Yeah, I need internet capable of doing VOIP and sending files. My plans were to dive during the day and take care of business at night.

I looked into changing flight to Roatan but Delta does not fly there and I'm Gold Medallion there. Bonaire inter-island flight is $350, and I actually did find flights that work. I think last resort would be fly to Bonaire and dive at Buddy Dive because I know they'll do the training I want.
 
You probably don't want Lagun if you need reliable inteernet access. It's probably there but IDK where. I would've likely tried once or twice but was offline the days we spent there.

Piscadera Bay also has a convention center so there's likely good access there. The Hilton or farther soith (adjacent to the cruise port) is the Renaissance. I couldn't get anything from our condos at PBay Resort but my friends did at the Marriott Resort next to the Hilton - now closed. I think there's a Clarion Suites there adjacent to the convention center.

The Chairman checks on SB when he's at the Surges at the Sunscape so that might be an option. Probably anywhere in Willemstad is.
 
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