Mselenaous and NetDoc do Curacao with Go West! A trip Blog...

[diversteve]

I was hoping the dive sites would be much closer in Curacao.

Playa Kalki/Alice in Wonderland is one of the best shore dives we did there. It starts about 50' from the end of the Go West dock.

They also dive Watamula which I've heard is the best boat dive on Curacao. I think about 15mins. away. The other "signature" dive in that area is the Mushroom Forest. Due to geography it's done as a boat dive only but besides their boat, there's a water taxi option you can take from a nearby beach so that gives you some idea of how close it is.

About a 10min drive south Playa's Lagun and Jeremi were also good shore dives - among the best on Curacao. A 15-20 minute drive south(east) and you're at Porto Mari or Cas Abao nearby. Porto Mari is another really good site - maybe within the top 5. I've not dove Cas Abao. Varsenbaai is another good site between Lagun and Porto Mari.

The reef parallels the island so there's no reason generally to go farther out. The best wreck, Superior Producer, can also be done as a shore dive. The Tugboat on the other end of the island is in 15' of water.

Most of the dives Go West lists on their dive schedule would be difficult or impossible to access from shore due to the high cliffs on that end of Curacao. But they're all just offshore - I've seen a few dive boats moor near sites we were shore diving from. Go West has a map on their website: GO WEST Diving - EN - Dive sites - GO WEST Diving Curacao

LKH is on the quieter end of Curacao. About a 45min drive to downtown. The Lodge had a town shuttle before the ownership change - probably still does. Nice rooms - I've been in a garden suite. Really nice people worked there at the time - about 5 years ago.

The only long boat ride would be to Klein Curacao. You wouldn't do that from Go West either as it's a some miles south of the east end of Curacao. If you have a full day free, several of the Willemstad vicinity operators go there.

It's not like T/C where the best dives were at French Cay/West Caicos etc. from Provo. There's nothing else besides Klein Curacao - except Bonaire - which is 50 miles away...

---------- Post added February 9th, 2014 at 07:15 PM ----------

Sorry for the hijack Pete but it applies to your trip also - found Substation I see...

 

[The Chairman]

most dive trips are about 45- 60 minutes just to get to the site. I was hoping the dive sites would be much closer in Curacao. Thank you

I didn't dive with them, but there are tons of dive sites on the southern side. You won't have to go far. The North/West is the wild side of the island. There is just more nature up here and we're glad to be so immersed. In fact, it's the most interesting diving I've done in a long, long time. Lots of structure, lots of life, lots of big life and the huge wall on almost every dive. start your dive deep, then move into the shallower areas to finish up. When we did Alice in Wonderland, I must have had a 15 minute safety stop leading all the way up to Go West's dock. We only did one dive in the south and that was in a submersible to 497 feet. It was "OK" but the West has so much more structure and life.

 

[FredGarvin]

Thank you all for your quick and comprehensive answers to my query!

Go Scuba Board!!

 

[islanddream]

Hey Pete and Elena, thanks so much for sharing your vacation with those of us stuck at work and landlocked! Jim and I did a submersible in Curacao when we stopped there on a cruise. This was before we were divers, and I believe after seeing what we did, we were hooked and knew we had to get certified. Please keep sending pictures and "kewl" stuff about your diving and non-diving activities on the island. We don't hear too much about the diving on Curacao and you're opening our eyes up to another new place to explore. Is this possibly a place for a ScubaBoard Invasion? Thanks and safe diving!

 

[FredGarvin]

As I mentioned earlier, I will be attending a Dive Medicine course sponsered by the Long Beach Medical Center Dive & Hyperbaric Medicine Department. My wife and 7 year old son may be in attendance if there are things for them to see on do on the surface. Beside the 45 minute drive to town, are there things to do at or around the resort (LKH)?

 

[Damselfish]

Right there, not a lot besides the beach and pool comes to mind. And snorkeling of course. Birdwatching - the trees are often full of playful parrots swooping around (and bats at night.) There is a sort of cavern just past the end of the units along the water. Steep stairs going down, with tide pools fed by an opening to the ocean. But that won't take long.

The ride to town can be interesting. The hotel at least used to have a shuttle you could take to town - I think the times are set for transporting staff to/from work and conflict with divin,g or anything but a very early dinner, but ok otherwise to go shop and explore. But really better to drive as the more interesting things that come to mind aren't right downtown, plus just plain exploring might be one of the interesting things to do.

Not sure how interesting town itself would be for a 7yo, depends what they are into. There's old forts converted to modern uses (malls, hotels) that you can check out a bit, so they could do something like hit the ice cream shop in Riffort and climb around a bit. You'll find stray cannons around the sidewalks. Watching the ships go through the channel is fun. (Speaking of which, might want to check the cruise ship schedule.) They might think the bridges are cool - the swinging one downtown, the ferry that replaces it when open, and the high bridge over the harbor (but even better if you actually go up there, and maybe also drive up to Fort Nassau for the view.) The floating market might be briefly interesting. There used to be a harbor tour, which I've never managed to do because it was like only one day a week and not well advertised, but would probably be pretty interesting if you can find it. If driving, on the other side of town there is the aquarium which would be a good thing to do. There is the submarine if you want to spring for that. At the far end of the island, as far from LKH as you can get, there is the ostrich farm, which is pretty interesting and might be a highlight for a kid. They also have alligators and pigs there that recycle waste from the restaurant, which is also pretty good. Have some ostrich for lunch while you watch the pigs chow down on your leftovers. (They had some less exotic food if the kid isn't an adventurous eater, or doesn't want ostrich after feeding them and seeing the cute baby ones...)

I don't know if it's possible to arrange a tour of these places from LKH, though I'd imagine such things are available from places closer to town.

 

[Mikko Ilari Laakkonen]

You wanna get together for a dive? Today I am going to check out if there is a ship in the port and do Superior Producer in the morning. Alice in Wonderland or Kleine Knip in the afternoon.

 

[Tjack]

Any follow up there NetDoc?

The Centrum supermarket is one of my all time favorites, dutch butter to spread on locally produced banana bread, Mmmmm.

 

[The Chairman]

We are working through the pictures now.

 

[CheddarChick]

Man you are in my most favorite dive place in the world...How I miss it...Porto Marie is one of the best...