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Must Dive Spots at Curacao?
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Damselfish
Contributor
The Superior Producer was closed to diving for like a year because of cruise ship pier construction, but AFAIK had reopened. I haven't heard about hotel construction blocking access but sounds possible (I assume that would mean from shore.) I do think it is more commonly dove by boat. It is closed to diving when there is a cruise ship there.
Yes, currently shore diving at Superior Producer is limited due to the hotel renovations. However, access via boat in an option. Check out Dive Charter Curaçao: www.divechartercuracao.com. They also go to the EastPoint dive sites, all pristine and only reachable by boat!
AndrewBoyd78
Registered
You have left out the very best diving on Curacao!!! Oostpunt (Eastpoint) is considered by those that work and live here to be at the very top! Oostpunt has just been officially recognized as a Marine Park and is only accessible by boat diving. There is physically 6 miles or pristine reef to see so you could make 5 2 tank trips and still not cover the same area twice!
Dive Charter Curacao (www.divechartercuracao.com) is the only dive operation in Curacao that can take you to Eastpoint any day of the week. They have a max capacity of 8 divers and use a 25ft fast RIB.
If you miss Eastpoint you will have missed an amazing reef.
I was lucky to do over a week of diving in Curacao a few years ago. Here are my top picks (in no particular order). Note that there is excellent shore diving in Curacao, but not nearly as many spots as Bonaire, so I am including some of my favorite shore dives on here.
1. Watamula. A boat dive on the north end. When I was there it was a beautiful hard coral reef that you drifted, and at the end you entered one of the most lovely soft coral forests I have ever seen. A "drift" here does not usually mean strong current--the worst currents in Curacao were mild compared to home (except for the Producer). I would rate this a "don't miss". Westpunt divers goes there a couple days a week, back when I was there.
2. Superior Producer. An interesting wreck and also covered in orange cup coral. A fantastic night dive when the corals open up (they are closed during the day). Used to be difficult ironshore access (but maybe not now). Take a boat if they are still going there. Another "don't miss". There can be current and it is deep. This is an advanced dive for experienced divers only, no question, and especially at night, so take care accordingly.
3. Alice in Wonderland. A shore dive from the north end. It is at Wespunt Divers' place up there so you can get tanks on the spot (no need to haul them) and has a nice entry from a pier. Really beautiful reef, and also a great night dive. You could do a couple of dives here, one day and one night would be best. Super easy to navigate as they have a chain from the pier to the reef that you just follow along. You can go right or left at the end of the chain--go right for the really best areas.
4. Porto Mari. This is another great shore dive. it is a public beach/park with a good bar and restaurant on side. The dive starts over the sand, which has an excellent variety of macro critters. It then drops into a "donut" with a sand bottom surrounded by a lovely reef which is a great place to do a long safety stop. You then swim over the reef and there is a steep slope starting at about 20' down to 130', absolutely covered in hard and soft corals. You by no means have to to to 130. We dove this site three times--it was my personal favorite dive. We went straight to the slope, then dropped down to 100' and then zig=zagged our way back up. It was multi-level diving at its finest and we got some really long bottom times. We would do our shallow stop in the donut/sand area looking for macro critters, and sometimes spent 15 minutes doing that.
5. Lagun. This was another nice shore dive. When we were there you could get tanks at the beach. A longer swim out to the reef that the others, but through a rocky bay and we saw lots of squid and interesting critters on the swim out. Reef was nice.
6. Playa Grande. This is the area where the fishermen clean their catches and the turtles congregate. It is a fantastic spot for turtle fans as you will see greens and hawksbills, with their beautiful shells. It is best done freediving--no need for scuba and you can get closer to them that way. I spend over three hours there one day, it was that much fun. But, you have to go late afternoon when the fishermen are returning or you won't see nearly so many. There is an OK reef off the beach if you want to scuba and then sit on the sand for your shallow stop watching the turtles.
Big animals? Curacao is not the place to go except for the turtles (might get lucky and see some eagle rays). Like Bonaire, all the big predatory fish are just gone (no sharks, big grouper, barracuda, really big snapper or the like). the fish cleaning does not attract sharks because there are none around to attract. You might see a nurse shark from time to time. Of course, you could get lucky at random and see a predatory shark, but don't plan on it. The Caribbean is just getting fished out and it really shows. There are a couple spots where you can see some schooling tarpon, but these are toward the south where I did not really do any serious diving (as I was staying up to the north).
Photography? It is excellent for both wide angle and macro. Water is consistently warm and clear in most spots unless you get really odd weather (which I did not--great diving conditions all the time for me).
All in all, we found Curacao to have really fine diving. It stays in the shadow of Bonaire in the diving world, but is a great place to spend a week diving and the signature dives 1-4 are as good as anything in Bonaire. it also has more topside activities as well. If I were traveling solely to dive, I would probably return to Bonaire for a while before going back to Curacao, just because there is so much more in Bonaire that is preserved and easily accessible.
Best way to put it--Bonaire is a "diving island" with everything focused that way. Curacao is an industrial/commerce/seat of government island with a substantial infrastructure, (including a huge port) lots of shopping and restaurants, a lovely downtown, and a very accessible national park ,that happens to have really good diving as well.. It is a better travel destination for people looking for more than diving, but, for a week, you can do three dives a day and have really great ones.
1. Watamula. A boat dive on the north end. When I was there it was a beautiful hard coral reef that you drifted, and at the end you entered one of the most lovely soft coral forests I have ever seen. A "drift" here does not usually mean strong current--the worst currents in Curacao were mild compared to home (except for the Producer). I would rate this a "don't miss". Westpunt divers goes there a couple days a week, back when I was there.
2. Superior Producer. An interesting wreck and also covered in orange cup coral. A fantastic night dive when the corals open up (they are closed during the day). Used to be difficult ironshore access (but maybe not now). Take a boat if they are still going there. Another "don't miss". There can be current and it is deep. This is an advanced dive for experienced divers only, no question, and especially at night, so take care accordingly.
3. Alice in Wonderland. A shore dive from the north end. It is at Wespunt Divers' place up there so you can get tanks on the spot (no need to haul them) and has a nice entry from a pier. Really beautiful reef, and also a great night dive. You could do a couple of dives here, one day and one night would be best. Super easy to navigate as they have a chain from the pier to the reef that you just follow along. You can go right or left at the end of the chain--go right for the really best areas.
4. Porto Mari. This is another great shore dive. it is a public beach/park with a good bar and restaurant on side. The dive starts over the sand, which has an excellent variety of macro critters. It then drops into a "donut" with a sand bottom surrounded by a lovely reef which is a great place to do a long safety stop. You then swim over the reef and there is a steep slope starting at about 20' down to 130', absolutely covered in hard and soft corals. You by no means have to to to 130. We dove this site three times--it was my personal favorite dive. We went straight to the slope, then dropped down to 100' and then zig=zagged our way back up. It was multi-level diving at its finest and we got some really long bottom times. We would do our shallow stop in the donut/sand area looking for macro critters, and sometimes spent 15 minutes doing that.
5. Lagun. This was another nice shore dive. When we were there you could get tanks at the beach. A longer swim out to the reef that the others, but through a rocky bay and we saw lots of squid and interesting critters on the swim out. Reef was nice.
6. Playa Grande. This is the area where the fishermen clean their catches and the turtles congregate. It is a fantastic spot for turtle fans as you will see greens and hawksbills, with their beautiful shells. It is best done freediving--no need for scuba and you can get closer to them that way. I spend over three hours there one day, it was that much fun. But, you have to go late afternoon when the fishermen are returning or you won't see nearly so many. There is an OK reef off the beach if you want to scuba and then sit on the sand for your shallow stop watching the turtles.
Big animals? Curacao is not the place to go except for the turtles (might get lucky and see some eagle rays). Like Bonaire, all the big predatory fish are just gone (no sharks, big grouper, barracuda, really big snapper or the like). the fish cleaning does not attract sharks because there are none around to attract. You might see a nurse shark from time to time. Of course, you could get lucky at random and see a predatory shark, but don't plan on it. The Caribbean is just getting fished out and it really shows. There are a couple spots where you can see some schooling tarpon, but these are toward the south where I did not really do any serious diving (as I was staying up to the north).
Photography? It is excellent for both wide angle and macro. Water is consistently warm and clear in most spots unless you get really odd weather (which I did not--great diving conditions all the time for me).
All in all, we found Curacao to have really fine diving. It stays in the shadow of Bonaire in the diving world, but is a great place to spend a week diving and the signature dives 1-4 are as good as anything in Bonaire. it also has more topside activities as well. If I were traveling solely to dive, I would probably return to Bonaire for a while before going back to Curacao, just because there is so much more in Bonaire that is preserved and easily accessible.
Best way to put it--Bonaire is a "diving island" with everything focused that way. Curacao is an industrial/commerce/seat of government island with a substantial infrastructure, (including a huge port) lots of shopping and restaurants, a lovely downtown, and a very accessible national park ,that happens to have really good diving as well.. It is a better travel destination for people looking for more than diving, but, for a week, you can do three dives a day and have really great ones.
AndrewBoyd78
Registered
You can see the eastpoint reef for yourself courtesy of Google Earth now! Head to https://www.divechartercuracao.com/dive-sites to see the eastpoint reef in 360!!!
That reef looks fantastic. Reminds me of the Porto Mari reef as well. If I go back I certainly will try to get some dives there.
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