Need Help

[scubapop]

As an aid in selecting our next family dive location, I would like to take advantage of the travel and dive experience of those who have recently been guests of Habitat Curacao.

When would be the best time to visit Habitat Curacao? We are looking at the first week of July for our vacation this year? What is the weather like but more important is the water normally fairly calm? Any additional information you can provide with regard to accommodations, services, shore dive sites and other family activities would be fantastic.

Here is the full meal deal. My wife was certified in Sept 02 and has only 12 dives to date due to equalizing difficulties and prefers shore diving as it is easier on the ears. In addition, accompanying us will be our 10-year-old grand-daughter who will be a brand new certified diver. With two new and inexperienced divers that need to gain experience and build confidence I really need a tranquil dive location in which they can practice dive skills as they build self-assurance and become familiar with our underwater world. Due to her age, the grand-daughter needs to be no deeper than 40 feet. I am an experienced dive instructor of 12 years and approaching 1100 dives, so having two inexperienced divers at my side is not an issue----it’s all about location for this trip.

From the web site it appears Habitat Curacao is the perfect location----but I’m sure each of us has yielded to the temptations of advertising zeal only to be disappointed with reality upon arrival.

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Bob "Scubapop" Curtis
May we dive many tanks

 

[SDAnderson]

Learning to use the search function will make the board a better resource for you - even if you don't find the exact answer that you're looking for, you might find someone who would know the answer and that you can PM.

At the top of the page between Features and Quick Links is a Search menu. Do an advanced search, using the phrase Habitat Curacao looking for posts from a year ago or sooner and you should get over 30 hits. Happy hunting.

By the way, I've not been to Habitat Curacao but know a number of folks that have and they pretty much all seem to come home happy. It's good diving for beginners, maybe not as easy as Bonaire can be, but still pretty sweet.

I pulled your duplicate thread - inasmuch as there's enough clutter around here already, double posting is not a groovy thing.

Good luck in your search and welcome to the board, by the way...

 

[JenM]

As an aid in selecting our next family dive location, I would like to take advantage of the travel and dive experience of those who have recently been guests of Habitat Curacao.

When would be the best time to visit Habitat Curacao? We are looking at the first week of July for our vacation this year? What is the weather like but more important is the water normally fairly calm? Any additional information you can provide with regard to accommodations, services, shore dive sites and other family activities would be fantastic.

I've been to Habitat Curacao 4 times in the last 6 years. It was our first dive trip after I got certified and is truly the perfect place for newbies to get comfortable in the water. When we go, all we do is shore dive at the resort, we've gone out on the boat a few times but there's really no need to. As for weather, any time of the year is fine there. It is out of the hurricane belt so although they did get hit about 5 years ago, that's a pretty rare event. They are located in a small, sheltered bay and the water is usually very calm. Water temps are 79-80. There's usually a slight current running either north or south along the shore - the current will never sweep you away from shore there and it is usually pretty mild - never scary.

Basically, you gear up right by the water, stroll about 50 ft. to the end of the dock, take a giant stride, or go down the ladder, and you are in about 6 ft. of water. There's an underwater line (we call it the highway to heaven) that is fastened to the dock and stretches out to the reef, then drops over the edge and goes down to about 150 fsw. The reef is maybe 150-200 ft. offshore, so you drop down there at the dock, follow the line and swim out to the edge of the reef, turn right or left depending on the current, do your dive at whatever depth you want, turn around and swim back until you hit the line again, then just follow it back to the dock.

At the edge of the reef, you are in about 20-30fsw and the reef slopes down pretty steeply to 120+fsw so you can go deeper, then work your way back up, or just stay shallow the whole time. The coral in the shallows used to be amazing, it got beat up in the hurricane a few years ago and now starts at around 35fsw, but there's still plenty to see in the shallows - tons of fish, reef creatures, octos, crabs, and lobsters on night dives, eels everywhere, including Chester, a very well-known 7ft long green moray. You won't see big stuff, but you'll see all the pretty, smaller tropicals - it's a very "fishy" site.

So don't worry, what you've read is not advertising hype. I've been all over the Caribbean and I truly can't think of a better place for beginners to get comfortable. The resort itself is not luxurious, but it is comfortable. I think their new two bedroom cabanas are in good shape, although the regular rooms are getting a bit tired. The biggest problem there is the food. It has ranged from pretty bad to decent, but I'd never describe it as "good". The last time we were there a year ago, it had actually shown a fair amount of improvement. The trick is to find a few good things on the menu, and then just eat those the whole week. It's one of the the only drawbacks at Habitat, and truthfully, not that bad, more of an amusement than anything else. The only other drawback is that it is 30 minutes from town, so if you are looking at going out at night, forget it, there's nothing nearby. However, if all you want to do is dive and hang out, it really is perfect.

 

[scubapop]

Thanks for the info and the prompt reply. I 'll most probably make reservations sometime this week-end.