morecowbells
Contributor
Our Jan 2010 Curacao Trip Report
Spent Jan. 22-29th in Curacao. We flew AA and for the first time in ages everything went smoothly. Flights were on time, no over bookings, delays or cancellations. We even made our 45 minute layover in Miami with time to spare. The 2:40 pm arrival in Curacao was a big improvement over our previous 8:30 pm arrival. Crowds and lines at customs were short. We were out of the airport within 30 minutes of our arrival.
This was our second stay at All West Apartments. We booked a one bedroom unit. Everything was clean, comfortable and well maintained. This is a very quiet and peaceful place. The kitchen and bathroom face the road while the bedroom and living room face the ocean. This layout facilitated in keeping noise to a minimum. I didn’t even hear a rooster or barking dogs which is unusual for the Carribean. Andreas was always helpful and a lot of fun to visit with. The tank room was always clean and well stocked with tanks. Our tanks were consistently at or above 3000 psi. It was nice to have a secure place to hang our gear to dry without carrying it up to our room. I usually don’t use rinse tanks and opt for showering off our gear. I did make an exception here as the rinse tanks were always clean and well maintained.
The diving was awsome with amazing coral formations and an abundance of fish. We saw the usual Carribean variety of fish(trunkfish, cowfish, angelfish, parrot fish, drum fish, flounder), too many eels to count and numerous scorpionfish. Saw only one turtle and no eagle rays. What was surprising though was three separate sightings of lionfish. They are majestic and beautiful to look at, however, it is discouraging to see how fast they have proliferated throughout the Carribean. Water temps ranged from 78-80. By midweek I was really getting cold. When currents were present, they were mild and easy to negotiate. We did not have one bad dive. All sites presented interesting coral and fish life. I especially enjoyed the shore diving in front of All West and Porto Marie. We booked one day of two tank boat dives. Watamula still ranks up there as one of the most picturesque dives. The coral is pristine with plentiful marine life.
Ocean Encounters West was a top notch dive op. I have only used them one other time in the past. Within a short time they have made many improvements. Everybody we encountered- whether in the shop or on the boat was friendly and helpful. A far more approachable dive op than in the past. I was also impressed with the Dive op at Cas Abou. Anka(I am sure I spelled this wrong)could not have been nicer to us. She helped us with our gear and gave specific directions as to where to dive and what to look out for. The dive op at Porto Marie was pleasant enough, but did not really offer any information or tips.
We took all necessary precautions in order to avoid being victims of burglary and theft. Our apartment had a deadbolt and chain lock. We left our car doors unlocked. Nobody even had the discriminating taste to steal my reproduced CD’s that I travel with( I don’t know if I am offended or lucky). We had no problems with anything getting stolen.
We had some great meals at Sunshine’s. Everything was fresh with high quality ingredients. I always appreciate her tips on what to do and see on the island. We are already trying to plan another trip to the island as it has so much to offer, especially for quality diving and consistent weather. In closing, I will leave a few of my personal suggestions/tips.
1) If cooking your own meals, I would recommend packing a small shaker of a spice mix. My fav is Emeril’s meat seasoning rub.
2) Burn some of your favorite CD’s to listen to while driving to different dive sites. If they get lost or stolen, no big $$ loss.
3) After a few days even the most diligent non-wetsuit-urniator will notice the swimsuit smelling ripe. I packed some dry laundry detergent in a zip lock baggie in order to remedy this, as well as packing more than one swimsuit.
4) Pack extra garbage bags. They are ideal to place on car seat after diving. They also are useful to pack damp gear in when departing.
Spent Jan. 22-29th in Curacao. We flew AA and for the first time in ages everything went smoothly. Flights were on time, no over bookings, delays or cancellations. We even made our 45 minute layover in Miami with time to spare. The 2:40 pm arrival in Curacao was a big improvement over our previous 8:30 pm arrival. Crowds and lines at customs were short. We were out of the airport within 30 minutes of our arrival.
This was our second stay at All West Apartments. We booked a one bedroom unit. Everything was clean, comfortable and well maintained. This is a very quiet and peaceful place. The kitchen and bathroom face the road while the bedroom and living room face the ocean. This layout facilitated in keeping noise to a minimum. I didn’t even hear a rooster or barking dogs which is unusual for the Carribean. Andreas was always helpful and a lot of fun to visit with. The tank room was always clean and well stocked with tanks. Our tanks were consistently at or above 3000 psi. It was nice to have a secure place to hang our gear to dry without carrying it up to our room. I usually don’t use rinse tanks and opt for showering off our gear. I did make an exception here as the rinse tanks were always clean and well maintained.
The diving was awsome with amazing coral formations and an abundance of fish. We saw the usual Carribean variety of fish(trunkfish, cowfish, angelfish, parrot fish, drum fish, flounder), too many eels to count and numerous scorpionfish. Saw only one turtle and no eagle rays. What was surprising though was three separate sightings of lionfish. They are majestic and beautiful to look at, however, it is discouraging to see how fast they have proliferated throughout the Carribean. Water temps ranged from 78-80. By midweek I was really getting cold. When currents were present, they were mild and easy to negotiate. We did not have one bad dive. All sites presented interesting coral and fish life. I especially enjoyed the shore diving in front of All West and Porto Marie. We booked one day of two tank boat dives. Watamula still ranks up there as one of the most picturesque dives. The coral is pristine with plentiful marine life.
Ocean Encounters West was a top notch dive op. I have only used them one other time in the past. Within a short time they have made many improvements. Everybody we encountered- whether in the shop or on the boat was friendly and helpful. A far more approachable dive op than in the past. I was also impressed with the Dive op at Cas Abou. Anka(I am sure I spelled this wrong)could not have been nicer to us. She helped us with our gear and gave specific directions as to where to dive and what to look out for. The dive op at Porto Marie was pleasant enough, but did not really offer any information or tips.
We took all necessary precautions in order to avoid being victims of burglary and theft. Our apartment had a deadbolt and chain lock. We left our car doors unlocked. Nobody even had the discriminating taste to steal my reproduced CD’s that I travel with( I don’t know if I am offended or lucky). We had no problems with anything getting stolen.
We had some great meals at Sunshine’s. Everything was fresh with high quality ingredients. I always appreciate her tips on what to do and see on the island. We are already trying to plan another trip to the island as it has so much to offer, especially for quality diving and consistent weather. In closing, I will leave a few of my personal suggestions/tips.
1) If cooking your own meals, I would recommend packing a small shaker of a spice mix. My fav is Emeril’s meat seasoning rub.
2) Burn some of your favorite CD’s to listen to while driving to different dive sites. If they get lost or stolen, no big $$ loss.
3) After a few days even the most diligent non-wetsuit-urniator will notice the swimsuit smelling ripe. I packed some dry laundry detergent in a zip lock baggie in order to remedy this, as well as packing more than one swimsuit.
4) Pack extra garbage bags. They are ideal to place on car seat after diving. They also are useful to pack damp gear in when departing.
To answer your question Venom, we did the All West dive and lodging package. Our first dive was at the OEW site on Playa Kalki. It is there that we picked up our weights(and returned them) for the rest of our vacation. It is a great dive site which you may wish to visit more than once. Otherwise, you can just use the tanks at All West. There are a lot of steps from AW to the beach. Being a 5'3" female I was able to ascend and descend the steps with full gear on(except for fins 
)without any issues.