Question about shore drift diving in Curacao

[jbtut]

So I'm new to the board and a relative novice diver. We are heading to Curacao on the 22nd of this month for a week. We're going to be staying at All West. I've never been to Curacao or Bonaire before. I understand most of the diving is shore diving and we may also go on a couple boat dives. My wife and I are both strong swimmers and comfortable in the water. We both have about 40 or 50ish dives. I don't remember off the top of my head. We are both OW certified. However it was a university course that was a semester long with 2 hrs of UW time each week, plus the 4 final dives. Based on what I've seen of resort courses and many resort certified divers, we have much more thorough training.

We have been to Cozumel and Playa Del carmen and also dove in currents in Malaysia and Indonesia. We've also done a couple shore dives. However, neither of us have any experience doing a drift dive from shore. It seems like some of the shore dives in Curacao have currents. Is there anything special we should know regarding safety? How much current should we expect? Is it like Cozumel where you really can't swim into it effectively and you'll drift for a considerable distance or should we expect to exit right where we went in? If you are exiting at a different location, are they easy to identify and how do you keep track of how far you've traveled and/or when to surface? If exiting at the entry point is it just a matter of swimming into the current at the start? Do any of the currents in Curacao sweep offshore such that it would be difficult to get back to the island? I've heard that that can be the case on the East coast of Cozumel.

Thanks,

JBT

 

[Diver OnLu]

Hi jbtut,

This is Andreas of All West Apartments on Curacao.

Let me free you of your worries:

Normally you don't have strong currents (i. e. currents you will not be able to swim against) on Curacao shore dive sites. In general, you just swim out to the reef, start your dive against the current (if any), and return to your starting point with the current.

As most shore dives start from bays surrounded by cliff walls, there is usually no chance to just exit the water a bit "further down the road" drifting the reef only one-way. So should you encounter a current too strong for you to swim against it, is safest to abort the dive and go somewhere else. But as mentioned before, that does hardly ever happen

You will find diving on Curacao mostly very easy and relaxing, it is perfect for divers who are still gaining experience. BTW, our divers found a 6ft nurse shark resting right in front of All West Apartments today!!!

See you soon

Andreas

 

[jbtut]

Hi jbtut,

This is Andreas of All West Apartments on Curacao.

Let me free you of your worries:

Normally you don't have strong currents (i. e. currents you will not be able to swim against) on Curacao shore dive sites. In general, you just swim out to the reef, start your dive against the current (if any), and return to your starting point with the current.

As most shore dives start from bays surrounded by cliff walls, there is usually no chance to just exit the water a bit "further down the road" drifting the reef only one-way. So should you encounter a current too strong for you to swim against it, is safest to abort the dive and go somewhere else. But as mentioned before, that does hardly ever happen

You will find diving on Curacao mostly very easy and relaxing, it is perfect for divers who are still gaining experience. BTW, our divers found a 6ft nurse shark resting right in front of All West Apartments today!!!

See you soon

Andreas

Thanks Andreas. I'm excited to visit! Hopefully the nurse shark will stick around for another two weeks!

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

J
It sounds like you're just getting anxious waiting for your dive vacation to begin. Relax.
In our 3 years here, we've only experienced strong currents 3 or 4 times at Watamula, once at Playa Largu and once from Director's Bay; hardly enough for me to ever consider even mentioning a drift dive in Curacao. You'll find the little currents we have slight enough to easily swim against, stop and spend some time examining a great find. Ocean Encounters West has a fantastic house reef, Alice in Wonderland where they encourage you to do a Welcome Dive to check your weights and equipment. Relax, dive slowly and enjoy our underwater life and then relax on your deck and enjoy the sunset. You might find that after a few days you'll be experiencing your first shore night dive, right in front of the apartments.
I feel safe walking around Westpunt any time of the day or night. Coming out of a bar at 3AM in Willemstad might be a different scenario. I have only heard of a few stolen vehicles in all the time we've lived here. That really is not anything you need to worry about. I, like Andreas tell folks not to leave anything in their car and to either roll down the window or leave it unlocked. You don't need much on a shore dive anyway.
There are many dive sites with shops; Habitat, Porto Marie, Cas Abou, Lagun and Westpunt. Ask the staff for the day's water temp, currents, and unusual spottings.
And above all, have a great time. Once you get here of course.

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

J
It seems that you're just getting anxious about your dive vacation. Relax. You'll have a wonderful time. David and I live in Westpunt between All West and OE West dive shop. Really, I would never tell anyone that we have drift dives. In 3 years I've only experienced strong currents at Watamula 3 or 4 times and Playa Largu once. Other than that, it's been very easy to swim against the current and to stop and get a closer look at a great find.
westpunt is out in the country. I feel safe to walk around town any time of the day or night. I do however advise like Andreas, to never leave anything in a parked car. If you are going on a dive, you do not need much else with you. In the past 3 years I've only been aware of a couple of stolen vehicles, that is not a problem for you to fret about.
Some of the sites have dive ops; Porto Marie, Habitat, Cas Abou, Lagun and Westpunt (on the West side) the staff at each can tell you the water conditions (temps, current, visibility) and recent spottings.
Curacao, especially on the west end has very easy shore dives, just perfect for the novice diver. Relax, go slow and enjoy our reef system and underwater life and then relax some more on your balcony with the sunset. I think you'll be so comfortable after the first few days you'll experience a night dive from the apartments.
Have a wonderful time - once you get here!

 

[diversteve]

In a week of shorediving we only had one dive (Playa Jeremi?) that caused us to change our planned direction to swim into the current. Mostly because as Andreas pointed out, we didn't want to miss the opening to the bay on the return. At just about every dive site you'll need to return to your origin point as they're fairly spread out and I don't know how you'd get back to your car otherwise.

Most places if there was a current, I was oblivious to it. Seriously, it's a non-issue as you'll see once you're there. Most places the reef parallels the shore so it's really hard to get lost.

Except Lost Anchor where we did a live drop drift dive (off a boat)...lol.

 

[RJP]

We are heading to Curacao on the 22nd of this month for a week. We're going to be staying at All West. I've never been to Curacao or Bonaire before.

You're gonna have a blast - hook up with Andreas and crew at Ocean Encounters West and you can do no wrong!

Also, be sure to head over to Sol Foods at least once (if you can restrain yourself) for great food, company, and view!

 

[jbtut]

Thanks for the responses. I was getting a little concerned after reading some older reports. Cozumel is sort of what I've been thinking in my head, and I'm not confident that I could get into the current where the reefs are and still make it back to the entry point. Sounds like it's not a problem as long as we use reasonable caution.


Also I hope I didn't offend anyone with my comment about resort courses. I'm sure there are a lot of great ones. And the reality is that OW training is pretty simple for the most part and you get out of it what you put in. There's no reason you couldn't learn everything in two or three days if you've read the material. I've just been on a few dives where you wonder if the other divers have ever been in the water before. On our last dive trip a 25yr old lady, small, maybe 100lbs, with something like a 2-3mm wetsuit, had 6kg of weight on. And she was crashing the coral and then made an uncontrolled ascent and the DM had to race up and pull her back down. She had no control whatsoever. And I can relate a bit. Our first dive experience was in Mexico and we didn't know a thing about it. The dive master explained the process in broken English on the way out to the reef. On a boat dive no less. We lived, and actually decided to get certified after trying it, but it was completely unsafe and we really had no idea what we were doing. Anyway it just happens that those type of operators tend to be at beach resorts because that's where it's exciting and they can get customers. It's not necessarily a reflection of all dive training at resorts.

 

[jd950]

Jbtut:

Andreas and Sunshine know far more about Curacao diving than I ever will, but FWIW, in my experience what they refer to as current on Curacao is about 90% of the time nothing like you have experienced at Cozumel. I have experienced currents on Curacao sufficient to influence in which direction I start my dive, but only maybe 2 or 3 times have I found currents strong enough to create what I would consider close to a drift dive. I have never aborted a dive there due to current and can think of only one time that perhaps I should have. Obviously, every dive is different and you will have to evaluate each one yourself based on your ability. The folks at OE West will also gladly talk to you about current conditions and such when you go by there.

Statistically, the current is usually in WNW direction at less than 1/2 MPH. Since you are staying at AllWest this is good because from most dive sites, if you do hit a strong current and it is still going West, it will eventually take you back to your apartment.

If it is one of the less common E-SE currents it will take you to Venezuela so you might want to carry your passport with you on dives .

Dive Playa Kalki at OE West once and behind AllWest once and you will have a good idea of what you will encounter at most sites.

From your other thread: Yes, thefts are definitely a "problem" throughout the Caribbean and I believe crime is increasing in the Caribbean, but Bonaire and Curacao remain among the safer destinations, except that anything left in a vehicle will quite possibly be stolen. You might have your rental truck stolen overnight but it isn't likely and if it happens, Louis will get you another.

Like everyone says, don't leave anything in your truck during the day or night that you are unwilling to have taken. Tanks never seem to be stolen (Hard to trade for drugs I guess?).

Shore diving in Curacao and Bonaire is very laid back and easy unless you want to make it more exciting.

 

[jbtut]

The thing that seems odd about the crime is that with today's technology it would be so easy to stop. I'm sure remote video cameras could be set up with a $5 fee from every diver to pay for the cameras, maintenance, and someone to watch them. Even if you started with 20 cameras, transmit over cell service, it wouldn't cost that much. Even some cheap deer cameras would identify the thieves. It's a small island. I think most divers like me would gladly pay even a $25 fee for the week to get some type of car pass to hang in the window or whatever to use the protected/monitored sites. That would be well worth it to not have to worry about things being stolen. And it might increase tourism. It seems like a simple solution to me. Maybe not?