We Have been to Bonaire every August for the past few years and decided to go to Curacao for the first time on our way to Bonaire this year. We spent two weeks there the end of July and sadly we were very unimpressed. We rented a house near a dive shop and did the truck/air shore diving through the shop. It was pretty lame underwater with lots of dead hard coral and not much life. The diving areas were crowded with lots of classes and cruise ship visitors. I would not recommend Curacao for experienced divers. I think getting certified there or inexperienced divers would find it ok.
We took EZ Air to Bonaire where we booked our usual house and truck and air for the next 4 weeks. We really looked forward to being back this year until our first couple of dives. We started at our old favorite Invisibles and were amazed at how barren it has become. Sure you can see fish but it is nowhere like it was even a year ago. All the hard coral had been decimated and of course that leads to the underwater fauna disappearing. Whereas we used to see large green Morays -Rays-Nudibranchs etc.. on almost every dive, we would go 2-3 dives before spotting anything. We thought maybe it was us but when we finally got a couple of the staff that we have known from previous trips at the air station to break company rules and speak bluntly they admitted that it is all going down hill. Their take on the reefs and diving is that with the coral disease brought there by the cruise boats and the run off from the over building going on- coupled with the warmer waters that the whole island reef system is in serious trouble. We talked with some folks at STINAPA who said they are begging the powers in charge to allow them to shut down some dive sites on a rotating basis to try and help. However the reality is that no officials want to do the right thing as it affects their pocket book and places like Capt. Dons and Buddy's dole the cash out to keep things open.
It is a sad situation. I don't know what the locals will do when the divers stop spending- No one but the cab drivers and the islands governors make any money off of the cruise ships. It took a few thousand years for reefs to form and they will not be back in our lifetimes- coral grows to slow. Sadly that will be our last trip there. On the upside it will leave more money for visits to the Philippines and Indonesia! Fell free to contact me for any detailed information about our trip.
