recommendations for Curacao

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Barry Goode

Contributor
Messages
90
Reaction score
2
Location
Howell, MI
# of dives
100 - 199
I'm leaving for Curacao March 21, 2008. I've never been there. I'd love to hear any do's and don'ts, advice, recommendations, etc. both on the diving & topside stuff. I'm staying at Habitat.

Thanks.
 
Just stayed at the Habitat In Jan. The diving was good, the crew at Easy Divers were a lot of fun. I did not like the resort however.. You must pay for everything separately. Anything you purchase at the dive shop and the restaurant will be billed separate. The food was OK at best, breakfast was the same thing everyday. We wend into town and did some grocery shopping and cooked at the lani we had.
The best part was diving!! as it should be

Have fun!
 
Get a car. There's nothing around Habitat except Habitat and a housing development. You drive through the development's gate to get to Habitat - it's the main road. The nearest small town is a couple miles back, the nearest large market is Centrum in West Willemsted - probably 20 mins. or so driving. Most of the restaurants in that area are either in Westpunt or Willemsted, the exception being restaurant Daniel, it's out on the main road somewhere near there.

Great diving, we liked it so much we went back twice. Big morays to the east, a house octopus to the west (last April) and I played around with a barracuda during my SI in the dock area. There's also flounder in 6' of water along the "beach" (all coral rubble and stones) The reef is in really good shape and there's stuff everywhere. Good facilities except the lockers could use a little attention. They fill/stage tanks down at the water level and have high benches for setup. 50' down the divedock to the water.

I'd have to say the resort looked a little tired and the Wifi only worked for me in the lobby. The restaurant is privately owned which is why they bill separately.

Lunch was good, dinner one night was so-so. Pretty nice bar with a view. We didn't stay there so I don't know about the rooms. It's a lot more vertical than you get from the website, the divedock is three flights of stairs below the resort/pool/restaurant level.

If you shoredive elsewhere get tanks at the little building in the east corner of the parking lot. I would suggest doing other shorediving - as good as their house reef (Nos Kas?) was, it would get old after a week. Hit some of the sites further west, Playa Kalki/Alice in Wonderland, Playa Lagun, Playa Jeremi, closer to Habitat my friends liked Porto Marie beach which has good facilities. Haul tanks to Jeremi, all the others have an on-site operator to rent from.
 
Hi Barry,
David and I live in Westpunt and have an apartment as a vacation rental. We have a few pages of notes that we have started putting together for our guests. Nothing too elaborate, just basic info. Email me and I'll send the attachments to you. The shore diving is very easy out west. You don't have to do all boat dives. Stop by and say hello when you dive Alice in Wonderland at Playa Kalki. We're the large green building on the left w/Sol Food sign. If the gate is closed, just give a hollar at the gate. Sunshine

curacaosunshine@gmail.com
 
I'm leaving for Curacao March 21, 2008. I've never been there. I'd love to hear any do's and don'ts, advice, recommendations, etc. both on the diving & topside stuff. I'm staying at Habitat.

Thanks.

The ostrich farm is worth visiting.

I am not big on shopping but walking around the two sections of Wilemstad (Punda & Otrabanda) was interesting. There is a pontoon bridge that connects Punda with Otrabanda so it is easy to walk between both sections of town.

The tour of the Blue Curacao facility was interesting.

There were a few stores where I bought three polo shirts (pull-over with a collar and a few buttons up the front) for $24 US. They were very good quality. In fact, I wear them to the office during the summer.
 
The ostrich farm is worth visiting.

It is, they have some GREAT ostrich steaks :D
And for some realy good Indonesian food(HOT)go to Landhuis Brievengat on wednesday.

Oh and don't forget a car no diving without one.
 
My boyfriend and I did our open water dives and PADI certification at Ocean Encounters in Curacao last spring. We had a very good experience there. A friend of ours who is a dive master came with and we did our own dives for a few days afterwards.

We rented a car and did several shore dives - it was nice to keep to our own schedule. As a novice I haven't seen much to compare it to but it was beautiful diving! We did the west side - Playa Kalka, Porto Marie and the tug boat dive down south. Downtown Willemstad is very pretty with a great bridge - a great place to walk around and enjoy. We liked it so much we're thinking of going back soon.

Have a great trip - it's a wonderful place!
 
Hi Don,

Where would you suggest I rent a car (airport)? What kind of vehicle will suffice?
Thanks.
Barry
 
Well there's a bunch of car rentals here. Most beaches can be accessed by carbut sometimes you may want to get real adventurous in which case a pickup is handy. You can rent at the airport for sure, I'm not sure about renting at the hotel itself?

Here's a couple:
Curacao car rentals Budget Rent A Car
:: Curacao Car Rental :: Cheap car rental in Curacao! Reserve your car online.
Curacao Car Rental
home
Welcome to Avis Rent a Car Curacao, #1 car rental on Curacao
Curacao Michel Car Rental Curacao Michel Autoverhuur Curacao Michel rentalcars

Good luck and PM me if you need more help.


Don
 

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