Recommendations for lodging and dive shop

[J&M Blowing Bubbles]

Would suggest you dive the house reef before committing to packages. As you’re standing one flight of stairs above the dive shop… look at the peninsula that you can walk on and look in the water to the right. You will see two concrete rocks. From that there is a large rope out across the sand and down the coral slope to the next level of sand at about 120 feet. Follow it and note what two surface buoys it goes under. Next time you’re on the surface you will understand how that rope is laid. It leads you to the right. As you swim over the sand and down the coral watch the soft coral for the direction of the current if there is one. It can change between dives.

Thank you. We’d be fine with shore diving the entire time, unless there’s a dive site only accessible by boat that is a “must see”? In Bonaire we stick to shore diving. Save the boat diving for destinations where shore diving isn’t an option.

 

[J&M Blowing Bubbles]

Awesome two dive sites that are different there. You can go straight out and then right or left. Night dives there are very beautiful.

That is wonderful to hear!

 

[AdivingBel]

We’d be fine with shore diving the entire time, unless there’s a dive site only accessible by boat that is a “must see”?

We stay and dive in and around Westpunt (we’ll regularly make it as far east/south as Porto Marie). We almost exclusively shore dive, but I make a point of one boat trip to Watamula. The large star coral formations are special. It’s usually a drift dive and if I can get the boat to do two drops there I consider it a win.

We’ll be arriving for a visit the day after you leave. Enjoy your trip. I know we always do…

 

[GDawgFunk]

I just spent 2 weeks in Curacao, lovely island, personally I prefer the rental house/apartment and rental car route, but that is not what you are asking! I dove with 4 different ops on the island and if I was looking for a more resort style stay I would 100% go with Lions Dive/Ocean Encounters, all around solid operation, really nice boats and great crew/dive instructors/masters, beautiful resort and beach, every employee I interacted with was friendly and helpful. I can't speak to the food, but none of the people I spoke to that were staying there were in any way unhappy.
Enjoy your trip!

 

[sconser]

We have a 3BR oceanfront apartment in Blue Bay that we rent out while we are not there. The dive shop, beach, shore diving, pool, and restaurants are just steps away. PM me if interested in a quote to avoid 3rd party fees.

Condo in Willemstad · ★5.0 · 3 bedrooms · 5 beds · 3 baths

Click on the link above to see the property and availability on AirBNB....

 

[r14n]

I just spent 2 weeks in Curacao, lovely island, personally I prefer the rental house/apartment and rental car route, but that is not what you are asking! I dove with 4 different ops on the island and if I was looking for a more resort style stay I would 100% go with Lions Dive/Ocean Encounters, all around solid operation, really nice boats and great crew/dive instructors/masters, beautiful resort and beach, every employee I interacted with was friendly and helpful. I can't speak to the food, but none of the people I spoke to that were staying there were in any way unhappy.
Enjoy your trip!

Who do you rent car from?

 

[Jackie]

Interesting thread! I just came on here to ask the same questions. we are older divers and like to save our energy for climbing back up on the boat!
That said, the Go West operation sounded very appealing. And I did see some apartments at Coral Estates. But we don’t like to cook and shop…

 

[J&M Blowing Bubbles]

Who do you rent car from?

We rented from D&D Car Rentals last week. Homepage Had a nail in the tire after the first day & they were excellent about bringing another vehicle to us (Coral Estates). Only word of ‘caution’ is both cars (SUVs) we rented had key FOBs so we always had to find a place for the key when underwater. Some shore dive locations have lockers but not all. Next trip we plan to inquire whether they have older rentals with standard keys.

 

[J&M Blowing Bubbles]

Interesting thread! I just came on here to ask the same questions. we are older divers and like to save our energy for climbing back up on the boat!
That said, the Go West operation sounded very appealing. And I did see some apartments at Coral Estates. But we don’t like to cook and shop…

We stayed at Coral Estates Luxury Resort for 8 days last week (9/25-10/2). Our room had a mini fridge, microwave, toaster & coffee pot so no real ‘cooking’ took place (only oatmeal for breakfast). They do have 3 restaurants on the property, we’re vegetarians which they don’t cater too (one restaurant had one vegetarian dish and we could have had a veggie pizza from the other - but chose to find other options on the island). Happy to answer questions.

 

[RIHappyDiver]

We rented from D&D Car Rentals last week. Homepage Had a nail in the tire after the first day & they were excellent about bringing another vehicle to us (Coral Estates). Only word of ‘caution’ is both cars (SUVs) we rented had key FOBs so we always had to find a place for the key when underwater. Some shore dive locations have lockers but not all. Next trip we plan to inquire whether they have older rentals with standard keys.

For future reference, . They work great.

Erik