ScubaBoard SURGE 2019 Curacao Trip Report
My ScubaBoard SURGE 2019 Curacao Trip Report
We just completed another wonderful Diving Social Event, ScubaBoard SURGE 2019 Curacao! Here’s my trip report.
Our Travel Agent
Bay Adventures was the choice for our Caribbean Travel Agent for the 9th year in a row. All of the ScubaBoard members just love Bay Adventures! Al and Felix always do an exceptional job, which makes our planning so much easier. They were there along the way helping to get the best deal and to take care of all the bookings for the group. They were also available to answer questions and assist with travel insurance and airfares for our crew of 69. We can’t thank Al and Felix from Bay Adventures enough for helping with another successful ScubaBoard Event!
Our Resort
Our accommodations for the week were the Sunscape Resort and Casino. We held the 1st ScubaBoard SURGE 2015 event here. We had such a wonderful time last time so we decide to return again.
Our transports were outside the airport waiting for us and once on property, the resort staff welcomed us with a drink and a smile while helping us check in. Our room was ready, clean and with a nice layout as a home away from home for the week. There was also a lovely patio overlooking the pool and water. They did seem to have some kind of mechanical issue with hot water to certain buildings. Sunscape was able to repair the issue after a day or so but I feel the water could hotter overall.
The Crew members had plenty of room to spread out at the resort and the grounds were well maintained. You could sit, swim, and relax by the pool while enjoying drinks at the bar, or lounge on the beach listening to the water lap the shore. The entertainment staff held many activities during the day and evening to make your stay enjoyable. I would have liked to see more seating around the pool area, especially during the evening entertainment. If you chose to be more private, there was more than enough room and seating to do so. They even provided chairs on the outside patios of each room if you chose to relax there. The enclosed lagoon was a wonderful place for snorkeling and other water activities they offered.
The food and serving staff were friendly and worked hard to take care of us. For breakfast, the meals were buffet style. They did cook eggs to order or an omelet for breakfast in addition to the buffet. For lunch, the buffet usually had a nice variety and there was also the addition of Bluewater Grill which had a fixed menu of burgers and chicken sandwiches with fries. At dinner, all 4 à la carte restaurants and the buffet were available for a nice variety of fare. For snacking, the Coco Cafe was open 24hrs a day with coffee and snacks. And an ice cream bar was open for several hours throughout midday.
We always have a welcome and farewell party for the event. The resort staff did a fantastic job with the set-up, décor, and service for the parties. They really made a great impression! A very special thank you to Angeline de Jesus and her staff!
The Sunscape Resort Management and Staff did an outstanding job of taking care of our group for the whole week! One of the things that stood out the most was the abundance and friendliness of the staff. They always smiled and said "hello and how are you doing." We cannot thank everyone enough for all their hospitality and efforts!!!
Our Dive Operator
The Sunscape Resort has @Ocean Encounters on site, and they were the host for our diving and snorkeling. We have used Ocean Encounters previously, but this was the 1st time working directly with the new owner, Jeremiah Peek. All I can say is what a pleasure and attention to detail from start to finish. Jeremiah worked with us in advance with information on the boats and preplanning. He and his staff joined us for both our parties and embraced our whole diving social motto. All the staff was so friendly and helpful throughout the week. Most of Jeremiah's staff has been with Ocean Encounters for years and you really get a feel of their close-knit family atmosphere, which we loved. We had 51 divers and they handled us efficiently boarding the boats all week long. Ocean Encounters made sure to have tanks available for as much shore and night diving as the group wanted to do on Sunscape Resort’s is the house reef. At the end of the week, they supplied everyone with a list of their dive sites for the week, which is always appreciated! The dive sites were very nice, healthy, and absolutely beautiful. We enjoyed seeing some of the bigger animals like turtles and eagle rays along with the normal local critters during our stay. We did get to do an additional trip out to Kline Curacao to see the lighthouse and dive the East end of the island, which was just gorgeous!
The ScubaBoard SURGE and our vision of diving social is not your normal dive group, but Jeremiah Peek and his staff (family) at Ocean Encounters not only took us in stride but embraced us and made for a fantastic week of diving and snorkeling!
Prize Sponsors
We had a special treat for the event. @Shearwater Research joined us as part of the crew for the week. They brought 2 Teric computers, 4 of their Predix Ai Computers, and a Nerd for the group to demo. And then they gave 1 Teric away to a lucky crew member! It was a lot of fun to have Bruce and Lynn join us for the week!
Also on the SURGE Crew for the week, was @jsisemore (June) from ScubaSoaps. She brought some of her nautical soap creations and gift sets to share with the crew as well.
To all the wonderful ScubaBoard SURGE 2019 Prize Sponsors who donated Prizes for the Crew to win, thank you again! Some prizes were simply raffled at the welcome and farewell parties and some were won in contests adding to the fun. We had fantastic prizes to give away like trips, gear, software, and gift certificates. Check out the SB SURGE 2019 Sponsor's Page to see all the generous donations and the lucky crew who won! What wonderful generosity and support from all of these great SB Invasion Sponsors. You Guys and Gals ROCK!!!
I also wanted to mention @Dive Curaçao, CHATA - Curaçao Hospitality & Tourism Association which was a great resource for us in everything Curacao. They do a wonderful job of working together as a whole with the people and businesses of the Island in making Curacao a go-to destination. The whole island has a supportive family feel about that makes you want to return again and again.
In closing, ScubaBoard's owner, @The Chairman (Pete), my husband @cardzard (Dennis) and I want to sincerely thank all the ScubaBoard Members, their Families, and Friends who truly made this year’s SURGE such an enjoyable event. We couldn’t have asked for a better group of people! Everyone joined together, made new friends and enjoyed the sport we’re passionate about. We always love the ScubaBoard camaraderie! All the laughs and memories are priceless! Check out all the fun from the short farewell video! The final event video made with all the Crew’s images from the week will be coming soon!
We’ll be heading to Fiji next for ScubaBoard Invasion 2019 and then off to Little Cayman for next year’s ScubaBoard SURGE 2020 (the new thread and details will be posted soon). And as always @Moonie, ScubaBoard’s infamous mascot has already confirmed he will be attending both events. We hope to see you there too!
Our philosophy is that the people and the experiences we have together are what make life priceless! We love Diving Social and sharing our passion for diving. We wouldn't want it any other way.
