Shore diving, dive shops and getting tanks

[Wind Warrior]

Hello All,
Heading to Curaçao for 5 weeks in December/January. Plan to do most of our diving as shore diving. In Bonaire we just grabbed tanks from one dive shop and drove to all the different dive sites. Does it work the same in Curaçao? Should we just pick a dive shop near home and use them the whole time, or depending on the dive site, grab tanks from the shop at that location? For example, if we are diving in the East, then grab tanks from a dive shop in the east? And the same for the west. We are staying in a residential area in Santa Rosa so we will be driving to all the dive sites. I have heard mixed information as to how to get tanks for shore diving.
Thanks for your feedback.

 

[rick00001967]

whatever is easiest for you. we had a shop close by our place and rented each day from them. we then would drive where ever we needed to go. that was easiest for us.

 

[diversteve]

Either way works. We did some of both as most of the bwaches west are also shore dives with onsite facilities.

West of town Relsxed Guided Dives is on the main road so convenient for those sites with no dive facility. We also rented from Discover Diving in Lagun since they have a truck height loading dock.

Rent from Go West at Plata Kalki sine they're on the dive site down 2 dozen stone stairs. Other sites we rented from or not for no specific reason - either option is cheap enough, Some like Varsenbaai waived the usage fee when we rented tanks.

If you dive the Tugboat check to see if the dive school is open or bring your own. No facilities at Playa Jeremi either - tanks are 2mins away at Discover Diving in Lagun.
I don't believe there's a dive facility at Snake Bay either,

Sites where it makes sense to rent on-site:

Varsenbaai
Porto Mari
whatever the old Habitat site is now (Coral Estates)
Plya Kalki/Alice n Wonderland - both Go West
Playa Lagun - DD is at te entrance, Bahia is above the beach north - there's stairs.

At some sites the plastic beach chairs are a different vendor and they will collect a fee - the concrete tables are free.
Cas Abao
Jan Thiel Bay
There's a shop at Blue Bay also ig you dive the wall - you should.

We did not dive much east of town so I can't help there, I'm pretty sure there's a shop now along the road b4 you get to Director;s Bay.

We got tanks at the Pirates Bay beach bar also - they had a dive desk b4 the ownership/name change. The reef there off Piscdera Bay is a long swim out and there's boat traffic

hth

 

[tkaelin]

The advantage of using an onsite op for tanks is that you get the advantage of their advice and suggestions on daily conditions, a place to set up, store, dry and rinse your gear and someone to watch out for your stuff while diving and less lugging of tanks. Bdiving at Cas Abou, Bahia at Lagun and Gowest at Playa Kalki come to mind. I suppose the disadvantage is maybe a marginal difference in price and filling out paperwork. Last time at Bdiving you did the paperwork on a tablet and they said once you did this you would not have to do it again. They would just look you up next time.

Enjoy your trip.

 

[AndrewBoyd78]

It wouldn’t hurt to have a “home” dive shop. Might be a good place to keep equipment etc as well as getting you access to some more restricted sites. They will also have recommendations for dives and most likely other activities that are fun to join in on (clean up dives, night dives, lion fish hunts).

 

[ERRN]

If you're staying for 5 weeks I would say wait till you figure out your diving style once you're down and go from there. Unless you need 10 tanks a day, most dive shops could accommodate you with a day or 2 notice in my experience even for multiple tanks, and never had a problem getting 1-2 on a no notice, just show up approach. If you find yourself diving the same places or same region it might make sense to have a home shop, but otherwise most of the main dive sites do have shops on site as others mentioned. The only fwiw is if you are diving early mornings, late nights, or at the smaller beaches it is nice to have a few tanks on standby at your lodging just to simplify. that's when maybe a few unlimited day rental or resort based dive shop with a cage you can access 24 hours can come in handy, or check if the shop you choose is okay with overnight keeping of the tanks.
The benefit as someone else mentioned is renting tanks from a shop on site is it usually gives you free access to lockers, bathrooms and advice. Makes it a lot easier to have a locker than trying to manage, cell, keys, wallet while you dive. not a deal breaker either way, but a nice bonus at sites like Playa Kalki. End of the day for me it was a few bucks difference either way so usually just easier to rent on site mostly, and plan out remote beach days with enough advance time to get tanks from a shop close by. I have used Discover Diving in Lagun and give them a strong thumbs ups, ditto for GoWest.