Should i book Curacao?

[masterlucas3]

Its between Curacao or riveria maya, im gonna book tonight or tommarrow and want some opinions? Ive been to maya like 5 times in the past 4 years and just want to switch it up for the spring. Im thinking the Lodge Kura Hulanda & Beach Club, anyone idea's experiances, opinions?? thanks for any info!!!! and i never been to any of the abc islands,

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

We like Curacao so much we moved just down the street from the Lodge 3 years ago from New Hampshire.
And we don't speak Spanish
Come on down!

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

I second Sunshine, try Curacao for a change. We just went on our 2nd trips to both Curacao and Cozumel in Nov & Dec. Curacao has a lot more shore diving options and boat diving. We stayed at Kura Hulanda Beach in Westpunt this time and it was really nice. It's not near the city, but why would I want to be near the city in paradise? Rent a car and explore the island. There are a lot of other things to see there.

Curacao is a very different climate from Riviera Maya, it's more desert like but it has beautiful mountains in that area and great beaches and cliff views. I have some photos of Kura and underwater/land photos at my link below. I would definitely stay there again. Don't forget to stop at Sunshine's Sol Food! Check to see if the tourism board is offering any deals, they had a good promotion when we went.

 

[jdcpa]

My vote is for Curacao as well.

The accomodations at Lodge Kura Hulanda are very nice. We stayed there in August of 2009 and are headed back in June 2010.

Byran at Ocean Encounters West runs a great dive operation. Andreas is a delight to dive with.

The house reef is a piece of cake to dive and has great fish life.

Sol Food is the place to eat every night they are open. Not only is the food great, but the owners, Sunshine and David, are a treat as well. It is the gathering place on that end of the island. Great food, great people.

You can't go wrong with Curacao.

 

[bkpix]

Curacao is a great place, make your plans and get out there!

I have been to Cozumel and it is wonderful, also Isla Mujeres and that was fun too, but my wife and I booked our second trip to Curacao and are really looking forward to it.

We stay at All West Apartments in Westpunt. Not as fancy as Kura, but nice apartments with kitchens and a "killer" view; not to mention a great shore dive right out from the apartment.

 

[Bryan.]

Absolutely!! Curacao is an awesome place and thanks guys for all the positive threads!!

The Kura Hulanda Lodge is a great place to stay and our dive shop is located right beside it! Making it convienent to leave your gear in one spot and dive as much as you like! We not only have an awesome house reef but we have really awesome boat diving to such places as Watamula, Mushroom Forest, Rediho, Paradise, etc... Not to mention all the fantastic shore diving up and down the south west side of the island!

If you would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact me directly! I am always happy to help! Hope to see you soon on our beautiful island!

 

[jbtut]

I just got back yesterday from Curacao. I've also stayed in Akumal Mexico (It's about half way between Playa del Carmen and Tulum). We stayed at the Bahia Principe there and enjoyed it. They were kind of different types of vacations. Mexico is better for things like night life, while Curacao is a perfect place to dive and chill on your private deck and listen to the waves. I'd like to go back to both. I think the diving is better in Curacao.

FWIW we stayed at All West in Curacao and had a great time. Diving is easy, lots of shore dives or you can go with the boat diving if you'd rather. We did a bit of both. I was concerned about theft I had read about. However, we dove at a quite a few beaches where we were the only car. Never had anyone go through our stuff. No break ins in our room. All in all a pretty darn good trip. I really have no complaints other than that it was a bit too short.

If you can it would be easier to fly directly to Curacao. We had tickets that we needed to use with Continental so we flew into Aruba and flew over to Curacao with Tiara Air because the flight to Aruba was about $200 cheaper. The flight over was easy enough, it's only 35 minutes or so and there are quite a few trips per day, but I didn't factor in the extra cost of airport taxes. You'll end up paying $32 each way, so it ends up adding $64 in taxes plus another $110 for the flight and it ends up as pretty much a wash, and it more hassles to make an extra connection. Also Tiara Air only allows 17kg checked and 6kg carry on.

 

[scuba kbell]

I was in Curacao 2 years ago and I can't wait to go back. I have also been to the Riveria Maya, and I thought the diving was much better in Curacao. I dove with Ocean Encounters and stayed at the opposite side of the island from Lodge Kura Hulanda at the Royal Sea Aquarium near their Lions Resort shop.
Most of the dives I did in Curacao was a quick boat ride from the dive shop. I also did a shore dive as a check out dive at the house reef. However, I did do two of their specialty dives: Mushroom Forest and Klein Curacao.
Mushroom forest was a cool dive and during the surface interval we snorkeled in a partial cave in a cliff.
Klein Curacao was a long day, and I thought the diving was better at Curacao. We had a lot of current that day which also decreased viz. Surface interval we had a delicious bbq on the beach. I went with Ocean Encounters on this dive but there was also other dive shops using this boat and many non-divers that were only going for the beach and bbq.
Also, Continental flies direct from Newark. I don't know if we were just lucky when I went, but the flight was empty both ways and we were able to spread out on the plane.

 

[masterlucas3]

yea i was going to stay at the lodge but now i think were gonna stay at the breezes bc its alot closer to down, i wanna do some other things too besides dive so im thinking that is the beter option

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

Please devote one day to tour the west end and to experience at least one dive on this end. It would be a shame if you decided to come to Curacao and not see the entire island - above and below waterline.