mbs
Contributor
After about 8 years and 8 Bonaire trips in between we returned to Curacao last week. This was our 2nd time there. The first time there we stayed at Sunset Waters which no longer exists. This time we decided to give All West a go. This is the first time we have not stayed in a resort. I really liked doing breakfast and most lunches back in the apt. I thought I would miss a place for cocktails in the evening, but we went out for dinner and were pretty much shot by the time we came home! So I would definitely do an apartment/condo thing again.
A few things about All West. Before going I was concerned about the stairs down to the water. There are a ton of them and my concern was warranted. Because of those and the stairs at Go West I believe we ended up doing 3 rather than 4 dives per day. Although the gear room was locked up we didn't leave anything of value down there overnight. I just did not feel that comfortable with it. Rinse tanks, benches and the shower were excellent. Lest I scare anyone off, that shore dive is amazing!!! Figure out how to do it! Out front the fishing boats are moored and a bit to the right is the pier that they use. When they come in they clean their catch and toss the remains into the water. This guarantees turtles! Snorkelers were always there watching. We chose to dive it cuz snorkeling is just too much work
Here is a shot of the feeding frenzy:
It was easy to forget about the wall with the turtles there, but being just south of Alice in Wonderland it is a top notch site! Which is a good lead in to Go West and the rest of the diving.
We used Go West for our dive op. We did 6 2 tank boat dives and got the unlimited nitrox package for our shore diving. That week was very quiet so never more than 10 aboard and several days just 5 of us! Dan was our DM most of the week and he was great! Very low key. Led the dive, but let us do our own thing. David from Sol Food dove with us for several days and we gladly pointed out lionfish to him which he expertly captured. He treated us to lionfish ceviche during one si which was outstanding! The sites out on that end of the island are just outstanding. Especially those out towards the very end, like Watamula and Elvins plane wreck. And of course the Go West pier is the entry point to Alice in Wonderland. An amazing dive site!!! We shore dove there several times not only because it saved us from schlepping our gear around, but because it is such a great dive. Here is a favorite from our last dive there:
And one more favorite from our last boat dive at Jeremi. Never know what you will find under the boat at the end of the dive
So we did shore dives at Go West, All West and Playa Lagun. Lagun which is a beautiful dive is a seriously long swim out to the drop off - about 16 mins! So unless you like to surface swim (we don't!) your time on the wall will be short! I found navigating to be no problem. Between the road signs, the map I bought, google maps (offline!) and one curacao app I downloaded it was fine. I believe it was Anne Marie from GW that said it best - head down the main road and just about every right turn will take you down to a dive site
A little bit about food. Our driver asked us and stopped at a small mini market on the way to All West. It was just past the California market for those of you that know the area. We were able to pick up basic supplies there, but I was not happy with the look of the meats/produce. We did get some tangerines and apples. Prices were good. I'm told that California would have been better. We never did make the trip down to the Centrum market which is supposed to have a great selection of stuff. We did go to another mini market - Centro in Barber a couple of times.
We ate the first 2 nights at Sol Food which we enjoyed very much. Sunshine is a great host! Its a beautiful spot with good fresh food. Another night we walked over to a local place - Jaanchies, but he was closed - I suspect no customers. So we headed down to Ranch El Sobrino. There was also no one there, but they were open. The Mahi Mahi was well prepared and the rice and sides was just what we were looking for. Then we discovered Trio Penotti. We ate there the next 3 nights and were very happy with both the quality and price of the food and drink. Our last night we went back to Sol Food and got to eat some of the lionfish that we had help spot for David during the week. It was just excellent! There are a lot of them in the water so if we could help out by eating a couple, all the better! We spent a long evening there with 3 other divers as well as a few of our DMs
All in all a great week. JetBlue direct from JFK was reasonably priced and comfortable. We loved that side of the island and stumbled onto a quiet week. The dive op was outstanding. Raphael our dm for the last dive took us on a great tour of the Blue Cave by Mushroom Forest. It was just the 5 of us and for the 2nd dive he just tossed us in and said see you in 1 hour. The 3 other guys that we met on the boat were a pleasure to dive with. Competent, go-slow, no drama divers. Andreas who works at both Go West and All West was a pleasure and great source of information. We will be back, much sooner than 8 years! Next time I have to figure out how to get in a 4th dive of the day!
A few things about All West. Before going I was concerned about the stairs down to the water. There are a ton of them and my concern was warranted. Because of those and the stairs at Go West I believe we ended up doing 3 rather than 4 dives per day. Although the gear room was locked up we didn't leave anything of value down there overnight. I just did not feel that comfortable with it. Rinse tanks, benches and the shower were excellent. Lest I scare anyone off, that shore dive is amazing!!! Figure out how to do it! Out front the fishing boats are moored and a bit to the right is the pier that they use. When they come in they clean their catch and toss the remains into the water. This guarantees turtles! Snorkelers were always there watching. We chose to dive it cuz snorkeling is just too much work
Here is a shot of the feeding frenzy:It was easy to forget about the wall with the turtles there, but being just south of Alice in Wonderland it is a top notch site! Which is a good lead in to Go West and the rest of the diving.
We used Go West for our dive op. We did 6 2 tank boat dives and got the unlimited nitrox package for our shore diving. That week was very quiet so never more than 10 aboard and several days just 5 of us! Dan was our DM most of the week and he was great! Very low key. Led the dive, but let us do our own thing. David from Sol Food dove with us for several days and we gladly pointed out lionfish to him which he expertly captured. He treated us to lionfish ceviche during one si which was outstanding! The sites out on that end of the island are just outstanding. Especially those out towards the very end, like Watamula and Elvins plane wreck. And of course the Go West pier is the entry point to Alice in Wonderland. An amazing dive site!!! We shore dove there several times not only because it saved us from schlepping our gear around, but because it is such a great dive. Here is a favorite from our last dive there:
And one more favorite from our last boat dive at Jeremi. Never know what you will find under the boat at the end of the dive
So we did shore dives at Go West, All West and Playa Lagun. Lagun which is a beautiful dive is a seriously long swim out to the drop off - about 16 mins! So unless you like to surface swim (we don't!) your time on the wall will be short! I found navigating to be no problem. Between the road signs, the map I bought, google maps (offline!) and one curacao app I downloaded it was fine. I believe it was Anne Marie from GW that said it best - head down the main road and just about every right turn will take you down to a dive site
A little bit about food. Our driver asked us and stopped at a small mini market on the way to All West. It was just past the California market for those of you that know the area. We were able to pick up basic supplies there, but I was not happy with the look of the meats/produce. We did get some tangerines and apples. Prices were good. I'm told that California would have been better. We never did make the trip down to the Centrum market which is supposed to have a great selection of stuff. We did go to another mini market - Centro in Barber a couple of times.
We ate the first 2 nights at Sol Food which we enjoyed very much. Sunshine is a great host! Its a beautiful spot with good fresh food. Another night we walked over to a local place - Jaanchies, but he was closed - I suspect no customers. So we headed down to Ranch El Sobrino. There was also no one there, but they were open. The Mahi Mahi was well prepared and the rice and sides was just what we were looking for. Then we discovered Trio Penotti. We ate there the next 3 nights and were very happy with both the quality and price of the food and drink. Our last night we went back to Sol Food and got to eat some of the lionfish that we had help spot for David during the week. It was just excellent! There are a lot of them in the water so if we could help out by eating a couple, all the better! We spent a long evening there with 3 other divers as well as a few of our DMs
All in all a great week. JetBlue direct from JFK was reasonably priced and comfortable. We loved that side of the island and stumbled onto a quiet week. The dive op was outstanding. Raphael our dm for the last dive took us on a great tour of the Blue Cave by Mushroom Forest. It was just the 5 of us and for the 2nd dive he just tossed us in and said see you in 1 hour. The 3 other guys that we met on the boat were a pleasure to dive with. Competent, go-slow, no drama divers. Andreas who works at both Go West and All West was a pleasure and great source of information. We will be back, much sooner than 8 years! Next time I have to figure out how to get in a 4th dive of the day!
Better yet, 2 weeks on each!
