darook
Contributor
We just returned from Curacao and I thought I would share our experiences. We had booked our trip last winter as a combo package on Book-it.com of American and the then yet-to-open Hyatt. It got us a reasonable airfare and lodging price. I had seen some posters express interest in the Hyatt so I hope this helps.
Getting there:
Travel was on AA which is the only choice other than Insel from the States now. MSP-ORD-MIA-CUR was our airport route both ways with no problems. Bags all got there with us. We had a delay on the way there due to a bad tire which set us back 45 minutes. If you are going to be delayed the last leg is the best one to have it on! First time I had flown AA in nearly 20 years and actually was impressed with the planes and crew attitudes. I generally fly DL out of MSP and thought AA was a nice change.
Accommodations:
Hyatt Regency in Santa Barbara Plantation. Check in is actually at the airport where you are greeted with water and a cool damp towel. Sweet! The Hyatt will arrange transfers from the airport via local cabs which was very convenient. When you arrive a Bellman will guide you to your room and explain how everything works there. You really don't need to touch your bags from the time you arrive at the check in desk at the airport until you unpack them.
The Hyatt property is a gorgeous chunk of the St. Barbara plantation. It sits on the east side of the entrance into the Spanish Waters bay. It is a very large hotel. Their website really does not do any justice to the property. It is landscaped like a Grand Hyatt and is a joy to walk around. There are are two pools with many cabanas and cool little pods which proved to be a perfect place for a post diving snooze! There is ample seating around the pools and on the adjacent beach. The beach fronts the channel to Spanish Waters not the open Caribbean. The beach is 1500' long with a floating pier along the entire length that creates a nice safety barrier about 20 M out in the water. It is also a nice place for a walk. The southern end of the beach is for Hyatt guests exclusive use while the north end is available for everyone. All of the lounges, showers, towel service is located from the middle of the beach on South. The waterway outside of the pier is a busy thoroughfare of all kinds of water craft from jet skis and local fishing boats to big sail boats and power boats. It makes for good watching from the beach though the busy channel will be discussed later.
Our room was a two bed that I think they referred to as two queens. We had four people in the room, my wife, two kids and myself. The beds were very comfortable though I am used to sharing a king size with my wife and they seemed smaller than a queen size to me. I may be wrong. The room size was fine and had a fan in the middle of the ceiling which along with the AC made for comfy sleeping conditions. The AC was very quiet and automatically shut off when you opened the doors to the veranda. The veranda also had a ceiling fan which is a great touch. Made it very comfy in the Curacao heat and humidity and also help chase away skeeters.
The rooms have a drink cooler which fit a dozen Amstel Brights comfortably. I don't know what else you would use it for.
The closets are large with plenty of hangers and you can stash plenty of luggage in them.
The bathroom has a layout I have not encountered before. The toilet is in its own private space. The shower is on the other side of the large and nice bathroom sink area. It is not private. It is a great shower with a glass wall between the sink area and tub. It requires some cooperation in terms of room access to get a private shower. Since the property is so nice it was not too hard to convince people to go outside.
There is Hertz car rental on the property which we used a couple of days. It was about $76 a day for an Aveo.
Food:
There are four places on the property to eat and drink. Two upscale places, Medi and Shor. The pool bar and restaurant is called Swim. There is also a pizza place called Bella Italia. I don't claim to be a food critic though I was very happy with the food at every location. Dishes that were a big hit with us was the Burger Bar at Shor, Three topping pizza at BI with sausage, hot sausage and peppers, everything on the Bait 'Em section at Shor, the tappas at Medi, and the chicken nuggets at Swim. Drinks were very tasty at all of the locations. The martinis at Shor were particularly yummy.
Other non-diving activities:
There is a nice spa and exercise room or so I was told, never got in there myself. The Old Quarry golf course looks exceptional. I am a golfer but because so little information was available about the course online I chose not to bother with clubs on this trip. I don't know what the green fees are.
If you play tennis there is an excellent facility for that. The four courts are clay! Not too many chances to play on clay in the States and it was really fun and different. Very slow surface so rallies go longer. The facility is set up on top of the hill where the breezes can cool you and it is a great view. The courts are available at night which is a good call in the Curacao heat.
You can also rent kayaks and little catamaran sail boats.
Diving:
The house dive operation is Ocean Encounters. They have a presence at several resorts on the island. Their location on this property is on the north end of the beach. For reference, the main resort facilities and pools are on the south end looking over the open water. The facilities are brand new as is the dock area which is very convenient for boat boarding. The drying/storage facility is really nice though it is a shared room not an individual locker. I like this as I have yet to see a locker that actually allows for much drying.
The staff is very professional, fun, and safety-conscious. We really enjoyed diving with them and hope to again.
Before you are allowed to go on the boat for diving you have to do a welcome dive. This is on their house reef Barracuda Point which is on the west side of the channel. To access this site you rig up at the dive shop then put the gear into the back of a golf cart-like contraption. One of the crew will drive it down to the other end of the beach where you gear up and go in and kick across the channel at the surface then head towards open water. At the point beyond a potentially confusing sand saddle you descend and stay right along the reef. It is a nice site with lots of stag horn coral and I would guess Barracuda though we didn't see any on our dive. A dive flag buoy is required and provided for the dive. The kick across is in a no wake zone however, that rule was widely disregarded by boaters.
After the dive you surface on the west side of the channel and back kick across where you will be met by a crew member who loads the gear and drives it back to the shop.
Since the Hyatt is located on the east side of the island the boat dives are on that end. Actually, most of the dives are about five minutes away from the pier.
We did 9 dives including the welcome dive. The sites we really loved were Lost Anchor, Beacon Point, Black Rock (drift dive), and Directors Bay. Visibility was okay at about 50'. The island had received a lot of rain in the weeks preceding our visit and that may have brought it down a bit. Dives were limited to 50 minutes and were nice safe profiles if you followed the DMs. You could do your own thing if you wished but still had the 50 minute rule.
Overall impressions of the diving we did were that the coral was nice and pretty healthy in most places. There are more soft corals and sea fans than I recall on Bonaire. I did not see as many critters as I have seen on Bonaire but did get to see my first couple of Lion Fish, unfortunately. The locals are working to dispatch any they encounter but they will not be able to keep up and there are many beyond diving depth. The fish population certainly still seemed to be healthy. What we didn't see this trip were any Squid or Octopi. Turtles were infrequent as well. I don't attribute to anything other than were not diving as much as we have on other trips. That was our decision as we were doing other activities.
I enjoyed the variety of underwater topography immensely as the walls created some really cool pictures and experiences. The drift dive at Black Rock was spectacular for soft corals. It was also nice because it was out of town.
Suggestions and cautions:
15% Resort Service Fee. This applies to everything at the Hyatt including diving. We knew about it on the diving, not on everything else. It is not a built in tip, just a fee that pays for something apparently. You should still be tipping appropriately. Dives from the Hyatt are more expensive than say from Lions Dive because of it. I didn't have a problem paying for it at the Hyatt as it was very convenient diving. On everything else it is annoying. Right up there with baggage fees on airlines. Didn't have any of those by the way on our flight.
Extend dive times to an hour. I believe this to be an OE company policy not a DM policy. I was always getting on the boat with over 1000 PSI. If it is not a drift dive and it is apparent everyone is back in the vicinity of the boat, let folks peek around there a little longer. The heavy breathers can get back on board when they hit 500 PSI and others get to enjoy the dive a bit longer.
Encourage the local authorities to enforce the no wake zone at the mouth of the channel or figure out a way to get divers there more safely. I watched a jet ski rip through the zone right next to the local cop and he ignored it. In the morning kicking across there is no problem, some afternoons I think it could get pretty dicey. I think doing a weight check by the pier should suffice for the welcome dive.
Parting impressions:
I have heard the characterization that Curacao is where you dive while you are on vacation and that Bonaire is where divers go to vacation. I think that is a very fair assessment when considering diving from the Hyatt. Since we did not get to the west end I am not sure that applies there as much. It sounds very similar to Bonaire from an access to diving perspective.
I think the Hyatt and diving with OE is perfect if you want to get in a fair amount of diving while on vacation and still enjoy an amazing property. It is also perfect if you enjoy other activities while on vacation such as golf, tennis, or even a massage.
If you want to dive 24/7, it is probably not your best choice.
If your significant other or others in your party are not divers it is the ideal place.
I hope to get back there in the future and definitely recommend it for folks looking to dive while on vacation while enjoying other activities or are there with non-divers.
Getting there:
Travel was on AA which is the only choice other than Insel from the States now. MSP-ORD-MIA-CUR was our airport route both ways with no problems. Bags all got there with us. We had a delay on the way there due to a bad tire which set us back 45 minutes. If you are going to be delayed the last leg is the best one to have it on! First time I had flown AA in nearly 20 years and actually was impressed with the planes and crew attitudes. I generally fly DL out of MSP and thought AA was a nice change.
Accommodations:
Hyatt Regency in Santa Barbara Plantation. Check in is actually at the airport where you are greeted with water and a cool damp towel. Sweet! The Hyatt will arrange transfers from the airport via local cabs which was very convenient. When you arrive a Bellman will guide you to your room and explain how everything works there. You really don't need to touch your bags from the time you arrive at the check in desk at the airport until you unpack them.
The Hyatt property is a gorgeous chunk of the St. Barbara plantation. It sits on the east side of the entrance into the Spanish Waters bay. It is a very large hotel. Their website really does not do any justice to the property. It is landscaped like a Grand Hyatt and is a joy to walk around. There are are two pools with many cabanas and cool little pods which proved to be a perfect place for a post diving snooze! There is ample seating around the pools and on the adjacent beach. The beach fronts the channel to Spanish Waters not the open Caribbean. The beach is 1500' long with a floating pier along the entire length that creates a nice safety barrier about 20 M out in the water. It is also a nice place for a walk. The southern end of the beach is for Hyatt guests exclusive use while the north end is available for everyone. All of the lounges, showers, towel service is located from the middle of the beach on South. The waterway outside of the pier is a busy thoroughfare of all kinds of water craft from jet skis and local fishing boats to big sail boats and power boats. It makes for good watching from the beach though the busy channel will be discussed later.
Our room was a two bed that I think they referred to as two queens. We had four people in the room, my wife, two kids and myself. The beds were very comfortable though I am used to sharing a king size with my wife and they seemed smaller than a queen size to me. I may be wrong. The room size was fine and had a fan in the middle of the ceiling which along with the AC made for comfy sleeping conditions. The AC was very quiet and automatically shut off when you opened the doors to the veranda. The veranda also had a ceiling fan which is a great touch. Made it very comfy in the Curacao heat and humidity and also help chase away skeeters.
The rooms have a drink cooler which fit a dozen Amstel Brights comfortably. I don't know what else you would use it for.
The closets are large with plenty of hangers and you can stash plenty of luggage in them.The bathroom has a layout I have not encountered before. The toilet is in its own private space. The shower is on the other side of the large and nice bathroom sink area. It is not private. It is a great shower with a glass wall between the sink area and tub. It requires some cooperation in terms of room access to get a private shower. Since the property is so nice it was not too hard to convince people to go outside.
There is Hertz car rental on the property which we used a couple of days. It was about $76 a day for an Aveo.
Food:
There are four places on the property to eat and drink. Two upscale places, Medi and Shor. The pool bar and restaurant is called Swim. There is also a pizza place called Bella Italia. I don't claim to be a food critic though I was very happy with the food at every location. Dishes that were a big hit with us was the Burger Bar at Shor, Three topping pizza at BI with sausage, hot sausage and peppers, everything on the Bait 'Em section at Shor, the tappas at Medi, and the chicken nuggets at Swim. Drinks were very tasty at all of the locations. The martinis at Shor were particularly yummy.
Other non-diving activities:
There is a nice spa and exercise room or so I was told, never got in there myself. The Old Quarry golf course looks exceptional. I am a golfer but because so little information was available about the course online I chose not to bother with clubs on this trip. I don't know what the green fees are.
If you play tennis there is an excellent facility for that. The four courts are clay! Not too many chances to play on clay in the States and it was really fun and different. Very slow surface so rallies go longer. The facility is set up on top of the hill where the breezes can cool you and it is a great view. The courts are available at night which is a good call in the Curacao heat.
You can also rent kayaks and little catamaran sail boats.
Diving:
The house dive operation is Ocean Encounters. They have a presence at several resorts on the island. Their location on this property is on the north end of the beach. For reference, the main resort facilities and pools are on the south end looking over the open water. The facilities are brand new as is the dock area which is very convenient for boat boarding. The drying/storage facility is really nice though it is a shared room not an individual locker. I like this as I have yet to see a locker that actually allows for much drying.
The staff is very professional, fun, and safety-conscious. We really enjoyed diving with them and hope to again.
Before you are allowed to go on the boat for diving you have to do a welcome dive. This is on their house reef Barracuda Point which is on the west side of the channel. To access this site you rig up at the dive shop then put the gear into the back of a golf cart-like contraption. One of the crew will drive it down to the other end of the beach where you gear up and go in and kick across the channel at the surface then head towards open water. At the point beyond a potentially confusing sand saddle you descend and stay right along the reef. It is a nice site with lots of stag horn coral and I would guess Barracuda though we didn't see any on our dive. A dive flag buoy is required and provided for the dive. The kick across is in a no wake zone however, that rule was widely disregarded by boaters.
After the dive you surface on the west side of the channel and back kick across where you will be met by a crew member who loads the gear and drives it back to the shop.
Since the Hyatt is located on the east side of the island the boat dives are on that end. Actually, most of the dives are about five minutes away from the pier.
We did 9 dives including the welcome dive. The sites we really loved were Lost Anchor, Beacon Point, Black Rock (drift dive), and Directors Bay. Visibility was okay at about 50'. The island had received a lot of rain in the weeks preceding our visit and that may have brought it down a bit. Dives were limited to 50 minutes and were nice safe profiles if you followed the DMs. You could do your own thing if you wished but still had the 50 minute rule.
Overall impressions of the diving we did were that the coral was nice and pretty healthy in most places. There are more soft corals and sea fans than I recall on Bonaire. I did not see as many critters as I have seen on Bonaire but did get to see my first couple of Lion Fish, unfortunately. The locals are working to dispatch any they encounter but they will not be able to keep up and there are many beyond diving depth. The fish population certainly still seemed to be healthy. What we didn't see this trip were any Squid or Octopi. Turtles were infrequent as well. I don't attribute to anything other than were not diving as much as we have on other trips. That was our decision as we were doing other activities.
I enjoyed the variety of underwater topography immensely as the walls created some really cool pictures and experiences. The drift dive at Black Rock was spectacular for soft corals. It was also nice because it was out of town.
Suggestions and cautions:
15% Resort Service Fee. This applies to everything at the Hyatt including diving. We knew about it on the diving, not on everything else. It is not a built in tip, just a fee that pays for something apparently. You should still be tipping appropriately. Dives from the Hyatt are more expensive than say from Lions Dive because of it. I didn't have a problem paying for it at the Hyatt as it was very convenient diving. On everything else it is annoying. Right up there with baggage fees on airlines. Didn't have any of those by the way on our flight.
Extend dive times to an hour. I believe this to be an OE company policy not a DM policy. I was always getting on the boat with over 1000 PSI. If it is not a drift dive and it is apparent everyone is back in the vicinity of the boat, let folks peek around there a little longer. The heavy breathers can get back on board when they hit 500 PSI and others get to enjoy the dive a bit longer.
Encourage the local authorities to enforce the no wake zone at the mouth of the channel or figure out a way to get divers there more safely. I watched a jet ski rip through the zone right next to the local cop and he ignored it. In the morning kicking across there is no problem, some afternoons I think it could get pretty dicey. I think doing a weight check by the pier should suffice for the welcome dive.
Parting impressions:
I have heard the characterization that Curacao is where you dive while you are on vacation and that Bonaire is where divers go to vacation. I think that is a very fair assessment when considering diving from the Hyatt. Since we did not get to the west end I am not sure that applies there as much. It sounds very similar to Bonaire from an access to diving perspective.
I think the Hyatt and diving with OE is perfect if you want to get in a fair amount of diving while on vacation and still enjoy an amazing property. It is also perfect if you enjoy other activities while on vacation such as golf, tennis, or even a massage.
If you want to dive 24/7, it is probably not your best choice.
If your significant other or others in your party are not divers it is the ideal place.
I hope to get back there in the future and definitely recommend it for folks looking to dive while on vacation while enjoying other activities or are there with non-divers.
