sportyluis
Registered
Just got back from Curacao and still dreaming of their beautiful beaches! I thought I'd write a quick trip report geared towards those going with non-diving partners / friends / family that may be helpful for those doing research on going
Group: 2 divers (1 certified only 5 months ago and these were the first dives since) and 2 parents (relatively fit)
Location: We stayed in Westpunt area
Beaches + Diving!: I didn't get to dive many locations as we only allocated 3 days for diving but we dove Alice in Wonderland (Playa Kalki) and a boat dive to Black Coral Garden and Watamula (all via Go West Diving which is on site at Playa Kalki). I LOVED Alice in Wonderland as a dive site with a lot of coral and very very short swim out to the reef. This was also the perfect spot as there is good snorkling on site so the family could stay together and we didn't have to worry about being in different locations as the parents. There are many other beaches with local dive shops but I didn't get to dive them as I didn't have a buddy for those dives as my girlfriend got a bit of a cold. Black Coral Garden and Watamula have lots of corals and were easy dives although there was no current the day we went. I can't comment on what you can see there as I was busy trying to follow my buddy who kept kicking the whole time so no chance to look around carefully.
The beaches we visited were: Playa Kalki (really good snorkling with lots of fish around. As mentioned I love the diving there because it was easy so my girlfriend felt comfortable there), Playa Lagun ( less fish than Alice in Wonderland but we saw octupus, reef squid, scorpionfish and a small turtle), Cas Abou, Porto Marie, Grote Knip (Beautiful beach, see pic below, but snorkling wasn't good), Klein Knip (supposed to be good snorkeling but didn't get to snorkel there) and Playa Grandi where we swam with turtles each time we went! I highly recommend going to Grandi in the morning as there are less people there. We would wake up and go there first as the first boats come in around 7:30 and the turtles follow. At this time there was usually just myself and one or two other snorkelers in the water so great time to swim with the turtles.
Lodging: We stayed at Sunshine's getaway which we really enjoyed as it was a 4 minute walk to Playa Grandi (turtles) and 7 minute walk to Alice in Wonderland.
Food: We cooked most meals as there aren't many restaurants around and the parents don't like burgers / pizza, etc so they cooked most meals. We did eat at Sol Food which was delicious! We also ate the last day at Daniel's restaurant (about 20 minutes towards the city) which was very tasty as well. I recommend the dutch pancakes with ham and pineapple there
Car Rental: We rented from Alamo but then I was scared they'd be closed by the time I got there. I wrongly assumed they'd stay open for the last flights but they don't. They close right at 11 pm (some others close earlier). when I go back I'll rent from a private car rental company such as Just Drive Curacao or D&D.
Other tips: Bring a rashguard or wetsuit for snorkeling (and definitely a wetsuit for diving). I was surprised how cold the water was but I was told that's why the reefs are so nice! I found it very little current although I've read others say there is current on those boat dives (although I've dove Cozumel and West Palm Beach where there is a lot of current). One of the snorkelers wasn't too comfortable in deep water so we rented her a life jacket for $5 a day and she had a great time using that. She also braved the cold as the snorkeling was well worth it.
We had some underwater point and shoot cameras which were great. Great visibility on the dive and amazing light coming in so didn't use any flash although obviously if you are a pro strobes are good. We just aren't good enough for that yet.
Snorkling we saw lots of trumpet fish, colorful fish, trunk fish, octopus, reef squid, scorpion fish and lots of turtles!
Diving (forewarning I'm not great at finding things and my girlfriend was just happy to see anything and practice her diving). Highlights were moray eels (spotted and green kinds) (found one or more on every dive in Alice in Wonderland), spanish lobster, seahorse, trunkfish, trumpet fish, saw a huge fish we couldn't identify that was about 4 feet long, banded shrimp. There was a lot more but we just were content in looking casually and I was focused on keeping an eye on my girlfriend instead of looking for creatures.
Final Report: I definitely need to go back. The diving was fantastic, easy and beautiful. Some of the best corals I've ever seen (better than Grand Cayman and I want to say better than Turks & Caicos). The snorkling was great (girlfriend's dad was spending 4-5 hours a day snorkling). I personally recommend staying near Westpunt as that's where we found all the nice beaches but depends on the kind of traveller you are. We had no problem cooking our own meals and the beauty of that area is there are a lot of beaches so we basically did a morning beach, lunch at our lodging, afternoon beach and then dinner as it gets dark around 6:30. We met a couple from Pennsylvania who seemed to be doing boat dives in the morning and shore dives in the afternoon. They did other shore dives too and their comments made me want to just dive all day every day but alas it was a family trip and I was happy with the diving I got in!
I'll post my pics on instagram at luis.reyes2 if anyone is interesting seeing them (I'll post over the next week as right now I'm at work looking outside at a snowstorm)
Grote Knip
Porto Marie
I hope this helps!
Luis
Group: 2 divers (1 certified only 5 months ago and these were the first dives since) and 2 parents (relatively fit)
Location: We stayed in Westpunt area
Beaches + Diving!: I didn't get to dive many locations as we only allocated 3 days for diving but we dove Alice in Wonderland (Playa Kalki) and a boat dive to Black Coral Garden and Watamula (all via Go West Diving which is on site at Playa Kalki). I LOVED Alice in Wonderland as a dive site with a lot of coral and very very short swim out to the reef. This was also the perfect spot as there is good snorkling on site so the family could stay together and we didn't have to worry about being in different locations as the parents. There are many other beaches with local dive shops but I didn't get to dive them as I didn't have a buddy for those dives as my girlfriend got a bit of a cold. Black Coral Garden and Watamula have lots of corals and were easy dives although there was no current the day we went. I can't comment on what you can see there as I was busy trying to follow my buddy who kept kicking the whole time so no chance to look around carefully.
The beaches we visited were: Playa Kalki (really good snorkling with lots of fish around. As mentioned I love the diving there because it was easy so my girlfriend felt comfortable there), Playa Lagun ( less fish than Alice in Wonderland but we saw octupus, reef squid, scorpionfish and a small turtle), Cas Abou, Porto Marie, Grote Knip (Beautiful beach, see pic below, but snorkling wasn't good), Klein Knip (supposed to be good snorkeling but didn't get to snorkel there) and Playa Grandi where we swam with turtles each time we went! I highly recommend going to Grandi in the morning as there are less people there. We would wake up and go there first as the first boats come in around 7:30 and the turtles follow. At this time there was usually just myself and one or two other snorkelers in the water so great time to swim with the turtles.
Lodging: We stayed at Sunshine's getaway which we really enjoyed as it was a 4 minute walk to Playa Grandi (turtles) and 7 minute walk to Alice in Wonderland.
Food: We cooked most meals as there aren't many restaurants around and the parents don't like burgers / pizza, etc so they cooked most meals. We did eat at Sol Food which was delicious! We also ate the last day at Daniel's restaurant (about 20 minutes towards the city) which was very tasty as well. I recommend the dutch pancakes with ham and pineapple there
Car Rental: We rented from Alamo but then I was scared they'd be closed by the time I got there. I wrongly assumed they'd stay open for the last flights but they don't. They close right at 11 pm (some others close earlier). when I go back I'll rent from a private car rental company such as Just Drive Curacao or D&D.
Other tips: Bring a rashguard or wetsuit for snorkeling (and definitely a wetsuit for diving). I was surprised how cold the water was but I was told that's why the reefs are so nice! I found it very little current although I've read others say there is current on those boat dives (although I've dove Cozumel and West Palm Beach where there is a lot of current). One of the snorkelers wasn't too comfortable in deep water so we rented her a life jacket for $5 a day and she had a great time using that. She also braved the cold as the snorkeling was well worth it.
We had some underwater point and shoot cameras which were great. Great visibility on the dive and amazing light coming in so didn't use any flash although obviously if you are a pro strobes are good. We just aren't good enough for that yet.
Snorkling we saw lots of trumpet fish, colorful fish, trunk fish, octopus, reef squid, scorpion fish and lots of turtles!
Diving (forewarning I'm not great at finding things and my girlfriend was just happy to see anything and practice her diving). Highlights were moray eels (spotted and green kinds) (found one or more on every dive in Alice in Wonderland), spanish lobster, seahorse, trunkfish, trumpet fish, saw a huge fish we couldn't identify that was about 4 feet long, banded shrimp. There was a lot more but we just were content in looking casually and I was focused on keeping an eye on my girlfriend instead of looking for creatures.
Final Report: I definitely need to go back. The diving was fantastic, easy and beautiful. Some of the best corals I've ever seen (better than Grand Cayman and I want to say better than Turks & Caicos). The snorkling was great (girlfriend's dad was spending 4-5 hours a day snorkling). I personally recommend staying near Westpunt as that's where we found all the nice beaches but depends on the kind of traveller you are. We had no problem cooking our own meals and the beauty of that area is there are a lot of beaches so we basically did a morning beach, lunch at our lodging, afternoon beach and then dinner as it gets dark around 6:30. We met a couple from Pennsylvania who seemed to be doing boat dives in the morning and shore dives in the afternoon. They did other shore dives too and their comments made me want to just dive all day every day but alas it was a family trip and I was happy with the diving I got in!
I'll post my pics on instagram at luis.reyes2 if anyone is interesting seeing them (I'll post over the next week as right now I'm at work looking outside at a snowstorm)
Grote Knip
Porto Marie
I hope this helps!
Luis
