Trip Report Trip report June '23

[tkaelin]

Just left Curacao. Our sixth trip. Flights on JetBlue nonstop from JFK. 7 night package thru Maduro for apartment at allwest, truck, 6 days unlimited shore diving. Stayed an additional 2 nites at lions dive.

21 dives and of those we dove cas abou, lagun, playa piscado, playa kalki and watamula Wonderful hot sunny weather. Diving was thoroughly enjoyable. Rash guard and shorts all week.

Most of the usual suspects seen and in great numbers. Very fishy. Lots of turtles and morays. One harlequin pipefish. No seahorses or frogfish this time.

Eat in breakfasts, most lunches and dinners. Pizzas from solfood and two dinners at cactus cafe. Snack and drinks at castaways at gowest. Nice addition.

After a week of diving we spent two nights and one full day relaxing at lions dive. A nice way to finish the trip.

I will post some pics later. I have posted before on our trips to Curacao so I am keeping this one short. Let me know if any questions. Will definitely be returning

 

[BoltSnap]

Thank you for sharing.

 

[staggsSevin]

Thanks for sharing, headed there in October for our first time there.

 

[morecowbells]

Thanks for the trip report! In the past, have you booked through Maduro? We usually book airfare and lodging at either All West of Marazul. Is there an advantage through using an agency? Was the Kura Hulanda Lodge open? So many questions Sounds like a wonderful vacation, looking forward to the pics.

 

[ReefHound]

Thanks for the trip report! In the past, have you booked through Maduro? We usually book airfare and lodging at either All West of Marazul. Is there an advantage through using an agency? Was the Kura Hulanda Lodge open? So many questions Sounds like a wonderful vacation, looking forward to the pics.

We've used Roxanne at Maduro for three trips to Roatan and one trip to Bonaire. One advantage is ability to pay a US-based company by credit card. Another is you don't have to be dialing foreign phone numbers and getting the info from vendors yourself. The prices have been the same as if we had booked direct online (at least with AKR).

 

[ReefHound]

Eat in breakfasts, most lunches and dinners. Pizzas from solfood and two dinners at cactus cafe. Snack and drinks at castaways at gowest. Nice addition.

What kind of snacks do they have at gowest now? Are there snack stands at Piskado?

Oh how I wish we had nonstop service from Houston.

 

[tkaelin]

On using Maduro, this is the second time. First was capt don's last year. I book my own airfare. I have been happy with them and I don't see a price difference from booking direct. I would recommend taking a look at them. Lions dive I also booked myself.

Kura is not open and no word on when it will open. Work seemed to be taking place at the resort. Work was done on the beach and where the snack bar is. New decks and sitting areas and sun beds and loungers on the beach with two Hugh floating docks with chairs about 50-75' off shore. The snack bar is now a restaurant with a pretty interesting menu. We had shrimp tempura and a couple beers. We heard that it is owned or being run by the owners of a restaurant called chopsticks. They may also be working on opening another restaurant within the kh resort.

Playa piscado looked cleaned up a bit with a nicer beach area and loungers and umbrella sitting areas for rent. I believe there is a snack shack or two. We just took a quick walk thru.

 

[tkaelin]

With the new improvements down by the beach at playa kalki, the beach was pretty busy, like when the resort was open. The dive set up area at gowest was pretty quiet during the week which was nice. The parking area filled up each day and best to get there by 9 if you don't want to end up parking along the road. When we drove over for our afternoon boat dive, cars were parked along the road all the way back to the kh resort entrance.

 

[tkaelin]

Some pics below

 

[tkaelin]

Some above