Curacao December 2007
Our 4th trip to Curacao was a little different as we stayed on the West End and enjoyed a very relaxing week of diving and touring the West End of the island. Our first trip to Curacao was in 1996 and we have seen the island change for the better over the years. Curacao is more tourists friendly and much cleaner than it was 10 years ago. We have been asked by many divers and relatives why we have gone to Curacao four times and the answer is always the same. The shore diving is great, you have many excellent dining options, the prices are very affordable, we feel safe and you can eat the food and drink the water. Curacao is also highly rated by the reader's ratings on this website.
The stars must have been aligned for us to take this trip as we booked our reservations on a Monday and were on the airplane the same week Friday with some phenomenal prices on the car rental and All West apartments. We were even able to use American Airlines Frequent flier miles at the last minute. Honey -- Pack your bags we are out of here.
The diving is why we go to Curacao for. Shore diving gives us the flexibility to dive a variety of sites on our schedule. The maximum depth of our dives was 70ft. with a water temperature of 81 and visibility from 50 - 80ft. We saw Turtles, Spotted Eagle Rays, White Sand Eel, Green Moray, Frog Fish, Seahorses, Spotted eel and more reef life than I care to write about.
Shore diving on Curacao is easy since most of the shore diving sites are gently sloping coral reefs. You swim out somewhere from 50 - 150 yards look for the darker blue water and descend to about 45 - 70 feet and start swimming east or west. When you get to a half a tank signal your buddy turn around and ascent to a shallower depth and swim the same amount of time in the opposite direction. Ascend to 15 ft. for your safety stop and return to the surface. Pretty easy, no complex navigation required.
If you want it easier or if that's too physically demanding - do a boat dive. There are very few currents on Curacao so your chances of drifting into the blue are minimal if you watch the reef movement. The West end of the island is where the better diving is. You can easily do five dives a day on Curacao.
Here are our dive sites for the week.
Playa Kalki - Shore dives
Redhio - Boat Dive
Playa Jeremi - Boat Dive
Sponge Forest - Morning dive
Watamula - Morning dive
All West Apartments House Reef - Late afternoon dive
Porto Marie - Shore Dives A great all day location with a dive shop and restaurant on the beach.
Habitat Reef - Shore dives, Saw a small spotted Eagle Ray
Accommodations
Due to last minute reservations we choose to stay at All West apartments. I was a little concerned that the location would be too remote for our liking but once we arrived all our concerns went away. The one bedroom apartment was in excellent shape with a balcony that overlooked the ocean all for less than 100.00 USD per night.
Ocean Encounters West also runs the air station right at All West apartments. You can pick your tanks any time day or night as you have the keys to the dive storage room and air station. That's 24x7 diving in my book that doesn't get any better. There is also a stairway from the All West apartments down to the ocean. You can almost jump off the apartment balcony into the ocean.
A few tips if you choose to stay at All West. Stock up on food at the Centrum in Piscadera bay as it's about a 30 min drive to All West, bring a beach towel and don't expect a television set. Check out All West website for more details. http://www.allwestcuracao.com/
Restaurants
The West End of Curacao has limited dining offerings but Jaanchies Restaurant came to our rescue. The food was phenomenal with: Wahoo, Grouper, Conch, Shrimp, Chicken, Pork Chops, Goat and a few other delights all well prepared in generous portions. We ate at Jaanchies Restaurant several nights with excellent service and food. We also liked Landhuis Daniel (Daniel Landhouse) and even took a trip across the island to the Ostrich farm for another excellent meal. Plan your Ostrich farm dinner in advance as it is remote and an hour drive from the west end where we were staying.
Ocean Encounters West Ocean Encounters West (OEW) is affiliated with the other Ocean Encounters dive operations on the island. OEW lets you mix and match your diving trip based on your needs of boat or shore diving. The rentals were in excellent shape and they always had friendly staff available to assist with your questions and needs. OEW has a boat dive schedule for every day of the week with very experienced dive boat captains and great dive briefings by their staff of Instructors/DM's. OEW also has an agreement with the Habitat that allows you to dive the Habitat reef and use their facilities just as if you were at OEW. http://www.oceanencounterswest.com/
If you like shore diving, great dining, and broad selection of accommodations, Curacao won't disappoint you.
Our 4th trip to Curacao was a little different as we stayed on the West End and enjoyed a very relaxing week of diving and touring the West End of the island. Our first trip to Curacao was in 1996 and we have seen the island change for the better over the years. Curacao is more tourists friendly and much cleaner than it was 10 years ago. We have been asked by many divers and relatives why we have gone to Curacao four times and the answer is always the same. The shore diving is great, you have many excellent dining options, the prices are very affordable, we feel safe and you can eat the food and drink the water. Curacao is also highly rated by the reader's ratings on this website.
The stars must have been aligned for us to take this trip as we booked our reservations on a Monday and were on the airplane the same week Friday with some phenomenal prices on the car rental and All West apartments. We were even able to use American Airlines Frequent flier miles at the last minute. Honey -- Pack your bags we are out of here.
The diving is why we go to Curacao for. Shore diving gives us the flexibility to dive a variety of sites on our schedule. The maximum depth of our dives was 70ft. with a water temperature of 81 and visibility from 50 - 80ft. We saw Turtles, Spotted Eagle Rays, White Sand Eel, Green Moray, Frog Fish, Seahorses, Spotted eel and more reef life than I care to write about.
Shore diving on Curacao is easy since most of the shore diving sites are gently sloping coral reefs. You swim out somewhere from 50 - 150 yards look for the darker blue water and descend to about 45 - 70 feet and start swimming east or west. When you get to a half a tank signal your buddy turn around and ascent to a shallower depth and swim the same amount of time in the opposite direction. Ascend to 15 ft. for your safety stop and return to the surface. Pretty easy, no complex navigation required.
If you want it easier or if that's too physically demanding - do a boat dive. There are very few currents on Curacao so your chances of drifting into the blue are minimal if you watch the reef movement. The West end of the island is where the better diving is. You can easily do five dives a day on Curacao.
Here are our dive sites for the week.
Playa Kalki - Shore dives
Redhio - Boat Dive
Playa Jeremi - Boat Dive
Sponge Forest - Morning dive
Watamula - Morning dive
All West Apartments House Reef - Late afternoon dive
Porto Marie - Shore Dives A great all day location with a dive shop and restaurant on the beach.
Habitat Reef - Shore dives, Saw a small spotted Eagle Ray
Accommodations
Due to last minute reservations we choose to stay at All West apartments. I was a little concerned that the location would be too remote for our liking but once we arrived all our concerns went away. The one bedroom apartment was in excellent shape with a balcony that overlooked the ocean all for less than 100.00 USD per night.
Ocean Encounters West also runs the air station right at All West apartments. You can pick your tanks any time day or night as you have the keys to the dive storage room and air station. That's 24x7 diving in my book that doesn't get any better. There is also a stairway from the All West apartments down to the ocean. You can almost jump off the apartment balcony into the ocean.
A few tips if you choose to stay at All West. Stock up on food at the Centrum in Piscadera bay as it's about a 30 min drive to All West, bring a beach towel and don't expect a television set. Check out All West website for more details. http://www.allwestcuracao.com/
Restaurants
The West End of Curacao has limited dining offerings but Jaanchies Restaurant came to our rescue. The food was phenomenal with: Wahoo, Grouper, Conch, Shrimp, Chicken, Pork Chops, Goat and a few other delights all well prepared in generous portions. We ate at Jaanchies Restaurant several nights with excellent service and food. We also liked Landhuis Daniel (Daniel Landhouse) and even took a trip across the island to the Ostrich farm for another excellent meal. Plan your Ostrich farm dinner in advance as it is remote and an hour drive from the west end where we were staying.
Ocean Encounters West Ocean Encounters West (OEW) is affiliated with the other Ocean Encounters dive operations on the island. OEW lets you mix and match your diving trip based on your needs of boat or shore diving. The rentals were in excellent shape and they always had friendly staff available to assist with your questions and needs. OEW has a boat dive schedule for every day of the week with very experienced dive boat captains and great dive briefings by their staff of Instructors/DM's. OEW also has an agreement with the Habitat that allows you to dive the Habitat reef and use their facilities just as if you were at OEW. http://www.oceanencounterswest.com/
If you like shore diving, great dining, and broad selection of accommodations, Curacao won't disappoint you.
