Get to know Curacao

[Tronl]

What a great dive island. Tons of reefs and shore diving just about anywhere you want to go. We stayed at the Marriott and the on-site dive shop was great- Tom is the man- and the house reef was beautiful. We did 5 dives there (including night- saw octopus and Spanish Lobster). I'd highly recommend it. We'll be back!

[Navy OnStar]

I got to do some snorkeling there in 2005. I pulled in there with the USS SAIPAN after a humanatarian mission to Haiti. I didn't have my C-card yet but the snorkeling in February was awesome. Nice warm water, crystal clear vis.
I was used to the water at the piers we pull into being nasty, but in Curacao we had guys walk off the brow and dive right next to the ship. I would love to go back!

OnStar

[Kokomo]

I'm sure we will go there someday. After being in Bonaire we love the ease of shorediving. Do you have any pics? Topside and underwater.

[quasimoto]

I agree about Curacao. Got to dive there just after being certified. Another good thing about that area is that you can take a charter flight to another island just in case you but bored with diving the island. This is really nice since it doesn't take much time at all and the prices are usually cheap.

[tarheeldiver]

I agree Curacao is wonderful

[kyfriedchipper]

Going for 16 days in late Jan - I'll be PM'ing you TronL!

[PhD4JC]

Does anyone have any information on Lions Dive & Beach Resort and Habitat Curacao
What is the diving like off their beaches?
What are the dive shops like?

In general, what are the best shore spots for snorkeling?
Thanks Much

[TRACI]

Does Curacao have a rainy season?

[diversteve]

Originally Posted by TRACI

Does Curacao have a rainy season?

October to February. But from what I was told it's mostly showers at night.

[diversteve]

Originally Posted by PhD4JC

Does anyone have any information on Lions Dive & Beach Resort and Habitat Curacao
What is the diving like off their beaches?
What are the dive shops like?

In general, what are the best shore spots for snorkeling?
Thanks Much

Ocean Encounters is the diveshop for Lions Dive. They're about 100' south of the resort. We did a dolphin dive with them last April but I can't say anything good or bad about them. Efficient diveshop but all we did was pay and get on the boat as we had all our own gear. They did have what looked to be a lot of good quality rental gear. Very quick to respond to e-mail inquiries. They also have 3-4 other locations at nearby so I've heard their boats can get a little crowded since they pickup along the way.

We rode past Lions Dive on the boat out but I didn't see much of it. Looked like they had a little beach area and there's a reef close offshore. It's part of a small marina and next to the Sea Aquarium so there may be boat traffic in that area.

We also dove at OE's West Punt location at Kura Hulanda. Easy dive, gear up and walk 50' down the dock to Playa Kalki, one of the best dives on Curacao. The staff there was very friendly and helpful. They do a boat dive a couple times a week to Watamula which may be the best divesite off Curacao.

Beach diving off Curacao tends to be a little longer swim out to the reef as you go west. Mostly because a lot of the beach areas are in little coves. An exception being Sunset Waters, there the dive starts just off their protected beach area. But it's 100-200yds. from the diveshop to the beach with a tank.

Sites like Playa's Lagun or Jeremi are a bit of a swim out, better to swim out on the surface to the reef. We didn't dive any of the three "Gnip" sites but they looked similar just more isolated.

Habitat's reef is a good dive. We liked it so much we went there twice although we were staying in town. Morays, Octopii, a resident Barracuda just off the dock, lots of fish and critters on a very healthy reef just offshore.

Good dive operation, everything you need is down 3 flights of stairs at the water's edge. Good setup area with showers. The lockers are a little tired. 50' along their dock to the dive site with a short swim out to the reef.

Habitat resort gets mixed reviews. It's your typical dive resort with the emphasis on diving at the expense of everything else. When we were there it looked a little tired all over.

Nice pool, the restaurant was good for lunch and there's a bar. But it's in an isolated area so a 20 min. drive to town for anything else. There may be a couple restaurants along the road to town but you're going to want a car to drive everywhere else. The restaurant/rooms/pool are on top of a cliff and it's three flights down to the water. And not what I'd call a beach, it's mostly coral rubble with coral just offshore. So if you wanted to swim there, I'd suggest wearing boots. There is a little platform you can sun on since you wouldn't be laying out on that "beach".

I don't know the best spots for snorkeling since we don't do that but a couple interesting ones might be:

The "beach" in front of Habitat. It's a mix of small coral heads and sandy bottom. I was fooling around one afternoon with a local Barracuda right under the boat dock (after they moor the boats offshore) and filmed about 4-5 flounder in less than 6' of water. There's also an interesting clump of rocks near the boat dock that has eels and lots of fish living amongst them. Plus the obligatory school of baitfish that you find under every dock there. Most of it is pretty featureless though as the reef starts farther out in about 30' of water. Would be worth while to fool around there while waiting for a diver to return but I wouldn't go there to snorkel.

We dove Varsenbaai which was a typical dive site, the reef starts farther out there. But coming back in along the shore in 5' of water I found turtles feeding in the seagrass. The diveop owner said they're always there. But except for them it's a completely flat, sandy area. There were also some kids snorkeling further in-shore along some cliffs. And about 100 squid just off the divedock. Good snorkelers could pop down for a look at the seahorses, they're near a mooring at about 40' on the reef.

The last place is the Tugboat divesite. It's a short swim off a beach to the boat which sits in 20' of water. Actually there's better fishlife along the cliff wall just past it, eels amongst the coral in 15' of water. While we were there a cruise line tour dropped like 100 snorkelers on my friends heads so it must be popular.