Dive Review of Coral Divers in
Curaçao/Kaap St. Marie

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Coral Divers: "Returning to a NEW, old friend", Sep, 2018, by Jerome M Hobart, NY, US ( Contributor 18 reports with 7 Helpful votes). Report 10560 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Those of you who were diving Curacao between 2002 and 2011 will remember the dive resort, Habitat Curacao. I was there in 2002 when the resort was in good repair and the diving was very good. In 2011 the Habitat had become very run down and within a week of my 2011 visit the resort closed. Therefore, in 2017 I was very interested to find out that a new resort called Oasis Coral Estate Beach, Dive & Wellness Resort had taken over the old Habitat Resort. Maduro Dive had a very inexpensive( $850. including double room, breakfast, 6 days of diving, shore diving on the house reef, and a Kia car) dive package, so a group of 4 of us decided to give it a try. The Oasis Resort is very similar to the previous Habitat( remodeled and in good structural shape). The dive shop has been moved to the water's edge so it is no longer necessary to carry all your dive equipment up a large number of stairs to your room after each day of diving. Large secure lockers are now at the dive shop and the Coral Divers' dive shop is very new and well equipped. Staff is very helpful , however very young and inexperienced. Two of the dive guides( ( Cat and Martin) did a nice job, a third guide we had was very inexperienced and saw his divers drift away while he spent 20 minutes getting his group of 8 in the water. Also, the dive operation seemed to cater to just newly certified divers and did not seem to have an alternate plan for those with 1,000's of dives. Eventually by the fourth day they agreed to allow those who were previously surfacing with the group with 1/2 a tank of air after 40 minutes to stay below on their own for an additional 20 minutes. According to one person in our group of 4 who spends every winter in Bonaire, the reefs are as good as Bonaire. Mushroom forest was just as good as 16 years ago and we saw plenty of lion fish,arrow crabs , anemones, christmas tree worms, coral shrimp, trumpet fish, tube sponges, trunk fish, file fish, squid, spotted drums, wrasse and basslets, but very few angel fish, groupers, a few eels, no sharks or sting rays. I did not do a shore dive on the house reef but those who did from our group said it was well worth the time and brought back a picture of a frog fish. To sum up- Coral Divers is ideal for the person wishing to experience scuba diving for the first time. For the more experienced diver, you have to put your foot down and demand to be put in a separate group with your own guide or be allowed to dive on your own. When looking for a good restaurant, not far from Oasis, go to Buurvrouw- Great Food.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	[Maldives, French Polynesia, Great Barrier Reef, Cozumel, Bonaire, Florida Keys, Bahamas, Curacao, Dominica, Cayman Islands, Belize, Grenada, Niagara River, St. Eustatius, Raja Ampat, Yap, Fiji, Palau, Honduras, Truk, Tobomory, Turks & Caicos, St Croix, Guanaja, Bali, Kona, Utila, Grand Turk, Statia.
Closest Airport	Hato International	Getting There	Jet Blue out of NYC
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, cloudy	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	83-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Stay with the guide.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Plenty of subjects to shoot at. Water bucket on boat very small. On shore no dedicated rinse tub for cameras; therefore, dive shop shower was used to rinse cameras.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Coral Divers in Curaçao/Kaap St. Marie

Coral Divers: "Returning to a NEW, old friend", Sep, 2018,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Coral Divers in
Curaçao/Kaap St. Marie