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Ocean Encounters Diving/Sunscape Resort Curacao: "Good times with Ocean Encounters in Curacao", Jan, 2019,by Richard J Lunsford Jr, KY, US ( Contributor 14 reports with 12 Helpful votes). Report 10843.
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No photos available at this time | |||
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Accommodations |  |
Food | |
| Service and Attitude |  |
Environmental Sensitivity | N/A |
| Dive Operation | |
Shore Diving | N/A |
| Snorkeling | N/A | ||
Overall Rating |
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| Value for $$ | |
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| Beginners | |
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| Advanced | |
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| Comments |
7-Day stay as part of a ScubaBoard Surge 2019 event. Was in garden view room 5102. Clean room, beautiful grounds, nice medium beach, 5-year old loved the pools, beach and kids' club (staff were good with her; she often asked to go), resort staff pleasant and friendly, food good (I doubt their restaurants would compete well as free-standing establishments in mainland U.S. cities, but fine for us - if you're a 'foodie' might not be your thing), as others reported getting sodas at restaurants can take time, loved the strawberry 'smoothies' at the bar (like a cherry icee in the U.S.), didn't have to wear a wrist band, and access to Ocean Encounters scuba diving pickup onsite. Across the road and down we walked over and did a buggy tour booked on-grounds at Sunscape. Did 5 2-tank morning boat dive trips with Ocean Encounters, picked up at the resort pier. They have 4 boats, the Curacao x, x = Princess, Star, Phoenix or Galaxy. The Princess was used by non-ScubaBoard Surge divers, and Surgers rotated through the other 3, which were not identical. The Galaxy had overhead netting for storage, a 2-level table with various items, and the tank racks accepted 100-cf tanks. The Phoenix and Star racks didn’t accommodate the optional 100-cf tanks (so they tucked partly beneath the seating), neither had overhead netting (but the front ‘dashboard’ had some space for dry stuff) and the Phoenix had the table but the Star didn’t. All were fine, but life diving 100-cf tanks was easier aboard the Galaxy. Staff were friendly, helpful and fun. Most of our group put gear on their 1st tank of the day; staff switched out tanks after the 1st dive, and were available if more assistance was needed. I benefited because my new BP/W setup wasn’t all ‘dialed in,’ had a little cam band drama, and staff helped and told me what they did. They offered sliced oranges and water between dives. O.E. offers a 2-tank morning dive, a 1-tank afternoon dive, and a night dive on Wednesday (or any day if you’ve got at least 8 people). Nitrox and 100-cf tanks cost extra, as did an optional 'all-day' 2-tank trip to Klein Curacao (that I didn't take). Boat trips to 1st site tended to run under 30 minutes. Typical plan max. depth 60 feet/18 m, not rigidly enforced, guided dive, turn around at about 25 minutes, return trip portion somewhat shallow. Reef lusher than I expected, lots of small but not a lot of big stuff, water temp.s roughly 78 degrees, viz. about 60-80 feet I estimate. On the whole, a fine trip. Would've dove more, but had non-diving family along. |
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| Websites | Ocean Encounters Diving Sunscape Resort Curacao | ||
Reporter and Travel |
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| Dive Experience | 251-500 dives | ||
| Where else diving | Bonaire (> 150 dives), Cozumel (28 dives), Key Largo (20 dives), Jupiter, Fl (17 dives), Belize via live-aboard (26 dives), Caymans via live-aboard (25 dives), Turks & Caicos via live-aboard (27 dive), St. Croix (15 dives), North Carolina (9 dives), California Channel Islands (24 dives), a few more. | ||
| Closest Airport | Hato | Getting There | Flew American Airlines Nashville to North Carolina to Curacao. Longest flight close to 4-hours. |
Dive Conditions |
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| Weather | sunny, rainy | Seas | calm |
| Water Temp | 77-78°F / 25-26°C | Wetsuit Thickness | 3 |
| Water Visibility | 60-80 Ft/ 18-24 M | ||
Dive Policy |
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| Dive own profile | ? | ||
| Enforced diving restrictions | Didn't seem to enforce. Recommended max. depth 60-feet/18-meters, Typical dive times between 50 minutes and an hour. | ||
| Liveaboard? | no | Nitrox Available? | yes |
What I Saw |
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| Sharks | None | Mantas | None |
| Dolphins | None | Whale Sharks | None |
| Turtles | > 2 | Whales | None |
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Corals | |
Tropical Fish | |
| Small Critters | |
Large Fish |  |
| Large Pelagics |  |
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Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best): |
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| Subject Matter | N/A | Boat Facilities | N/A |
| Overall rating for UWP's | N/A | Shore Facilities | N/A |
| UW Photo Comments | Separate bucket for cameras. Back at the resort, a number of rinse tanks, one for cameras and regulators. | ||
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above. |
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