Dive Review of Various/Rental House in
Curaçao

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Various/Rental House: "Enjoyable Shore Diving in Curacao", Feb, 2022, by Gary & Robin Schiendelman, PA, US ( Sr. Contributor 29 reports with 44 Helpful votes). Report 11869 has 1 Helpful vote.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We generally don’t do shore diving unless it’s from a resort with an easy entry/exit that requires little to no schlepping of gear. When we heard of all the shore diving available in Curacao, we thought it would be like Bonaire and we weren’t really interested. However, once we discovered that Curacao has beaches with on site dive shops, we decided to investigate and it turned out to be a great decision. In addition to boat diving with Go West (reviewed separately), we dove from four different beaches, each with their own dive shop. The commonalities were: -easy and secure parking with the ability to drop off your gear right at the shop -all were only a few steps from the beach with easy entries -rental of tanks and weights on site, plus a full line of rental gear if you need it -rinse tanks, showers and toilets -benches for gearing up with shade and no sand -lockers or a place to leave your keys, etc -thorough dive briefing of the sites -a short swim to the reef All of the dive shops offered guided shore dives so if you are a new diver or don’t feel confident exploring on your own, they will send a DM with you for an additional charge. They all offered classes from OW up and some had Discover Scuba. Some beaches are free, some ask for a small payment which is used to maintain the bathrooms, showers, etc. Some had restaurants and many had kayaks, SUP’s or other beach toys for rent. The diving was really good at all the sites and included many of the fish and critters noted in the Go West report plus some sand dwellers and juvenile fish found in the shallows. B Diving at Cas Abou Beach. This one was closest to our house and it is a delightful beach with a restaurant and many other amenities. Cas Abou is rated as one of the top beaches on the island. Admission to the beach is $6 (USD) per car. All of the employees at the shop were delightful. We met the owner “B” on the first day and she was a wealth of information about all things Curacao. Air and nitrox were available and fills were always generous. There is a rope and a wood sign on the reef so navigating back was very easy. Go West Diving at Playa Kalki We were boat diving with Go West but in talking to other divers about their house reef (Alice in Wonderland) we decided to give it a try. It was a great dive and we even saw squid at the end of the dock. Entry is either a giant stride off the dock or you can walk in from the beach. Dive shop is terrific with all the amenities and a friendly and efficient staff. Air and nitrox, generous fills. A rope led from the reef to the dock. Porto Mari Sports at Playa Porto Marie Large and very popular beach with a restaurant. Admission $3 (USD) per person. There are also hiking trails near this beach and a couple of very large pigs that wander around. The dive shop is smaller and since it’s popular, it was a little crowded. All the staff were very nice and helpful. Dive site is a double reef so there are a few more options if you dive here more than once. The outer reef was also a bit deeper than some of the other beach dives. This was the longest swim but still only about 5-8 minutes at a very slow pace. Coral Divers at Coral Estate Beach No entry fee but Coral Estate has a security guard. You need to stop and tell them you are going to the dive shop. They may or may not ask for ID. No entry fee. This is a very upscale neighborhood. There is a restaurant right on the beach that was always crowded. Most of the beach has a rock wall so entry is via stairs right in front of the dive shop. There is a railing to assist. They provide lockers (with locks) and you leave the key with the shop while you are diving. Shower, toilet and changing rooms were all steps away. Not as large an area for gearing up and depending upon the time of day it may be challenging to find shade. There is a swim platform off the beach and a rope leading down to the reef from there. They have also sunk a number of reef balls at the top of the reef in about 15-20 feet of water so it was a great place to make a safety stop with lots to see. We liked being able to easily unload and set up gear, get in the water and then to rinse our gear after the dives. We appreciated the ability to be on our own schedule and especially to stay as long as we wanted underwater. All of our shore dives were 90+ minutes and we truly enjoyed every one of them! [youtu.be link]
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Indonesia, PNG, Solomon Isl, Red Sea, Maldives, South Africa, Mozambique, Cocos Isl, Galapagos, Socorro, Palau, Var Caribbean locations, New Jersey, Florida, No Carolina, Philippines
Closest Airport		Getting There	Newark direct to Curacao on United
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	77-78°F / 25-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	None
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Various/Rental House in Curaçao

Various/Rental House: "Enjoyable Shore Diving in Curacao", Feb, 2022,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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 Various/Rental House in
Curaçao