CURACAO - worthwhile?

we are considering going to Curacao Feb 2004. Is Curacao worthwhile
for scuba? A few years back we went to Bonaire and that was wonderful,
is Curacao comparable? Would we do boat dives or beach dives?

Appreciate your feedback.

Tim

Tim left this mess on 17 Nov 2003 09:59:34 -0800 for The Way to clean up:
>
>we are considering going to Curacao Feb 2004. Is Curacao worthwhile
>for scuba? A few years back we went to Bonaire and that was wonderful,
>is Curacao comparable? Would we do boat dives or beach dives?
>

Depending on the type of diving you'd like to do, it can be either highly
comparable to Bonaire, or not at all like it.

Curacao tends to have a higher prevailing current, especially towards the
eastern end of the island. The western end has several really nice calm areas to
dive, but many of the "fun" dives like the Superior Producer, Tugboat, and
Barracuda Point, tend to be towards the east.

When I go back there, I intend on splitting my time between a resort on the east
end and one on the west end, to get a full spectrum of diving.

Tao te Carl
"It takes a village to have an idiot." - Carl (c) 2003

(Kudos to Cap'n Jim Wyatt for this link) BEFORE you ask a dumb-ass question
here...http://www.speakeasy.org/~neilco/bart.gif

Just back from two weeks in Curacao. Also went to Bonaire 12 months ago. I
agree with the previous comments.
Diving is very similar on both islands and coral, fish numbers about the
same. However we felt there were fewer big fish on Curacao. This is probably
due to the fact that commercial fishing takes place all along the reefs (we
saw this every day). This is prohibited in Bonaire which has really set its
stall out to attract divers.
Shore diving is far,far easier in Bonaire. It is a much smaller island with
I think twice the number of marked shore diving sites, most of which are
just yards from your parked car. Many of those in Curacao are hard to find
and down long rutted tracks. Also many we tried required quite a long swim
out to the reef edge.However when you find them they are good.
If I were to go again I would definitely pick Bonaire.
Jim

Jim Greenfield left this mess on Wed, 19 Nov 2003 14:05:08 -0000 for The Way to
clean up:
>
>Just back from two weeks in Curacao. Also went to Bonaire 12 months ago. I
>agree with the previous comments.
>Diving is very similar on both islands and coral, fish numbers about the
>same. However we felt there were fewer big fish on Curacao. This is probably
>due to the fact that commercial fishing takes place all along the reefs (we
>saw this every day). This is prohibited in Bonaire which has really set its
>stall out to attract divers.
>Shore diving is far,far easier in Bonaire. It is a much smaller island with
>I think twice the number of marked shore diving sites, most of which are
>just yards from your parked car. Many of those in Curacao are hard to find
>and down long rutted tracks. Also many we tried required quite a long swim
>out to the reef edge.However when you find them they are good.
>If I were to go again I would definitely pick Bonaire.

Jim, which end of Curacao did you dive?

Places like Director's Bay and others near the east end were practically drops
off the beach, altho the drive as you point out was tricky.

Tao te Carl
"It takes a village to have an idiot." - Carl (c) 2003

(Kudos to Cap'n Jim Wyatt for this link) BEFORE you ask a dumb-ass question
here...http://www.speakeasy.org/~neilco/bart.gif

[This followup was posted to rec.scuba.locations and a copy was sent to
the cited author.]

In article <188500d0.0311170959.4b265849@posting.google.com >,
tv@basicchem.com says...
> we are considering going to Curacao Feb 2004. Is Curacao worthwhile
> for scuba? A few years back we went to Bonaire and that was wonderful,
> is Curacao comparable? Would we do boat dives or beach dives?
>
> Appreciate your feedback.
>
> Tim
>

on curacao you can do your dives on your own, just have a car and a
place to fill your tanks. All the operator make boatdives to allmost the
same places you can reach from the beach, but you'll pay a lot more.

try here www.limestoneholiday.com, we liked it and it was very cheap
--
Alexander Kleineidam

www.alexander-kleineidam.de/Reisen