Curacao recomendations

Does anyone have a recommendation for a place to stay or a Dive center
in Curacao? I am a beginner diver with no boat dive experience so I
would prefer a place with good dive masters. I am seeing a lot of
mixed reviews on Sunset Waters and Breezes.

Thanks.
Jac

"Jacnbox" <jacnbox@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:df500dfc.0410090959.4a82db90@posting.google.c om...
> Does anyone have a recommendation for a place to stay or a Dive center
> in Curacao? I am a beginner diver with no boat dive experience so I
> would prefer a place with good dive masters. I am seeing a lot of
> mixed reviews on Sunset Waters and Breezes.
>
> Thanks.
> Jac

If you want to totally immerse yourself (sic) in diving experience, Habitat
Curacao is a good place. There is an excellent house reef that you can get
plenty of experience on, the boat diving is top notch, and the staff is very
competent. The facilities are quite good. The only downside is that it is
remote and there is precious little to do other than diving there.

I spent 10 days there 2 years ago and returned for a day from a cruise just
to do 4 dives on the house reef.
--
But then again, what do I know?

Lou Vallone

LouVallone@aol.com

http://members.aol.com/LouVallone

I know where Breezes is, but have never stayed there. It's on the edges of
town, so if night life is important, it might be a good choice. On my first
trip to Curacao, way back in the 95 or so (when Breezes was the Princess
Beach Resort), they had a cute dive site at the hotel: Car Pile, which was a
huge pile of, well, cars. Squashed flat cars. And other junk, like concrete
culvert pipes and I-beams and things. It was alarming at first to see so
much trash, but once I got over that, I found that all sorts of stuff has
made its home in the trash (sort of like under the Town Pier on Bonaire).
Green morays and lobsters seemed to favor the big pipes. I've never set
foot in the resort itself--we stayed at Lion's Dive Resort next door.

I prefer Habitat Curacao, which is way off the beaten track. That's good
for the quality of the diving! The diving & snorkeling off the dock are
excellent (barring recent hurricane damage, if any), and I'm a big fan of 24
hour access to your gear and tanks. They help you if you want help and
stay out of your way if you don't. I was there every year since they opened
until 2002, when a friend convinced me to blow all my vacation for two years
at exotic Pacific destinations. That makes my info a bit dated, but it
might help you decide.

Spanish Waters is a little farther West than Habitat, and has some great
dive sites around it (we visited them by boat from Habitat). One thing to
know about Spanish Waters is that the rooms are at the top of a very long
flight of stairs, while the reef is waaay down below. If you're in good
shape & like stairs, that might not bother you. I personally would find it
too much of a hike to the dive shop & shore. Habitat has a few stairs, but
not nearly as many, and the dive shop is closer to the rooms. I took a tour
of Spanish Waters once to check it out. They seemed to have more stuff for
non-divers, especially kids, to do. The rooms are larger than at Habitat,
but they seemed to vary in amenities like furnishings, refrigerators, &
such. I wasn't taking an inventory, though, so you might want to ask if
you're fussy

At Habitat, they have just 2 types of rooms. "Suites" are largish rooms
with two beds & a balcony/patio, with a fridge and little stove in the room.
"Cottages" have an outdoor kitchen shared by two very small rooms. Right
after they built the cottages, I booked one, thinking they would be tiny 2
bedroom apartments like the cottages at Habitat on Bonaire. I was unhappy
with the reality of the architecture. The two bedrooms of a cottage rooms
don't connect except by going outside through the open air kitchen. And I
was a bit put off by the idea of my fridge being out in public, so you can't
bop out in the night for a drink without dressing or flashing or exposing
yourself to mosquitoes.... Also, so knows what might happen to that tapioca
you whipped up for a snack, hanging out in a public place...? (OK, maybe
I'm paranoid. Back away from the desserts and no one gets hurt.) The
architecture might work better for individual divers traveling together, as
opposed to a couple, or for people who like to hang out in the warm night
air (my spouse prefers his air conditioning). I mentioned this to the
manager and they upgraded us to a more expensive ocean-front suite at no
charge (for two weeks). Ah, the advantage of being known at a resort

Becky

"Jacnbox" <jacnbox@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:df500dfc.0410090959.4a82db90@posting.google.c om...
> Does anyone have a recommendation for a place to stay or a Dive center
> in Curacao? I am a beginner diver with no boat dive experience so I
> would prefer a place with good dive masters. I am seeing a lot of
> mixed reviews on Sunset Waters and Breezes.
>
> Thanks.
> Jac
>

"Becky" <jbecky@sbcglobal.net> pounded away at his keyboard resulting
in:
: One thing to
:know about Spanish Waters is that the rooms are at the top of a very long
:flight of stairs, while the reef is waaay down below. If you're in good
:shape & like stairs, that might not bother you. I personally would find it
:too much of a hike to the dive shop & shore.

For those who don't like stairs, if you are considering a trip to St
Lucia, don't stay at Anse Chastenet. Lotsa stairs there.

Dan Bracuk
Is it my imagination, or do Buffalo Wings taste like chicken?
The Best of rec.scuba http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/RecScuba/


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I also recommend habitat curacao very good diving, good food and nice
accomodations. Actualy i am returning after visit last year, 12 days to
go!!!!
lee
"Becky" <jbecky@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:UqGgd.6891$bP2.1797@newssvr12.news.prodigy.co m...
> I know where Breezes is, but have never stayed there. It's on the edges
of
> town, so if night life is important, it might be a good choice. On my
first
> trip to Curacao, way back in the 95 or so (when Breezes was the Princess
> Beach Resort), they had a cute dive site at the hotel: Car Pile, which was
a
> huge pile of, well, cars. Squashed flat cars. And other junk, like
concrete
> culvert pipes and I-beams and things. It was alarming at first to see so
> much trash, but once I got over that, I found that all sorts of stuff has
> made its home in the trash (sort of like under the Town Pier on Bonaire).
> Green morays and lobsters seemed to favor the big pipes. I've never set
> foot in the resort itself--we stayed at Lion's Dive Resort next door.
>
> I prefer Habitat Curacao, which is way off the beaten track. That's good
> for the quality of the diving! The diving & snorkeling off the dock are
> excellent (barring recent hurricane damage, if any), and I'm a big fan of
24
> hour access to your gear and tanks. They help you if you want help and
> stay out of your way if you don't. I was there every year since they
opened
> until 2002, when a friend convinced me to blow all my vacation for two
years
> at exotic Pacific destinations. That makes my info a bit dated, but it
> might help you decide.
>
> Spanish Waters is a little farther West than Habitat, and has some great
> dive sites around it (we visited them by boat from Habitat). One thing to
> know about Spanish Waters is that the rooms are at the top of a very long
> flight of stairs, while the reef is waaay down below. If you're in good
> shape & like stairs, that might not bother you. I personally would find
it
> too much of a hike to the dive shop & shore. Habitat has a few stairs,
but
> not nearly as many, and the dive shop is closer to the rooms. I took a
tour
> of Spanish Waters once to check it out. They seemed to have more stuff for
> non-divers, especially kids, to do. The rooms are larger than at Habitat,
> but they seemed to vary in amenities like furnishings, refrigerators, &
> such. I wasn't taking an inventory, though, so you might want to ask if
> you're fussy
>
> At Habitat, they have just 2 types of rooms. "Suites" are largish rooms
> with two beds & a balcony/patio, with a fridge and little stove in the
room.
> "Cottages" have an outdoor kitchen shared by two very small rooms. Right
> after they built the cottages, I booked one, thinking they would be tiny 2
> bedroom apartments like the cottages at Habitat on Bonaire. I was unhappy
> with the reality of the architecture. The two bedrooms of a cottage rooms
> don't connect except by going outside through the open air kitchen. And I
> was a bit put off by the idea of my fridge being out in public, so you
can't
> bop out in the night for a drink without dressing or flashing or exposing
> yourself to mosquitoes.... Also, so knows what might happen to that
tapioca
> you whipped up for a snack, hanging out in a public place...? (OK, maybe
> I'm paranoid. Back away from the desserts and no one gets hurt.) The
> architecture might work better for individual divers traveling together,
as
> opposed to a couple, or for people who like to hang out in the warm night
> air (my spouse prefers his air conditioning). I mentioned this to the
> manager and they upgraded us to a more expensive ocean-front suite at no
> charge (for two weeks). Ah, the advantage of being known at a resort
>
> Becky
>
> "Jacnbox" <jacnbox@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:df500dfc.0410090959.4a82db90@posting.google.c om...
> > Does anyone have a recommendation for a place to stay or a Dive center
> > in Curacao? I am a beginner diver with no boat dive experience so I
> > would prefer a place with good dive masters. I am seeing a lot of
> > mixed reviews on Sunset Waters and Breezes.
> >
> > Thanks.
> > Jac
> >
>
>