Curacao

Author: clam26

Reposted from Rodale's Scubadiving website with author's permission

Here is my first trip report: Curaçao 2/6 - 2/13. Stayed 7 nights at the Princess Beach and did 6 days of diving with Peter Hughes Princess Divers (more about them later). This part is general info, mostly about the hotel, part 2 dive op and diving, part 3 dining. I'll include some details for people planning to visit the island, not trying to be entertaining. I am sure Lydia will complete anything I leave out and correct my mistakes. Overall it was a perfect vacation and I still don't feel sober :-))

Due to AA pilots calling in sick, couldn't meet Lydia and her friend at MIA, but they made it later that day. Lydia, attractive and intelligent and great fun to be around, very sociable, experienced diver, great friend, fastidious wine drinker (Dman, thanks for the tip). Meeting her was a highlight of this trip.

Princess Beach is a relatively old hotel located at the western end of the Marine Park. It is a few minutes walk from the Seaaquarium and 5 minutes from Lions Dive Hotel, and a 10 min cab ride from Willemstad. Mostly catering to a non-diving Dutch customer population interested in the casino activity, has a great beach (few topless Dutch babes) and a nice poolside bar which gets crowded around sunset. For anyone planning to stay there, I'd recommend the Ambassador wing, which faces west with beautiful sunsets, it's also the closest to the dive shop and boats. Be sure to request an oceanside room in the first block from the sea, and pay the extra, and a phone call to the manager (Ms. Ans Casseras) may increase your chance as most rooms that fit into this description are reserved for KLM crew members, and are not available even if they are not occupied. Spacious and clean rooms, comfortable beds, efficient and quiet air conditioning, tasteless and oldish furniture, no mini-bar. Mosquitos may be annoying for those who have an appealing kind of skin, especially if sensitive to bites. Pelican and Flamingo wings are 300-400 yards away from the dive shop and main building.

Room service, although on time, has a limited list and is not open after half past midnight. For anyone who wants to get a drink after midnight, the casino is open, but you're not allowed to take drinks out to your room. I had to pay a small fortune for a six-pack of Amstel, wrapped in several layers of paper and put in two bags, handed thru the back door of the casino after promising that we wont tell anyone. Felt like buying drugs. So get your stock from the supermarket (10 dollars round trip, daytime). Cabs charge an additional 50% after 11pm. All drivers speak English, most better than me.

Spent most of the daytime diving and taking the nitrox course, went to Willemstad only one day. The island is pretty, and don't get disappointed when you first see the industrial areas on your way to the hotel from the airport. Downtown (Punda) has numerous samples of antiquated European architecture, colorful (mostly pastel tones, yellows abundant) buildings with orange tiled roofs. Several tourist rip-off shops full with cruise ship people are next to regular stores frequented by locals, and also some art galleries with paintings, sculptures, ceramics and local crafts.There are a couple street cafés on the main street (Breedestraat) which get busier after 5pm with locals hanging out for an after-work drink. A nice and short walk to the Floating Market where Venezuelan merchants dock and open up their ships, where locals shop for fresh fish and spices. I enjoyed the walk to the other side of the St Anna Bay (Otrobanda) across the Queen Emma Pontoon Bridge, 700 ft long, which is the world's largest floating pedestrian bridge built in 1888. Heard that it opens up to 30 times a day, and worth watching. One end stays attached to the shore while the other end gets disconnected and moves to the side drawing an arc wide enough to allow the ship to pass. Weird design. Another downtown site which sounded interesting but I didn't have time to see is the Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue which is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Western hemisphere. Willemstad was hot and dusty, and it was a relief to be back at the Princess Beach where there is a constant breeze.

I had a chance to see two more hotels. A place to avoid is the Avila Beach Hotel, an elegant building close to town, which was formerly the Governor's mansion. Rooms in its new deluxe wing (there is also an older part called classic section), although smaller than those in Princess Beach, looked OK with beds even more comfortable than the PB. One of its two restaurants is Blues, beautiful seafront location where there is live music (blues, of course) once a week on Thursday nights. What we didn't like about this place is that it looked like a family vacation spot for elderly couples, mostly with kids and virtually no life after dinner time. They even lock the front door after 11, and one has to wake up the receptionist on duty. The other hotel is Lions Dive, other side of the SeaAquarium, smaller basic rooms, acceptable for a diving vacation, a good dive shop and a popular bar called Rumors.

As I mentioned previously, Princess Beach is not a hardcore diver resort, but a good place to stay with a non-diver spouse or kids. I found the March issue of RSD mag in my mailbox when I got back where they had the reader ratings for Curaçao. I think the hotel deserves the overall ''B'' score. However I can't agree with and feel sorry for whoever wrote ''topless sunbathing may not be for families''. It is a perfect place for families, including kids. Next time I'll stay at the Habitat, not that I'm not satisfied with the PB, but because it is closer to western dive sites that I didn't see this time.

The on-site diveshop at the Princess Beach is Princess Divers. It's apparently a Peter Hughes operation, at least for now. Operation headed by Lex Kleine, has two instructors Andy and Alan, three DMs, i.e., Carlos, Remy and Ima, and a DM-in-training Eugène. All of these guys and the young lady Ima are friendly and helpful, and all are fluent in several languages. They were supposed to have two boats, 36- and 41-foot. Never saw one, and the other one was broken for most of last week. Ended up going out on a similar rental boat, in one case sharing the boat with snorkelers.

The dive shop is more like an office and souvenir shop than a dive shop where one can buy gear. It is full with t-shirts and postcards, and a very limited spectrum of lower quality dive gear. Rental equipment seemed acceptable, SeaQuest BCs, regs and wetsuits. Water temp was 76-79, a skin was OK for me but majority was wearing either a shortie or 3mm wetsuit. Average age of divers 55-60, very few newbies. Lydia and I were the youngest on-board. Although Princess Beach was full of Dutch people, only one or two Europeans were on the boat.

Departure time 9.30, on island time, we left the dock past 10am on two days. Usually 15-20 divers, except for a night dive with only 5 people. SI 45 min- 1hour, spent usually on the boat or a pier. Water on-board. Typically they dive with 1 DM for 15-20 divers. Even if there is a second DM or instructor on board, he stays dry and waits for the second dive. First dive 60 ft, second dive 50 ft max (except for the Superior Producer) was recommended but not enforced. Average dive duration was 45 min, and they expect you to be back by 50 min. Andy was not happy when I got back after 60 minutes and asked me to be back earlier on the second dive.

They dive the Curaçao Marine Park, and only went west once for the Superior Producer. This policy leaves all popular western sites, e.g., Alice in Wonderland, Sweet Alice, The Cave, Mushroom Forest, Hell's Corner, Mako's Mountain and many others out (thanks Doc and Raeford Brown). All of these are much closer to the Habitat and I think regular sites for those staying there. Klein Curaçao is also out of question. My favorite dive was at Sandy's Plateau, beautiful drop-off with healthy corals and lots of small creatures. Another dive worth mentioning is Punt'i Sanchi (Smokey), a nice wall dive with huge stove-pipe and yellow tube sponges. Almost all sites had giant and knobby anemone, with the former being occasioanally associated with Pederson cleaner shrimp (took photos :-) ). Did the Car Pile - Oswaldo's dropoff twice as shore dives, one as the nitrox cert dive, not interesting alhough significant smaller life is present on and in the metal junk. It takes a 200-250 yard swim (surface or U/W) from the dive shop pier. Maybe I was expecting too much (thanks Beverly), like antique cars with doors and windows, but mostly junk and in most cases even hard to identify that they were car remains. Relatively low visibility there, around 20m. Oostpunt (East Point aka No Way) which is the east end of the Marine Park was a pleasant dive with a couple nurse sharks for anyone who could stand 6ft waves that greated us once we left the protected waters. In general the sea was not rough yet active enough to make someone from the group throw up every other day. We saw two seahorses at Director's Bay which is at the western end of Kabayé (Small Wall). I saw a peacock flounder for the first time at Caracasbaii (Lost Anchor), very pretty colors. Superior Producer was a 110 ft wreck, short dive under strong current. We had to pull ourselves against the current along a line from the stern to the bow to reach the descent line at the buoy, and then down. The current was strong enough to displace the second stage in my mouth, and the whole thing was tiring. Several people aborted the dive. The descent line does not have a smooth surface and again, several people came out with bleeding hands, gloves would have been nice to have. Other sites (Diver's Leap, Janthiel, Newport, Barracuda Point etc) were OK with nothing exceptional.

Tugboat was the night dive where I was in a group of three, including a DM. Lydia was diving with her private DM and we saw them only once, briefly. Tugboat was OK, limited life though. This DM tortured a pufferfish, and although I didn't approve his behavior, took several pictures. He also turned his and the other diver's (Lydia's friend Arlene) lights off, swam away and left me alone for 10 mins. I continued my dive with no one around till they reappeared, but I don't think this is acceptable practice even if a DM thinks that the diver is competent enough to handle such a joke.

I was not satisfied with the PADI Nitrox course, which basically consisted of me watching the video alone, followed by 20 minutes of making the calculations for 3 different scenarios presented by the instructor and then taking the exam. After reading the book and looking at my score, I'm pretty sure that I got the knowlegde associated with this simple course, but wasn't it the PADI way to have the instructor watch the video together with the student, interrupting-commenting-adding-and answering questions as needed? At least in my limited experience from OW to rescue, it was. The instructor showed how to check my mix, but then I did my first OW EANx dive with a DM-in-training who was clueless regarding nitrox, and unaware of my limits. However, the instructor said that he should sign my logbook. Second course dive (boat dive on the following morning) was totally on my own, instructor wasn't even around, checked the mix and took the tank from the shop. I wouldn't have done any of these dives if I had the slightest concern about my calculations, but is this the way it's supposed to be? Second dive was like a certified diver renting nitrox from a diveshop, so what's the point of having that dive incorporated into the course? The instructor wasn't around on my last day, so Alex the manager signed the temporary card and my logbook.

Overall, mediocre diving, bad instructor, cattle boat operation, friendly but insensitive DMs acting more like showmen. This also extends to the manager who apparently was not interested at all in ameliorating the opertion (as long as the boat is full, I guess).

NB: They always ask where everyone has been, so you don't end up diving the same site twice.

Wanted to share info on a few places that I had dinner, most with Lydia and her friend Arlene. Six restaurants here, seventh night spent in room due to unforeseeable reasons :-) Room service midnight pizza at the PB is bad.

Cactus Beach: Next to Princess Beach, has an inside bar, and seating on the beach. Inexpensive. Looked acceptable for lunch or a casual dinner. Menu essentially consists of burgers and steaks. Great spinach dip. Juicy char-grilled tenderloin escorted by succulent jumbo shrimps was good, although somewhat overcooked. Very limited wine selection and no good beer either, only Amsted, Heineken and the Venezuelan Polar. How was the Buitenzorg Lydia?

Banana's: Located within the Mambo Beach complex next to the SeaAquarium, this restaurant has Caribbean and European dishes. Good food service (not true for the way wine is served), casual, not expensive. No menu in English, mostly Dutch crowd. Pretty Dutch waitress who translates the menu and hands you the wine bottle to open! Nice spot to have a late dinner before you hit the disco-bar full with hundreds of locals and Europeans on Sundays.

Fisherman's Wharf: 2 blocks west of the PB, on the same street (Dr. Martin Luther King Bl.) serves delicious seafood. Seating in the frontyard of a villa full with tropical plants, nice atmosphere. Casual yet elegant. Good for moderately expensive seafood except for the calamari which was oily.

Fort Nassau: Thanks to seabum, a real nice dining experience, and hard to find ambience in Curaçao. Located in a 18th century fort on top of a hill, excellent view of St Anna Bay and Willemstad. Open air bar and seating, as well as an inside section. Make reservations if you want an outside table. Shorts not allowed, jeans OK. Elegant setting, nice Caribbean interior design, not stuffy. Service relatively slow, cheap silverware with water stains, but perfectly clean. Limited wine list, mostly French. The house chardonnay is no good, we were satisfied with the Bordeaux. Food delicious. Had fricassee of lobster,sea scallops and salmon trout caviar on tomato-avocado guacamole, flavored with peach-balsamic vinaigrette and truffle oil as a starter and loved it. A main plate of red snapper topped with tapenade, lime sauce, carrot/spinach-flan and white rice was also perfect. I also had a chance to taste the Dutch lamb ''au jus'' which came with some potato croquettes and a garnish of eggplant, zuchinni, tomato and goatcheese. Chef Thomas Groen has to be congratulated both for the taste and the stylish presentation of food. Expensive but worth.

Golden Star: We got the name of this place from a nice old Canadian guy who migrates to Curaçao for several months each winter. He recommended Golden Star as the best place to try local food. Four blocks west of Princess Beach, not walking distance especially at night. Small dining room, only 10 tables, in business for more than 25 years, waitress dressed in local outfit (florkloriko dress and headpiece-lensu) translates the menu from Papiamentu. Some moderately spicy seafood, not a huge list. Garlic shrimp and goat stew were acceptable.

Le Tournesol: This is the penthouse restaurant of the downtown Van Der Valk Plaza Hotel which is also home to Toucan Diving. Some nice but expensive boutiques at the lobby. Not the same menu as the main hotel restaurant. Beautiful view of downtown and Otrobanda and harbor entrance. Again,no shorts, jeans OK. Limited seating. We had to wait for over an hour at the bar, was fun though with Lydia ;-) Panfried scallops with tomato-marmalade and fried leeks was delicious as a starter. Lydia ordered the same main course for everyone: both sides fried to golden brown, not the smaller one…, and with some real veggies, not just carrots…..I'll leave this one to Lydia. Relatively slow service, great view, nice table design.