Get wet and Bon Bini

Today a little information about our dushi Island CURACAO for all our english spoken friends, divers and Carribbean Lovers.

A) SOME OVERALL INFO ON CURACAO DIVING:

VISIBILITY: good all year round                                                                                          DEPTH: From shallow to deep almost on every dive site in Curacao due to the structure of the island (more to this later on).                                                                                                   CURRENT: very little, stronger currents occure very seldom.                   TEMPERATURE (WATER): ranges from 27-32 deg.C. depending on time of year. In February about 28 deg.C                                                                                                     TANKS: American type aluminium tanks, – we have also adapter for DIN type!        DRIVE TIME: The max. driving time from our place (VILLA MANGO) to the next 3-5 dive places is about 5-10 min. The driving time to all other dive spots are about 35-40 min (all the way to the West of the Island).                                                                               REEFS: The structure of most of the reefs is almost the same all over the Island. Entrance from a beach (no waves). Shallow sandy bottom with few corals (depht 0 Meter at entrance slowly going down to 8 m aprox. before the reef dropoff starts). Distance from entrance to where the reef starts can range from as little as 10 meters to as much as 100+ meters.  The reef itself drops off in about  30-45 degrees down to 40m. It is almost impossible to become lost since you will always have the reef drop as a reference. These are very few exeptions (more to these when you come one day to visit us).                             CHARGE: Most beaches charge an entrance fee or a dive fee. The amount of the fee varies from site to site (see individual places below).                                                                     Beaches: Some of the beach entrances  (where water meets sand that is) have lots of smaller and bigger rocks, please bring dive boots if possible.                                             Night Dives:If yoy want to do night dives (highly recommended by the way) bring your dive lamp.

B) SOME OVERALL INFO ON CURACAO:

PEOPLE: People are very friendly and easy going. Sometimes they have different habits. So please, when you go to an typical local restaurant as a group do not split the bill, (they are not used to it). Try paying the bill as a whole and then split it up later at your place. Speaking about restaurants: the closest ones to VILLA MANGO is a nice open air restaurant called MANGOS or also  THE OCTOPUS in the Sankt Michelle village at the beach. Both serve local and international food.                                                                               SAFETY: Curacao is a pretty safe place, but be wise: Don´t take jewelery or large amounts of money that you have to leave in the car while you go diving. Don´t go wandering at night in unsafe places in the outskirt of Willemstad.                                               CURRENCY: Local Currency is the NETHERLAND ANTILLIAN FLORIN (NAF). Exchange: 1 Euro is apróx. (2.32 NAF) – changes daily. US$ is also widely accepted            (1 US$ = 1.77 NAF).                                                                                                       Language: Local language is Papiamentu, a mix of mainly Spanish and Portuguese, some Dutch and English and some own invented words and phrases. English is spoken everywhere.                                                                                                                         WATER: Water from the tab is safe to drink. It is said that Curacao has one of the cleanest tab water worldwide (see also our article about the ¨Curacao-Entsalzungsanlage¨), so no need to purchase botteled water in the supermarket.  Always take plenty of water with you when you go diving!                                                                                                  SUN: Bring sun tan lotion! The sun – all year long – makes a good job of roasting unaware tourists 😉                                                                                                                          SNACKS: Small food stores that sell kinds of soft drinks, snacks and sometimes basic food items. These ¨snacks¨are spread all over the island and can also be found on some of the beaches.                                                                                                                      NIGHTLIFE: Curacao is not very famous for its nightlife, but there are a few places to go. For fun lovers we recommend (near from VILLA MANGO) KOKOMO BEACH. On Weekends always they presents Musik and Fun.                                                                   ARRIVAL: Since you will be arriving later in the evening, chances are that the supermarkets will be closed (Mon-Sat they close at 7.30 pm) Sundays at 5.00 pm. So most of the acommodations offers a rescue basket (bread, eggs, jelly, butter,…etc.). So do VILLA MANGO.

C) SOME SUGGESTIONS (DIVE SPOTS) FOR DIVING ON THE ISLAND:

Slangenbaai (Snake bay):                                                                                                           This place is near from Villa Mango. This is the dive site with a typical reef structure of Curacao and a great start to get to know the Curacao reefs and check all your equipment for proper function.                                                                                                      FACILITIES: None                                                                                                       ENTRANCE FEE: None

Vearsenbaai (Kokomo Beach):                                                                                          This place is also near from Villa Mango. Dive site where you will see a big pontoon platform (starts at 20 m, going down to about 27 m or so) sunk some time ago. There is also an old timer car pile (not much left though). The car pile is a little further away from the beach (meaning whoever wants to go there has to snorkel somewhat before diving to get to it) and also a little deeper (25-35 m).                                                             FACILITIES: A small beach with umbrellas and chairs, a restaurant with good big Hamburger, bathrooms and a big shaded area to escape from the sun if necessary.                 ENTRANCE FEE: None – only fee for the chairs NAF 7,–

PLAYA KALKI (KALKI BEACH, WESTPOINT):                                                          This dive site is located at the western most tip of the island. You can take this opportunity to make some sightseeing of the island and get to know the main roads that lead to all dive places as you make your way to Kalki Beach. This is also one of the nicest dive sites on the island as far as corals are concerned.                                           FACILITIES: Small beach with umbrellas, bathroom (1 NAF), snack,                  ENTRANCE CHARGE: no charge, only if you take a chair: 15,– NAF                                        There are 2-3 smaller restaurants serving local food close by for those who are interested. One of them: JUANCHIS. and another is on Playa Forti, this is a restaurant directly on the seaside.

KLEIN KNIP: Dive site famous for spotting sea turtles (but no guarantee, sometimes one can see a lot and sometimes none). For this dive you will have to snorkel out for a while since the reef is pretty far from the beach. Just before getting to the reef you can go down in open water about 10 m before reaching the bottom. This is a typical beach where locals hang out a lot, so that will be pretty interesting to watch local customs.                       FACILITIES: Larger beach, snack only on the weekends open (very rudimentary), no toilets…. but a lot of bushes (if you know what we mean:                                 ENTRANCES: No charge

PLAYA PORT MARIE (PORT MARY BEACH):                                                              This is one of the more famous (if not the most famous) beach in Curacao. Especially sought after by divers because it is a very uncommon double reef and because of the great facilities for divers. You can make a dive to the left of the beach and a dive to the right. FACILITIES: Large beach with umbrellas and chairs, bathrooms, changing facilities, shower, open air restaurant with bar.                                                                         ENTRANCE CHARGE: 4.00 NAF per diver, 7,– NAF if you use a chair (highly recommended since this is a beach where it is nice to relax the whole day).

 After the dive you can relax on the beach or make another dive near from Port Mary, that is DAAIBOOIBAAI Beach (no entrance. no toilets.  Snacks, umbrellas, chairs for rent.

SUPERIOS PRODUCER:                                                                                                                The Superior Producer is a ship that sunk in the late 70´s very close to the shore right next to Willemstad (10 min. from Villa Mango). It is about 70 meters long und lies upright at a max. depth of about 30 meters. The dive site lies right next to the Curacao Mega Pier, That means we can only make a dive to the Producer, when no cruise ship are on the Mega Pier. There is no beach, instead there are a lot of rocks, so dive boots are a must for this dive. Sometimes there are a lot of waves, so diving is not possible on this days.                       FACILITIES: None                                                                                                             ENTRANCE CHARGE: no charge                                                                                                   If you want you can take a walk though Willemstad right after the dive since you are close by.

BLUEBAY (BLUE BAY GOLF AND BEACH RESORT):                                                This is also a very popular spot for divers and beachgoers alike. Near from VILLA MANGO. This dive site is famous for¨THE WALL¨, a 90degree dropoff going from 5 meters all the way to 40 meters.                                                                                                       FACILITIES: Large beach with umbrellas and chairs, bathrooms, changing facilities, showers, open air restaurant with bar.                                                                         ENTRANCE CHARGE: NAF 15,– (chairs included) – Dive tanks: you have to rent them in their own Blue Bay diveshop.

CAS ABAO (OR CALLED BON BINI BEACH):                                                                        This is another very popular beach like Porto Marie and Blue Bay. Some snorkel is required to get to the reef, keep your eyes open for a field of sand eels at about 30-35 meters.                                                                                                                             FACILITIES: Large beach with umbrellas and chairs, bathrooms, changing facilities, showers (there is a little charge for showers), open air restaurant with bar.         ENTRANCE CHARGE: 10,– NAF per car (on Sundays NAF 12.50), but with a max. passengers of 4. Chairs cost 5,– NAF.

MUSHROOM FOREST +  THE CAVE  AT STA. CRUZ BEACH  (Boats Dive):            

Lots of Curacao local divers say  The Mushroom Forest is the best dive site in Curacao. It can only be reached by boat, yet it is not a long boat ride to the site. You will encounter large formations of coral just before the reef dropoff begins. This is a drift dive of a max. depth of about 15-18 meters. At the end of the dive you can make a little visit to the CAVE, so let a little bit air in your tank for this adventure ;).

FACILITIES: Large beach with umbrellas, no bathroom, no snack. So you can bring something to eat with you.                                                                                             ENTRANCE CHARGE: No charge

PLAYA HUNDU (DEEP BEACH):                                                                                         Not a very well known place for tourists, but for some reason one of our personal favourite dive sites. Lots of soft coral at the turnaround point. There is no sandy beach, only rocks and stones. But therefor a lovely dive site no snorkeling required since the reef dropoff is very close to the beach.                                                                                               FACILITIES: None                                                                                                             ENTRANCE CHARGE: No charge

AREA SAN JUAN BEACH: MANZALIÑA (LITTLE APPLE TREE):

By the way: The apples are very venomous – do not eat them!!!!!!!!!

The area of San Juan (Saint John) is composed of 3 beaches, Manzaliña being the biggest one. The beach is not your typical white sand beach like Porto Marie, Blauw Baai or Cas Abao, but still good enough to lay down.  The other 2 spots in San Juan are: Playa Largu and Shon Mosa. All three are nice dive areas with spectacular corals.                                     FACILITIES: None                                                                                                        ENTRANCE CHARGE: 5,– NAF per car

THE ABOVE MENTIONED DIVE SPOTS ARE THE MORE FAMOUS ONES IN CURACAO.

THERE ARE MORE DIVE SPOTS ON THE ISLAND – HERE ARE SOME OTHERS: PLAYA LAGOON, JEREMI, PLAYA PESCADOR, PLAYA FORTI AND MUCH MORE…..

We hope all this will  help you for your next trip to our DUSHI ISLAND OF CURACAO.

Waiting for you and sending  a lot of caribbean greetings

Christa and Alex