First full day on Curacao. The divers had to be at the dive shop by 7:45 am to prep for their first dive so we went to breakfast at 7 am. The main dining area is the “World Cafe” which is the resort buffet filled with way too many food options!
Once the divers were launched, I decided to walk around the compound to get the lay of the land. There are eight buildings for accommodations, five restaurants, four pools, a spa and a casino! There is something for everyone!
I spent the rest of the morning in a lounge chair under a palapa by the pool reading my book. At one point I decided I need to hydrate and went to the bar and got a virgin piña colada. As I was waiting under that palapa, there was a tropical downpour! I was amazed how sturdy the palapas are and shelter you from the rain. It didn’t last more than 5 minutes and I walked back to my own palapa to get back to my book.
JT: There were a lot of divers on the boat. Probably 20 or so. I had never been on a boat with so many people before. I was a little nervous. Fortunately most had a lot of experience and many had their own equipment. We took a 20 minute boat ride to our first dive site, “Tug Boat”. We divided into two groups and entered the water consecutively, each with a dive master. We descended down to about 60’ and followed a large coral formation with a steep dropoff on one side. Diving in Curacao is different from my last dive in Puerto Rico in January, 2025. In PR, the emphasis was on diving with sharks . We didn’t see any sharks the whole week. I never saw a ray and saw just a handful of morays. I was told later by a fellow diver that sharks and rays prefer colder water. We did see some nice soft corals as well as spider crabs, a Peacock Flounder, a Fireworm and lobsters as well as tons of smaller fish. We ended the dive at the tugboat wreck, which was cool and a haven for all kinds of creatures including a large Trumpetfish and a turtle.
Our second dive was "Cornelius". We dove much shallower and closer to shore. Saw a spotted eel, a chain eel, barracuda and lion fish. Great coral.
Overall, I would say it wasn't the best diving that I have done in the Caribbean, but it wasn't the worst either. I did miss seeing the bigger critters. There were some impressive coral formations and some nice walls and decent clarity. I did two dives a day, a total of 10 dives total for the week. The highlight for me was shooting Lionfish. I had considered taking a separate class for Lionfish hunting but as it turned out, that wasn't necessary. On our second day, the divemaster brought along six spears and we were able to hunt without the class. It's not tough to figure it out and I saved $100. The Lionfish are not a native species, They are originally from the Far East. They are beautiful with their angel wings and bright colors. But they are also covered in long spines and are very poisonous. Thus, they have no natural predators in the western hemisphere other than the occasional shark or eel. Because they have no natural enemies, they proliferate prodigiously and can eat as much as 480,000 fish in a single year. They are depleting the native populations. So there is a serious push to eliminate them. I was more than happy to do my part. I nailed three on my first dive.
There were other good dives throughout the week. Here is a best of:
The divers returned and we had lunch at “The Bluewater Grill”. The afternoon was pretty low key. It was nice just spending time around the pool. There is a palapa that is the bar in the resort and people stand in line to get their (free) drinks. I was standing in line and a woman stepped up to the bar in front of me and I said excuse me, I am in line. She said, oh no worries, I just wanted to get the menu. I felt a little stupid saying that to her and I said OH, I’m sorry. It then started up a conversation. She asked where I was from and I said the USA, unfortunately. And she said oh you should not feel that way. I asked where she was from and she said Chile. She was lovely and fun to talk to.
That evening dinner we had dinner at Da Mario, the Italian restaurant. Many of the folks from our group joined dinner. We had one long table that was open air. It was a beautiful evening to be outside. I had beef scallopini...it was a little tough but had good flavor and gravy.