Kategorie: News
At the beginning of the year I was thinking a hell of a lot: Is a diving vacation at all possible in the coming weeks? Where is it allowed to enter and where not, where is the risk of infection manageable, where are there reasonable flights and what is allowed at all?
A report by Christoph Schaffelhuber
Soon a destination has emerged: The ABC islands! Beside the low infection numbers above all the possibility of diving individually - on my own - was a good argument in favor of the ABC islands, KLM had suitable flights on offer - so the decision was quickly made, in mid-February it was off to Curacao for me and my buddy Jörg.
Originally we planned to spend two weeks in Curacao and one week in Bonaire, but prior to the vacation we had problems to book a suitable flight from Curacao to Bonaire. We therefore decided quite quickly to stay three weeks on Curacao.
Only a few days later we got the good news that Curacao is no longer classified as a risk area in Germany, which actually means that we don't have to go into quarantine after our return.
Not only for this reason, the decision to stay on Curacao was exactly the right one. Our vacation apartment Flintstone, which belongs to the Sun Reef Village on Sea, was a great accommodation with direct access to a really great house reef, lots of space and a car with which we could explore the island - and in the three weeks we didn't even see every dive site on the island.
Sun Reef Village, a bungalow complex right on the coast, is run by Wim and Lisbeth. The two are perfect hosts and dive groups or family vacationers will feel very comfortable in the cozy complex with the well-equipped cottages.
Sun Reef Village on Sea is also home to the excellent dive center Curacao-Divers. Of course, our contact point to load tanks for our day trips or to make relaxed dives at the house reef. Michael 'Mike' Duss, owner and base manager is always a perfect source for tips on all topics of interest to divers.
Relaxed diving on Curacao
Relaxed one-way dives from our accommodation to the dive center, a nice chat with Andrea and Mike at the dive center and a leisurely walk back were the classic start to the day, after which we usually went on a trip to more distant dive sites.
Basically, diving on Curacao is very easy, you get in the car, load the equipment on the pickup and drive off. At the dive spot the car is parked and you go diving - the car remains unlocked without valuables in the car, then you don't risk the window being smashed even at lonely spots.
Two good tips at this point: For the car keys, some cash or a credit card it is advisable to take a diver's egg or another dry box etc. with you.
To find the dive sites or to find your way around there, there is a perfect tool: the Dive Travel Guide Curacao. The comprehensive book with very good descriptions of the individual places is not only available at the Curacao Divers; the dive travel guide was also created by Mike and team.
The dive spots on Curacao are quite well mapped, so you can find your way around rather easily. With maps.me there is also a cell phone app, with which you can easily find the dive sites, but for this we would recommend an old cell phone, which you can hide in the car and if it "disappears", is not a big loss.
On most days we did three dives; now and then a night dive - we have booked a no-limit dive package, just take tanks and “go for it”. Perfect plan for the island.
The reef landscape is typical Caribbean, relatively much fish, colorful sponges, turtles again and again and also the one or other small stuff. Big fish is rather short, we have seen the one or other stingray and at the house reef even an eagle ray, now and then a tarpon and again barracudas.
Many of the beaches we went to were beautiful, some lonely, others managed, it was pretty much everywhere quite little happening, simply because at the time quite few tourists were on the road.
What are the must-see dive sites?
We most enjoyed the Double Reef directly in Willemstadt, there we made the most spectacular dives, besides really many turtles there were stingrays and lots of fish to see.
Also the spot Tugboat was very interesting, besides the wreck itself, which is not really spectacular, there is a lot to see under the pier, here you can easily spend a whole dive.
But also the dive sites in the west are beautiful, we liked Alice in Wonderland the most here, just one spot further at Playa Grandi there is virtually turtle guarantee - we never got bored.
A highlight is certainly the wreck of the Superior Producer, but it is only diveable when there is no cruise ship at the pier - in the current situation we did not get the chance to dive there.
Last but not least the house reef of Curacao Divers has to be mentioned: Mike and his team have created a biological garden, a coral nursery here: The Biorock® Reef. For this purpose, large metal constructions were placed into the shallow, sandy area of the house reef. Pieces of coral that have broken off naturally are collected and salvaged by attaching them to the framework. The metal constructions get a slight, gentle current of electricity, causing minerals from the seawater to be deposited on the metal as calcium carbonate. A great idea and fascinating insight into the growth of corals. (For more info, see also here)
Except for a nice dinner in Willemstadt we took care of ourselves, in the first two weeks the spouse of my diving buddy Karin was with us, during that time we always had delicious food, in the last week we had to do it ourselves, which led to a daily change between noodles and barbecue, but worked out quite well.
Last but not least, a few remarks on the subject of Corona: Masks are compulsory in supermarkets, but otherwise people on Curacao are quite relaxed about the subject. The values were constantly between 25 and 30 during our stay (... but have risen significantly in the meantime. In the meantime, the incidence is again below 50 - the vaccination rate in the population is also about 50%. Currently there is still a lockdown on the island - but the chances for an end of the lockdown are very good, editor's note).
Conclusion: everything worked out wonderfully, an all-round story, beautiful and relaxed diving, lots of peace and quiet, a certain normality in pandemic times, complete freedom when diving, a good price-performance ratio, an optimal flight connection, ultimately no quarantine after returning - what more could you want?
Further information:
Sun Reef Village on Sea
Curacao Divers
Curacao Divers auf Taucher.Net