Dive Review of Easy Divers/Habitat Curacao in
Curaçao

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Easy Divers/Habitat Curacao, Sep, 2006, by Steve Simpson, TN, US . Report 2895.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was our 4th trip to Habitat Curacao. The staff at the resort, restaurant, and dive shop could not have been nicer. Marjorie at Ocean’s Restaurant knew that I enjoyed their pork ribs, which are normally served once a week during BBQ night. When the staff cooked pork ribs for their staff meal on other days, Marjorie would save some for me. Ocean’s serves a variety of good (not gourmet) food. Prices range from a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with fries for under $4 to steak dinners at just under $30. They are happy to serve lunch items at dinner, and the restaurant is open from 7am to 10pm. Our room was clean and in good repair, and the maids were accommodating to clean it daily at our convenience, not theirs. Requests for extra towels were promptly answered, and they continued to supply us the extra towels for the rest of our stay. The resort grounds, however, did not look as nice as they have in the past. During our previous stays, there were gardeners at work everyday. We saw no gardeners this year and lots of weeds. Workers were busy painting everyday. The slide shows are informative and worth attending. The employees of Easy Divers were great, as usual. Management, while being very friendly, was definitely cutting corners. The dive boat’s port diesel engine smoked badly and diesel fumes were strong, even after the engines were stopped. The boat wasn’t being cleaned as thoroughly as in the past, and salt crystals accumulated on the tanks and railings. The engine covers (part of the deck) were cracking and sank noticeably whenever trod upon. The step from the gunwale to the deck was not attached, and it moved about, making it tricky to board and disembark. Camera tubs were not changed very often, and after sitting in the sun all day the water became very hot. If the afternoon boat did go out, the cooler was not re-supplied with ice and the morning’s ice had completely melted. The boat could stand another paint job, too. A full boat is 16 people, but it’s crowded with 10 divers. Once on the boats, the staff could not have been nicer or more helpful. All boat trips are 2-tank trips. Dive briefings were good, and surface intervals were at least 45 minutes, and usually an hour. Lots of cold drinking water is available during the whole trip, and oranges are served during the surface interval. They take 2 DM’s on each trip. One stays onboard during the dive and one goes in the water. You gear up your own tanks, which I like. The DM’s are happy to provide whatever assistance you need. In the water, you can follow the DM, or go on your own. The restrictions are: 1) stay above 130 feet, 2) turn around at 1500psi, and 3) keep your dive to 1 hour. During most of our stay, there was not enough dive staff. To be fair, Anthony was injured during our stay and Emma was off on surgical leave. Divers were discouraged from signing up for the afternoon dives if there were classes or instruction going on. The afternoon boats would not go out unless 6 divers signed up. In the past, if 10 people wanted a boat night dive, they would arrange it. Night boat dives were not offered this year, even though it was during the coral spawning! Tanks are always available for shore diving, and with only a couple of exceptions, they’re consistently filled to 3000-3250psi (aluminum 80’s and 63’s with 3500 rated valves). The dive shop has always been rather poorly stocked and disorganized, with more emphasis on rental gear and souvenir hats and t-shirts. This year, most of the floor space was covered with tubs of un-displayed stock. They could not find the stamp pad so I could stamp my dive log. I don’t believe there is any repair facility and the only camera service they provide is rental cameras. We’ve been aware of this situation for several years, and we pack redundant gear and tools for repair. Now that airline weight limits have decreased from 70 pounds/bag to 50 pounds/bag, it becomes a more critical issue. While we’re on the topic of airline restrictions, the gift shop in the lobby has a very limited selection of toiletries. The gift shop is open during the day, but there is only one person working there at a time, so it closes whenever s/he goes to lunch, goes to the stockroom, or takes a potty break. Since TSA requires you to pack all gels and liquids in checked luggage, it would be great if the gift shop had a better selection of these items, or the resort provided more toiletries than a bar of soap. You can take the resort shuttle into town, where there is a better selection of goods for sale. However, the shuttle doesn’t run frequently, so plan on spending most of the day for a trip into town, or hire a taxi. We felt the reefs were seriously degraded from our previous visits. Both my wife and I found fishing line weights during our dive.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	[Unspecified]
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas
Water Temp	0-0°F / -18--18°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	50-60 Ft/ 15-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	On boat dives, you can follow the DM, or go on your own. The restrictions are: 1) stay above 130 feet, 2) turn around at 1500psi, and 3) keep your dive to 1 hour. No restrictions on shore diving.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[none]

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Dive Review of Easy Divers/Habitat Curacao in Curaçao

Easy Divers/Habitat Curacao, Sep, 2006,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Easy Divers/Habitat Curacao in
Curaçao