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Dive Review of Ocean Encounters Diving/]Sunscape Resort in
Curaçao

Ocean Encounters Diving/]Sunscape Resort: "Corals as good or better than Bonaire!", Aug, 2017,

by Ronald Bailey, VA, US (Contributor Contributor 18 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 9692 has 2 Helpful votes.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 4 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 4 stars
Snorkeling 4 stars
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments Was told that corals and fish were not up to Bonaire standards. That might have been true 30 years ago. I was pleasantly surprised that the corals, especially the soft corals were very, very good. Hardly saw any dead spots except on one site close to town. Lots of small fish and schools of small to medium sized fish and the usual shrimp and other macro critters. Saw several turtles, one very large. Also a huge puffer fish, squid, one shark, barracuda, many large green moray eels, and other smaller moray eels. The dive crews did a good job of pointing out "stuff" and handled in and exits out of water very well.
Biggest complaint was that some tanks on board the boat that were not full. They were promptly exchanged out for full 3000-3200 psi tanks. Nitrox was from 31-35%. Some tanks needed new o-rings , as usual for most dive operations. (that is a pet peeve of mine) Also noticed 1 tank was leaking from the over pressure valve and 2 were leaking from the on/off valve. Discussed this with the dive shop. They realized problems but seem to have about 400 tanks in service, so it was hard to up keep all tanks up all the time. But no real big problems.
The resort room(s) nearest the dive shop were large and well maintained. No problems there except last day hot water went out for a block of rooms. Food was good and plentiful. Sometimes it took a while to get your drinks of any kind. The pool was nice. Beach areas good and area off beach was calm. Every day there was activities around the pool, sometimes loud for us older divers, but seeming fine for the younger non-divers/drinking vacationers. The biggest difference between Bonaire, besides seemingly healthier corals in Curacao, is that Bonaire is certainly diver oriented while Curacao is more vacationer oriented. But I would not let that stop divers from trying out Curacao.
Websites Ocean Encounters Diving   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Bahamas, Roatan, Florida Keys and springs, Saba, Fiji, Palau, Hawaii, Turk and Caicos, Caymans, St. Kitts, St. Croix, Curacaqo
Closest Airport Curacao Getting There Flew from Charlotte, NC. Straight thru. Get there about 2 pm.

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy, cloudy Seas calm, choppy
Water Temp 82-83°F / 28-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 60-80 Ft/ 18-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Normal sport limits. Could go deeper if using computers.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins 1 or 2 Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 2 stars
Large Pelagics N/A

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

Subject Matter 3 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities 4 stars
UW Photo Comments [None]Camera bucket on board boat. If lots of cameras, bucket could be larger. Shore rinse tank for combination cameras and regulators. Could be separate. But overall, okay.
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Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By GEORGE T ELLIOTT JR in PA, US at Aug 14, 2017 10:45 EST  
Curacao is our favorite "local" dive location; been there for about a dozen multi-week trips. See our write-ups at adventurousretirement.com/blog/?s=curacao&submit=Search
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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