1996 Chapbook
  Curacao

 

Coral Cliff Divers, October, 1994. "Laid back operation, good boat dives with great shore dives on location and nearby. Did night dive every night from resort property. Nice people, location is quiet, they have casino on premises." Jeff Kugler, Hicksville, NY

Coral Cliff Divers, January, 1995. "We had difficulty getting in all the dives we had prepaid due to dive captain's day off, so no boat dives. Under duress they made a third dive on two days so we could get them. They also included a shore entry wreck dive after a half hour drive (we drove ourselves) as one of the boat dives. . . . The dive boat usually had a one man crew/captain. The dive instructor was inflexible on where he took his students, so with only one boat we were forced to repeat dive sites. . . . Coral Cliff is well away from the bustle of the city, which I enjoyed but would not be good for those seeking night life. A rental car is a must (promised free shuttle to town had an extremely limited schedule). Food was mediocre and not cheap. The diving was enjoyable. Overall this was a quiet, low key spot with easy but pretty diving." Paul Neis, Mtn. Home, AR

Coral Cliff Divers, January, 1995. "Slow time to dive here. Owner, Marlee, was gone for the week that could have led to our dissatisfaction with the service, but Cecil, the boat captain and our divemaster were outstanding. Friendly and courteous, always willing to help. The dive instructor, name unknown because no one wanted to know, did nothing but roll cigarettes and smoke them. We're a pretty laid-back group but the dive operation did not even place our tanks on the boat, we were expected to do it. We had been promised three boat dives/day and had to practically fight to get them instead of their usual two dives/day. We were not told there was no boat diving on Mondays. We dove with Peter Hughes at Princess Beach on Monday. . . . Coral Cliffs had nice facilities. No O2 on boat, no one stayed on boat as safety backup. Neither are good safety measures. We had only a couple of great dives. The others were just OK. No night boat dives. We won't go back." Steve Preston, Salina, KA

Coral Cliff Divers, July, 1995. Diving on empty southwest end is at least as good as Bonaire, and it's totally uncrowded. While the hotel was poor, the diving more than made up for it. An off­the­beaten­road diving spot that's easy to get to with diving as good as it gets in the Carib. Coral Cliff Diving, A plus; Coral Cliff Hotel: C plus. David Spitzer, Piermont, NY

Peter Hughes, Sonesta Beach Hotel, August, 1994. "Really liked diving with Peter Hughes. Professional check-in procedure at their well-organized dive shop. C-cards checked to include date of last refresher. Also, lockers available to store gear there overnight. Gear tagged and preloaded on the boat the next day. 63s provided for my two teenage children (advanced open water). Iced tea and water available on all dives. O2 and extensive first-aid kit aboard. Radio operational. Extra weights available if needed. Life ring and 100 ft. or drift line deployed off the stern. Boat had effective and secure tank racks that permitted rigging BCs while at dockside and then suiting up while sitting in the pitching and rolling 45 foot boat. Tanks preloaded on the boat and always 3000+ psi. Seas were particularly high on one dive one day. Room to store gear under seats. Tub of fresh water available to rinse cameras. Center support rail to hold onto while getting ready for the giant stride. . . . Normal procedure was to hook up to a prepositioned dive buoy, descend, and swim into the current until reaching 1500 psi and then swim back to the boat. On several dives, the current was one knot so we wasted energy even when hugging the bottom. Should have done drift dives along the walls in these conditions. 60 foot visibility not as good as at other dive sites but still OK. . . . Did the Animal Encounter at the Seaquarium and got some great photos and a video of us feeding the fish, sting rays, sea turtles and sharks (the last through an aperture). . . . The Sonesta Beach Hotel and Casino is the best place to stay in Curacao. The taxi ride to the Princess, where Peter Hughes is located, cost $112 US one way, but it was worth it." Taft Ring, Herndon, VA

Peter Hughes, August, 1995. "Night dives leave a lot to be desired. Not many locations. Dives should be drift dives with current, not swimming against current until down to 1500 PSI then returning to boat." Harry Hicks, Parsippany, NJ


Copyright 1996 by DSDL, Inc., publishers of Undercurrent. All rights reserved. No portions of this report may be reproduced in any way, including photocopying and electronic data storage, without prior written permission from the publisher. For more information, contact DSDL, Inc., P.O. Box 1658, Sausalito, CA 94966.