SCUBA Diving in Curaçao

This past week I had the immense fortune to complete my PADI Open Water Diver's certification in the beautiful country of Curaçao (the ç sounds like an s)!

I was very lucky to complete my first ever open water dives in one of the world's finest coral reefs. Curaçao's shoreline is bordered by dive sites with beautiful white sandy beaches, and reefs saturated with life.

I dove with my friend and colleague, Sophie, who purchased a GoPro Hero3 for the occasion, and captured some amazing HD video footage. I, on the other hand, had no underwater photography equipment, so the photos below are ones I scavenged from Google Images. But once Sophie processes her footage, I will be sure to post it here!

UPDATE: The video is complete! See the Curaçao coral reef through our eyes below!

Diving In Curaçao (GoPro Hero3) from the treefort on Vimeo.

Click the jump to see photos of the species we saw.



Our second dive on the third day was by far the best one.

We more or less descended directly upon an octopus, which I believe was probably a common octopus (Octopus vulgaris).

Photo by Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble

It was trying to hide in a crevice under a rock, but once surrounded by us, it emerged and turned sheet-white, in an effort to warn us off.

Then halfway through the dive, we found a white-spotted eagle ray swimming just off the edge of the reef drop-off.

Photo by Dixie Greenwood

A few days later. while snorkelling, we sighted two more eagle rays hunting in a sandy plain at Cas Abou.

Photo by Caroline Rogers

Then near the end of the dive, we spotted a hawksbill sea turtle munching on some coral.

Photo from delargy.com

Photo from delargy.com

Curaçao's reef is teeming with life. There are corals, sponges, fish, and crustaceans everywhere. 

If planning a vacation there, which I highly recommend, I have nothing but good things to say about our accommodation, De Herberg Bed & Breakfast, as well as our dive shop and dive guides at Atlantis Diving. You can't really go wrong with any of the dive sites, but my favourite was Porto Mari. And our favourite beach was Cas Abou.

I definitely intend on returning one day, but now I'm dreaming about my future dive travels. Australia, Thailand, Hawaii...