Curacao Snorkeling

sam.basye

sam.basye

New member
Hey everyone, has anyone been to Curacao and gone snorkeling?

I'm getting married in May and we're going to Curacao on our honeymoon for a week. We'll be staying in the Hilton for the duration of the stay and plan to get a mopped for a few days to explore the island. :)

I've read a number of different things to do there, but wanted some expert advice from you guys as to where the best places are. (Snorkeling or things to do in general; like restaurants or places to see, beaches). Won't be doing any diving - just snorkeling and I can go to depths of about 10'-15' on a breath.
I'd really like to see some wrecks if possible along with a variety of reef corals. Or good turtle sightings too.

Thanks in advance and I'll be sure to take pictures when I go!

Sam
 
As promised, here are some pics from my honeymoon in Curacao!

Downtown




View from hotel beach




Cuda under the platform










 








Like a basket ball


There was a blenny living in the center hole






This is Not a fish lol


About 4’ across
 


About 20’ down




Pistol shrimp that was all magenta (claw)


Blue leg pistol shrimp I wanted to take home with me




Red shrimp


Sunken boat


Me driving the boat


Engine blocks (4, straight 6, V8)
 
Pretty snail


Natural Blowhole




Atv tour (wild cow)


Jellyfish sting – never saw it before or after getting stung


Last one :)
 
Thanks!

Everything was taken with a Drift HD Ghost action camera on a 36" extendable monopod in the waterproof case. Still images were all taken during video mode. 1080p @ 30fps with images captured @ 11MP.
 
Great pictures and congrats on your marriage.
Haven't been to curacao yet but looks like a great place. Post some vids if you can :)
 
I'll see if I can get some videos uploaded.

The shipwreck can be found by searching "tugboat curacao" in maps. It is next to Beeldschone snorkelplek beach in the Caracas Baai area.

We went there after seeing the dolphin academy.

There is a huge drudge boat on the way in, you pass an old fort with refurbished cannons you can walk around, and there is a large ferry boat usually tired of at the beach where the tugboat is.

There was only a handful of people at the beach (and a small group of divers) The boat was in shallow water - shallow enough I could dive to the bottom and swim through the hull of the boat. It was very cool and worth the drive out.

There was a little shack at the beach, but it was never open while we were there. The beach wasn't very sandy, mostly small rocks.
 
Awesome pics, Sam. Thanks for posting. The blue tang, cow fish, sponges, corals were all very nice. It always blows my mind seeing full-sized adult fish in the wild. They're so much more impressive than our puny little juveniles we keep in our tanks!
 
Thanks! It was definitely neat seeing all the different sea life up close. Man were there a bunch of things I wanted to stick in my pocket and take back with me.. I was able to refrain however. I think the only thing the kept me from trying to take things was that I was able to channel that desire into capturing good pictures and videos. (I got frustrated with the iMovie editing software and gave up.. I'll try to get back on it and figure it out to upload some videos).

I am a sucker for baby fish... At the Curacao Dolphin Academy, where my wife got to pet the dolphins, they had a bio cube at the front desk I wanted sooo bad. It was stocked with tiny juvenile fish. No joke, they were all the size of a nickel! There were some 3/4" long bi-color dottybacks, blennies, and a goby, a nickel sized french angel and spotfin butterfly, and a few hermits and snails.

 
Better late than never right?? lol
Here are some videos I put together from the entire trip. I broke up probably 4 hours of footage into roughly three 5 min videos of highlights.
The irritating clicking is me taking still photos while recording. Shot in 1080p @30fps with a Drift HD Ghost in waterproof housing on monopod.

The clicking is the price you pay or not having to go though all 4 hours of footage! :)

Video 1
https://youtu.be/o0bQaquzbhk

Video 2
https://youtu.be/vIWGpyHfqRc

Video 3
https://youtu.be/SKQz_xe4e_g
 
Thanks!

After re-watching the videos, it appears that I traded my somewhat shaky videography for warbly YouTube image stabilization. Ooh well..
 
That's awesome you got to go to tugboat. That's one of the best dives on the island. We did it three times on our weeklong trip. It's even more awesome on a night dive.
Here's our video from that dive. See if you recognize anything in the dark.
I'm the one with the double wide angle lights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUH3SHhf_fs

Daniel. :bigeyes:
 
Great video, thanks for sharing it! I definitely plan to do a night snorkel next time. (Not scuba certified yet) It seems like fun.
What was at 7 min? Someone picks up a green macro with something on it.

The tugboat was great, especially being a max of only 20' deep.

Before we left the states, I took a screenshot of my planned route to get from the hotel to the tugboat by moped. It is definitely off the main road, we made it though!

We had plans to go to the blue room as well, but the moped incident kinda cancelled that. Lol next time we'll rent a car a go. I looked after we got back and car rentals are the same price as a moped! Lesson learned.. FYI, unless you have a license there, your stuck with a 49cc scooter that tops out at 30mph.. not too safe when cars are passing you at arms length.

One other thing to definitely do is Prins ATV tours, we were the only one so it was just us and the guide, Tito, and had a blast.
 
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