Dive report: Curacao 4/23/08 (The Dive Bus)

[jtonra]

I just returned from a week on the Adventure of the Seas and figured I'd post a quick report on the diving I did.

 

Curacao:

 

Based on numerous good reports and reviews here about "The Dive Bus", I arranged to dive with them on this stop. They did not fail to live up to their reputation! The are a very professional outfit run but very nice, friendly people (Suzy and Mark). The arrangements were all made in advance via email with Suzy. One of the highlights of this stop was that my two daughters, ages 12 and 14, were going to dive for the first time doing a "Discover Scuba" course. The way I had arranged things was for me to do a guided shore dive on their "house reef" while my girls went through the land based portion of their course. Then, I would join them for the Discover dive.

 

Upon arrival in Curacao, we hoped in a cab and headed out to the dive shop. Cab fare from the port was $25 including tip. I was very pleased to discover when we arrived that the morning guided dive was just going to be Mark and myself. The second dive would add my two girls plus one other "discover" diver.

 

After gearing up and getting in the water we had a very short swim (10 kicks maybe) to the drop off point were we descended in about 10 feet of water. We made our way out to the further of the two sites on their house reef which is called "The Car Pile". This is just what it sounds like but since the cars have been down so long, all that's really left are the frames and bumpers. Very nice dive though with beautiful hard and soft corals on the way out and back as well as a huge number and variety of fish. The bottom time on this dive was abotu 42 minutes with a max depth of 101 fsw. As the entrance to the dive bus hut's cove is in shallow water, we were were able to do a long swimming safety stop on the way in.

 

After changing tanks and allowing the kids to finish up the shore side course work, we were back in the water. The three discover divers went through about ten minutes of skills exercises in about 8 feet of water while I snorkeled around and took pictures. Once everyone was ready to go, we headed back out to the reef. Mark was very attentive to the students while at the same time pointing out the interesting things to see on the reef. My kids did great and are now hooked. This dive had a max depth of 39 feet but really averaged closer to 25. Bottom time was about 45 minutes.

 

Other notes:

 

The Dive Bus has very nice rental equipment with weight integrated BCs which is a nice touch.

 

They took a bunch of pictures for us with their camera and copied them to my memory card when we were done (for no charge). Mark also took some underwater pictures of us with my camera.

 

Their prices were very reasonable.

 

We'll definately be back.

[Pilot70D]

Glad to read about how happy you all were with your Dive Bus experience.

 

We have been diving with them a couple of times and consider them to be THE best dive operator in the Caribbean. They took excellent care of us like they do everyone.

 

We just wish that Curacao was a little closer so we could dive with them more often.

 

Everyone dive safely and have a great day.

[w&k]

Was the pink frogfish still there? More importantly, did you get to see Mark doing the frogfish signal? I almost spit out my regulator I was laughing so hard!

 

Unfortunately, due to technical problems with my camera card and Suzy's laptop & coffee, we didn't make it home with the photos.

 

So... that means we just had to book again. ;) and are heading back off the Grand Princess next February.

 

So glad you had a great pair of dives!

 

Wendy

 

Grand Princess website

http://www.freewebs.com/grandprincess-02-27-09

[jtonra]

Did not see any frogfish unfortunately. Still had a great pair of dives and would return in a heartbeat.

[KJHorton]

I just loved that frogfish sign! Actually, they had a bunch of fun signs that were also easy to remember.

 

I also can't say enough good things about Dive Bus!