Dive Review of Ocean Encounters in
Curaçao/Hula Kulanda (sp)

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Ocean Encounters, May, 2011, by Allan Freilich, NY, US ( Reviewer 3 reports). Report 6103.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I knew this place was far from the airport and town and we all agreed (5 of us in total) to rent the largest car (toyota helux) and go shopping first thing. soon as we got there I had mentioned when booking that i wanted a villa closest to the dive shop--of course, we ended up all the way at the other side furthest from the shop. meant lugging my near 50lb rig back and forth after each dive a long distance (felt like 1/4 mile but I'm sure it wasn't) and up and down 2 sets of stairs. Uggh! The villa was very clean and three of us managed to have enough room without complaint. It had a kitchenette (which we didn't use) and the bathroom was the nicest I've seen at any Carribbean dive resort. The staff made the beds and had a treat on the pillow at night. The hotel staff was very friendly and courteous. Nitrox was always available. Cattle boat diving. Squeezing up to 21 in a boat meant for 18 max was not great. Claimed one captain was on vacation. Luckily all divers were mature and very competent. Pre-dawn diving or night diving meant locking up gear in a separate room which in the dark wasn't the easiest thing to do, but apparently very necessary due to the crime wave hitting these islands over the last few years. On this northern side of the island I really didn't find any great wide angle opportunities-I shot macro for the whole trip. Turtles, some saw barracuda, and of course, tons of Lion fish. Saw pod of spinner dolphins on a boat dive and one of our group really insisted for the captain to stop so we could go in and swim with them. (I couldn't get even near to them, but it was very cool) Dive shop operation left very bad taste in our mouths due to an incident that i agreed not to talk about on condition of the settlement. Let's just say that leaving equipment on a boat after a dive may not be the best thing to do. Food at restaurants have something called 'service charge' which we thought was a tip. It wasn't!! Or at least the waiter when asking why we didn't tip said that this money went to the operation of the hotel?? Maybe a shakedown? we tipped extra but was just simply annoying. Food $$$. 2nd trip to Curacao, and i think that's it. Live aboard is the only way. :)
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	NY city areas, Bonaire, Belize, Roatan, St.Lucia, Grand Cayman, Bahamas, Cozumel, Florida, No. Carolina
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	82-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	75-100 Ft/ 23-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	follow the leader, 60 minutes
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Real trouble for those with big rigs. they only carried a small shallow rinse tank. Luckily from wetpixel.com I got the idea of bringing my own soft pak cooler--had staff fill it up before going out on the boat so I could soak my rig

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Dive Review of Ocean Encounters in Curaçao/Hula Kulanda (sp)

Ocean Encounters, May, 2011,

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Ocean Encounters in
Curaçao/Hula Kulanda (sp)