The Dive Bus - Curacao

[kinetic]

I recently read in Diver about a new dive operation in Curacao, The Dive Bus.

The basic idea of the Dive Bus is that they take you out for the day to the best dive spots on the island for 1, 2, 3 dives, whatever. Looking at the website (www.THE-DIVE-BUS.com) I noticed that there were loads of places that I had not been to or even heard of even though I've lived here in Curacao now for about 18 months. So when I found that I had some days off I thought I'd treat myself to being chauffeur driven and get to visit some of the dive sites that I had never heard of.

Curacao is a fantastic place if you're a diver and every weekend is a small holiday and normally I manage to make upto 5 dives a week, including a couple of night dives so it was a perfect chance for me to extend the number of sites that I can choose to dive each week.

I met up with Mark and Suzy (good to meet some more Brits on the island as there are not many of us). I cannot tell you how friendly and enthusiastic they are. We hit it off immediately talking about fish and chips, curry, steak and kidney pies and branston pickle.

I have all my own gear but for those that have nothing they provide everything and the bus will pick you up from where you live or are staying on the island so it really is a full service and I can't think of a better way for visiting divers to get to see the whole island and to visit all the best sites that dive boats do not always get to because of the distance from the various dive shops...it's quicker to get there on land and you avoid getting sea sickness.

Well, I told Suzy and Mark which sites that I had not visited and we have started to work our way through these already. Only this week, Mark and I did a night dive on the Serious Producer, a wreck sitting at approx 33 metres just outside the port entrance. I had actually dived it by day but never at night. It was stunning and a good cahnce to try out my fairly recently acquired Green Force lights and Halcyon Scouts as back ups. The wreck has a large open hold area but also has 3 levels that can be penetrated - the wheel house at the top, then on the deck level another room which then has a small passage down into the engine room...it was stunning and certainly better by night, in my view.

So far, I have been out with Suzy and Mark a few times, bought a cap off them for myself and my wife and the next trip is this weekend when Suzy takes Helle, my wife, on a refresher course. Helle is a bit nervous and dives very infrequently but having met Suzy she said immediately that she was the person that Helle wanted to do the refresher with and get her back in the water. I am so pleased and I hope Helle gets back into diving.

It is obvious that both Suzy and Mark have the right philosophy - they are easy going but very very professional and competent and they will do their utmost to accomodate the punter and this was why Helle said she felt so comfortable choosing them to get back in the water with.

The Dives Bus has been going for about 7-8 months now and is very popular and its is understandable why. But that causes problems for me as on occassion Mark and Suzy can't make a dive with me because they have their work commitments to the visiting divers and it's always easy for me to find a buddy on the island.

We have become good friends with Mark and Suzy now and I am so glad that Curacao has such an operation...it's strange no-one else thought of it before now. It's like a dive boat on wheels without the sea sickness.

Generally, Curacao is a great place for divers and I can't say I regret moving here after diving in the cold lakes of Luxembourg for the 5 years prior to coming here. If anyone is palnning a trip over to Curacao I think that you can certainly choose worse places to go diving....drop me aline if you need any advice.

[John Gulliver]

Nice to hear from you, Graham. It sounds as though you don't regret the move. I'll be coming to your part of the world on the 17th of next month, not Curacao but Bonaire. I'll be coming with a big Swedish group (40-50 divers), just for a week, staying at Buddy Dive Resort. I'm very much looking forward to it. We've had a miserable summer here in Sweden (10 nice hot days in July, otherwise cold, grey and wet and it doesn't look like we're going to have any more summer weather - autumn starts much earlier here than in the UK), so it'll be nice to have some warm weather and sunshine.

[kinetic]

John,

That's fantastic news. If you don't mind, I would love to try and come over to meet you and your swedish group. Helle my wife will be pleased to meet some fellow Scans (you may remember that she is Danish).

My brother leaves Curacao, after 1 month, on September 15 and I have some days booked off that week so getting the Divi Divi flight over to Bonaire on Friday 16 or Sat 17 will not be a problem. We could come for a couple of days and then leave you in peace, but it would be great to meet you. Divi Divi is a small island hopper..they fly at around 1500 feet or 500 metres so you can dive and fly.

You should really have come to Curacao though. Bonaire is so so so quiet compared to the heaving metropolis that is Curacao....lol.

One dive we must do is the Hilma Hooker. It's a wreck at around 33 meters (bottom) and around 25 meters (top). It's on its side and its holds are open and you can swim through. Normally there are heaps of huge tarpon and shoals of baracuda inside. Looking out from inside, it's like two big blue TV screens. I also have a secret for that dive that I'll tell you if I don't make it.

Let me know your thoughts. When exactly do you get in??

Graham

[John Gulliver]

Hi Graham! It woudl be great to met you. I'll be arriving at Bonaire at 03.15 on the 18th (god-awful hour!). I suggest we use e-mail to continue this discussion. john.gulliveratebox.tninet.se (replace at with symbol).