Booking your next Curacao dive vacation just got a whole lot easier.
By Mark and Suzy
Owners, The Dive Bus, Curacao
We had absolutely no idea how much that trip was to influence the next several years of our lives.
With close to a thousand boat dives under our weight belts at that time, Bonaire was our first experience of shore diving. And where better to start than the shore diving capital of the Caribbean - anointed “Divers Paradise” by diving legend, Captain Don.
We loved the freedom that shore diving afforded us. No schedules. No waiting for other divers. No maximum dive times.
Our next destination was another first: Curacao, a 10 minute flight from Bonaire, in a terrifyingly small plane. Better known as a boat diving destination, shore diving in Curacao seemed more like an after-thought: once boat diving was done for the day; one last quick dive on the house reef before Beer O’Clock.
One afternoon, we were enjoying a cold beer on the beach at a small, quiet, sheltered fishermen’s bay. The drop-off looked really close by, much closer than the dives we’d made in Bonaire, so we dived it the following week to see for ourselves....
It was amazing. Unloved, full of trash, fishing line and old tires. But amazing, even so.
After that, we shore-dived as much of Curacao as we could. We were blown away with the easy shore entries (easier than many dive sites in Bonaire), the close proximity of the reefs to the shore (closer than many dive sites in Bonaire) - and the abundance, quality and variety of marine life, very similar to Bonaire.
The lack of shore diving in Curacao wasn’t due to a lack of amazing shore diving sites.
And so, long story short, The Dive Bus, Curacao hit the road, offering quality guided and unguided ("independent") shore diving, made easy and fun, with a strong focus on ocean clean ups and protection, a subject close to our hearts.
Shortly after, we opened our first location - the tiny little Dive Bus Hut - on that same beach, by the small, quiet, sheltered fishermen's bay. That beautiful, unloved reef became our house reef. And very, very loved.
The word got out, divers came flocking in and several fun years just flew by:
The tiny little dive shop turned into something a little larger when we relocated across the street.
Shore dive operations sprung up all over the island.
A second Dive Bus hit the road, along with the Dive Bus truck.
Our team of awesome PADI instructors expanded.
And over time, although our PADI dive courses and guided shore dives - The Dive Bus trips - remain really popular, increasingly more divers began coming to us for independent shore diving adventures of their own.
So, we made our drive-up tank and equipment storage facility easy for divers to reverse their vehicles up to, grab what they need for the day - and go. Same with the drive-up equipment rinsing and drying facilities.
And we made sure that anything and everything that divers need to get the most of their indie dive adventures was available in our retail shop - including a cold beer or 2 once divin's done for the day, (whilst the gear drip-dries, of course).
Fast forwarding a little: divers voted Bonaire as the best shore diving destination in the 2017 Readers Choice Awards. No surprise there and definitely deserved.
But in the same poll, divers voted Curacao the 2nd best shore diving destination, putting Curacao right there, on the shore diving map alongside Bonaire, where it deserves to be!
We were thrilled.
And maybe, just maybe, you'll vote Curacao as the top shore diving destination this year, because your next Curacao dive vacation is about to get even better:
We've taken another lesson from Bonaire and are really excited to announce the brand new Dive Bus DIVE and DRIVE Packages!
We've teamed up with a major international car rental company, so on your next Curacao dive vacation, save yourself time and book your rental car and your diving at the same time.
Choose The Dive Bus off-the-shelf Dive and Drive Packages - guided or independent (unguided) - or custom-build your own, with diving and vehicle options to suit your needs, budget and timescales. And of course, the more days you drive and the more days you dive, the more $ you save.
Here's what long-time Dive Bus Serial Divers, Jamey and Lory, have to say about the news:
"As frequent visitors to both Bonaire and Curacao, we think it's great that The Dive Bus is now offering Drive and Dive Packages for those wanting to spend several days or more exploring the great reef diving accessible from shore in Curacao.
As we know from diving Bonaire, this concept really adds an element of relaxation to a dive trip. No waiting to be picked up early and dropped off after your dive at your hotel. No rushing to catch a boat or fighting for space.
Just drive to a beach at your leisure and prepare for your shore diving adventures in your own time.
While both islands offer great shore diving with similar reefs, Curacao offers greater choice for apres-dive in terms of sightseeing, and a wider variety of restaurants and night life to choose from. A Drive and Dive Package like this enhances the whole Curacao vacation / dive experience, while diving with The Dive Bus - which, in our opinion, is the best dive operator on the island."
Jamey and Lori
Canada
Watch this space for Dive Bus DIVE + DRIVE special offers coming soon on on social media. So if you're not following us yet, you might want to get on that:
Interested? Excited? Got questions? Don't want to wait? Ready to book your Curacao DRIVE and DIVE trip right now
Get in touch!
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