Picture this: you make your morning coffee while staring out the window at blue sky and palm trees. During the day you take full advantage of the aircon, whilst trying your best to remain focused on work. You have that big project you promised would get done if your boss let you work from Curacao.
On your lunch break, you go for a dip in the swimming pool. Maybe bring your laptop out to the poolside – where the Wi-Fi still works great – to answer your afternoon emails. At the end of the day, you take a 10 minute walk to popular Mambo Beach for an outdoor dinner with the perfect sunset-over-the-beach view.
Finally it's the weekend! With keys to a rental car in hand, you pick up dive gear and tanks for a full day of diving and relaxing at Cas Abou. You arrive early enough to claim a couple beach chairs under a palapa, and you get yourself set up for the day.
Descending on your first dive after a short surface swim, you start out exploring the reef wall. You find some garden eels on the sandy bottom, an elusive frog fish hiding in the soft coral, and immerse yourself in the marine life of Curacao. After your dive(s), head over to the beach bar for a couple cold beers to toast a great day.
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| Photo Credit: Turtle & Ray Productions |
But one day just wasn’t enough, so you do the same thing the very next day, visiting Piskado and everyone’s favorite sea turtles!
Living and working in a tropical paradise is clearly a life The Dive Bus crew chose. Currently, the whole team is from colder much less tropical areas of the world (the UK and Washington state). Each of us also lived in many other paradises before choosing Curacao. Here are just some of the reasons the crew call Curacao home:
- Beautiful reefs, easily accessed from shore all around the island
- Picture perfect beaches – totally Instagrammable (check our feed)
- Delicious restaurants, with cuisine from around the world
- Other activities like kite surfing, SUP, wakeboarding, hiking, rock climbing to name a few – just in case we want a break from diving (a rare case)
- Did we mention the diving is insanely good? It’s important to us
Direct flights from many airport hubs also make getting to and from Curacao simple (you know, unless there’s a global pandemic hindering travel). Direct flights operate from Miami, Newark, JFK and Charlotte in the US, also from Toronto, Canada, and Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. Various central and south American countries also offer direct service into Hato International Airport (CUR). These, of course, are subject to change. Search for flights from your home on Google Flights or your favorite search engine!
If presented with the opportunity, the crew here assume most people would also choose to live in paradise. If you disagree, this post might not be for you. Maybe try this one about planning a Curacao dive vacation.
For those of you who would LOVE to live here, we know what your next thoughts are:
- I have to work.
- I can’t move, my [kids, family, friends] are here
- Is it really that great? (Yes. Yes it is.)
- Maybe when I retire or when the kids graduate…
Or the most common response when we ask people why they don’t live here –
I WISH.
It’s seems idyllic. But stick with us here…because we also know a lot of you are working from home.
Maybe you have a laptop on your kitchen counter, maybe you’ve remodeled your home office, or maybe you work from your smart phone in bed (no judgement). Whatever your WFH situation is, we’re willing to bet the scenery is starting to get old.
So...did you ever consider asking your manager if “working from home” meant you must stay in your own home? If you haven’t, we encourage you to check. You’re working remotely already – what’s the harm in making it slightly more remote?
Somewhere like…Curacao!
You had to see that coming 😉
Making this a reality is where we come in. Working with some friends and partners we’ve made over the last 16 years, we created some new packages we call Your Great Escape. Live and work in paradise for a month – or more! There are several package options, but in general they include a month fully furnished accommodation, scuba diving, and options for car rental. We started with the basics and can fully customize a package to fit your needs and group!
New to diving? That’s one customization we’re well prepared for. At The Dive Bus we teach the full range of PADI dive courses, all in warm Caribbean waters. You simply can’t beat learning to dive in calm, clear seas.
Imagine taking your first breaths underwater and seeing a cute little butterfly fish swim by, or exploring the reef up close instead of snorkeling at the surface. You’ll learn scuba dive theory, in-water skills to keep yourself and your buddy safe and comfortable, and with the Open Water course you make 4 full dives at our beautiful house reef.
Once you’ve completed your first course, carry on with additional dive courses, or join us for Dive Bus trips to see some of the best of the rest of our shore diving sites. Remember that dive experience at Cas Abou mentioned earlier? With your new certification under your belt, that day is within your reach. You, too, will become obsessed with finding a seahorse or frog fish on every dive. They’re great at camouflage, but we’ll do our best to help you find one!
Before the pandemic, we never dreamed of people relocating to the island for a month or two while continuing to work their normal jobs. Over the last year, we’ve seen it happen several times! Whether people came down with the intention to stay for a month, or they got here and didn’t want to leave, travelers have consistently been enjoying life in Curacao.
If you asked us to describe the perfect couple or group of friends to take advantage of Your Great Escape, we’d say:
- You have flexible working or school arrangements – you can work or learn from anywhere that has an internet connection.
- You love diving, or you want to learn from one of our awesome PADI instructors.
- International travel is a possibility for you.
- At the time we write this, Curacao is open to any visitor with a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to departure. We also have testing facilities on island if you need a negative test to get home. Find the latest details on The Dive Bus COVID info page.
- You’re keen to experience life on a tropical island for a month (or more)
You might be wondering what life is like here at the moment, considering there’s still a pandemic happening. We have restrictions, of course, but you get the feeling that we’re in our own bubble, almost a whole world away. Businesses require masks be worn indoors, there’s an island-wide curfew of 11pm, and social distancing is practiced everywhere. You’ll also pass by hand sanitizer on practically every corner.
On the other [sanitized] hand, with so many outdoor spaces and the warm weather to match it, people are socializing, friends are laughing together – the vibe is happy. Grocery stores are also well stocked, and restaurants are safely welcoming visitors.
So if you'd like to live in Curacao for a month (or two!) while working your normal job “from home,” escape a cold winter, dive on your weekends, and relax into island life...
