3 reasons to escape the cold and Dive into Winter in Curacao...

If you'd love to escape the cold this Winter
and vacation in the warmth of the Caribbean sun,
exploring and discovering beautiful underwater Curacao -
without spending too much money?

The new Dive Bus 'Dive into Winter' Specials may be just what you're looking for.  

And with heaps of direct flights to Curacao from a bunch of major airports, it’s now easier than ever to spend your Winter dive vacation in the warmth of the Caribbean sun, exploring and discovering beautiful underwater Curacao. And it's a great, fun opportunity to turn the kids into something useful, too!

Warm up your Winter
with these Curacao Dive into Winter specials:

DRIVE + DIVE Indie Dive Adventure Package:

FREE DAY!

5 days vehicle rental + 

5 days of independent shore diving adventures
for the price of 4

With more Curacao shore diving sites than you and your dive buddies could dive in a month, the new Dive Bus DRIVE and DIVE Packages are a great way to give it a really good try, at least.

And you'll get to discover and explore plenty of topside Curacao on your dive adventures, too.

The special Dive Bus DRIVE + DIVE into Winter Package includes:

• 5 days independent diving for the price of 4 days
• 5 days SUV rental
• 1t guided “get wet again” dive + Curacao orientation on day 1
• A whole lot of fun! 

Equipment Rental Special:

FREE DAY!

5 days rental for price of 4

+ FREE rental when you make the equipment your own

There’s nothing worse than diving in equipment that doesn’t fit you and a wetsuit that smells like … yeah.

You won't be dealing with that at The Dive Bus. This is not your typical dive shop rental equipment - it even gets mentioned in our Trip Advisor reviews! Check it out here.

Special Dive Bus Dive into Winter offer:

• 5 days rental for price of 4
• Like it? Buy it and your rental is FREE!

*** NEW - EXCLUSIVELY AVAILABLE AT  THE DIVE BUS, CURACAO: ***

PADI AWARE
Advanced Open Water Diver course Special:

FREE Specialty certification + metal straw
(while stocks last!)

We've tailored the regular PADI Advanced Open Water course into this special Dive Bus version, because, whether we like it or not, it’s a sad fact that divers can contribute to reef damage. 

Accidentally or unknowingly, it’s still damage that an ‘Oh crap!’ can’t fix. And nobody wants to be that diver.

Enthusiastically supported by our buddies at Project AWARE and PADI ("An amazing initiative!"), The Dive Bus PADI AWARE Advanced Open Water Diver course is perfect for families or friends wanting to get more from every dive, by improving their dive skills and confidence while discovering simple ways to take care of our reefs and oceans, every day. 

And ... it's a LOT of fun!

And ... it's a LOT of fun!

Special Dive Bus Dive into Winter offer: 

• FREE reusable stainless steel straw, courtesy of the good folks at 4Ocean (while stocks last!)
  
• FREE Dive Against Debris Specialty diver certification
• Min 4 divers on the same course

The Small Print!

• Click the MORE INFO buttons above for restrictions and black out dates for these Dive Bus Dive into Winter in Curacao offers
• Limited availability - it's high season, so get on it quick to avoid disappointment!

 

Don't miss out!

There's always HEAPS going on at The Dive Bus - stay up to date with everything via The Dive Bus social media channels:

#diveintowinter #divecuracao #thedivebus #christmasincuracao #curacaochristmas #caribbeanchristmas #christmasdivevacation #divebus #divecuracao #divebuscuracao #newyeardivevacation #CHATA #PADI #rightnowincuracao #curacao

New, fun sustainability initiatives launch in time for AWARE Week 2018

Fun, simple ways to protect our ocean planet at The Dive Bus, Curacao:

AWARE Week: 15 - 23 Sept 2018

Project AWARE has teamed up with long-time partner PADI and dive professionals around the world for the first ever AWARE Week.

From 15 - 23 September 2018, Project AWARE and PADI dive centers - including The Dive Bus, Curacao - are organizing ocean conservation activities and actions to encourage and enable more divers to take care of our underwater world.

Specific areas of focus include tackling ocean pollution and creating awareness for vulnerable shark and ray species, by empowering local communities to take positive actions for the protection of fragile aquatic environments, fins on and fins off.

While these issues are extremely important - such as banning shark finning -  we do our best to make raising awareness of them and tackling them, a whole lot of fun and, therefore, more 'front of mind' (hopefully!):

Curacao Clean Up 2018

Curacao's community is playing its part with the annual, island-wide Curacao Clean Up event, bringing people and communities together, across the whole island.

To date, this initiative led to more than 1 million kgs / 2.2 million lbs of trash being removed for proper disposal. That's equivalent to the weight of 6 Boeing 747s ...

We'll be joining in with a Dive Bus Clean Up dive  – you're welcome to join in or find events happening near you, here (scroll down the events page and you may spot someone you recognize … and here, too!)

The new Dive Bus Sustainability Policy

The Dive Bus Eco Policy was one of the highest visited pages on our website. Built back in 2005 with help from Project AWARE, it's been the heart of the dive center from the very beginning.

Long overdue for an update, the policy formerly known as The Dive Bus Eco Policy has been completed overhauled into The Dive Bus Sustainability Policy.

The original Dive Bus Eco Policy focused mostly on fixing what had already impacted. The new Dive Bus Sustainability Policy focuses on simple, easy and fun ways, to prevent or minimize impact in the first place.

“Since The Dive Bus first opened its door, thousands of divers have helped clean up Curacao's reefs on hundreds of Clean Ups," says Dive Bus Mark, a PADI Ambassadiver.

“The cool thing is not only how many of our divers are more than happy to help out, but how many choose to dive with us because of our commitments to taking care of the ocean.”

"But," adds Suzy, one of The Dive Bus Women of Conservation, "cleaning up trash from our beaches and oceans only fixes part of the problem. The other part is preventing trash getting there in the first place. The new Sustainability Policy includes a bunch of solutions to help address that, through education, awareness and fun, simple actions."

 

 

 

NEW PADI AWARE Advanced Open Water course:
only available at The Dive Bus, Curacao

Unfortunately, whether we like it or not, it’s a sad fact that divers can contribute to reef damage. Usually accidentally or unknowingly, it’s still damage that an ‘Oh crap!’ can’t fix.

But the brand new Dive Bus PADI AWARE Advanced Open Water course can.

Tailored for divers with ocean protection at their heart, this special  Dive Bus version of the PADI Advanced Open Water course has been enthusiastically supported by our buddies at Project AWARE and PADI, calling it:

"An amazing initiative!"

The Dive Bus PADI AWARE Advanced Open Water course also includes a Dive Against Debris Specialty dive, giving you an optional "double-whammy" certification, to get you on your way to your PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.



To launch this exciting new course, we're giving away a FREE reusable stainless steel straw, courtesy of the good folks at 4Ocean to our PADI AWARE Advanced Open Water course graduates.

Want one for yourself? Hurry before they're gone..!

 

Enjoy AWARE Week 2018 wherever you spend it,
and keep up to date with the latest on social media:

#thedivebus #seriouslyfundiving #AWARE #PADI #sustainability #givingback #learntodive #divecuracao

NEW: DIVE + DRIVE Packages at The Dive Bus, Curacao

Booking your next Curacao dive vacation just got a whole lot easier.

By Mark and Suzy

Owners, The Dive Bus, Curacao

Our first ever visit to Bonaire was back in 2004, when we both had a lot more hair.

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!

#driveanddive #divecuracao #thedivebus #divepackages #shorediving #independentdiving #curacaodivevacation