Curaçao Pride: time to dive AND party!

Dive into Curacao Pride 2019

for a tremendously fun party week in Paradise
that you won't forget!

Curacao Pride 2019 is the seventh edition of this amazing event and - if it's anything like previous Curacao Pride events - it's not to be missed. 

Catered to the LGBTQ community and their friends, everyone and anyone is welcome to dive into in the 5-day event, filled with tons of parties, celebrations, activities and FUN. 

Last year's Curaçao Pride was an overwhelming success. Thousands of visitors came specifically for the event, and a record number of people took part in the Curaçao Pride Walk and the Opening Concert - The Dive Bus Crew very happy to be among them.

One of the reasons for the success of Curacao Pride is the island's melting pot of nationalities, languages, religions, history, skin color, opinions, perceptions, currencies, you name it - that centuries have forged into the “Biba i laga Biba" mentality of the island's people:

“Live and let Live”

Friendly and tolerant, there's no history of gay violence towards LGBT locals or visitors - or even a "gayborhood". According to Gay Travel:

"Curaçao does not have a gayborhood as you would encounter in other major cities around the world. As part of the “Live and let Live” mentality there are plenty of places to go and activities to do that are LGBT welcoming.

You will find that quite a large number of the LGBT community are working in hospitality and they tend to make sure that you have a great time!

Not only that but Curaçao is a great vacation destination by all standards. Beaches, accommodations, activities, culturally speaking and much more."

It's for these reasons that the IGLTA and the Chairman of the Caribbean Travel Association (CTO) honored the Curaçao Tourism Board as a Destination Pioneer, putting Curacao on the map as a leading destination for LGBT travelers in the Caribbean. 

Because, in a nut shell:

1. Curacao rocks.
2. Curacao Pride is awesome.
3. Everyone is welcome.
4. Come on down.
5. And the diving rocks. So if you want to fit in a dive or 2, just let us know 😎:

If you've never dived before,
you've GOT to try this...

If you're a certified diver,
enjoy the best of
underwater Curacao, too...

 CURACAO PRIDE:
Yet another great reason to vacation in Curacao.

You're going to love it - see you there!

 

#rightnowincuracao #curacaopride #gaycuracao #pinkcuracao #thedivebus #divecuracao #curacao #gaytravel #divecuracao #learntodivecuracao #curacaopride

Even MORE reasons to dive Curacao this year!

There's a TON of fun, exciting stuff going on and coming up at The Dive Bus and in Curacao - and YOU’RE invited.

(Because it just wouldn't be the same without you.)

If you were wondering how come you hadn't heard from us for a while, you're about to find out.

It’s not because we’ve been enjoying awesome dive adventures of our own or sitting around sipping cocktails in the sun on a lovely Curacao beach. (Which, according to the Curacao Tourist Board’s recent announcement, “more people that ever” have been.)

It's because we've been having the most amazing, exciting and busiest Winter and Spring seasons EVER. It's been awesome!

Mark and Suzy were out and about on The Dive Bus “International Chilled Out Tour”: a series of dive show debuts in shockingly cold places (one even had snow.) On the upside, they met up with hundreds of Dive Bussers and heaps of potential Dive-Bussers, bought a ton of clothing for the next time it snows in Curacao and announced some exciting new Dive Packages...

Meanwhile, back in lovely warm Curacao, The Dive Bus Crew were diving and training heaps of #seriouslyfun divers and Dive Bus Returners - all of whom (hopefully) did enjoy some awesome dive adventures and spending time sipping cocktails on a lovely Curacao beach.

In-between, we've been working on a stack of super-cool fun stuff for your next awesome Curacao dive vacation. Check out these quick tasters and keep an eye open for upcoming Blog posts for more info, to get you started on your planning.

Because this could be your best Curacao dive vacation yet ...

Dive into the
Curacao International Dive Festival
29 September - 5 October 2019

This is going to be GREAT!

And ...
 

... we're adding and updating The Dive Bus Dive Festival Events so keep watching this space 👌

Curacao AND The Dive Bus through to 
  the final 25 in this year'sDive Magazine Dive Travel Awards!

 

If you're one of the folks that nominated The Dive Bus and / or Curacao for these awards - for the 2nd year in a row:

THANK YOU!

If your (other) favourite dive centers and destinations are finalists too, they'll be just as thrilled and excited and would really appreciate your vote - because it matters:

 

*** NEW ***
Curacao "off-gassing” adventures and experiences:

Because you can't dive every day - but you can have fun every day!

Now you can book a bunch of cool stuff for your non-diving days as well as your diving, with us at The Dive Bus. In spite of the title, the new off-gassing adventures are a lot fun - which we know because your dedicated Dive Bus Crew tried, tested and fun-factor-approved them all.

(Yup, it's been a dirty job and a terrible hardship but we're happy to put ourselves out for you guys 😄).

MORE INFO COMING SOON:
watch this space or drop us an email if you can't wait to find out...

New DRIVE, DIVE + STAY Packages:

The Dive Bus DIVE + DRIVE Packages just got even better.

MORE INFO COMING SOON: watch this space or drop us an email...

Curacao AWARE Week 2019

14 September - 22 September

Join Project AWARE and The Dive Bus crew for Curacao AWARE Week, for even more fun, easy ways to get involved with a subject very close to our hearts: 

Fun, simple, easy ways to protect our oceans and support the
United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG14).

Curacao Pride 2019

25 September - 29 September

Join in this tremendously fun party week in Paradise, for a vacation you won't forget!

MORE INFO + THE DIVE BUS CURACAO PRIDE WEEK SPECIALS COMING SOON:
Save the dates and watch this space or drop us an email......

The Dive Bus Seriously Fun
International Chilled-Out Tour

Find out what happened when Mark and Suzy decided to take The Dive Bus and Curacao to divers for a change. 

In some very cold places (there was snow in one of them), to meet some very cool Dive Bus divers...

MORE INFO + PHOTOS COMING SOON
AND AS ALWAYS ...

...there’s plenty of ridiculous / cool / random fun stuff and more info, on The Dive Bus social media channels - enjoy!

     

Got questions?

 

Let's make your next Curacao dive vacation your best one EVER!

 

AWAREweek #Curacao #divecuracao #curacaodiving #thedivebus #curacaodivefestival #projectaware #PADI #sustainability #oceanprotection #divetravelawards #bestdiveshop #bestdivecenter #DEMA #OAS #beneaththesea #curacaodivespecials

How to turn the kids into something really useful ...

Your dive buddies.

If your kids are 10 years or older, they can become a PADI Junior Open Water diver.

And yup, it costs money to get the kids certified.  

BUT there are a bunch of great returns on your investment that you may not have considered.

Like these:

1. Ask anyone who's lucky enough to share scuba diving adventures with their family why they love it? Their response is often:

   “Because it brings us together.”

2. You’ll have a dive buddy on hand whenever you need / want one.
    
3. You’ll never have to carry or rinse your dive equipment ever again.
    
4. You’ll never not know what to get them as birthday or Christmas gifts.
    
5. You’ll never run out of fun things to talk about with them.
    
6. They’ll learn about responsibility in a fun way –responsibility for themselves, their dive buddy and our underwater world.
    
7.  As divers, your kids will better understand the significance of our impact on our oceans, and want to protect them for their kids. Your grand kids.
    
8. As the responsible parent that you are, you can support and reinforce their dive training by teaching the kids additional lessons in responsibility. Like responsibility for doing (your) household chores, cleaning (your) car, fixing (your) yard, etc etc.

   (OK this may be a bit of a reach but it's worth a try - right?)

9. You’ll have a great excuse reason to take a dive vacation (or 2) every year. And as divers, the kids will never be bored on vacation ever again.
    
10. To help with the 'bored' thing: gift them one of the cool fish ID books so they can become marine-life nerds when they're not diving.

    (This may become important to you later - keep reading, this is going somewhere...)

11. If you’re not (all) divers yet, get certified together, as a family. Instead of being "Mum and Dad" you'll all be in a different role: learning, overcoming challenges and discovering new, cool things. Together.
     
12. If you're at different levels of certification, take a PADI Specialty course together once the kids are certified: a pretty cool thing to achieve and experience, together.
     
13. From the outset, encourage the kids to go on to become a PADI Divemaster, as this is when they can start becoming significantly more useful to you.
     
14. Support them entirely, utterly and completely when they decide to become a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor.
    
    This is not only when the kids start becoming even more useful to you, it's also a very important step for achieving the ultimate goal ...
     
15. ... Encourage them even more entirely, utterly and completely to have their own dive shop as soon as possible. In a warm, beautiful destination with awesome diving, conveniently and affordably reachable from your closest airport.

Because then:
➤ FREE dive vacations for you for EVER!

Even if being a professional dive bum isn't quite what you have in mind for your kids' future, wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to share something you love, together...?

No matter where you'll be spending your next family vacation, the kids can start their PADI dive courses today if you like - via PADI e-learning - and complete their courses on your next family (dive) vacation. 

So you can dive together, somewhere amazing.

Like Curacao: one of the world’s top dive destination for example: an awesome, year-round vacation destination.

With easy flight access, the 2019 Curacao International Dive Festival coming up and plenty of activities to keep you and / or the kids as busy - or as chilled - as you like.

 

So to get started on turning the kids into something useful?
 

thedivebus.reservations@gmail.com

#learntodive #divecuracao #divingcuracao #scubacourses #curacao #thedivebus #scubadivingcuracao #padi #padidivecenter #PADI #kidsdiving #familydiving #shoredivingadventures #padidivecourse #divetravel #LearntoDive #scubavacation #christmasvacation #schoolvacation

Are YOUR favourite dive centers and destinations nominated in the DIVE Magazine Travel Awards..?

If Curacao and / or The Dive Bus are among your favourites, the answer is: YES!

(And if you nominated either or both, a massive thank you!)

DIVE magazine is the world's leading scuba magazine, and their annual DIVE Magazine Travel Awards is one of the world's largest online scuba travel polls.

Hugely popular, the annual DIVE Magazine Travel Awards give divers like you the opportunity to nominate and vote for your favourite scuba diving destinations, dive centres /resorts and liveaboards, world-wide.

In last year's Awards, both Curacao and The Dive Bus finished 15th (ish) out of gazillions (ish) of destinations and dive centers around the world, thanks to you, our awesome divers.

In this year's Awards, divers nominated 78 dive destinations, 470 dive centers / resorts and 215 liveaboards from around the world. And, thanks to you:

Curacao as a dive destination and
The Dive Bus as a dive center /resort
are through to the final 25 -
for the 2nd year running!

Casting YOUR vote in the DIVE Travel Awards makes a difference, takes minutes - and puts you in the running to win a free subscription to the digital issue of DIVE Magazine. 

And if YOUR favourite dive center or dive destination is in the final 25, you can be sure they'll appreciate your vote and support. (Well, if it's a vote for Curacao and or The Dive Bus, we will, for sure!)

So when you have a spare minute...

 ...click here to cast your vote
for your favourite 3 dive destinations and dive centers

The winning dive centers and dive destinations will be announced this November at DEMA in Orlando, Florida. And, after the success of The Dive Bus DEMA Debut last year, on "The Dive Bus International Chilled Out Tour *", we'll be there for the final results.... 

*Fun tales from The Dive Bus Seriously Fun Chilled Out Tour, including the DEMA Debut,
coming whenever we can find a spare minute to write them!

And if this Blog post has got you thinking about your next dive vacation, you may want to check this one out, too:

#divecuracao #thedivebus #curacao #divemagazine #best-dive-centres-in-the-world #seriouslyfundiving #divemagazine #divetravelawards ##divemagazine #curacaodiving #divetravelaward