Cruise Divers: Curacao, Royal Caribbean

Date dove: 12/07
Booked through ship? no
Operator: Hook's Diving http://www.hooksdiving.com/
Air Temp: 85° F
Water Temp: 80° F
Vis: 50-60 ft
Depth: 46 ft
Return factor? For the quality of diving, we'd go here again anyway we could. This was our first time on Curacao, but we felt right at home. It seemed laid back and slow paced, but clean and modern. We saw several resorts and hotels that we would like to try for a land based vacation. Prices for those on the Internet don't look too outrageous and a quick search of airfares from DFW turned up some reasonable prices. We will look for cruise itineraries that include Curacao.
Information about the island: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cura%C3%A7ao

We had originally booked the ship's package, but that was cancelled by the operator due to Norovirus on board the ship. Luckily other divers on board had information about operators to choose from and we got on the ship's phone as we arrived in port to make arrangements for the eleven divers on board that wanted to dive. Two lessons here: always take printouts of your research with you that has operator's phone numbers and locations, AND don't hesitate to ask Guest Relations to use the phone to make your arrangements.

Hooks offered us shore dives, but after we completed that their morning boat had returned and took us out for a one tank dive. We took taxis to the shop, but the Hook's staff offered us a ride back to the port in their van. We thought they ran a fine operation and would not have a problem recommending them.

The first dive was a shore dive at what they called Hook's Hut Reef. It did require a bit of a surface swim, and the directions to the reef were a little vague. When we did drop down to find the reef vis was only around 15 feet and we started to wonder what we'd done wrong. It took a few minutes and a resurface, but we finally found the right spot and the vis improved to around 50 feet. The reef was badly damaged, but fish populations were extremely healthy. We stayed fairly shallow to extend the dive, but the wall dropped away to an unknown depth.

The second dive was on Hook's small boat. They took us down the shore to Blue Bay Resort, where we dove Blue Bay Wall. It was probably the best dive of our 11 night cruise. The water was clear and blue, only a slight current. The wall is an underwater extension of a cliff that forms the resort's cove. Because of a slight wind towards the cliff, the boat dropped us about 40 feet away from the wall. We dropped down and made the easy swim to the wall. Coral here was in pristine condition and fish populations were phenomenal. If you like wall flying, this spot is perfect for that. The topography changes occasionally causing the edge of the wall to disappear from beneath you at numerous points so that you find yourself soaring above the blue water beside the reef. It's an awesome feeling. Again we stayed shallow to maximize bottom time, but deeper diving is definitely possible here if that's your thing. We liked that Hook's guide allowed us to dive on our own or with him. And this was one of the few dives on our trip that we didn't come up with half a tank of air wasted.