Scuba Diving in Curacao

With its beautiful coral reefs, growing on lava rocks for over hundreds of centuries now, Curacao makes an excellent scuba diving spot and an ideal place for a fun filled holiday. Gardens of beautiful delicate corals, extending under water as massive coral formations reaching the depth of the ocean floors, are home to thousands of brightly colored tropical fish and sea creatures. There is little wonder that Curacao is popular for scuba diving as it offers the most magical sights of coral formations stretching across its south coast with deep-water fish patrolling the ocean around you.

Curacao has over 60 identified diving sites with their unforgettable sights and impressive reefs, 40 of which are accessible from the shore, making it one of the famous diving destinations in the Caribbean. Scuba diving in Curacao is a unique and exclusive experience and that is what sets it apart from rest of the Caribbean islands. Offering a diverse range of sea life and underwater landscapes, it gives a breathtaking view of the many exquisite fish and endangered marine life below the surface.

From playing dolphins to the almost extinct turtles, small brightly colored fish and pilot whales, Curacao’s diving ranges have a lot to offer. A few of the most famous diving destinations in Curacao include Playa Kalki, also known by many as Alice in the Wonderland for its perfect beaches and surrounding limestone cliffs. Visited every year by thousands of sun lovers and scuba divers it also caters some of the ideal spots for snorkeling and is one the best dive spots among the top ten on the island. Green moray eels, mushroom shaped star corals and lobsters are found in a wide range along with small colorful reef fish spread all around over the large coral plate.

San Nicolas is another area on the island that offers a number of excellent diving spots. Explore the spectacular landscape of the Mushroom Forrest and spend a day picnicking. This place is called Mushroom Forrest due to the abundant mountainous star coral growth on its sandy plateau, making it a great hiding place for many tiny underwater creatures. Whether you want to swim with schools of fingerlings or watch the sleeping nurse sharks time and again, these corals will offer you a variety of fish to observe, from trunkfish, to yellowtail snapper, grouper, parrotfish, spotted morays, lobsters and porcupine fish.

Known for its diversity and popular for its two parallel reefs, Porto Marie, also called ‘the Valley’ is home to some of the most unique reef life. Rare fish species like the nurse shark, yellowtail snapper, triggerfish, pairs of cornet fish, brown chromis and sting rays are a common sight in the reefs here.

The finest wrecks in the Caribbean can be found here in Curacao at Superior Producer, an outbound ship wrecked in rough waters. Dive in with a local diver and find a double reef there with plenty of deep water fish and abundant in coral. It’s a deep dive and offers much to explore.

Located in the southeast side of Caracas bay, the Tugboat is another popular site filled with great snorkeling locations. Accessible only by a boat, it’s another wreck that has been there for almost 25 years now and is a paradise for photography lovers, offering various diving choices. Encounter strong currents while you swim through crevices and shallow caverns amongst numerous scorpion fish, morays and lobsters.

These are only a few of the breathtaking locations in Curacao. So if you are in for some eco-friendly diving and wish to view the magical sights underwater, gear up for a dive with some of the world’s endangered and exotic sea creatures in Curacao now!