Here in Curacao that means "Good Day" and thanks for asking about the diving at HABITAT CURACAO. Americans are just starting to discover what Europeans have known for years; Curacao is a diver's paradise! Year round perfect weather, scenic sheltered coves, beautiful reefs and dramatic wall dives only a few kicks from shore.

HABITAT CURACAO is located on the Southwest coast of the island in a peaceful, quiet area about 1/2 hour drive from town. The resort was built with diving in mind; gear lockers and rinse tanks on the dock, separate docks for shore diving and boat diving, 24 hour tank availability and the opportunity to do 2-tank boat dives both morning or afternoon. Instruction is available in English, Dutch, German, Spanish and the colorful local language Papiamentu at every level from Resort Course through Assistant Instructor including specialties such as Nitrox and Rebreathers! We also have a top-notch Photo Pro Chris who'll teach you how to take incredible underwater shots, repair your system, or capture your dive on photo or video for you. Don't miss his Tuesday night slideshow on the beach!

The "DIVING FREEDOM" concept first made famous by Capt. Don on Bonaire means our Antillean Divemasters respect your skills and abilities and you are free to plan your own profiles and dive as you wish. If you'd like to tag along with a Divemaster, they have an uncanny knack for finding seahorses and frogfish on almost every site. "DIVING FREEDOM" means you can dive our beautiful "House Reef" anytime, 24 hours a day and enjoy the schools of tangs, wrasse and juvenile spotted drums darting about. All divers receive an orientation and shore dive their first morning to refresh skills and fine tune buoyancy control. The fully stocked diveshop has all those little items you may have forgotten and Dive Manager Mike can fix almost anything, pronto! While there is no reef or Marine Park fee we ask all divers to keep the reef as beautiful as they found it by not touching the corals, removing anything from the sea and practicing good buoyancy control. Daily buoyancy control workshops are offered at no extra charge.

The entire island of Curacao is surrounded by a fringing reef located only 50 - 200 yards offshore. The drop-off starts shallow at roughly 20 feet and falls off at varying angles from 45 - 90 degrees in some places to depths well beyond the limit of recreational scuba. The richest coral formations are found between 20 - 70 feet thus enabling lengthy bottom times using a multilevel dive profile. Water temperatures range from 77 F in the winter to 82 F in the summer. Visibility is a consistent 80 - 150 feet with little or no current. Landside you'll find a sunny upper 80's everyday year round with a refreshing easterly breeze.

Some divesites not to miss while boat-diving are "Mushroom Forest and Cave". Aptly named because of the large numbers of mountainous star corals that have been bio-eroded at their bases giving a mushroom shape. Look for white and purple cleaning shrimp servicing snappers under the overhangs, pufferfish hiding in the soft corals, spotted drums, lazy turtles and maybe even an eagle ray! Right against the cliff inside from the "Mushroom Forest" is the "Mushroom Cave" which you can actually snorkel into or dive its 15 feet depth. This enormous grotto is filled with silversides, glassy sweepers, soldierfish and the walls of the cave are lined with bright orange cup corals. Look along the floor of the cave for peacock flounders and Caribbean lobsters.

"El Rancho" is the place to dive for seahorses enmasse. Only 20 feet below the boat you'll be surrounded by a forest of soft corals with colorful seahorses playing at their bases.

"Seldom" is an exciting divesite conducted as a drift dive. "Seldom" visited by divers because the drop-off is so close to the cliff that boats cannot moor there this steep vertical wall boasts exceptional visibility (usually over 100 feet!) and virgin corals covered with 100's of different color plume worms. Keep an eye in the blue water too for barracudas and ocean triggerfish.

HABITAT CURACAO has a fleet of 4 door Toyota pick-ups available at the front desk to rent from $47 US per day or $6 US per hour (3 hour minimum) if you want to shore dive in many of the nearby coves or head into town for some shopping. For snack, souvenirs and sundries visit our Nos Marshe shop open 8 - 12 and 1 - 5 daily. We also have Sharky's restaurant and bar with fresh seafood specials, bountiful buffets and daily Happy Hour. Don't miss the Folkloric Dance Show every Thursday night.

We hope this answers many of your questions about the diving at HABITAT CURACAO. Check out our website at http://www.habitatdiveresorts.com or for detailed rate, accomodation and package information contact our agent Omni Divers Underwater Services, L.L.C. dba Omni Travel Adventures at 1-208-345-1990 or e-mail omnidive@omnidivers.com. The Curacao Department of Tourism at 1-800-3-CURACAO has some colorful brochures and information on island activities and events. Other great Curacao websites are http://www.curacao.com, http://www.curacao-tourism.com and http://www.curacao-online.net.

HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON!