Scuba Diving Curacao's Colorful Coral Reefs

I’ve been forewarned by Go West Diving’s Anne-Marie Vermeer that scuba diving through the Mushroom Forest is like being dropped into a Salvador Dali painting. The strange dive site found off Curaçao’s northwest coast is named for its unique geological formations scattered throughout the reef; these rocky outcroppings all have caps of star coral that give them the appearance of giant fungi.

Mushroom Forest is certainly a surreal experience. I feel as though I’m swimming through a fantasy landscape — all around me gigantic toadstools reach into the sky. Instead of fairies, gnomes or the Cheshire Cat, however, it’s fish that populate this storybook setting.

Everywhere I turn, I’m greeted by bluehead wrasse, damselfish, trunkfish and butterflyfish. At one point we even encountered a juvenile green sea turtle as he drifted lazily over our heads.

The coral canopies make excellent hiding places for all manner of sea creatures. Looking underneath the corals yields blennies, spotted drums and red grouper all trying to stay out of sight. Plenty of eels have also taken up residence inside the forest. Snowflake and green morays look perfectly at home in this fantasyland, poised like dragons protecting their treasure from nosy divers.

Curaçao — a small Caribbean island 35 miles off the coast of Venezuela — rounds out the ABC islands, along with Aruba and Bonaire. While officially a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the island boasts a colorful blend of cultures that adds up to something entirely unique. The influence of the islanders and their shared history can be found in everything from the local language to the cuisine to even the diving itself.

IN THE FIELD

What's it like to dive these sites? Check out our videos that were shot in the field:

• Mushroom Forest
• Watamula
• Director's Bay
• Superior Producer

INTO THE WEST

Our introduction to Curaçao’s underwater wonders begins in Westpunt, the west end of the island. Far from the colorful heart of downtown Willemstad, the terrain here is rocky and arid.

Cactuses and other desertlike plants cover the dry ground beneath the volcanic mountains that hint at Curaçao’s undersea origins.

After our dive at Mushroom Forest, we visit one of the west end’s hidden gems: Watamula. The name is derived from the Dutch word for watermill and is a reference to the two currents that flow across the site. These currents can be a touch unpredictable, so our dive guide Daniel Wilson splashes in before us to test the waters. The payoff, he tells us, is one of the most beautiful reefs in the Caribbean.

I’d be hard-pressed to disagree. Once we drop below the waterline, it’s corals as far as the eye can see — which is pretty far considering 100-foot viz is the norm. The bottom is filled with gardens of lettuce and flower corals mixed with colonies of brain and finger corals. Barrel sponges large enough to hide divers are flanked by tube sponges and soft corals. Farther along the reef, we pass a small colony of pillar corals reaching toward the surface.

Scanning along the reef, I’m surprised to find that what at first appears to be a boulder is in fact an oddly shaped crustacean called a slipper lobster. Neither a true lobster nor a piece of footwear, this strange clawless creature has broad platelike antennae that make it look more like a pill bug than your typical shellfish. It stands its ground as diver after diver stops to get a picture.

“There are always turtles and big, big schools of creole wrasse and things like that,” Vermeer says of the additional score of critters that thrives in this marine metropolis.

The coral reefs of Watamula are some of the healthiest on the island, she says. “That’s true for the whole area because it’s not so built up like the other side of the island and other Caribbean islands.”

Curaçao is also out of the path of the Hurricane Belt. Tropical storms tend to pass at a distance. During Hurricane Lenny in 1999, there was some damage from increased wave action. But topside, Vermeer says, “it was only surge on a nice, sunny day.”

ROYAL GETAWAY

Curaçao exists as it does today in large part due to the economic growth provided by the lucrative oil refineries of the Royal Dutch Shell Company, and in some ways, its dive sites do too.

We begin our second day of scuba diving at a site known as Director’s Bay with Ocean Encounters, an operator located 10 minutes from Willemstad. The site’s named after an accompanying stretch of beach that once belonged to the director of the Shell Company. Now open to the public, this popular destination was once a holidaymaking spot for Dutch royalty.

That’s all well and good, but we’re here to dive, not sunbathe. Switching gears from history lesson to dive briefing, our dive guide, Pol Bosch, describes the lay of the water. “This site compiles the best topography of Curaçao; it starts with a sandy slope, where gorgonians and sponges start to merge with hard corals. Later, that healthy slope turns into a wall.”

Minutes later, we’re geared up and in the water ready to go. We make our way across the sand while watching the soft corals swaying with the current. As we pass by, we keep an eye out for all manner of camouflaged fish: trumpetfish hiding in the branches of corals, scorpionfish pretending to be boulders, and even a flounder blending in with the sand. As I snap a picture of the flounder, it realizes that the jig is up and goes skipping across the reef.

“That’s my favorite part,” says Ocean Encounters’ managing director Jeremiah Peek, “watching the flounders coast through the sand like Star Wars landspeeders.”

Plenty of hard corals cover the reef as well, and soon I find myself weaving between outcrops of lettuce, brain and pencil corals. But while the shallow reef is just as beautiful as a twin sunset on Tatooine, it’s only a prequel for the galaxy of wonder that waits below. The topography takes a sudden turn, straight down. We cruise along the wall at about 70 feet, taking our time to stop and smell the roses. Spotted drums, lionfish and eels all take advantage of the wall’s hiding spots.

When you turn your back to the wall, it’s a different show altogether. Out in the blue, we spot a 5-foot barracuda watching us from afar. Schools of snapper and horse-eye jacks swim in and out of view. Director’s Bay is also known for another distinguishing feature. “Back in the day, Queen Beatrix from the Netherlands used to swim here, and they built a fence in the water to protect her against sharks,” says Peek. We pass this oddity on our return in about 30 feet of water.

Reduced to a few remaining poles by time and weather, it is still easy to imagine how this dilapidated structure would once have looked like a barricade in Jurassic Park. Though it was never a real barrier to sharks — Curaçao doesn’t really have any — the remaining rubble has found a new purpose as a home for a colony of elkhorn coral.

THE SUPERIOR PRODUCER

Our final dive is the superior one. The Superior Producer — a 170-foot cargo ship that was stripped of its goods by Curaçaon divers after its sinking in the 1970s — is full of treasures of a different variety these days.

As we fin after Peek underwater, the wreck is hidden from view by a living curtain of fish. A gigantic baitball of big-eye scads swims nonchalantly as we approach. Locally called masbangos, these fish slowly part to let us through. I’m tempted to spend my time watching the show performed by the fish so famous that they have a street named after them on the island.

But off in the distance I can begin to make out the hull of the Producer, and my curiosity wins out. As we approach, I see dozens of silvery tarpon swimming about the wreck. The fish are on average 6 to 7 feet long and fearless. A couple of them are waiting to greet us as we pass between the ship’s propellers. Peek likes to use the Superior Producer for first-time nitrox users. Taking an extended stroll through the ship is a great way for divers to “truly understand the benefits of EANx with an extended bottom time on this magnificent wreck.”

We don’t need any more prompting than that. Our whole group opts to take the scenic route, using our extended no-deco time to savor every inch of the 170-foot shipwreck. We start with a swim through the pilothouse, where I pause for a moment to watch the tarpon passing by the windows. From there, we descend into the belly of the beast: the cargo hold.

While hardly an overhead environment, the hold still has a cavernous feel. What was probably a claustrophobic nightmare of cargo the night of the sinking is now a vast, open expanse. I can’t shake the feeling that I’m swimming through the skeleton of some gigantic sea creature.

Curtains of soft corals hang down from overhead, adding to the atmosphere, as tarpon continue to glide by unabashedly.

Before reaching the wall, we glide up and out. As we pass over the bow, sergeant majors defend their nests with vigor. Little do they realize that as they nip at diving giants, blue-headed wrasses have sneaked by their defenses, capitalizing on the unintended distraction. We drop back onto the sand in order to look back at the ship. Its massive hull is encrusted with cup corals and sponges. Angelfish cling to the wreck as well, orienting themselves to swim along its man-made geography.

With one last glance, we swim back toward shallower water. There, the Superior Producer has one last surprise for us. A small reef sits adjacent to the wreck, allowing us one final look at Curaçao’s diverse aquatic realm during our safety stop before the inevitable boat ride back to shore.

EAST-END GEMS

Curaçao’s west coast gets plenty of deserved recognition, but if you head toward the rising sun and the island’s southeast tip, you’ll be rewarded with some of its most pristine dive sites.

Hamrack
When the weather is calm, this site — located close to one of the island’s natural water inlets — can deliver encounters with big fish. As the slope becomes less severe, current picks up, and schooling jacks and barracuda flourish.

Secrets
Start at the shallows, which are covered with elkhorn and staghorn corals, and follow the wall down to 70 feet. The cracks and crevices along the way hold secrets of their own: resident nurse sharks and moray eels.

Kathy’s Paradise
This dive starts on a shallow plateau and drops down to about 100 feet. Look for eels, lobsters, turtles and stingrays as you descend, and if you’re really lucky, you’ll spot a seahorse.

DIVERS GUIDE TO CURAÇAO

Average water temp: Between 70 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit

Average viz: 100 feet

What to wear: 3 or 5 mm wetsuit in colder months, depending on your depth

When to go: Year round (with the best chances to dive Superior Producer May through September)

Dive operators: Go West Diving; Ocean Encounters

For more info