Our new (old) dive boat - the "Palavos"

Hello everybody,

Finally we got her back - after long refurbishing efforts the "Palavos" is back in the water and ready to take divers and snorkellers out for exciting trips to the marvellous reefs around the island of Curacao!

"Palavos" is big (fitting easily 20 divers +, if necessary), beautiful and comfortable. Some people get so excited about her that they even stand on their heads in front of the boat:





We hope to see you on board soon!

Kind regards from Curacao

Andreas

___________________________________________


Hallo zusammen,

endlich ist es soweit:

Nach lang andauernden und gründlichen Überholungsarbeiten ist die "Palavos" wieder im Wasser und bereit, Taucher und Schnorchler zu den fantastischen Riffen rund um Curacao zu fahren!

"Palavos" ist groß (20 Taucher, wenn notwendig ein paar mehr, finden bequem Platz), schön und komfortabel - einige Gäste geraten bereits dermaßen aus dem Häuschen, dass sie vor dem Boot Kopfstände machen:



Wir würden uns freuen, Euch auch bald mal an Bord begrüßen zu können!!!

Viele Grüße aus Curacao

Andreas

Dolphins - some people get lucky at Ocean Encounters West!

Hello Divers,

Who of you would not like to encounter wild dolphins during a dive?

Our guest Victoria Vater got that lucky a couple of days ago - preparing for a normal dive at Alice in Wonderland right in front of Ocean Encounters West dive shop she could not know that she would have the time of her life during exactly that dive: A pod of dolphins showed up and curiously circled Victoria and her dive buddy to find out more about these strange bubblemakers. The encounter may have been short, but Victoria was able to provide us with the follwing video as a proof of this rare diving adventure.

I hope I will have this experience one day too!

Kind regards from Curacao

Andreas

Hallo Taucher,

wer von uns möchte nicht einmal mit frei lebenden Delfinen tauchen?

Unser Gast Victoria Vater hatte vor ein paar Tagen dieses Glück, als sie einen eigentlich ganz alltäglichen Tauchgang an unserem Hausriff "Alice in Wonderland" machte: Eine Delfinschule tauchte auf und umkreiste die Taucher neugierig, um mehr über diese merkwürdigen Blasenmacher herauszufinden. Die Begegnung mag kurz gewesen sein, aber Victoria ist es gelungen, uns das obige Video als Beweis für dieses seltene Unterwasser-Abenteuer zur Verfügung zu stellen!

Ich hoffe, ich habe eines Tages auch einmal so viel Glück!

Viele Grüße aus Curacao

Andreas

Night Diving in Westpunt, Curacao

Hi divers,

It is not only big fun to go diving by daylight - our house reefs at All West Apartments and Ocean Encounters West are also very beautiful at night:

Many fascinating creatures "get out of bed" only after the evening sunset, and you don't want to miss seeing them! Just see some examples below - a reef octopus, a spotted spiny lobster and an arrow crab (sure, the latter you can also see during the day). I took these pictures on a night dive at Alice in Wonderland, the dive site right in front of Ocean Encounters West.

To make night dives a positive adventure, make sure you visit the dive site by day and find your navigation references for the night dive.

If you never dove at night before, it might be a good idea to join a guided night dive with our instructors or take the PADI Night Diver Specialty Course with us; you will soon agree that night diving is a lot of fun :-)

Best regards from Curacao,
Andreas













Hallo Taucher!

Nicht nur tagsüber ist Tauchen das größte Vergnügen auf unserer schönen Insel, unsere Hausriffe vor den All West Appartements und unserer Tauchbasis Ocean Encounters West haben auch nachts sehr viel zu bieten:

Viele interessante Tiere kommen zumeist erst nach Sonnenuntergang "aus dem Bett" wie zum Beispiel der Riff-Oktopus oder die Languste auf den Fotos oben. Zugegeben, die Pfeil-Gespensterkrabben sieht man auch tagsüber... Die Bilder habe ich auf einem Nachttauchgang in Alice in Wonderland geschossen.

Um Nachttauchgänge zu einem Abenteuer im positiven Sinne zu machen, empfiehlt es sich, den angepeilten Tauchplatz bereits tagsüber zu besuchen und sich Navigationsmarken für nachts zu merken.

Wer zum ersten Mal im Dunkeln abtauchen möchte, kann sich gern einem begleiteten Nachttauchgang mit einem unserer Tauchlehrer anschließen oder den PADI Spezialkurs "Nachttauchen" bei uns machen. Dann werdet Ihr bald auch feststellen, wieviel Spaß es macht, im Dustern zu tauchen :-)

Mit fröhlichem Flossenschlag aus Curacao
Andreas

INSTRUCTOR DEVELOPMENT COURSE - 2008 September 18, 2008

INSTRUCTOR CANDIDATE;

OCEAN ENCOUNTERS would like to invite you to attend our next PADI INSTRUCTOR DEVELOPMENT COURSE in Curaçao.

DATE: DECEMBER 5th-15th.

PRICES:
At the end of this list you will see a price list for the required materials for the course. You will need to be able to access these materials at any time during the IDC. Prices are based on our PADI Rating and discount level and are extended directly to you. Prices are inclusive so there are no hidden fees. All payments made in cash will not be charged 5% Sales Tax.

Ocean Encounters is the premier PADI Gold Palm 5 Star IDC dive Center in Curaçao. We are a family owned and operated company with 7 dive boats and 5 locations throughout Curaçao. You are ensured a quality IDC with Staff experienced in Dive Center Operations..

For more information read the FAQ’s below or contact Christian at explorer@oceanencounters.com

If you are not yet a Divemaster but are interested in becoming one we have career plans available.

FAQ’s

Q: What are the prerequisites for participating in an IDC?

A: To be eligible for an IDC you must be a certified PADI Divemaster and EFR Instructor or hold a leadership level certification from another diver training organization. Be 18 years of age at the start of the program. Be approved for diving by a physician. Be a certified diver for at least six months. You must have at least 60 logged dives with experience in Deep, Navigation, and Night diving.

Q: Why should I do my IDC at Ocean Encounters?

A: OE prides itself in quality of education and service. What better place to learn about teaching standards than a facility which actively monitors the performance of its instructors and holds dedicated standards workshops to make sure every student we certify has had the most up to date and comprehensive training possible.

Q: Who’s your Course Director?

A: Our Course Director is Christian Ambrosi 181051. Christian has been actively diving since 1991. In 1996 he became an Assistant Instructor. In 2001 after moving to Curaçao he became an Instructor. Christian has over 5000 dives all over the world, including technical and cave diving and goes diving for vacation! Christian’s experience as an instructor and a dive shop owner/manager ensures you’ll get training and experience from someone with the knowledge of running, operating, and participating in all Dive Shop activities.
OE IDC’s are always staffed with a Master Instructor/Staff Instructor that work not only as Instructors but as Dive Store Managers.

Q: What are Instructor Exams?

A: In order to avoid bias grading and evaluation PADI sends down independent testers to evaluate the Instructors prior to certification. These Exams are right after the IDC and are usually grouped with the term “IDC” when it is being discussed.

Q: How long will the IDC/IE take?

A: The IDC takes about 8 days. The Instructor Exams are two half days and the after party is 1. Ocean Encounters also offers a theory prep evening with pizza and drinks the night before the IDC. In total you should schedule 12-13 days.

Q: Where can I stay and how much does that cost?

A: Your best option us using our “Sleep and Dive” Packages found on our website by calling 1-877- SCUBA – EZ, or emailing uscan@oceanencounters.com. The IDC will take place at Lions Dive Hotel so your best option is staying at Lions Dive or at Breezes.

Q: How much will the IDC cost?

A: You can determine the cost of the IDC by using the Cost Calculator. At the moment you will have to e-mail Explorer@oceanencounters.com and request it. Soon this will be available for download at www.oceanencounters.com

Q: How do I secure a spot in the IDC?

A: You can secure a spot in our next IDC by making payment with our US/Canada sales rep at uscan@oceanencounters.com or 1-877-SCUBA-EZ (728-2239).

IDC Cost Calculator This sheet will be posted as an interactive sheet for you to work on to view your total IDC cost. This does not include hotel or airfare

Tuition including EFRI $420.00 1 420.00
Instructor Application $100.00 1 100.00
Examination Fee $460.00 1 460.00
MSDT Prep (Nitrox, Deep, Digital Photo including participant manuals and Instructor outlines) $375.00
EFRI Application $36.00
EFRI Manual Primary,
Secondary, CFC, CPR/AED $41.74
EFR C.For Children Man. $6.23
EFR Primary,
Secondary Manual $6.23
PADI Inst.Manual (bk/CD)$96.03
Inst.candidate workbook $28.63
PPB Outline $7.58
Project Aware Outline $7.58
AWARE Reef Outline $7.58
Open Water Manual $19.78
O/Water Quizess/Exams $3.90
Adv.in Diving manual $16.98
Rescue Diver Manual $15.89
Rescue Exam $2.54
Divemaster Manual $14.55
Divemaster Exams $4.13
Encyclopedia $18.50
Diving Knowledge Workbk $8.46
Conf. Water Prep slate $5.99
Open Water Prep slate $5.99
Open Water Cue Cards $13.39
Conf.Water Cue Cards $17.59
AOW Cue Cards $17.59
Rescue Cue Cards $28.04
Dive Master Slates $15.60
DSD Cue Card $3.46
Wheel $21.10
RDP $7.95
ERDP $12.96
Total $980.00
Books can be shipped directly to you. Deposit 10% $98.00
Prices are in Dollars

for further information: www.oceanencounters.com

CORAL SPAWNING

Coral Spawning 2008

September 20, 21 & 22

on these days our dive shop is open until 21:00.

We also have some discount prices for those evenings:
Tank + Weight + Dive Light + Full set Equipment $58,-
Tank + Weight + Dive Light $23,-
Guided Night dive including Full set Equipment + Dive Light $85,-
Guided Night dive including Dive Light $50,-

*****************************************

International Cleanup Day - September 20

Free Tank & Weights for all participants
Sign up at the dive shop

The red seahorse at Playa Kalki got company...

Hello everybody,


Our nice red-orange seahorse at Playa Kalki is not the only one: 2 weeks ago there was discovered a second (brown) one, also at safety-stop level. I never get bored anymore staying at 15ft of water for 3 or minutes :-)


To take the following pictures turned out to be quite dangerous as both seahorses found themselves some pretty fierce bodyguards - damselfish seem to be protecting them and bite me as hard as they can every time I point out a seahorse to other divers or try to take photos...


Best regards from Curacao

Andreas















Hallo zusammen,


unser Hausriff-Seepferdchen am Playa Kalki hat Verstärkung bekommen: Vor ca. 2 Wochen wurde ein zweites (braunes) gefunden, dass ebenfalls auf Sicherheitsstopp-Tiefe herumlungert - nie mehr langweilige 3 Minuten auf 5m :-)


Obige Fotos sind unter höchster Gefahr für Leib und Leben zustandegekommen, da beide Seepferdchen sich inzwischen sehr humorlose Leibwächter in Gestalt von kleinen Riffbarschen zugelegt haben, die mich jedes Mal mit aller Macht attackieren und beißen, wenn ich die Seepferdchen unseren Gästen zeigen oder ein Bild machen will...


Fröhliche Flossenschläge aus Curacao

Andreas

Seahorse at Playa Kalki!

Hi divers!

Hallo Taucher!

You know we have been spotting our "private" seahorses in front of All West Apartments since February, now. But since two weeks, we also know the home of a nice seahorse at Playa Kalki, our Ocean Encounters West housereef:

Wie Ihr wisst, beobachten wir vor den All West Appartements bereits seit Februar unsere "privaten" Seepferdchen. Vor 2 Wochen haben wir nun auch eines am Playa Kalki, dem Hausriff unserer Tauchbasis Ocean Encounters West entdeckt:





Alessandra also found this juvenile Highhat:

Alessandra hat auch diesen jungen Streifenritterfisch gefunden:




Alessandra at the end of our dive today:

Alessandra am Ende unseres heutigen Tauchgangs:



Sunny greetings from Curacao,

Andreas

Frog Fish and Sea Turtle

Hello everybody,

I would like to share with you two very nice encounters we had on our boat dives today:

In the morning, we ended up diving in between the boat moorings of Lagún and Playa Jeremy - very nice reef! And at the end of the dive, right under the boat, I found: the next Frog Fish :-)

Thank you to our guest Christopher Perez for providing me with this marvelous photo!

On the afternoon dive to Watamula, our divers met a beautiful sea turtle, and Friedl Pistecky from Austria got this video stream of it:

Have fun looking at it, and always safe diving!

Andreas

New Frogfish at Lagun

Hello everybody,

Yesterday I found a new frog fish sitting on our Friday morning dive-site Lagun :-) It is almost as big as my fist, of bright yellow, and obviously likes the sponge it's sitting on - today, it was still there; and if we are lucky, many more guests diving with us on Fridays may be able to see it and take pictures. It looks more or less like this:

Take care, and always good diving,

Andreas

Everything is possible - dolphins in front of All West Apartments

Hi there,

All West Apartments guests were happy people on Saturday and Monday: A group of approximately 40 dolphins stayed and played around in our housereef bay!

Our divers saw them from our diveboat, the "Orca"; they used the boat to surf in front of the bow - and they kept company with our guests who snorkelled out to meet them, for more than 1 hour :-) We even had a 6 year old boy snorkelling with them! On the way back to the beach he also saw his first stingray!

Kind regards from Curacao
Andreas

Hallo zusammen!

All West Apartments-Gäste bleiben die Glückspilze auf Curacao:

Am Samstag und Montag hat sich eine Schule von ca. 40 Delfinen in unserer Hausriffbucht getummelt. Unsere Tauchgäste haben sie von unserem Tauchboot "Orca" aus gesehen, in dessen Bugwelle sie gesurft haben. Schnorchelnde Apartmentgäste, einschließlich des erst 6-jährigen Joscha, haben die Delfine mehr als 1 Stunde lang bespaßt :-) Auf dem Rückweg zum Strand wurde dann noch ein Stachelrochen gesichtet!

Mit fröhlichem Flossenschlag aus der Karibik
Andreas

Seahorse in front of All West Apartments

Hi everybody,

All West Apartments guests are lucky since weeks:

A seahorse is staying in our housereef in the very shallow, so even snorkelers are able to see it! 2 weeks ago, it even had a companion; maybe they were trying to work on some more seahorses.

If you are planning to have a look and need some more information on where to find the seahorse, feel free to contact me: andreas@allwestcuracao.com.

Best regards
Andreas

Hallo zusammen,

All West Apartments Gäste haben in letzter Zeit Glück:

Ein Seepferdchen hat sich im Flachwasser in unserem Hausriff niedergelassen; auch Schnorchler können es mitunter bestaunen. Vor 2 Wochen hatte es sogar einen Gefährten - ob sich da wohl Nachwuchs anbahnt?

Wer sich das Seepferdchen anschauen möchte, und noch genauere Informationen zu dessen Standort benötigt, kann mich gern kontaktieren unter andreas@allwestcuracao.com.


Viele Grüße aus der Karibik

Andreas

Fotos of the Frogfish at Kortape Point

Many thanks to our guest Bob for providing us with these nice images:








Kortape Point is on our boat trip schedule every Wednesday morning!

Kind regards from Curacao
Andreas

Elvin's Planewreck has a new look

Hello everybody,

After we experienced rough seas a bit more than one week ago, Elvin's Planewreck now looks quite different: The body is broken in two parts, the cockpit is not longer in its place.

In my opinion, the wreck is an even more interesting dive now.

But maybe you'd rather join us on one of our next boat trips there to form your own opinion about it. I add a few photos to this post so you see roughly what you are up to.

Kind regards,

Andreas

PADI Digital Underwater Diver Course

Yesterday we had a PADI Digital Underwater Photography Course at Ocean Encounters West, and we would like to share some of the results with you; all these photos (except the portrait of herself and her father David) have been taken by Charleen from New Jersey with a Sealife ReefMaster Mini Digital Camera, some using also an external flash. The divesites were Alice in Wonderland - the housereef of Ocean Encounters West - and Elvin's Planewreck.

We are proud of the results obtained during the training dives, and invite divers interested in using a Digital Camera during their dives to contact us and maybe sign up for a course, too. You may bring your own camera, or - for a maximum of two students - we can also share Andreas' Sealife DC 600 featuring wideangle lense and external flash.

The photos show:

The Students: Charleen and David

Juvenile Parrotfishes and Blueheads feading on a Sergeant Major's nest
A swarm of French Grunts
A Scrawled Filefish

Dolphin Dive with Ocean Encounters and Dolphin Academy

Hi there,

Did you ever dream of diving with dolphins, and getting even to touch them? On the Ocean Encounters Dolphin Dive operated in cooperation with the Dolphin Academy at Curacao's Seawater Aquarium you can! I tried it on Monday, and was really amazed by this incredible animal encounter. We met the dolphins and their trainer in an open water environment out on a reef close to the aquarium. The 2 dolphins went zooming around like a pair of Quidditch-Players, but also came very close, so everybody could pet them! It was great to be with them :-)

If you want to try this, too, you can make your booking with Ocean Encounters West.

We are looking forward to seeing you soon!

Kind regards from Curacao,

Andreas

Whale Shark

Thank you to Olga and Harald for the picture of the whale shark.
We are waiting for him to come back to All West.

Frogfish at Kortape Point

Hi all,

on Wednesday I found the home of a frogfish new to us during our boat dive at Kortape Point. It looks similar to the one found by All West Apartments guests Ilona and Bernd in Februaray (see photo).

We offer boat trips leading to Kortape every Wednesday starting 8:30 am at Ocean Encounters West. The first dive-site on these trips is Hell's Corner.

Kind regards

Andreas

All West Apartments and Diving

Ocean Encounters West

Wale Shark at All West Curacao!!!

Over weeks now, we have been spotting eagle rays on a regular basis, same as 2 seahorses living right in front of All West Apartments (Thank you to Michael and Ilona for leaving me with these nice photo J):
On Tuesday this week, however, all this was topped by the most exciting encounter with a gigantic whale shark (at least 24ft long) that was spotted by our guests 2 times in our house reef and once right in front of our dive shop Ocean Encounters West at Playa Kalki!!! There has been more talking about that fish than about the group of approximately 30 dolphins passing by Playa Kalki on the same day.

Welcome to our blog!

To keep you informed about the news at Ocean Encounters West we opened this blog for you.

Feel free to also post your experience you had with us.