Curacao Diving w/Ocean Encounters

My wife and I just returned from a dive trip to Curacao.  We stayed at the Hilton and dove with Ocean Encounters.  We had great dives all four days.  Ocean Encounters was a great operation.  They took us to fantastic sites, the boats and crews were very professional, and the reefs were in great shape.  

We did Ocean Encounters special dive to East Point and Klein Curacao.  The seas were running 3-5 feet and we had to run into the wind for more than an hour to get to East Point, but the boat was big and stable and the dive was worth the ride.  We did a drift dive on the reef at East point, and it was truly remarkable.  Lots of soft corals, fish, an easy drift, and great dive guides.  At one point I almost lost my reg as my jaw dropped at the garden of soft corals along a shear vertical wall.  Beautiful stuff.

We did a night dive off the shore from the Hilton on our own with some divers we met at the hotel.  The reef to the south of the old tower just off the shore from the hotel was in very good shape.  Lots of shrimp, crabs, a lobster, and two giant turtles.  Great dive.

The Hilton was a nice base, but the food and food service could use some improvement.  Nice beach area, big infinity pool, two oceanside bars, and clean comfortable rooms.  Ocean Encounters operates a small dive shop out of the Hilton.  We were picked up at the Hilton by boat for two days, and we were given a complimentary car ride to the main shop at Lions Dive in town on two days.