Man cannot live by dive alone — you’ve gotta surface sooner or later, and when you do, you’ve gotta refuel. The southern Caribbean island of Curaçao offers options from authentic local cuisine influenced by the region’s rich cultural history — and served in fun, casual settings — to the finest of fine dining. Here’s a quick look at some options, above and below.

Courtesy Ocean Encounters (oceanencounters.com)

Start your Curaçao explorations with a dolphin dive, provided exclusively by Ocean Encounters Diving and Dolphin Academy. After a short briefing, a quick boat trip will take you to a shipwreck, where you’ll be met by the trainer and dolphins. Have your camera, and your smiles, ready to go. (oceanencounters.com)

Courtesy Ocean Encounters (oceanencounters.com)

For a fine-dining experience with spectacular views of Willemstad, book a channelside table at Bistro Le Clochard, serving Swiss and French cuisine in the historic renovated Rif Fort since 1978. Call ahead to ensure you can try the signature dish, Le Potence: succulent tenderloin cubes cooked at your table on solid steel spikes, “the most ingenious spectacle that will ever adorn your table.” The enormous tarpon drawn to the restaurant lights also are a spectacle in themselves. (bistroleclochard.com)

Mary Frances Emmons

Not far off the Rif Fort lies one of the Caribbean's best wreck dives, the Superior Producer. This cargo freighter sunk in 1977 sits upright at 100 feet, covered with corals and orange cup sponges and surrounded by great barracudas. Note that this advanced dive can be done only when cruise ships are not present, so plan ahead. (oceanencounters.com)

Courtesy Ocean Encounters (oceanencounters.com)

Catch another great view of the colorful Willemstad waterfront — the Amsterdam of the Caribbean — from the Restaurant & Café Gouverneur de Rouville, built on an Otrabanda waterfront site first developed in 1737. (de-gouverneur.com)

Mary Frances Emmons

Willemstad’s Gouverneur is a great place to try a Curaçao specialty: the incredibly yummy keshi yena, a “stuffed cheese” made with melted gouda, chicken and prunes that also can include raisins, beans, or whatever the cook has on hand. (de-gouverneur.com)

Mary Frances Emmons

One of Curaçao’s most famous dive sites is Mushroom Forest, on the island’s western end. It’s named for its proliferation of fanciful star corals shaped like giant mushrooms. Surface intervals often include a snorkel at the magical Blue Room, a sea cavern that shimmers with silversides. (oceanencounters.com)

Courtesy Ocean Encounters (oceanencounters.com)

This cozy, casual West Punt restaurant in an old farmhouse is just outside the Christoffel National Park. It’s a great place to try regional Curaçao specialties like iguana, goat and conch — watching the resident flocks of tiny yellow bananaquits will keep you amused while you wait for your food.

Mary Frances Emmons

Although it’s known for wrecks like Superior Producer and famous sites like Mushroom Forest, Curaçao is also a great place to spot macro like this longsnout seahorse. (oceanencounters.com)

Courtesy Ocean Encounters (oceanencounters.com)

Fabulous food doesn’t have to cost much in Curaçao’s capital — do not miss a stop at Willemstad’s Marshe Bieuw, or Old Market, which today operates as a sort of multi-vendor communal kitchen where traditional dishes like this amazing goat stew are prepared and served family-style at picnic tables in a covered, open-air shed.

Mary Frances Emmons

It’s said that everything is bigger — and there’s more of it — off Klein Curaçao, Curaçao’s small, pristine sister island to the east. (oceanencounters.com)

Courtesy Ocean Encounters (oceanencounters.com)

Finish your Curaçao tour with a sunset stop at hilltop Tempoe Doeloe, an Indonesian-influenced restaurant specializing in the Rijstafel, or rice table, where an array of small dishes is brought to the table at once for an Indonesian-style feast. The restaurant’s broad terrace with Bali-style decor is a great place to watch the sun go down over Willemstad and the Caribbean Sea beyond. (www.tempodoeloe.net)

Mary Frances Emmons