Since I was unable to attend Curaçao this past summer, I had to rely on those who did to do recaps. Dan and Grady volunteered Christina Frampton to write about one of the shore dives at Sunscape Resort in Curaçao.
Have you ever looked at something and your first impression is, “Oh my gosh, that’s awful” only to be immediately followed by the thought, “That’s amazing!” That was my reaction when I first saw what we now refer to as “Christina Reef” on the shores of Sunscape Resort in Curaçao.
Let me begin by saying that the shore dive at Sunscape Resort is worth the trip to Curaçao. We saw large lionfish, cuddle fish, an abundant amount of puffer fish, lobsters, sharptail eel, and some juvenile drums. On one night dive, we thought we hit the jackpot after seeing two octopus. A spotted eel decided he wouldn’t be shown up so as we were watching him. He sprang into action by grabbing a Blue Tang in a vicious attack. (Yes, I can scream quite loud with a regulator in my mouth.) He couldn’t crush the tang in his jaws so he wrapped his body in a knot while working on the tang. It was truly one of the most amazing displays of the food chain that I’ve ever witnessed and Carlene LaDue has it on video.
Heading West from the Resort
So you’re probably asking, “What is so terrible about seeing all that beautiful sea life?” Well, let me tell you. If you decide to journey out to the west and venture down to approximately 100 feet you are going to come across TONS and TONS of metal debris. I’m talking, a barge, several cars, trucks, beams from an old bridge and more car bumpers than we could count because this pile went on and on. You couldn’t even see the end of the mess.
I was in awe. All I could do was just look at it in dismay while wondering why would they do this? How long are they going to continue doing this because? By the looks of the various ages of vehicles down there, it’s been going on for decades. As we ascended and began our way back to our entry point, I couldn’t get over that sight. I was so disappointed that so many people think it’s OK to dump in the ocean. Or the fact that this pile of metal was marked with a buoy. It is considered a “must see” highlighted dive spot at the resort.
I admit it was a sight to see. It was so big. You couldn’t take it all in and with it beginning at 100 feet you couldn’t take much time to explore. As soon as we surfaced, all I could do was exclaim, “That was awful!” Apparently, a little too loud while being so close to the dive shop – oops! However, that was the only way I could express my feelings for what we had just observed.
As terrible as this site is, I will definitely visit it once again when we return in July. I’m looking forward to hearing some of your responses once you see it. Will you agree that it is awful yet amazing?
Christina’s reef will be one of our 1st dives in Curaçao, also a dive we will repeat during the week, both day and night dives.