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Curaçao |
We need trip reports from from folks who
have recently visited Sunset Waters Beach Resort. |
| Cliff and Patti - September 2002/2003/2004 |
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Exciting is the word to describe the Sunset
Waters experience in Curacao. You vacation on a desert island, frolic with
friends both old and new, dine in an open air restaurant, relax on the ocean
bay or around the swim-up bar at the pool, shop in a European look city,
explore caves, climb mountains, tour an aquarium or animal preserve. Sunset
Waters offers the chance to meet like-minded nudists from Europe, South
America, South Africa, Canada, Caribbean Islands and the United States.
Ooorrr---you could just lie around resting and reading.
Curacao is 35
miles off the coast of Venezuela between the islands of Aruba and Bonaire. It
gets only 22 inches of rain each year yielding a desert island with cactus and
scrub trees. The landscape is ruggedly beautiful with mountains, ocean bays and
rolling vistas. The roads are good and driving is really no problem.
This is the fourth annual nude week at Sunset Waters. Patti and I have attended
all four and hosted the last three. Many couples will be returning for the
fourth time as well. It is always wonderful to see friends again and again. The
staff at Sunset Waters is dedicated to guests having a wonderful experience at
their resort. Their smiles are contagious. They even re-open the pool bar after
dinner for the enjoyment of the Castaways guests.
A gigantic thatched
roof shields the dining room from the elements. Dining with views of the ocean,
spectacular sunsets and wildlife is relaxing. Restaurant manager Eppy has two
iguanas that come for feeding around 10:00 AM each day. Express your interest
and Eppy will introduce you, let you feed them and take photos with them. At
breakfast a cook will make eggs and omelets to order. Breakfast meats,
potatoes, cold and hot cereal, breads, juices and fruits are served buffet
style. Dinner is usually served from a daily menu with additional specials.
Seafood night is served buffet style. A weekly special dinner is served at the
beach restaurant with live entertainment.
Those who wish to relax and
read or just relax can indulge themselves at the pool or on the beach under
thatch umbrellas. Lounge chairs are plentiful. Drinks are served at the pool
bar, dining room bar, or on the beach. Beach drinks are served by a roving
waitress and/or from the “Naked Turtle� beach
bar when open.
Shopping enthusiasts are welcome. The resort provides a
free van several times per week for those who wish to play tourist or shop in
Willemstad. I think one returning couple only comes back for the pastries
available at a local supermarket. Jewelry, linens, electronics, clothing,
watches and native crafts top the list of things to buy at a bargain. All the
major Caribbean shops are on Curacao to serve the cruise ships and local
guests.
Exploring the island is exciting and educational. Imagine
seeing plantations, blowholes, wind farms, alligator farm, ostrich farm,
museums, historic churches, forts, sea aquarium, floating bridges and European
architecture. Driving is easy on the island. The roads are fairly well marked
and the surfaces are smooth. Reserve your car before you go for the best price.
Rental cars are available at the airport or can be delivered to the resort.
Expand your horizons and your acquaintance base on the Dutch island of
Curacao. During nude week at Sunset Waters, guests come from many different
countries. Come meet someone interesting. Try out your high school Spanish.
Learn some words of Popiamentu - the unofficial language of the island. Learn
some Dutch. Several locals from Curacao visit during nude week because this is
the only place on the island to be naked. One local Doctor and his wife have
joined us several times during each nude week.
Come party or relax
with us at Sunset Waters. We will have several theme nights for dress-up. You
can have a vote on the activities and the theme nights. Once you join the
group, you will be invited into a private web group site limited to only those
people who are going on the 2005 trip. Photos will be posted so all can meet
one another before the trip begins. Exchanging photos on the website makes for
easier recognition once we get to the resort. We want everyone to meet each
other as quickly as possible. Avoid that thought of “I wish
we had met them sooner�. After the vacation, many post their
digital pictures on the private site for all the guests to enjoy. Patti will
not allow admittance to the website to anyone who is not part of our group.
There are several ways to get more information about the trip to
Sunset Waters. E-mail us at tnectravel@highland.net for general questions.
Join us for fun! Our pictures is near for those of you who do not know
us. We Are also including one from our 2003 group trip.
Cliff and
Patti Hess |
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| Sally & Spider - July 2003 |
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Editors Note:
We appreciate Sally and Spider providing us with this comprehensive report
about one of our Nude Week at Sunset Waters. You will find a lot of good
information here. If you would like to add your trip report to this section you
don't need to write as much... just give us your impressions in a paragraph or
two. Thanks again Sally & Spider.
I apologize for the length
of this report, but there is a lot to describe about Sunset Waters (SW). We had
a GREAT week, probably our best vacation ever, and I wouldn't hesitate to
recommend this group and destination, particularly for divers.
We're
pretty experienced Caribbean travelers: all over the Keys, Bahamas, Cozumel,
Jamaica several times, and some smaller destinations, so we have a good basis
of comparison for this resort vis-a-vis others. I won't specifically compare
other resorts with this one as I don't want to slam anyone, but many can
probably guess to which resort I'm referring in some cases.
I'll
divide the report into several sections in case you're interested only in
certain details such as diving, food, etc. If you have questions or comments
please feel free to email me. Be sure to include CURACAO TRIP REPORT in the
subject line as I get a lot of spam and I delete unrecognized subjects
immediately. I have some photos from the trip although I'm not going to post
any on the www this time. I will forward some on request of certain areas of
the facility on request, but not shots of people.
AIRPORT &
ARRIVAL
We were on Delta which presently has exactly one flight INTO
Curacao and one OUT a week- Saturdays. Air Jamaica and DCA of course have more
frequent schedules.
The airport is typical of island airports- small,
crowded, older, and sort of disorganized and confusing. But the Sunset Waters
rep was right outside immigration, with our name on the sign, so we got hooked
up right away. We quickly gathered our bags (and with 2 full sets of Dive Gear
that was a bit of a PAIN) and trudged on over to the bus. Like Jamaica, the bus
was older and poorly air-conditioned, but ya know, for me, that's not so bad as
it makes the resort seem that much nicer.
The greeting at the resort
was fantastic- Jim & Champagne from Castaway's where in waiting on the
sidewalk to hand out goodies and welcome everyone; the property-manager Jim was
there with warm introductions, and we were quickly hooked up.
There
was a problem with our room as the type of room we'd reserved was not
available. I was confident that the staff would handle it, and WOW did they! We
were upgraded from an ordinary Ocean View room to a HUGE 2 bedroom 2 bath
suite. We've been MANY times to resorts in Jamaica to resorts where we read of
legendary fantastic upgrades, but in fact we've never gotten one. One of the
managers, James, took a personal interest in pleasing us and he did just that.
Well done.
In fact, our last Jamaican trip we were actually DOWNGRADED
from a Junior Suite (which we'd reserved and paid for) to a regular room on the
opposite side of the property. We had to argue with management and show them
our travel agreement from the agent before we were reluctantly given the room
we'd paid for! Talk about a bad way to start your trip, no?
A couple
of hours after arrival Jim and Champagne and the staff conducted an orientation
and introductions, which was very well done and organized. We were then ready
to settle in and get busy!
FACILITIES & ENVIRONMENT
As
I said the room was great. Furnishings and decorations were a little sparse,
but the property manager Jim told me there are planned improvements in the
decor. We had a spacious balcony about 100 feet over the ocean with a fantastic
view.
The pool was nice- the water quality was good but cloudy- they
could watch the pool maintenance a little closer. The swim-up bar was very much
like what is offered in Jamaican resorts, with plenty of seating at least for
the crowd we had. The pool deck was spacious and had generous pool furniture
available, at least for the 70 percent or so occupancy we'd heard they had.
There was adequate shaded areas for what was pretty much constant party-sunny
conditions.
There are no floats for the pool, I suspect perhaps
because the pool isn't too large and floats take up a lot of space.
I
wouldn't say the resort has a "signature drink" like many in Jamaica, and with
the wide variation in guests from many countries, drink preferences were wildly
variable. The beer of course was Dutch- Amstel. There was a good selection of
liquors as well, and good frozen drink selections quickly available like Pina
Coladas and Daiquiris.
The big complaint about the pool area was the
hot tub. It was actually a nice big tub, and like the pool in good repair, but
it wasn't heated. Jim said he knows this is a problem and he's planning to
correct that.
The weather was very nice- Curacao is breezy and at
times very windy. There are often clouds but it seldom rains. When it did rain
it seemed to be over in 10-15 minutes usually. The cloudiness was not so nice
for diving or tanning, but what are you gonna do? The climate is Arid, and the
low humidity makes hotter temperatures comfortable.
Jim also plans to
do more landscaping and remodeling this next year. The landscaping now is
so-so, but to be honest I didn't even notice it until Jim discussed the planned
improvements with me.. There is an exercise room with a treadmill and other
facilities next to the main lobby.
I heard some complaints that the
dining is all outdoors. As the weather was nice I found it quite pleasant, but
I think others would have preferred indoor dining. The dining room is large,
and Jim says new furniture is planned.
I heard complaints about the
wait staff. I think they tried hard to please in general, but perhaps there
were language problems. I had a few problems- I'd say about 1/2 the time I'd
order a drink it didn't arrive, and I went to the bar to get it myself. One
group told me that they ordered 3 meals and they all came on the SAME PLATE!
They asked for more plates but they never arrived until Jim rescued them.
Probably some room for improvement there, as well as the cuisine which was
passable but often offered limited selections and sometimes not so great
dishes. I'd already researched the dining facilities and in fact I had low
expectations, so I wasn't surprised. It was just about what I expected and
frankly, with most of my day spent diving, I didn't want big lavish meals. In
the morning and lunch I eat light so I don't have any boat or underwater
stomach problems, and at night I'm too big for an involved meal. I'm more
interested in a light dinner followed by a generous night of Amstel and diving
recaps in the pool.
Bottom line is- if you want 5-star dining with
ice-sculptures and lavish spreads and a top-notch wait staff, this is not what
they provide at SW. They provide good portions of OK food, along the line of
Denny's, and although the staff seems to try hard they often miss the mark. I
did find the bar staff in the dining area excellent however and eager to
please. Also remember Jim plans to focus on dining so expect improvements.
The beach is nice. Its broad and the sand is nice. They carved out a
nice lagoon with a rock break that reduces the waves for swimmers and
snorkelers. They also have plotted out a nice snorkel course. The waters are
clear and warm of course. The bottom of the lagoon is a bit rocky and the beach
furniture is sort of sparse and worn, but Jim also plans upgrades to those
areas. There is a small "nude area" beach for non-nude week nudists. It would
be highly unlikely for us to visit here or elsewhere if they didn't offer
nude-everything; we like the all adult crowd and fun you only find during nude
weeks and/or all-nude facilities. We realize those preferences are personal-
many others would AVOID that week! Just passing on our observations.
Overall, the buildings are in good repair and several are under major
renovation. The entire garden-room section appeared to be almost new. There is
worked planned for the water system and on the electrical systems. I had a long
talk with Jim on his plans, and I felt he had a definitely set of objectives to
improve the overall facility. I think that's great- the trick will be to
control costs in the process so the rates stay competitive. We felt the rates
were great but new facilities liked Hidden Beach are going to keep the heat on
to offer low prices and excellent quality facilities and service.
The
Casino was and is still closed. I think they have too much on their plates to
address that right away. If that's a priority for you, I recommend you check
the status BEFORE you book!
There is also a mini golf course there
which was interesting to watch as players tried it nude. I must say I never saw
THAT before! Golf and I don;t get along so I was only an observer.
Finally, the town is about 40 minutes away and guests can easily get there by
free shuttle. The shopping was like every cruise-ship port I ever saw- same
items, tee's, hats, etc, except these said "Curacao" instead. Not my thing, but
if you want a diversion its a nice afternoon off the resort, and I felt safe in
town alone or with a group. There are a lot of other activities around the
island like museums, plantation homes, caves to the north, gardens, golf, and
all sorts of beaches. There is also a place called Mambo Beach resort which is
an outdoor disco. SW offers shuttle service to many of these destiniations on
select days for a nomimal fee.
DIVING FACILITIES AND STAFF
This has to be the flagship area for this destination. The others areas all met
my expectations; the diving facility FAR EXCEEDED my expectations. I'd
previously read reports that they booked more divers than they could handle,
and I was apprehensive about that. I was also concerned that the equipment
might be old, outdated, perhaps even dangerous, being a remote location on a
remote island, and I really didn't find much on the www or in newsgroups to
confirm or contradict those concerns. Although we own all of our gear, of
course boats, air, tanks, and staff are all important.
Let's start
with staff. They are all very eager to please the divers, and Mike, the owner,
has trained them very well to please their customers. Mike and his wife are
from the US- Denver, and is experienced in both dive shop management as well as
the Caribbean. They are also delightful people to get to know and they have two
adorable kids. Spend some time in the cockpit with Mike and you can't help but
find the guy charming and accommodating to your every wish. He seems like part
pirate, part boat and diving expert, part family-man trying to make a go of it
in and exotic location facing all sorts of challenges like finding boat and
dive parts and making repairs, language (they speak 4 on the island), etc. He's
sort of The Captain Ron of Curacao, and you can't help but love the guy and
what he's trying to do down there.His wife is charming as well, and I get the
impression they face a new set of challenges every day with a small with an
optimistic smile. There was basically not a moment in the whole week when I
didn't feel that Mike and the team we're trying their best to make our vacation
the best ever.
He's recruited a staff from both the US and Curacao,
and they know the reefs very well. They also know dive equipment and as far as
I could see they were all excellent divers. I had a small problem with the new
reg I brought on the trip- the octo and guage hoses were reversed. Kristin, one
of Mike's staff, offered and quickly corrected the setup. Little things like
that and a hundred more they did were great. They were very willing to help
with retraining on any forgotten or out-of-practice skills, even down to doing
1-on-1 underwater assistance with buoyancy or masks or whatever was required.
They had cruise-boat diver experience so I think they were well-prepared to
handle any questions or issues that popped up.
Now a warning. SW is a
Dive Destination, and the staff treat the divers like they know what they are
doing. So you BETTER know what you're doing! And if you don't, bring up your
concerns before you dive! Like if you haven't dived in a long time- tell them.
They won't babysit the divers and although they are there to help, they will
willingly allow you to wander off on the reef wherever you choose to roam, and
in fact they go back to the boat well in advance of the last divers. They tell
the divers they can choose to follow the guide, or to make their own dive each
time. If you're inexperienced or out of practice, or uncomfortable, TELL THEM
and they'll keep a watchful eye out on you! Don't take chances, and don't
expect the molly-coddling you get at many other resorts, particularly in
Jamaica. They expect you to know what you're doing and if you don't you need to
tell them. You'll get a guide and in the event of trouble I'm certain you can
count on the team, but they aren't watching you as at other resorts, and there
is only one Dive Master down for each dive.
For me that's perfect; I
don't want a babysitter, I want a guide. I realize other divers may want more
attention, and I'm sure they will provide it if you ask.
Also for
non-divers they offer a resort course, and naturally those divers ARE watched
very closely.
The boats and gear are as good as any PADI 5-star I've
ever seen, and are in fact the best I've ever seen. The air system was new, had
dual compressors and 5-stage dryers and filtration. And talk about fills? I
never had less than 3100 and often saw 3200 and above. Last time in Jamaica I
had 2700 for a good fill and often saw 2400. Also they have 2-tank dives.
The tanks were all new too, and from what I saw the rental gear all
looked good. The flashlight rentals were a little wimpy- like 4 AA's and sort
of pocket sized, so if night-dives are your thing, you might consider a more
powerful IkeLight or a larger UK.
The BC's were great and all in nice
shape. All had integrated weights. The reg's had atomic components which looked
new, and were all in great shape. I spoke to Mike about service on the rentals
and he was very knowledgeable on manufacturer's intervals. I would have total
confidence in the dive gear.
Now the best part. The boats kick ass.
The big one, Day Dreamer I think its called, is 44' with twin diesels. Its of
course spacious, but also offers a smooth ride in what is often rough waves (as
I said its very windy there). And its fast and with the twin screws, safe. It
was fun hanging out on the bow with the ladies instead of those crusty old
diver-dudes (just kidding!). In fact though- Mike allows divers to go anywhere
they please on the boat from the bow to stern, and even climbing the ladder and
joining him in the roost. Or whatever its called. I even piloted a bit, but
wisely Mike quickly took over when it was obvious I had no idea what I was
doing hahaha..
Anyhow- the no rules was another nice touch.
The smaller boat holds about 10 comfortably I think. I didn't ride in it but
the reports I heard were that it was smooth and very very fast. It had dual 100
HP 4-stroke outboards. Regular gas is very expensive so I think Mike reserves
this boat for special trips, but its there also in case anything happened to
the big boat.
I think Mike and his crew can do some gear repairs but
they are probably pretty limited. They fixed everything that popped up while I
was there- like a blown hose, but don't expect a huge inventory of reg or BC
parts from any old manufacturer. If you have an equipment problem, as did one
dive buddy who's BS broke, they offer reasonable rental prices on good quality
gear. They are prepared too- the BC that broke was just before a dive on the
boat, and the DM produced a replacement on the spot, so the diver hardly missed
a beat.
So that's my take on the dive operations. I'm not going to say
I'm sorry for gushing over them - I can't think of anything significant that
they could have done better. Most days I saw Mike at 8:30AM and again at 9 or
10 PM at hotel functions, and I have no doubt he and his family are totally
into seeing their divers are happy and cared for.
Oh and did I mention
they were cool with diving or hanging around the boat or dock nude? Sure it was
Castaway's week and wouldn't you expect the DM's to lecture us about the
hazards of reefs and get all freaky about nudists on the boat? Everyone on
staff was totally cool with it and again, made no rules or had to problems with
nudity. That blew me away, particularly for such a young staff. They basically
said "Its YOUR vacation - get naked and have all the fun you want."
They did say "the first drink of the day is your last dive of the day" and I'm
sure no sane diver would argue that drinking before diving makes any sense at
all, so I think that was perfectly good advice. I don't think any divers drank
before they dove. We were partiers but not maniacs!
If there was one
thing I thought was a little remiss it was in "reef-ecology" reminders for
groups. I saw divers kicking the reef (not incidental touches- I mean
repeatedly). I know the DM's mentioned that divers should avoid touches, but
since the group was touching pretty liberally, frequent reminders would be a
good idea.
Mike and Michelle and the team are top-notch, as is their
equipment. You can email them through the resort website I believe -
www.sunsetwaters.com if you have questions.
ENTERTAINMENT
Generally entertainment was on a "personal scale"; often a 1-man band or a DJ.
Many nights Karaoke was offered and the guests offered up some pretty good
singers, especially Champagne and a particularly charming guest named Diana.
They also had a nice band one night- I think like 10 musicians. It seemed
pretty much every night there was a good act to watch, but like the food, don't
expect lavish productions. The crowd was generally pretty tired and wanted
quiet evenings for the most part with all of the shopping and diving, so I
think most appreciated the quieter shows. There was also a "roaming Mariachi
band" in the dining room at dinner one night. Many of the staff seem to be
multi-talented as musicians.
GUESTS
The guests at SW are
widely varying; about 25% divers and 75% non-divers I think, at least for the
week on which I'm reporting. Champagne told me that in previous weeks the
diving proportion was much smaller. My opinion was that most were
"vacation-nudists", that is they get naked on this vacation but generally not
at home or on most other vacations. Which is of course fine, but realize that
crowd has a sort of shyness that you don't see in all-nude locales like some in
Jamaica. Expect some to stay clothed, or partially clothed. Expect many to be
camera shy. And of course expect some to wear little or nothing all week- even
diving. Its each person's own vacation and that's what's so cool about SW- get
as naked or as clothed as you like. They seemed totally cool with whatever
people wanted to do. There were "no overt sex" rules so it wasn't Hedo, but
even that was pretty lax which seemed fine with pretty much everyone. Things
got racy from time-to-time and some guests felt "thats not my scene" moved to
other parts of the spacious property. We're not into that ourselves, but we
could care less what others felt like doing an all-adult environment. Just all
"good clean fun" to us!
Like other resorts there are groups that
segregate themselves. Its only natural- there are divers and non-divers, Dutch
and English-speaking, older and younger, etc. You see it at every resort in our
experience. What we liked on this trip was that there was no "Castaway's" and
"Non-Castaways" groups, unlike what we saw in Jamaica where you were either
part of the "group-of-the-week" or you weren't. This bunch was a much more
accepting, and no one was concerned that you weren't a stock-broker or lawyer
to fit in. It helped to speak some Spanish as some of the staff didn't speak
English very well. I'd say only about 1/4 of the staff spoke Dutch so I noticed
some of the Dutch-Only speaking guests were struggling to communicate.
In general we found the group at this resort the most pleasant and friendly of
any resort we ever visited.
We did notice that once the "nude week"
was over the mix of guests changed, of course, as it became families with about
25% of the guests children under 12. So if you want to travel as a family, it
looked like a good opportunity to have the kids mingle with kids from other
cultures and nationalities. For us, kids and vacation are NOT a good mix so we
felt we left "just in time", but when our kids were young, I would have loved
to vacation there with that group. Its a good experience for kids to see other
cultures and get to know kids from other countries.
SUMMARY
The only question I have is "how soon can I get back?" Oh, and "Why did I
book only a week?". Well, I sort of answered "why" in the previous paragraph,
since the kids arrived! But seriously, if you're looking for a very nice,
friendly, and reasonably priced destination, this one is definitely worth a
look. But do your homework so you're not expecting something they don't offer!
I pretty much read every report and posting I could find on SW, and I suggest
you do the same for any trip to avoid surprises. I'm sure you can tell that my
overall impression was extremely favorable, but also note that I gave many
warnings of service areas that some may find problematic.
Finally, if
you have any questions as I said I'll try to locate and
answer them in email.
I
know this was long but it was actually the kind of report I wish I'd had at my
disposal before my trip! If we meet at SW next year and you read this (Or you
didn't ha!) please say hello, because more than anything else that made this a
great trip, it was the great people and friends we made. |
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