Our main interest was snorkeling and I must say that Curacao had the best snorkeling that I have experienced in the Caribbean (I have been to St. John, BVI’s, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Riviera Maya, Belize, Anguilla, St. Martin, St Barts, St. Kitts, Antigua, Puerto Rico and Aruba so I have lots of places to compare.) The fish were so plentiful and there was more coral than I expected. I also saw things that I hadn’t seen before. One thing I should note is that all of the beaches we visited were pretty rocky, so I would recommend water shoes. We have ones that fit under our fins, so that works great for us.
Beach at the Marriott- the water was rougher here than at the other beaches we visited, but there was still life to see. We saw quite a few fish including trumpet fish.
Playa Kalki- This beach was beautiful! It’s the beach used by the Kurahulanda Lodge. We rented chairs- $6 a piece. And since there was an umbrella available, we used that for free. I guess because we rented the chairs (I even told the waitress we weren’t staying there), they came by with a little pretzel cracker snack, free water and fruit. That was a nice perk! The snorkeling was great here. We saw plenty of fish and I saw squid for the first time ever. I have seen eel before, but I had only seen their heads poking out from rocks. This was the first time I had seen one swimming. I also saw a houndfish and I had not seen one of those for a long time.
Kenepa- This beach also had great snorkeling, but after the first beach, they all kind of blend together in terms of what we saw while snorkeling. (sorry, I should have kept better track!) But I do remember it being even better snorkeling than Playa Kalki. I also remember being chased by a pilot fish here. Man, those things are aggressive! I didn't even know it was swimming so close to me, but my husband did. I wear a snorkel shirt over my swimsuit when I snorkel, and he said he thought it was going to swim up my shirt. I would not have liked that! I prefer to be an observer only, I don't want the fish to touch me!
Playa Lagun- This was also great snorkeling and we explored both sides of the bay here.
Playa Cas Abou- This was the most expensive beach we visited- with an entrance fee and was also the most expensive to rent chairs/palapas—but it was so worth it! The beach was the prettiest that we visited plus had the best snorkeling we experienced on the island. We saw so many fish here and snorkeled both sides of the bay, as well as in the middle of it.
I wish that we had more time so we could have tried our more snorkel spots. We will be back one day!