Curacao Beaches after Hurricane Omar

[2CoolCanucks]

I would recommend to anybody going to Curacao in the next few weeks, to check first with tours about the conditions of the beaches. Most of the beaches on the south and western shores (where all the best beaches are) have had a lot of damage in the past few days thanks to Omar.

They are trying to implement plans to get them restored as soon as possible but this is no small feat. The huge waves have washed the sand out to sea and what is left are lots of pieces of the white corals that make up the bedrock of most of the beaches there.

 

Just thought I'd let you know in advance to check it out first before you invest $ getting to a beach and then be disappointed. Just a heads up. :)

(With that said, the beach that has a break wall... which may have saved some of the sand on the beaches from eroding, is the KonTiki and Mambo beaches. )

[cruiseapril]

Thanks for the information. Just read about this in Amigoe. Do you have another link to the news?

[2CoolCanucks]

Hi April,

There's the Extra Noticia news.... however, it is in Papiamentu.:)

Then I have my friends who live there...have seen pics posted by them on Facebook and Flickr and have received emails about the conditions.

As well, I was there when hurricane Lenny hit there so I know what the beaches look like after those type of waves...

[2CoolCanucks]

Hi April,

There's the Extra Noticia news.... however, it is in Papiamentu.:)

Then I have my friends who live there...have seen pics posted by them on Facebook and Flickr and have received emails about the conditions.

As well, I was there when hurricane Lenny hit there so I know what the beaches look like after those type of waves...

[2CoolCanucks]

I just read in the Amigoe that the corals have been greatly affected by the waves of Omar. They say that when Lenny hit it was about 29% damage but with Omar it is 70% or more. These are the corals that lie in the water depths of 10 metres or less. They say that the deeper diving areas are not as badly damaged...

[iceburg1]

I just read in the Amigoe that the corals have been greatly affected by the waves of Omar. They say that when Lenny hit it was about 29% damage but with Omar it is 70% or more. These are the corals that lie in the water depths of 10 metres or less. They say that the deeper diving areas are not as badly damaged...

I find it interesting and curious that Amigoe in the Dutch language version has an article ("70 Procent koralen beschadigd door Omar") that says that 70% of the corals in Curacao were damaged by Omar, but the English version of Amigoe (which you can link to) does not have this story. Do you think they are worried about the effect on tourism that this may have???

[2CoolCanucks]

Sad but true. These hurricanes have quite the effect on tourism. However, to be optimistic -which I personally always try to be - there is always something else to do on these beautiful islands.

I posted this originally so that cruisers would educate themselves about the present conditions and would make adjustments in their plans in order to still maximize the pleasure of their vacation.

While it appears that the beautiful snorkeling along the shores may have been affected, the deeper diving excursions should still be quite nice.

I have a link to some pics of Omar hitting Curacao specifically. (Mambo beach and Kon Tiki are right beside each other.) http://www.liveincuracao.com/index.php?p=784

 

One thing positive to be said about the island, they do know the value of tourism to their economy and I am sure that the gov't will do their best to fix the beaches as soon as possible. However, the destruction of corals is only something that time and nature can heal.

[gizmo]

Anyone have information on the conditions of Kontiki and Mambo Beach ?

[cruiseapril]

Any information as to how Blue Bay fared during the storm?

[iceburg1]

Anyone have information on the conditions of Kontiki and Mambo Beach ?

Lots of photos of Omar's effects on Kontiki here: http://www.liveincuracao.com/index.php?p=784

[2CoolCanucks]

Lots of photos of Omar's effects on Kontiki here: http://www.liveincuracao.com/index.php?p=784

 

 

Deja vu....???? Didn't I just post that link??? :D LOL

[JerseyGem]

Thanks for the link to the pics. I'm not sure which were of Kontiki, but it looks like the beaches should be usable by November. If anyone has visited since the hurricane, please post with your advice. Since the coral reefs were probably damaged (rats!), we'll probably skip the snorkeling this time. Our past experience after hurricanes is that even if the coral isn't damaged, the wave action has left a layer of sand over the reefs plus the water itself can be cloudy (due to fine grains of sand, etc) for a period of time after the hurricane. I guess this will give us an excuse to return there another year.

 

My concern is that the Kontiki resort wouldn't be open to daytrippers due to the damage, etc. Our back-up is to just walk around town and then spend some relaxing time on the ship.

 

Eleven days to go!!!!!

[gizmo]

I have seen all the photos of the storm but I am wondering if anyone has a current update on the condition of Kontiki and Mambo.

[realjustin]

I have just found this thread and although it is old I am very interested in this. Unfortunately I never visited Curacao until today and I am currently planning to visit the island because I am a passionate diver. A friend of mine, who have already visited the island to go diving, told me that there are beautiful corals.

Now after I have read this thread I am worried about that there are no corals any more. Can anybody tell me if this is the case? Would really appreciate some info. thx in advance