Curacao is a dutch island, with capital of Willemstad, which is also capital to the whole of the Netherland Antilles.  Willemstad is well worth a visit as the town has over 700 historic buildings and the preservation of many buildings is well under way.  Willemstad is also a duty free port.

The diving in Curacao is very good with some popular wreck dives, most notably, the Superior Producer at a maximum depth of 30 meters.  The Tugboat is also very popular as it is in shallow water at 5 meters and is excellent for photography.  Also, there is The Airplane Wreck, which is a shore dive, the location being marked on the surface with a buoy.

A very popular event for divers happens in September and October with the coral spawning.  It happens 7 days after the full moon and the local dive centres are well aware of the happening, which does not last long and ensure that their clients are in the water at the correct location at the right time.  The best dives are the Mushroom Forest and Alice in Wonderland where there are copious amounts of star coral.

There are over 60 dive sites and more than half are accessed from the shore.

The southern area is a protected underwater marine park and, throughout the island, dive centres ask that divers make a voluntary donation (currently US$10) to help protect the environment.