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Location:
10 minutes from The Dive Bus Hut, 20 minutes from Punda / Piscadera. Next to Directors Bay where we sometimes make one of the dives, or make an optional 3rd dive. Facilities:
Dive shop on site, bathrooms, rinse tank and shade. Beach:
The beach itself is rubbly but it does have sunbeds. Relax on the decking for the surface interval and lunch. Shore entry:
The entry is easy enough but dive boots are recommended because of the coral rubble and shallow rocks. Swim out:
Easy swim, couple of minutes, usually calm with no/mild current Dive:
There are so many parts to see that we often make 2 dives at this site. - Check out the stunning, vertical wall (watch your depth!) full of nooks and crannies where all sorts of marine life hangs out.
- Hang out in the shallow gardens on the headland, teeming with life and corals.
- If you dare, swim under the eerie pier and check out the corals and fish that make their home there...
- And of course, the little Tugboat itself, sitting in only 12 feet / 3 meters of water and teeming with fish of all kinds, up close and personal.
- Alternatively make a one tank dive here and another at Directors Bay just around the corner.
Non-divers:
The Tugboat is shallow enough to snorkel and well worth checking out, as are the coral heads just off the beach. There are hammocks, sunbeds and chairs in which to just hang out and watch the comings and goings on the ocean... What’s so special?:
This is one of Curacao’s world famous dive and snorkel sites and one of our personal favourites. The Tugboat itself is very pretty and covered in corals but the rest of the dive is also great with the wall and the pier and the shallow coral garden. The fish are used to being hand-fed and come right up to you to grab lunch. Plenty of photo opps, great dive site, perfect for non-divers too. An absolute must-do site, and much better as a shore dive than a boat dive in our opinion as you get to dive the shallow aquarium AND the pier when you shore dive here. Divers' comments: "On my first dive at Tugboat, I found a brown Seahorse (my first), several Eels, a Stonefish, Spotted Drum, and too many others to mention. But it was the guiding of Ed that made it so worthwhile. Also, at many of the sites, the dive is scheduled so that the end of the dive is in 10 to 15 feet. So your safety stop is part of the actual dive instead of just hanging out in blue water. As a result, we were able to get close to an hour of serious diving in, and I was still exiting with just over 500 psi in the tank." - Dive Bus Diver, Rob Damico "Thanks for the wonderful dive @ Tugboat. Definitely a dive to remember." - Dive Bus Divers, Claudia & Sander "Mark took us to Tugboat and we did 2 dives there. Both were great. We had dived Tugboat before but not with Mark. He is great at finding sea life to show you. " - Dive Bus Diver, Matt Singer "This was my son's favorite shore dive while we were on the island. Swimming under the pier and near the cargo ship that was docked in the port for maintenance was very cool!" - Independent diver, Chris Bushong
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