Our first visit to Curacao was in fall 2017
Taxis not one of the cheaper places to taxi around but other options are limited, when you get off the ship there is a taxi area with rates posted, we were headed to the “Tug Boat” diving/snorkeling area, the guy lining up taxis was familiar with it even though it wasn’t on their “list” and it cost us $40 one way,(it was 25-30 min away) rates are per car up to 4 people.
Tugboat Beach it is a little “out of the way” our taxi driver dropped us off and offered to come pick us back up, we told him we would be about 4 hrs and he left his phone # so we could call if we wanted him to pick us up earlier.
A 25 percent surcharge will be added to taxi fares if there are more than four passengers or if it is past 11:00 p.m. There can also be small fees for large or an excessive amount of luggage. Many taxi drivers can also act as tour guides and will take passengers to different parts of the island. These rates generally run from $20(USD) to $30(USD) an hour. come to an agreement on the rate before beginning the tour. Tipping is not mandatory, but many travelers leave a 10 percent tip.
Currency, Netherlands Antillean guilde, but almost everyone will take US money, if you are off the beaten path you may get change in Guilde
Port
Cruise ships dock at one of the following cruise docks: Mega pier, Mathey Warf, Groote Wharf or Nieuwe werf. Most likely you dock at the Mega pier, but if there are more ships in town the Mathey Warf, Groote Wharf and Nieuwe Werf will also be used, we were docked at the Mega cruise terminal (map)
Snorkeling we went to the Tug Boat Beach (map), there is a little dive shop there and some beach chairs (they rent for about $3 ea) it was one of the best places i have been snorkeling so far, the water was very clear, lots of fish and coral and a sunken tugboat to snorkel around.
the beach was almost all small rock and coral , snorkel sox were very nice to have (Here is the video)
to get to the sunken tugboat, there are a few concrete tie off columns (in picture above) in the water, go past the last one 20-30 yards
also saw some cool reef squid just off the shore where the rope dips into the water
