Mushroom Forest and Blue Room
One of the writers personal favorite stops on a trip in Curacao was Poca Santa Cruz, or so called Playa Santa Cruz.
This scheduled bay on the West side of the island (as the locals say, this lengthy island the location also falls to the North) has a lot to offer. We had two completely different experiences around the area.
The Bay is quiet and protected area with beautiful views. You’ll find a few sun lounges and shades on the beach, and a river leading to shallow bay behind the beach where local fishermen park their boats and pangas. On the South side of the bay you have one operation, a characteristic building owned by Captain Good Times. He offers pizza, ice cream, water sports excursions, accommodation, and good times.
Ready for sailing, diving, nature walking, cliff jumping and snorkeling / free diving? Santa Cruz has it all.
We did this next mentioned trip with 40 ft monohull.
In September, the water temperature was around 29 C°, visibility around 25 metres.
Mushroom Forest
Dive site mooring / location: 12°17.83’N 69°09.34’W
Anchor:
You will only have one anchoring spot in the area and that is Poca Santa Cruz. Approach towards the scheduled beach and drop the anchor in the middle of the bay. Coming from the West, you’ll have a very easy approach. Head towards the beach and stay in the middle of the bay. You’ll have large sandy bottom area. The dive spot is about. 0.7 nms away.
Note: Port Captains office in Williamstead (upstairs of the building next to immigration office building in Otrabanda side of the bridge, in Havenkantoon) is in charge of anchor permits to all Curacao. You can apply up to 3 month anchoring permit either in Spanish Waters or in Williamstead. All the other anchorages (including Santa Cruz) are subject for an extra fee 25$ per anchorage. One anchor permit is valid for 2 night stays. You’ll need to be able to tell the Port Captain the exact dates of travel, however, when we sailed on the coast we were never checked by authorities, and met many cruisers who hadn’t heard of the permits. (Writers notes are from 2021 COVID times, double checking current regulations is advisable!)
Good holding. 2.5-8 metres depth, small island gives a little shelter from E, SE and NE winds. Stay in the middle of the bay. You can really get close to the beach.
You might be greeted by the friendly locals at the anchorage!
Sail and Moore:
We sailed along the coast in direction from South to North or East to West. Getting closer to Poca Santa Cruz and just around the corner of the Blue Room, you will find a dive mooring buoy. Mooring is well maintained. You can drop down for a dive directly from the mooring. From here you have about 0.7 nautical miles to the over night anchoring spot.
This area can get a little bit wavy, due being very open and unprotected spot.
Dive:
Directly from the boat, you can drop down to the beautiful and world famous Mushroom Forest. You will very quickly figure out where the name is coming from. You can dive in between 10 and 40 meters. Advanced level and compass usage advisable, the forest can get little disorienting with layers and varying depths.
BEAUTIFUL DIVE and high recommendation. Swim between flower corals, giant brain corals and the mushroom like formations accompanied with anemones. We saw sea turtles, porcupine fish, smooth trunk fish, yellow tail snappers, conch, parrot fish, groupers, spotted drums, spotted moray eels, eagle ray, lobsters.
Blue Room
Hike:
From Santa Cruz Beach, behind Captain Good times building and the Water Sports center you can find a some what marked trail. The trail passes by Black Sand Beach ( Also known as Poca Chicitu and Boca Santu Petu ), which is a spot totally worth to check out with a picnic lunch. Keep walking and eventually you’ll reach the Blue Room cliff side with its turquoise water.
The walk is very easy, however, bring water and sunshade.
.
Snorkel / Freedive:
After you have either jumped from the cliff to the water or climbed down you can discover the Blue room. It is an underwater cave on the side of the cliff. You will find an entrance, where, depending of the conditions, you might need to dive underwater for short distance to enter the cave. Once in the cave, you will have room above you to breathe from the snorkel. Again, you will soon figure out where the name comes from.
The whole area around the entrance is well worth to explore by swimming, snorkeling and free diving. You will be surprised by marine life among the beautiful coral formations. Around the close area you will reach maximum 12 meter depth. Cave itself is 4 meters deep at the deepest.
Sailing Divers 