This west-end site was easily the star of the show on our trip to Curaçao. Just a short boat ride from any west-end shore, Watamula is a favorite of the locals and tourists alike. It’s an amazing, high energy, intense dive site that would take days to fully explore.
Watamula gets its name from the Dutch words “water mollen,” or water mill, and there are plenty of currents here to lend validity to the name. Current direction varies, sometimes even mid-dive, and occasionally currents even flow in a circle. Because of that, this site is generally done as a drift dive.
Fields of pristine hard corals are interspersed with patches of luscious soft corals and giant sponges. While the reef extends past 100 feet, the abundance of marine life is found between 30 and 60 feet. There are tons of macro opportunities amidst the triggerfish, parrotfish, rays, turtles, and schools of chubs, and bogas.
It’s understandable to want to capture the glory of this reef on film, but it’s quite a dive when you just leave the camera on the boat and immerse yourself in the real-life underwater film as it unfolds before you.
As I understand it, on the coast nearby there’s blowhole named Watmula too. I didn’t get a chance to see it, but it’s worth making note of if you’re going to be in the area.
