One of the first beaches you encounter when you leave town and drive toward the west side of Curaçao for a nice beach is Daaibooi. A lovely little beach where many locals also come to enjoy themselves. Extra plus: Kees’s snack bar!
Daaibooi Beach
Daaibooi beach, located on Bandabou, is a 30-minute drive from Willemstad. You follow the Road to West Point and turn at St. Willibrordus to the left. Drive down the road until you reach Willibrordus Church and just before the cemetery turn left onto Road to Daaibooi. You come out to the parking lot of Daaibooi Beach. This parking lot is unpaved, but there is plenty of parking. It is a public beach so access is free and it is open at all times. Want to combine Daaibooi Beach with another beach? Then you have Playa Porto Marie just a 10-minute drive away.
Barbecuing together
This beach is not only popular with tourists, but also with locals. Especially on weekends, you will run into families and groups of friends who come here to socialize. In fact, in addition to the beach being beautiful, you get to barbecue at Daaibooi. At the back of the beach you have some large picnic tables with palapas. Here it is permitted to light the barbecue as well. Because of the trees, you also have plenty of shade here. Many locals come to Daaibooi on weekends with friends and family, so you need to get there early if you want to get a picnic table. It is beautiful to see how they bring all kinds of tables, chairs and the entire crockery from home, among other things. At least you can never say they are unprepared to go out.
Palapas and palm trees
All along Daaibooi beach are palapas and palm trees for shade. You don’t have to pay to use these shade spots. At the snack bar on the beach there are sunbeds for rent. You may take these from the pile for 10 guilders per cot. If you turn them in at the end of the day, you get 5 guilders back per bed. What is unique about Daaibooi Beach is the tree in front of the snack bar where they have hung bird food. This is where super many birds come to visit all day, including the local yellow sugar thrushes and troepials. They fly up and down here all day, so you hear whistling and birdsong all day.
Kees’s snack bar and freshly caught fish
Daaibooi has a big plus: Kees’s snack bar! Kees is more or less a household name among visitors who regularly go to Daaibooi. Kees has been here for years and is more or less also the manager of the beach. Here you can grab a drink or a greasy snack (including frikandel speciaal or patatje oorlog), but that’s not the only thing you can eat at Daaibooi. In fact, on the right side of the beach there is also a lady who prepares fresh meals daily. In the morning she comes by the palapas to tell them what fish she caught that day, think tuna, dradu or red snapper. As little as NAF 13 you can get a meal with fish and side dishes. Between noon and 3 p.m., you can get fresh fish from her. Keep in mind that you can only pay for these with cash. The Snack Bar does allow you to use debit cards if you get something to eat and/or drink there. Here you can also use the restrooms and simple changing rooms.
Snorkeling, diving and swimming
Daaibooi Beach is a white sandy beach where you can easily walk into the sea. Water shoes are not a luxury as there are many rocks off the coast. The beach slopes gradually so it is also nice for children to swim here. In addition, there are regularly floating play equipment for the kids. At Daaibooi you can snorkel, but there are nicer places to do so. Because the water remains shallow for a fairly long time, you have to swim quite a bit before there is anything to see. If you dare to, swim around the rocks you do get a beautiful underwater world in return. You can also dive at Daaibooi Beach. A small but good diving school is located in the parking lot where you can also get your PADI and Dive Master, among other things.
Birds
Fun at Daaibooi is the presence of the sugar thieves. The beautiful bright yellow birds that sit in the tree with dozens of them chattering cozily.
Daaibooi: fun for everyone!
Conclusion, add Daaibooi Beach to the list of beaches you want to visit in Curaçao. A wonderful beach for everyone: young & old, local & tourist. Want to chill out for the day and don’t feel like getting dolled up for a restaurant? Bring your friends, some music, the barbecue and your cooler and you can have a whole day of fun at Daaibooi. But even if you don’t feel like preparing, you can spend a nice day lying on the beach here and being surprised by fresh fish. Not for nothing is Daaibooi one of our favorite beaches in Curacao!
Still prefer a different beach? You can, check out Curacao’s other beaches here.
