Cas Abao
Dive site off Curaçao. Here's what has been recorded at this site month by month, how the region’s reefs have weathered ocean heat, and how to prepare.
Cas Abao: dive site off Curaçao.
Entry
Entry points, depths, currents and any local rules will be added once we can verify them from official sources.
Near this sitegeotagged about 3.5 km from the site coordinates Smallmouth grunt (Brachygenys chrysargyrea) · hyzq25 · CC0 · iNaturalist
The surface noise falls away.
Reds go first. The world turns blue-green.
Then Cas Abao rises to meet you.
What lives here, by month
Pick a month. These are the species most often recorded within about a kilometre in that month, from open survey records.
| Species | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dusky Damselfish | ||||||||||||
| Bluehead Wrasse | ||||||||||||
| Redlip Blenny | ||||||||||||
| Blackbar Soldierfish | ||||||||||||
| Puddingwife wrasse | ||||||||||||
| Clown Wrasse | ||||||||||||
| French angelfish | ||||||||||||
| Plate fish | ||||||||||||
| Redspotted Hawkfish | ||||||||||||
| Marbled Moray | ||||||||||||
| Spinyhead blenny | ||||||||||||
| Saddled Blenny |
Most-recorded species, all months
- Dusky Damselfish (21)
- Bluehead Wrasse (16)
- Redlip Blenny (16)
- Blackbar Soldierfish (15)
- Puddingwife wrasse (15)
- Clown Wrasse (15)
- French angelfish (15)
- Plate fish (11)
- Redspotted Hawkfish (10)
- Marbled Moray (10)
- Spinyhead blenny (9)
- Saddled Blenny (9)
- Dusky Squirrelfish (8)
- Hairy Blenny (8)
- Mimic blenny (8)
- Cleaner Goby (7)
- Colon Goby (6)
- Blackedge Triplefin (6)
- False Moray (6)
- Squirrelfish (6)
GBIF.org (2026-10-15), occurrence records within ~1 km, licensed CC0 or CC BY 4.0 only. Birds and land animals are excluded. Counts reflect survey effort, not abundance. 2,205 qualifying records. See them on GBIF. Common names: Wikidata (CC0) / GBIF. Species photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited with each species.
Forty-one summers of heat
Each stripe is one year since 1985, colored by its peak heat stress across NOAA's “Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire” region. These are NOAA Coral Reef Watch satellite figures for the whole region, not for this one site.
Heat stress, measured from orbit.
NOAA CRW virtual station “Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire”. NOAA's alert thresholds are 4 °C-weeks (Alert Level 1) and 8 °C-weeks (Alert Level 2). Station page · Method. Credit: NOAA Coral Reef Watch.
Conditions
Average sea temperature through the year. Check the live readings before you go.
Average sea surface temperature by month: NOAA CRW “Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire” station climatology (monthly means).
Buoy readings are measurements; forecasts are models. Use them for planning only, and assess conditions on site. Depth and visibility data aren't listed until we can cite a source.
Plan & prepare
- Read the official marine forecast the night before.Offshore, wind and sea state decide the day.
- Confirm access, hours and any fees with the site.[Placeholder: verified operator list to come]
- Study this month's species above.You'll recognise more when you know the names.
- Hands off, fins up, buoyancy dialled. Log what you see.Your sightings can become tomorrow's open data.
Photographs from Cas Abao
Openly licensed photos, each checked for location against its title, description, category or geotag. Labels show how close each one is to the site.
Credits
- Coordinates
- Wikidata Q22088192 (CC0). OpenStreetMap (ODbL) dive-site nodes, plus two Wikidata (CC0) reef items. Crowd-sourced, approximate positions.
- Species records
- GBIF.org, CC0 & CC BY 4.0 records. By license: CC_BY_4_0: 1,897, CC0_1_0: 308
- Dataset
- EOD – eBird Observation Dataset · doi:10.15468/aomfnb (1,723 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- NMNH Material Samples (USNM) · doi:10.15468/jb9tdf (196 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- NMNH Extant Specimen Records (USNM, US) · doi:10.15468/hnhrg3 (110 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- INSDC Sequences · doi:10.15468/sbmztx (71 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- International Barcode of Life project (iBOL) · doi:10.15468/inygc6 (69 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- NABU|naturgucker · doi:10.15468/uc1apo (13 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- Birda - Global Observation Dataset · doi:10.15468/6kud7x (8 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- Collection of symbiotic copepods associated with Caribbean invertebrates · doi:10.15468/7seoi4 (5 records) · GBIF
- Query
- https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?decimalLatitude=12.2173,12.2373&decimalLongitude=-69.10289,-69.08288999999999&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&taxonKey=44&taxonKey=206&taxonKey=229&taxonKey=136&taxonKey=225&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&limit=0
- Heat stress & SST
- NOAA Coral Reef Watch, 5 km Regional Virtual Station “Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire”
- Hero photo
- Near this sitegeotagged about 3.5 km from the site coordinates Whitespotted filefish (Cantherhines macrocerus) · hyzq25 · CC0 · iNaturalist
- Arrival photo
- Near this sitegeotagged about 3.5 km from the site coordinates Smallmouth grunt (Brachygenys chrysargyrea) · hyzq25 · CC0 · iNaturalist
- Gallery
- 7 photos, credited under each image
- Species photos
- Wikimedia Commons, credited with each species. Full list: Data & sources