14 | November | 2010 | Snorkeling the ABC Islands

It’s been a busy couple of days here in Curacao. We arrived late on Saturday – we were supposed to be here at 1:20 pm, but the flight was delayed and didn’t take off til nearly 3:30. Ah well – stuff happens. It was a fun flight, quite short, about 25 minutes. It was funny to see the reaction of a couple of Dutch women to the size of the plane! Since we’d flown this route last year, we knew what to expect. But they were getting restless in the terminal, and when I saw the plane land, I pointed it out to them and said “Shouldn’t be long now, they’ll refuel and we’ll be off.” She looked at the plane, her fave visibly paled and she said, “You’re kidding?? That’s soooo small!” She turned to her friends and they gave me this sick little look… Priceless!

We didn’t get in the ocean, but we took a nice swim in the pool and spent some time in the hot tub. We had dinner at Augusto’s, even though we had not particularly enjoyed eating there last year. But this year was very good. I had the chicken parmigiana and Pam had the seafood pasta, and both were very good. Service was excellent, and it was a nice ending to the day.

Saturday we snorkeled out front of the Sea Aquarium but it was a little cloudy. There has been a lot of rain here this year, more than Aruba. There were a lot of fish, of course, but we didn’t get many good photos. We did see a spotted drum, and some interesting fish, including a couple of barracuda. The shoreline opposite us, which is a five minute swim across the water, had some of the largest surgeonfish and tangs I have ever seen, anywhere. HUGE! Shockingly big…

In the afternoon we toured the Sea Aquarium. They have added some new attractions, and some new fish tanks. Pam got to feed some sharks, and actually petted a few nurse sharks. There were some lobsters that we soooo big, they must have been seventy years old or more. Just humongous.

We had a nice relaxing dinner at El Gauchos, and Argentine steak house. We’d had dinner there last year, and they had the same impeccable food. Really glorious. They are in a lovely elevated location, so we had a nice view of some of the island. The service was not as good as we remembered, but it didn’t detract from the quality of the food. A recommended place to eat, for sure.

Tomorrow we have scheduled a cruise up the coast to the main town of Willemsted, which is a World Heritage sight. Curacao is not as dependent on tourism as Aruba is… they say 90% of the economy of Aruba is dependent on tourism, but Curacao has only a 25% reliance. They are big in communications, housing a lot of the sports betting websites on the internet. They are also a world leader in supplying paint! When you see how boldly the homes are painted, it’s not much of stretch to believe it!

Here is a small movie Pam took in the Sea Aquarium of a Cubera snapper.

Friday was our last day in Aruba, before we head to Curacao for a week, so we decided to hit two beaches we are familiar with. We started at Arashi Beach, which had huge waves the first few days we were here. It was nice and calm today, and it’s a great beach to come and swim at. It has a long sandy entry, and it’s very popular with locals and tourists alike.

We picked a spot and simply walked in. The bottom was quite littered with debris, from the effects of Hurricane Tomas. Still there were lots of fish to see, but most of the usual suspects. I took a short movie of a flounder, who was much more active than the peacock flounder we saw yesterday.

After floating around for ninety minutes or so we decided to try one more time to find the Alto Vista chapel. Of course, it is a truly simple route to find and it’s unreal we never found it before. Boy did we feel silly!

Anyway, it’s a quaint little church, with a ring of outdoor seats. It’s still very much in use, with tons of flower arrangements and several people praying. It is atop a small hill with good views of the east coast of Aruba.

We were glad to have finally found it, but honestly it was a bit of a let down! It is not particularly ornate, not does it have a particularly attractive exterior. It is just a basic church, in a rugged setting, with nice views. I guess we shouldn’t have expected more.

We then headed back to the beach, and jumped in the water at Hadacuari Beach. It is near the place where they have all wind surfing lessons and competitions. We had noticed this beach because it has a ring of stone, like a very short cliff. Perched on this cliff were up to a dozen pelicans, and lots of seagulls.

The reason for this was apparent the moment we entered the water.

The area was chock full of fish and I mean chock full. To say there millions of fish here, would be an understatement. There were so many fish here, you could not see the cliffs on the other side of them! Schools of palamettos were herding the fish, then attacking them at their leisure. Barracuda hung around, as did schools of ballyhoo, striking down at the bait fish whenever they felt like it.

The bait ball went on for easily a couple of kilometers. It was unreal how many fish there were there.

We also saw a chain moray, the same place we had seen a chain moray last year. Probably the same one, as they hang around the same area for years.

It was a remarkable swim. I’ve taken several movies of the area, and I’ll post at least one. It was something to see these huge schools of fish, hugging the cliffs, while the palamettos ran shotgun, herding them into tight groups.

There were loads of other coral eaters like the parrot fish and trunkfish and all the usual suspects, but the bait ball was something to see. Sure glad we decided to jump in the ocean here! Tomorrow we have a 1:30 pm flight to Curacao. It’s a short flight, we took last year in a small puddle jumper, about 15 seats. It’s a neat flight and we’re looking forward to it.

Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao