Monday we hit Blue Bay Beach, somewhere we’d never been to before. It’s in a large private complex, and you go through a security gate, down a long road, and finally reach the bay. It’s a smallish cove, with a dive shop, restaurant, bar, a small beach wear shop, even a massage tent! There were lots of lounge chairs, so we knew there would a charge. It was a pricey eight bucks each. But my oh my, was it worth it! This snorkel was the nicest, most amazing we’ve ever had on Curacao.

The coral was lush, rich, healthy and magnificent. I’m not sure we’ve seen this variety of coral in one spot. Just simply amazing fan coral, fire coral, tube coral in towering purple brilliance, brain coral, huge elkhorn coral – it just went on and on. We got in the water, went to the “right” side and couldn’t stop swimming – we kept saying, we’ll go just a little bit more, then we’d see even more amazing formations ahead and we just kept swimming. We saw absolutely everything the ocean has to offer, short of a turtle. We saw a big green moray eel, a rainbow parrotfish with her crazy orange and blue face, there were Spanish hogfish like crazy, a porcupine fish hiding in a big elkhorn coral, even an octopus got in the act today.

There were filefish – scrawled, dotted, you name it they were there! What a place. There was very little current, and the water was amazingly clear. There is a wide shelf close to the cliffs rising from the water, then a long sloping drop off filled with coral and fish. This is a beach that will be on our must have list any time we come back here to Curacao!

After we’d been in the ocean for close to three hours, we had lunch in the restaurant there. Not your standard beach fare of burgers and fries either! I had a chicken satay served with a wonderful coleslaw and shrimp chips, with a really tasty peanut sauce. Pam had a chicken stirfry with two kinds of bell peppers, bean sprouts and a tangy sauce. And the service was really lovely by a nice Dutch lady. When Pam asked her to bring a bowl filled with water so she could soak her camera, the waitress didn’t bat an eye. She brought the bowl, and watched as Pam plunged the camera in. She said to Pam, “first time ever I saw someone do that to their camera!” (You do it to get the salt off the housing before changing batteries, or taking out the memory card.)

Here is a two minute movie of various coral formations and some of the fish we saw. But do take a second and hit the gallery for Curacao 2013 to see all the other pictures we uploaded that are not referenced in the post.

If you ever come to Curacao, and snorkel at Blue Bay Beach (well ANY BEACH for that matter) do be respectful of the coral and don’t stand on it, or touch it, or break off pieces to take as a souvenir. Avoid any contact with it whatsoever – it is very fragile, and easily destroyed. And certain kinds of coral can cause considerable irritation to your skin. So just take your pictures, and leave it for the next snorkeler or diver to enjoy!