30 | July | 2017 | Snorkeling the ABC Islands

We stopped at Playa Lagun, up in Westpunt today, but there were so many people there, we couldn’t even find a place to park. And trust me, in Curacao, you can park anywhere! But it was so jammed we headed to a new beach called Playa Forti. We’ve eaten in the restaurant overlooking the bay, but have never snorkeled in it. There is a rather high cliff, where lots of people jump off into the ocean below. That’s maybe one reason we’ve never snorkeled there.

But… it was AMAZING! There is a nice sturdy set of stairs to get you down to the water’s edge, and it was quite easy to get into the ocean. It was beautifully warm, and crystal clear. Visibility seemed for miles.

Funny story about the cliff divers – locals jump off like crazy, some doing impressive back flips and the like. Well, a Dutch couple were going to jump in, a fellow with his girlfriend, being photographed from the bottom by another gal. The lady jumped in, and it was a bit of a belly flop and she kinda let out a moan of pain. The boyfriend looked over the edge, and that’s as far as he got! He completeley chickened out!

We actually saw some creatures we’ve never seen before! The brown garden eel keeps himself half hidden in the sand, waving in the water to catch plankton. Whenever a diver or snorkeler comes close, they retreat into the sand, leaving just their eyes poking out. We’ve never seen them before, and it was really quite majestic to see them waving in the current.

We saw a flounder – nothing new there – but this one was a tiny three inches long, and he was butting heads with a crab! He would ram the crab with his head, and the crab would stir up some sand. Then the flounder would pounce on the morsels that the crab stirred up.

Then there was a seahorse! This is only the second time we have ever seen one, the other time was in Aruba. We always look for them attached to coral, but this guy was heading across the sandy bottom. They are quite small, only about 2 or 3 inches and easily buffeted by the current. Cute little guy!

We saw a fish building a nest. He would take chunks of coral in his mouth, and place it on quite a significant little pile of coral. When I dove down to see what he was up to, he dove under the big pile of coral. Normally this fish would leave when a diver approaches, but obviously he was nest building and prepared to defend his home.

A great snorkel for sure – a beach we’d definitely come back to anyday!

We have been doing all those things one needs to do when they have moved into a new apartment. Namely renovations, including expanding the size of our suite by stealing space from our patio. Our patio is 18 feet x 12 feet, and we’re going to convert about half of that to inside space.

We decided that we wanted a second air conditioner added, so that any guests will have air conditioning – quite important at night. Makes sleeping so much easier. During the day, you live outside, eating, drinking, playing. It’s always warm, sunny, and breezy.

Construction on the new doors should start next week. We had an architect (Henk Bolivar) come in and examine the place, and he suggested that we don’t install an additional set of doors, but move the current set out to the new location.

Adding the new airco is a complicated process, with the compressors stored in a room near the front of the apartment building, while the control unit needs a place to discharge water. In order to add an additional unit into the apartment, we would have to go through another apartment – something that they could reject outright of course – and that could potentially add months to the process. Instead we have devised a plan to add the unit through the new construction! The result is that the entire renovation will solve all the problems, and look completely seamless and built in, rather than some jury-rigged add-on.

Henk, the architect, was one of the nicest fellows I’ve ever met. Jovial, forthright and funny, he couldn’t be a better fellow to work with. He kept saying, “Look, as an architect, we want things to be perfect as possible for the owner.” The idea we had had to add the second set of doors he described as a nightmare, and something we would not like. We were very pleased and surprised when he said just do it the right way first. Don’t settle for something – get what you want, and have it done right by professionals!

Everyone we have met on this island have just been great people. When they discover we are here to live, rather than just winter here, they are so excited! Welcome welcome welcome has been their response!

We’re becoming more and more comfortable here. Believe it or not, Bailey has made the transition easier. People are just completely charmed by her. A lot of Curacaon dogs are guard dogs, and are not friendly. Bailey of course, is a charmer. All the staff all ready know her name. When they see me without her, they wonder where she is, is she sick? They bring her a bucket of water with ice cubes in it! And she loves the attention they lavish on her.

There is an off leash beach here on the resort and we’ve jumped in the ocean a couple of times with her. She’s great with it, but a bigger wave spooks her and she gets out of the water. She always wants to drink from the ocean! The first time she did, it was a big mouthful that made her start coughing. She still takes a taste, but much smaller now. Her favorite activity is chasing the geckos – not much luck for her there tho. There are a number of cats on the resort and she tries to give chase, but they don’t run.

She prefers to lay outside in the sun rather than inside in the air conditioning. We were worried she wouldn’t like the constant heat (every day is around 33-35 C) but she loves it. The other big thing with her are the birds – there are so many large birds here. She literally stops in her tracks to follow the flight of a pelican or heron or flamingo.

Here is a brief movie of a pair of green moray eels – I realize we’ve uploaded a couple of moray videos already, but this one is quite cool. They are both sizable morays, with a slightly different color. I wonder if one might be female and the other male? I don’t know, but one was quite a bit bigger than the other – not so much longer, as it was thicker than the other. And watch how wide his mouth gets when he scarfs down that fish!