Snorkeling at Playa Kenepa Grandi

November 29, 2017 Maurice Leave a comment

We don’t often snorkel at Playa Kenepa Grandi, sometimes just called Playa Grandi. It’s supposed to be the most photographed beach on Curacao. It is easy to see why. It is very picturesque, with a long sandy beach and beautifully colored water. There is a small snack bar, a pay shower, bathrooms and lots of beach chairs. It is very busy most days, and today (Monday, November 28) was no exception.

The coral is not great, but there are lots of varieties of fish. We saw a big school of squid. We used to see squid a lot, but not so much anymore. The ones we’ve seen have been quite small, but these were the largest we’ve seen this year. Nice to see. But today’s highlight was an eagle ray.

It’s not often we get to swim with eagle rays. Usually, we see them for just a minute or two and they swim off at a high rate of speed. This time, we swam with this guy for a long time, probably 20 minutes. And it only ended because we got tired of chasing him around. He seemed to take great delight in swimming in a circle about three hundred meters around! Round and round we’d go, I’m sure he just wanted to see how long we’d chase him.

Curacao

Playa Piskado and all those turtles

November 25, 2017 Maurice Leave a comment

This bay is one of our favorite places to snorkel. It’s known as Playa Piskado, although the sign at the entrance calls it Playa Grandi. Piskado is a Papiamentu word that means fisherman. Several times a day, the fisherman come to the dock and clean their catch. The remains are tossed into the ocean, and lots of turtles come and get a free dinner. The place is usually quite busy with lots of snorkelers looking to catch these graceful creatures having dinner.

The bay is quite well protected, so the ocean is usually quite calm. Even though it’s a major turtle spotting beach, there are plenty of other fish to see. We say a rather ginormous lobster hiding under a shelf, like usual. And there were loads of other fish, of course. The butter hamlet is one that Pam likes quite a bit. We managed to get a pretty decent shot of one today.

This picture is one I really like – it’s a neat reflection picture. I’m taking a picture of the turtle coming up for air, and Pam is taking this picture of me taking a picture! Lots of reflections going around. Pretty cool effect.

This is a video of one of the larger turtles coming up for air. We usually miss getting them in the frame, so I’ve included it in this post just to show we can get lucky!

This fish on the right is also a neat looking guy. They normally do not like to be photographed and quickly hide themselves. But today, there were quite a few of them over near the side wall away from the turtles, and they didn’t run and hide. It’s called a jackknife fish, and looks pretty lovely.

We had brunch at a restaurant called Kome, a Papiamentu word meaning “Eat.” It’s in the downtown area called Pietermaai, close to the famous Curacao sign. It was simply wonderful. Loved the layout of the restaurant with an open kitchen and local artwork on the walls. The staff were really terrific, and the food even better. The restaurant owners stopped by our table a couple of times throughout the meal to make sure we were enjoying the place. We will definitely be coming back for dinner. The only thing is, Bill Murray kept staring at us through the whole meal!

Curacao

The art of snorkeling

November 18, 2017 Maurice Leave a comment

We have been snapping photos of artwork around the island. Some have been sculptures, while others seem to be graffiti. Pam really likes the one in the header (called the featured picture) of this post, of a couple of birds. It’s quite large and very sweet.

The one on the right here is rather unusual. We are not sure what it is supposed to be, but almost seems to encouraging people to read? Not sure. It is located near Playa Daiibooi at the entrance to the Coral Estates, a lovely gated community here in Curacao. It is very tall, about 12 or 15 feet.

The photo on the left is one of the newer art installations in Blue Bay. It is on the golf course, near the club house. I really like the metal work of it, but we’re not sure what it is supposed to be. They say art is in the eye of the beholder, so do you behold a hippo, or a unicorn?

We’ve been doing some snorkeling, of course, and have seen so many fun things. We’ve explored lots of beaches, some we’ve never been to before. But it seems we see the most exciting stuff right in our backyard beach of Blue Bay. This movie of an octopus is kinda fun. If you look closely as he’s swimming, you will notice one tentacle on the left upper side is noticeably shorter. It has started to regrow, but it’s still quite a but shorter than the rest. He’s a very good size, and was being a bully to a smaller octopus.

Curacao

Playa Daaibooi again

November 1, 2017 Maurice Leave a comment

We have not been to Playa Daaibooi since 2013. It’s a nice sheltered bay with a pretty nice beach. There are lots of palapas and beach chairs, a restaurant, and a pay shower. Yup a pay shower. Stick in 25 cents and you get enough water to rinse off the salty ocean water. Very nice. There is no entrance fee, no parking fee, and no fee for using the beach chairs and loungers.

I’ve had to replace my underwater camera, and I purchased a FujiFilm XP120. It is about the worst underwater camera we’ve ever owned. The pictures taken in the water are absolutely terrible. It’s an ok camera out of the water, but if you’re thinking of getting an underwater camera do NOT buy the FujiFilm XP120. Absolute garbage.

The coral is quite bleached unfortunately. It’s a far too common problem, now. Still, there were lots and lots of fish to see. The water remains quite shallow for a long ways out. You can easily get to some lovely coral, but when you look back at the beach you’re quite surprised at how far you’ve come out. We saw the usual suspects along with turtles, flying gurnards, moray eels, and large rainbow parrot fish.

Interestingly, we were able to discover where the SS Minnow is now stored! Check out the pic to the right. We talked to the Skipper, but couldn’t find Gilligan. The weather has been fabulous lately. The summer months are very hot here, but now hover around 30 Celsius. Very very pleasant.