Playa Kenepa Chiki

Playa Kenepa Chiki, CuracaoWe were back out Westpunt way again today and stopped in Playa Kenepa Chiki. It’s a smaller beach, with nice sandy entry to the water, but a quick dropoff gets you into the water quickly. The water was nice and warm, and visibility was very good today. There are not many facilities – no shower, no bathrooms. There is a guy who will rent you a beach chair, and a small food truck to grab a beer, pop and a light snack. The food truck also sells some souvenirs too.

Playa Kenepa Chiki, CuracaoWe had a really nice swim, but saw mostly the usual suspects. Lots of eels, a nice school of palometos as we exited. The coral was best on the left side near the wall. You can swim a long way out, since the water depth seems to stay at about 25 or 30 feet the whole way. The reef was nice, but we’ve definitely seen better. It was a really great swim though. Enjoyed it very much.

 

Playa Lagun

The staircase to Bahia Beach barPlaya Lagun is a smaller bay, near Westpunt. It has a couple of nice restaurants very close by – one behind the parking lot, and another that requires climbing a rather long set of stairs up to the Bahia apartment complex. Both have pretty good food, but the Bahia Beach Bar has much nicer views. The beach itself has a few palapas, a masseuse, a batido (smoothie) food truck, and a place that sells fresh fish. There is no shower, and restrooms are in the restaurants only.

Playa Lagun entryIt’s always quite busy. Lots of sun tanners on loungers, that are for rent. The bay is quite narrow, but there is usually always something fun to see in the ocean. The best way to enter the ocean is on the far left side. It’s very sandy there, and is quite easy to get in. The right and middle of the bay is quite rocky with lots of bigger chunks of coral that hurt your feet, so definitely enter and exit on the left side.

The coral starts to get better the further out you get. Both walls are quite fun, and today we saw a large school of squid, a flying gurnard and a turtle. It was a fun snorkel, and there was lots of other fish to see, what we call the usual suspects. After our snorkel, we grabbed a batido from the little food truck, like we normally do – she does a great job!

Small turtle Flying Gurnard Staircase to the bar The bay is a star too!

Playa Jeremi

Spotted filefish, Playa JeremPam and I spent a nice afternoon snorkeling around Playa Jeremi. It is a beach out Westpunt way. There is a small unpaved road you have to travel on, for maybe five hundred meters. There is plenty of parking, but there are no resources here: no bathroom, no shower, no dive shop, no restaurant, and just a couple of broken down palapas. Hopefully, as the Playa Jeremi resort gets established, they will improve this lovely little beach.

Coronetfish at Playa JeremiThe beach is quite picturesque, with a long sandy stretch. On the day we were there, we shared the lovely bay with six other people. The entry into the water is very easy, with a rather level, sandy stretch. The visibility was quite good during our visit. There were lots of fish to see, but the coral was not stellar. Further out it’s quite nice, and especially on the left side of the bay. Still we saw a big coronetfish, which we don’t often see. As well, we saw a black durgon, a type of triggerfish which we rarely see here in Curacao.

Playa JeremiWe saw a little turtle in close to shore as were coming out of the water. Always fun to see turtles! Certainly Playa Jeremi does not have the coral like Blue Bay, but it was a nice diversion.

 

Fun with an octopus

Purple eelWe had a nice snorkel today at Caracasbaii. The wreck that is so close to the shore usually provides some fun stuff to see, but today was all about the side show. If you head to the right, toward the new building sites, there is a lot of very nice coral, in quite shallow waters. Today we saw so many eels, it was unreal. But the big show stopper today was an octopus. He was in about three feet of water, so we got to spend quite a bit of time with him.

Good sized octopusHe was one of the bigger octopus that we have seen, and he was totally unconcerned with us. Usually when you get close to an octopus they try to make themselves look big, and they go all white. This guy, not so much. I could get within two inches of him, and no reaction.

I’ve added a little movie of him, just to show you how unconcerned he seemed. We followed him for quite a while, and he never did hide or get all worried at all. The only time he reacted with the white coloration, was when a damsel fish started pecking at him. Fun day of snorkeling, for sure!

Voted Number 1!

Blue Bay SunsetIt was fun to see that Blue Bay Beach was voted number one beach in Curacao by the Art of Scuba Diving website! They particularly like that the beach was kid-friendly since it has “amazingly soft white sand”  that has a “gentle slope” to it so that kids can safely play.

They also mention the many amenities, including a dive shop, several restaurants, a playground just for kids, lots of shade, plus beach chairs and umbrellas too. Another new thing just added that they don’t mention are several sail clothes fastened between trees so that there are extra shady areas, not just from palapas. There is also a nice massage hut where you can get various spa treatments as well.

Another nice amenity is the beach service from the restaurant. Not a lot of beaches in Curacao have service staff patrolling the beach to get you a drink, lunch or a snack, but Blue Bay does!

Colorful coralAnd of course, it has some of the most amazing coral you will find anywhere! When you head into the water, go to the RIGHT for the best coral. Head around the point, and then swim across the sandy section to see the truly beautiful underwater scenes!

Wandering Around

The Queen Emma pontoon bridgeWe spent an afternoon wandering around downtown Willemstad here on Curacao the other day. Thought I’d post a few pics of the area. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site. Established in 1634, it’s been cited for its “organic growth of a multicultural community.” It’s got absolutely fascinating architecture, with Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese influences. Many buildings are hundreds of years old. The building pictured in the header of this article houses the Penha store. Wonderfully detailed, it’s a delightfully bright corner at the entrance to the main shopping area.

BoomThe cannons pictured in the photos to the left and in the above paragraph, were recovered in 1995 from the Handelskade area of Curacao. The are late 18th century examples of the war machinery needed to protect Curacao. They take aim at the Queen Emma Pontoon bridge, a pedestrian only bridge, that can be moved out of the way so even the grandest of cruise ships can enter the inner harbor.

Artwork on the wallsThe town has a very vibrant art community. I’ve showcased some of the artwork that adorns the walls of some of the buildings in the downtown area in previous posts, and this one to the right here is fairly new. I don’t think it was on the wall the last time we came through this particular alley in early December. Just to left of this picture is the studio for one of Curacao’s most famous artists, Nena Sanchez who recently passed away. This particular alley has a lot of other galleries as well.

 

Restaurant Review: Kome

Kome is the Papiamentu word for “Eat.” It’s a restaurant that was conceived by a couple of ex-pats to serve tasty food, as locally sourced as possible. The food is fresh as fresh can be! The staff is beyond wonderful. The heritage building has been tastefully remodeled into a welcoming airy space.

They have lots of beer choices, probably the largest beer menu on the island. There was a choice of a couple of types of sangria as well: We tried the watermelon sangria. It was an interesting choice, but I switched to beer after one glass!  I enjoyed the sangria, but, well, beer is more my style.

The food: we went on my birthday with a couple of friends for the Wednesday tapas menu. It’s a wide ranging menu, with seafood, beef, pork, chicken and vegetarian dishes. They suggested we order two or three dishes each, and they would bring two or three at time, so the table wouldn’t become overloaded. I would suggest that two would be enough for most women, and three for men. We ordered lots of different dishes and shared them between us, as they came.

We chose dishes like chicken and waffles, wild mushrooms on toast, green beans in a sriracha sauce, buffalo chicken sliders, pulled pork tacos, crab Rangoon, blackened fish tacos, flatiron steak, hoisin ribs and more! We did order too much. I liked everything we ordered, with a special shout out to the green beans and the fish tacos. Pam really loved the ribs. The buffalo chicken sliders were especially spicy, and I loved them too. The only dish I would not order again was the crab rangoon. It was a generous serving, but I just didn’t “Love” them as much as everything else.

I would have no trouble eating again any of the dishes we ordered. Just a great sampling of food. Each was wonderfully presented, cooked very very well, and delivered in a great way. We ate and ate and dishes kept arriving, and it was really a wonderful dinner. The company was amazing, and the night just flew by! Couldn’t have had a better time.

The staff are really a special collection of people. They are truly motivated to give you an experience that is virtually unparalleled on Curacao. It ranks with the best service I’ve ever had, anywhere in the world. The only problem is that this level of service will spoil you for so many other restaurants on Curacao!

Rank: 10/10 There is nothing this restaurant can do to improve.