Category Archives: Curacao

Visits to the island of Curacao

Flights and arrivals

May 4, 2013 Maurice Leave a comment

Well, we’re on the move again. Pam and I left Vancouver on Friday, and flew to Chicago. It was on an Airbus, a great plane, that’d I take over just about any Boeing. The seats are wider, there is more leg room, and the flight crew was really terrific. The flight was uneventful, but landing in Chicago we discovered rain and fog had delayed our connecting flight to New Jersey’s Newark Airport.

Chicago’s airport, at least the United terminal, is a tired worn out old boat. There are simply not enough seats for people waiting for their flights, and the place look really drab. However, we each got a great salad from a restaurant called Mediterranean Tampenade. Nice fresh food, terrific fresh crab, tasty chicken salad – really nice food. Could be the best airport food we’ve ever had.

The delay in Chicago wasn’t a big deal, but we got stuck in a little Boeing plane, with narrow seats, no legroom and because the flight was jammed, no place to put our carry on but under our seat. Luckily it’s a short flight, and we managed to make it quite quickly, in well under two hours.

Newark is a nicer airport, roomy with comfortable seats, but it does not have free wifi, and no way will I pay eight bucks for the couple of hours we were there. Our flight into Bonaire was delayed for over an hour. Then we boarded the plane, and two people who had checked baggage did not board the plane, so there was a further delay waiting for their luggage to be removed. We left one hour and forty five minutes late, arriving in Bonaire just 20 minutes before our flight was scheduled to leave for Curacao. Which meant we’d miss it, since we had to pick up our baggage and go through security again! sigh…

So while I tried to find our baggage, Pam went to the DAE checkin and got them to hold the plane until we came. They told us we had to come now, or miss it – so we left our luggage in Bonaire, but DAE told us they’d send it on to Curacao. So here I am in Curacao without luggage again!

We tried a new way to get a rental car – a process complicated by the fact they aren’t allowed on the airport grounds to disperse cars or pick up clients. It went surprisingly well, and we saved over 100 bucks for the rental. It’s a nice enough car, complete with all insurances. Our luggage showed up at 11:30 am, so we were able to grab it from the airport. Ah well… the joys of travel!

While walking back from parking our car at the Royal Sea Aquarium, we saw a smaller spotted eagle ray, right from the bridge! Have only seen one of those before, and that really briefly with Mike.

So even though we were pretty tired we went and got our suits on and jumped in! We just puddled around, enjoying being back in the ocean, with all our scaly friends. First day pictures are rather poor, so not much to show you. I will say though that the breakwater has really developed! Just tons of interesting things to see and lots of coral growth. It’s definitely looking good!

I’ve included a brief movie of the eagle ray – give it a few seconds and he approaches very closely to where we’re standing. We didn’t see him when we got into the water, but one of the staff here said that the ray has become a resident here, so we’re hoping to catch him in the water on another swim.

Oh – our room is pretty terrific – it’s on the third floor and looks right out over the dolphin pool! We’ll have a picture or two of that over the next few days I’m sure!

(I’m posting this and heading to bed – so if the movie is not there – patience, as I was going to bed, it said there was 10 more minutes to go…)

Commentary, Curacao, Vacations

Flights and arrivals

May 4, 2013 Maurice Leave a comment

While walking back from parking our car at the Royal Sea Aquarium, we saw a smaller spotted eagle ray, right from the bridge! Have only seen one of those before, and that really briefly with Mike.

Oh – our room is pretty terrific – it’s on the third floor and looks right out over the dolphin pool! We’ll have a picture or two of that over the next few days I’m sure!

(I’m posting this and heading to bed – so if the movie is not there – patience, as I was going to bed, it said there was 10 more minutes to go…)

About Bailey, Curacao, Vacations

Flights and arrivals

May 4, 2013 Maurice Leave a comment

While walking back from parking our car at the Royal Sea Aquarium, we saw a smaller spotted eagle ray, right from the bridge! Have only seen one of those before, and that really briefly with Mike.

Oh – our room is pretty terrific – it’s on the third floor and looks right out over the dolphin pool! We’ll have a picture or two of that over the next few days I’m sure!

(I’m posting this and heading to bed – so if the movie is not there – patience, as I was going to bed, it said there was 10 more minutes to go…)

Curacao, Vacations

Back at Caracasbaii

November 29, 2012 Maurice 5 Comments

Thursday we returned to Caracasbaii – we had intended on swimming at the Seaquarium, but the wind was a bit high and because the snorkeling site is in the open ocean, often the waves are just too pushy! The water at Caracasbaii was very warm, very calm, and extremely clear! I’m not sure we’ve ever seen it so clear.

We snorkeled around the wreck as usual, and saw plenty of fish, but a short trek towards the new condo development was a new experience for us. And it sure was a lot of fun! The water is fairly shallow and we got to see some fun fish. One of Pam’s favorite fish is the spotted drum. Usually when we see them, they are hiding under rocks, so we never manage to get a clear shot of them. But this time, one fellow was just drifting along, swimming his song. Here is a movie Pam took of this black and white beauty.

We saw a couple of moray eels – a chain and a golden. We haven’t seen as many eels this time. Usually we spot lots of them, but maybe we were too busy looking at other fish to spot them. I think this is the first chain moray we’ve seen.

Another cool fish we’ve seen a lot of, is the scrawled filefish. It’s a very long fish, usually over two feet, but very flat, much like a flounder. It can change color from a deep green, to a bright blue, to light white. It’s very cool, and always catches your eye because of the length.

This last movie is of a lionfish. We haven’t seen any of them, until today, so that’s a good sign. This voracious predator looks lovely, but is totally deadly to the fish in the Caribbean. Pam took this hovering over the wreck. At the end of the movie, the lionfish suddenly darts forward – the speed of this fish is so deceptive. You simply don’t think it can zip along that fast, yet, when it needs to go, it can go!

The last picture is of a spindly little spider crab. They are about a foot across, but look as a delicate as a feather. Usually they scramble around the rocks, near sea urchins, looking for protection I imagine. This guy was hanging around one of the big pilons in the middle of the bay. Kind of a strange looking beast, eh? See the tiny little blue claws? Not much for eating!

Curacao, Vacations

Royal Sea Aquarium

November 29, 2012 Maurice 2 Comments

Wednesday we swam at the Royal Sea Aquarium. This is really a remarkable site, and we’ve always snorkeled here every time we come. The sea was a bit rough, but the water was so clear! It was a lot of fun. The place has amazingly huge coral formations, and just tons of fish.

The one fish that always stands out for me is the black durgon. We saw some coloration on them today that was just remarkable. I have a brief movie, that is far too jerky, and I apologize for that, but it’s worth it just to see the amazing color on this fish! (Remember: you can always put the movies in full screen mode, and see them in full 1080p HD mode.) The deep orange face, the bright blue and black body and the white striping — just wow. Love it.

We saw a blue fish with black highlights that we rarely see, and yet there were tons of them here today. We think they are creole wrasse, and this is the juvenile phase. (NOTE: this is a blue chromis, actually, not a wrasse.)

Not a lot to say about this great snorkel site, since I’ve talked about it lots of times before. I’ll just let you watch a couple movies and you can see what I mean. It’s pretty darn phenomenal. Of all the places we’ve snorkeled, this is top two… I can’t decide if Smith’s Reef on the Turks and Caicos beats this. One thing the Sea Aquarium hasn’t given us is turtles. If we saw a turtle or two, there would be no debate!

This next movie is of a school of surgeonfish, blue tangs and several black durgons join in the fun. I’ve posted lots of movies of these fish, but they are so cool. They just fill your vision with shades of blue and purple. Very relaxing to watch them cruise through the area!

We walked around downtown Willemsted in the afternoon. It was crowded with shoppers from the two cruise ships in the harbor. It’s a protected World Heritage Site, due to the unique architecture of the building lining the streets. But it’s also lots of fun. Lots of little shops, a big local craft market, restaurants of every flavor, street entertainment – just lots to do and see. There is even a floating market of boats from Venezuela which dock right by the downtown area. They sell everything from fresh fish to handicrafts.

Curacao, Vacations

Cas Abao on Tuesday

November 28, 2012 Maurice 2 Comments

We decided to head up towards Westpunt today, at the north end of the island. We’d been to Cas Abao the last time we were here and very much enjoyed it. It’s a nice drive through some interesting country, but you need to be on the lookout for hazards on the road. Check out the picture to the right to see what I mean!

There is a six guilder (about $3.50) per car fee to enter the beach and park your car. There is a further five guilder ($3) fee for a lounge chair, which you don’t have to pay, if you just want to plunk down on the beautiful white sand. The water is super warm, and super easy to get into. But the snorkeling is not as good as it used to be. Lots of the coral has collapsed and the stuff close in for snorkelers is good, but not as great as it was.

It is still a great dive site, and further out the coral is magnificent. But that’s at a depth of about twenty five feet. So, it’s great to look at, not so great for pictures. If you are a diver, it would be an awesome place. One of the cool sites we saw was this sharptail eel, out hunting. But he had a crowd hanging around him, a black barjack, a Spanish hogfish, a yellowtail snapper, a peacock flounder and sometimes a goat fish! It was quite the sight to see. I’ve uploaded a movie of it… it’s pretty deep at this spot, so not super clear.

I’ve also uploaded a brief movie just for Mike… it’s a meeting of all his buddies, probably wondering when he’s supposed to get here! Enjoy dude!

For dinner we went to El Forno’s, a brick oven pizza joint that also serves pasta, chicken, ribs and some great salads. I’d come here twice with Mike last time we were here, and one time was very nice, and one time was less than stellar. Well tonight was fantastic. We started with the El Forno salad which was a blend of greens served with a warm grilled chicken with pine nuts, bacon and fresh mozzarella cheese. It was to die for… absolutely super. We split a brick oven pizza – again – super good. I had a couple of profiteroles for desert and they were terrific too. The service was spot on as well. Friendly, efficient and attentive.

Curacao, Vacations

Monday at Caracasbaii

November 26, 2012 Maurice Leave a comment

Sunday was a strange day. We had a nice long sleep and woke about half past nine. We had a nice cup of coffee, a leisurely breakfast, then got our stuff together for a swim. By the time we got to the car, there were a few drops of rain. By the time we got to Caracasbaii, visibility was about ten feet! The monsoon was on! And it kept up pretty much all day. There was a brief respite about one, but it quickly came down again. So the first day was a big write off.

Monday morning we got to Caracasbaii early and had a wonderful swim. The water was warm and delightful. Sometimes after a bad rain, the water is cloudy but it was crystal clear. We’ve been in this bay before so we know what to expect, and basically got what we expected! The one fish that really stood out for us was a trumpetfish. We’ve seen lots of trumpetfish, all over the Caribbean. But this guy was the King of Trumpetfish! He was sooo big we called him The Beast!

There are a couple of wrecks here, now teeming with corral, and surrounded by lots of fish, small to large. From the mighty tiny Juvenile tang, in yellow with a band of his future blue color rimming his body, to the porkfish with his bright yellow and black banding, to flounder skittering along the ocean floor, to larger needlefish, houndfish and trumpetfish, this site has it all.

If you look at the big picture of the beach, I’ve added a big black arrow to indicate where the wrecks are located. They are very close to shore, and you can easily reach down and touch them, but NO TOUCHING! I think one used to be a tug, but maybe not. There are a number of other parts to the ships, like the anchor chain, the motor etc strewn across the area. It’s a great first dive, with lots to see, in an easily accessible beach, within a ten minute drive of our hotel.

We had a nice lunch at “Papa’s” a beach side restaurant, where there was a local family celebrating their anniversary. There was live music, speeches, dancing and song. It was really great. The food was outstanding, too.

Like always, we have a gallery set up of all the pictures from the trip. I don’t reference all the pictures in each story, so take a look at the Curacao 2012 gallery to see all the pictures.

This is a short movie of some fish around the wrecks. It gives you an idea of the variety of life around it. Hope you like it.