Boxing Day in Curacao

Boxing day - 1st holeBoxing Day in Canada is a big day for shopping. Get out there and spend, spend, spend!

Here in Curacao, I’m starting a new tradition. Hitting the links! That’s right, today I went golfing.

The Blue Bay golf course is a fun course. I like playing it, it suits my game. Not too long, but lots of water and challenging with all the wind.

The big bIf you notice, in the picture of me warming up, there is a big blue B in the pond over my left shoulder. We’ve lived here for quite a while now, and only today did we notice that the B is filled with blue bottles! You can see them clearly in the picture to the left here of the bird perched on the sculpture.

Here is a video of me playing the 18th hole. It’s one of the longest par 5s on the course. Today I managed a nice birdie. It’s important to keep the ball on the fairway on this hole. To the left is a water hazard and to the right is some really ugly rough. Your second shot needs to keep to the middle as well. The left has water down the whole fairway. I think I made a pretty nice putt to finish the round!

Merry Christmas

Christmas TreeChristmas in the Caribbean is pretty low key, compared to the shop, shop, shop ethos of Canada. We don’t watch much live television, so we rarely see all the ads.

We spent a relaxed day on the beach. Saw some turtles. Not really too exciting.

We put up a small tree, but didn’t even get each other a present! Totally low key.

Anyway – wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Here’s a Christmas song we’ve been listening to quite a bit – a little out of the ordinary.

One hundred years

The Wire SoldiersToday is the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice between the Allied powers and Germany that ended the hostilities that has become known as the First World War. There have been a number of ceremonies honoring those soldiers who fought and died in the “Great War” on this momentous anniversary. One that really caught my eye was by the artist Jackie Lantelli. She felt that something special was needed to honor those soldiers from her small village that went off to war.

The Wire SoldiersMs. Lantelli said that she has always been “passionate about remembering on Remembrance Day” but this year she wanted to do something special. There were 11 soldiers who lost their lives from their little village and she has sculpted all eleven men in chicken wire statues. The result is ghostly, moving and emotional.

The Wire SoldiersI think they are quite haunting and deserve a tribute here on this blog. I find the two soldiers together, seeming to console one another to especially poignant. It’s a time of year that is important to Canadians, but especially to those of us who have family members who were soldiers.

Rest in Peace.

(I have uploaded several other pictures – check out this url to see them.)

 

Snorkeling at the Sea Aquarium Beach

Some coral at the SeAquarium BeachIt’s been quite a while since we’ve down to the Sea Aquarium, so today we decided to make the trek. It sure was nice to see all the healthy coral! It’s still quite a snorkel to get to the really nice stuff, but definitely worth it. You need to snorkel down a long channel, then head across a rough opening to get into the open ocean. But once there, it is truly spectacular.

We saw lots of fun stuff, including green moray eels, black durgons, barracuda and some really huge chubbs. The coral is plentiful and in very good shape. It does not suffer from the bleaching so common in many bays. We used to stay at the Royal Sea Aquarium all the time. I would recommend it to you highly.

Getting late at the SeAquarium BeachWe didn’t stick around and have dinner or lunch there, but it sure has gotten busy. Lots of restaurants and bars and snack shops on what is now called Mambo Beach Boulevard. You can find everything from sushi to ribs, East Indian food, Italian, Mexican, even a Starbucks. If you can’t find something to interest you, you’re way too picky

 

Boka Sami

Moray eelToday we tried out a new beach called Boka Sami. It’s in a small fishing village just up the coast from Blue Bay. It’s also referred to as Snake Bay, and for some reason Pam has been leery of trying it. But with Mike in town, we decided to give it a go. It’s a nice sandy beach, with a super easy entry into the ocean.

Lion fishThere are lots of fishing boats around the bay, and there turned out to be lots of fishing traps in the bottom of the bay. I find it tough to see the traps with all the fish stuck in there, knowing they are going to be someone’s dinner. sigh Wish that didn’t happen, but what can you do? If humans didn’t eat them, they’d wind up as dinner to some fish or bird.

Flying gurnardAnyway – it was a nice snorkel. Lots of flying gurnards  in this bay. I think we saw at least a half dozen. I think it’s alternatively called Snake Bay because of all the moray eels we saw though. They were everywhere! (Even in some of the traps.) We also saw turtles, some ceros, and a coronet fish.

This is definitely a beach we’ll be back to visit. Nice and peaceful.

 

Playing with turtles

Lotsa turtlesWe headed up to Westpunt to check out the turtles in Playa Piskado. It’s always a great favorite of ours, and most of the island as well! It can get crowded out there. There are so many turtles in the bay, and everyone loves to snorkel with turtles.

There were literally dozens of turtles today. Usually we can count fifteen or sixteen, but today – wow! Again, usually the fisherman come into the dock and offload their catch, while gutting and filleting the fish. But today, this boat stayed out in the deeper water, and I’m not sure if that attracted more turtles or what. But what a show they put on!

King NeptuneThere are lots of things to see in this bay besides the turtles, but you wouldn’t know it by the pictures we take. I took about one hundred pictures, and ninety are of turtles! haha They certainly catch your attention. The one picture I always have to take is of old King Neptune. He’s in fairly deep water out near the drop off.

Crab and flounderOne other thing we saw that is quite cute. There are a lot of these little crabs wandering around the bay, and they seem to pick up a buddy. We often see flounders bumping into the crabs. We’re guessing the crab stirs up the sand and some micro food, which the little flounder gobbles up. It’s really quite cute.

Snorkeling with Mike

Common octopusMike has come down to Curacao to escape the rain and cold of a Vancouver October. His first day here we decided to just jump in the ocean at here at Blue Bay Beach. Saw lots of fun stuff, including flying gurnards, octopus and turtles. A really fun first snorkel.

Some nice coralThe weather has been a bit, shall we say, volatile? We’ve had some crazy rain, and some awesome thunder and lightning. But it sure is amazing how quickly the place greens up with just a little bit of water. Although, I wouldn’t quite say it was a little water! Tropical rain showers really do dump a ton of water in a hurry.

Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao