Curacao, Vacations

Royal Sea Aquarium

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Masses of CoralWednesday 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.

Black durgonThe 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.

Creole wrasseWe 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.)

SurgeonfishNot 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!

FlowersWe walked around downtown Willemsted in the afternoon. It was crowded with shoppers from the two cruise ships in the harbor. Downtown WillemstedIt’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

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Driving hazardsWe 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!

Cas AbaoThere 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.

Union meetingIt 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.

Mini trunkfishI’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

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Caracasbaii, CuracaoSunday 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.

The beast! 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!

Juvenile tangThere 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.

thewrecksIf 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.

Sand diverWe 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.

 

Curacao, Vacations

We made it

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Just a quick post this Saturday morning. We had a good trip down. The flight from Seattle to Miami was delayed over an hour because the plane didn’t arrive from its previous destination because of winds, but they aided us in our flight! We arrived in Miami just a little late, but no worries for us since we had a four hour layover anyway.

The landing sequence into Miami is very impressive. The plane arcs over the ocean and you get long sweeping views of miles of coastline spotted with soaring towers and wonderful little islands with lovely homes. Sailboats dot the waters, and speedboats leave long wake trails as they speed along the coastline. Large fishing boats, and immense tankers lumber along. And wide highways carry cars and trucks across arching bridges. Quite the impressive sight!
Wheelchair planeWhen we landed, Miami airport is very nice. Wonderful shops, great restaurants and lots of art line every corridor. I’ve put up one photo of a plane, with a wheelchair for the pilot! Cute!

The flight to Curacao was short, under three hours and uneventful. There was a long line at the car rental though and we didn’t get here to the resort until nearly 5:30. So a long travel day to start the vacation. We went to dinner at the little rib shack that we’ve been to before. It was nice.

We slept a long time! Nearly 13 hours, so we’re about to get in the ocean for the first time. Talk later!

Commentary

Remembrance Day

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On the the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, at eleven hundred hours, the guns will go silent….

Parachute schoolNovember 11 is meant as a day to pay tribute to our soldiers who fought, and died to keep our country safe and free. I hope you will take two minutes to remember those who gave their lives, so that ours would be better.

I offer this video, as a reminder of how simple it is. On November 11, 1999 Terry Kelly was in a Shoppers Drug Mart store in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At 10:55 AM an announcement came over the store’s PA asking customers who would still be on the premises at 11:00 AM to give two minutes of silence in respect to the veterans who have sacrificed so much for us.

Terry was impressed with the store’s leadership role in adopting the Legion’s “two minutes of silence” initiative. He felt that the store’s contribution of educating the public to the importance of remembering was commendable.

When eleven o’clock arrived on that day, an announcement was again made asking for the “two minutes of silence” to commence. All customers, with the exception of a man who was accompanied by his young child, showed their respect.

Terry’s anger towards the father for trying to engage the store’s clerk in conversation and for setting a bad example for his child was later channeled into a beautiful piece of work called, “A Pittance of Time”. Terry later recorded “A Pittance of Time” and included it on his full-length music CD, “The Power of the Dream”.

Holidays

Halloween 2012

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Halloween 2012It’s been a long time since I sat down and put in a post. This year, we did a smaller Halloween display than usual. I’m still a little angry about the vandalism and thefts. The stealing of the skeleton I get… but to just kick and destroy all the tombstones I’d made was just so nonsensical. I just don’t get what prompts people to do that.

Anyway, we concentrated all the display around the driveway, and it was actually quite effective. Lots of people complimented us on the display, much more than in other years. My theory is because everything was so concentrated, it was more intense. We added one major piece and it was a zombie who “pops up” and growls, “Welcome to my graveyard.” It caught people unaware and added a little spooky experience.

One thing I did new was to put some masks we had over paint cans and put them on the candy table. I think they look darn spooky, especially in the night with the fake fog on them! (You can see them in the picture – the one on the right is pretty cool.)

One kid had to come back – his mother apologized for that! She said he wouldn’t go home til he saw it one more time. Pam told her that that was ok – anyone who liked it that much gets another chocolate bar!

If you turn the sound up when you watch the movie, you can hear Pam calling in some kids, the spooky music from the karaoke machine, and the reaction of a kid approaching Pam to get her candy.

First snorkel as locals
St. Maarten

Salt Lake City

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Well Mike and I are on the road again. We flew out of Vancouver on Skywest Airlines in a cool plane from Bombardier called the CRJ700 or maybe the 900. There were only two seats on each side of the plane. Nice and roomy, good legroom, and comfy enough seats. We left a little late, but seemed to arrive here in Salt Lake City on time.

Flying in, it sort of reminded me of Las Vegas. Lots of mountains surrounding the city, with not a lot of greenery anywhere. It was sunny and warm when we arrived.

We leave here at 1 am to fly to Atlanta, then on to St. Maarten a couple hours later. There is free wifi here in Salt Lake City, so I’m putting a brief post up from here. Atlanta does NOT have free wifi, so I won’t be posting an update until late tomorrow (Friday) at the earliest, although I am not promising one.

So, first of three flights was nice. A good start. We’re looking forward to jumping in the ocean as soon as we can tomorrow! Mike commented that he thought this was the first flight we’d taken together where no kids were screaming!

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ADDED ON FRIDAY:

We’re in Atlanta and I’m getting some free internet from a restaurant where we had breakfast. It was not a great breakfast, but the coffee was ok. Atlanta airport is a Boingo hotspot, and that’s 8 bucks, so I won’t pay that. Will make this short and not so sweet. The flight from Salt Lake city was so packed they asked people to take another flight – I think they needed six people to accept another flight. It was an ok flight, no screaming kids. But it was crowded an my seat mate kept falling asleep and taking half my seat haha.

And I discovered I forgot my charger for my Nook e-reader at home! Sigh – how dumb am I?? What a drag. Anyway – we leave here at 10, boarding at 9:20… then into St Maarten for 2:15. It’s a great day here in Atlanta. Talk soon!

Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao