Tag Archives: Caracasbaii

Monday at Caracasbaii

Willemsted, CuracaoMonday started with a one hour cruise from our condo up to the capital of Curacao called Willemsted. It is a UNESCO protected World Heritage Site. It has centuries old architecture, with uniquely painted buildings. The story goes that the wife of the governor suffered from migraines, and the stark white homes, with the glaring sun reflecting off of them triggered her migraines. Willemsted So the governor decreed that all the homes must be painted. So the people took it to heart, and created a dynamic, vibrant palette. The result is that, the islanders were forced to develop quality paint, given the harsh sunlight, tropical rain storms, and high humidity. Consequently, their expertise in manufacturing paint has made them a world leader in paint technology, even to this day.

Moving bridgeIt was a nice cruise and we went right into the harbor, up to within a few feet of the swinging bridge. The island is also a center for many nations to practice their search and rescue operations. DamselThe US Navy, the British, Canadians, Dutch and Russians all train their teams on Curacao. It’s another source of income for Curacao, so they are not as dependent on tourism as other Caribbean islands.

WreckAfter the cruise, we headed to Caracasbaii – or Caracas Bay – and we had intended to head out to the tugboat wreck. But the road was full of potholes, and we were worried about taking our rental on it. (Did I mention we got a NEW car from the rental place? It’s a brand new Yaris, so new it still has that new car smell! It only has 260 kms on the odometer!) So we stayed at the main beach, and boy are we glad we did!

Golden moray eel, This was definitely the best snorkeling we’ve had this year. There was abundant coral, and just tons and tons of fish. There were lots of fish we had never seen before, and lots of fish we’d seen of course. We saw a type of moray eel we’d never seen before, a golden moray. Blackbar soldierfishWe saw some damselfish with unique coloring we had not seen. We saw a new fish called a blackbar soldierfish, which was bright red, with a black bar down it’s head, that hung in big schools.

Glassy sweeperThere were a number of schools of glassy sweepers, an unusual copper colored fish, with a prominent belly. There were tons of trumpetfish, a long thin fish, that often swims with his head pointing down. TrumpetfishHe can change color at will, and tries to hide among long stemmed coral.

There were many types of damselfish, from little bitty ones no bigger than the nail on your Juvenile beaugregorylittle finger, up to a couple of inches long. Colors ranged from a brilliant blue, with bright blue polka dots, to half black, half white, to yellow with blue, yellow with purple – you name it, it was there.

We will definitely be back there, that’s for sure!

There are too many pictures to post here in the messages, so do check out the Curacao 2010 gallery for more pictures. (You can get to the gallery by clicking on the Galleries link at the top of the page.)