We have been snapping photos of artwork around the island. Some have been sculptures, while others seem to be graffiti. Pam really likes the one in the header (called the featured picture) of this post, of a couple of birds. It’s quite large and very sweet.
The one on the right here is rather unusual. We are not sure what it is supposed to be, but almost seems to encouraging people to read? Not sure. It is located near Playa Daiibooi at the entrance to the Coral Estates, a lovely gated community here in Curacao. It is very tall, about 12 or 15 feet.
The photo on the left is one of the newer art installations in Blue Bay. It is on the golf course, near the club house. I really like the metal work of it, but we’re not sure what it is supposed to be. They say art is in the eye of the beholder, so do you behold a hippo, or a unicorn?
We’ve been doing some snorkeling, of course, and have seen so many fun things. We’ve explored lots of beaches, some we’ve never been to before. But it seems we see the most exciting stuff right in our backyard beach of Blue Bay. This movie of an octopus is kinda fun. If you look closely as he’s swimming, you will notice one tentacle on the left upper side is noticeably shorter. It has started to regrow, but it’s still quite a but shorter than the rest. He’s a very good size, and was being a bully to a smaller octopus.
When we woke up this morning, the ocean was very calm, so we thought we should head back the Coral Gardens. We’d talked about how we wanted to see this place with calm waters, so off we went. It’s just a short drive to the Coral Gardens from our resort. The roads are really very good compared to most other Caribbean islands we’ve been on. It’s getting to be fun driving on the left side, although Pam keeps thinking we’re going to go in the ditch!
The Gardens certainly didn’t disappoint. We saw a bunch of fish we’ve never seen before. Starting with one that Pam has wanted to see called the unicorn fish. They are a fair sized fish, and sort of look like small whales. They have a long “thing” that protrudes from their head, but can be laid down their spine. There was a little group of four that never really moved no matter how close we dove to them.
Another first was a grey angelfish. We’ve seen tons of angelfish on Aruba, but they are usually the French angel. This is the first grey we’ve seen and they act pretty much like a French Angel, just a slightly different color. They have bright yellow fins too.
We saw three or four lionfish. Not that we want to! They are voracious predators and not native to the Caribbean. It’s speculated that they originated from Florida private aquariums, and they are classified as a disaster to the Caribbean reef system. They look terrific, but they devour the smaller reef fish.
We saw a gorgeous Queen Triggerfish, my personal fave fish. She was a beauty, hanging around and not taking off like they usually do. That’s one thing we’ve really noticed here – the fish seem to just not give a hoot that people are around. They just go about their fishly business and ignore us.
We took a drive down south to Sapodila Bay. It’s a lovely beach, virtually deserted. It’s extremely calm, and has a beautiful sandy bottom. It’s perfect for swimming. It’s very shallow and you have to walk out a long way before it even gets over your waist. One thing about the water here, is that it is much colder than other places we’ve been. It’s been a bit of a challenge getting in, but once you’re in, it’s nice. Sapodila Bay wasn’t much for snorkeling but a guy told us that over on the far point, there was a wreck, with lots of fish. Pam wasn’t up for the swim so I decided I’d go take a quick look. Well…. if you’ve ever had the hankering to swim with lots and lots of barracuda, do I have a place for you! There were so many there, dozens and dozens of them (and I’m not kidding – there were probably 40 or 50), ranging in size from two feet up to six feet, that I figured I’d just get out!
Here’s a sunset picture, taken off of our balcony. It’s been a great way to spend the end of a day… sitting on the deck and watching the sun go down. There are virtually no bugs, so no need for mosquito spray. Just sit back with a nice drink and watch the show! Hope you enjoy Joy!
I’m adding a movie to this post – it shows all the highlighted fish. The Queen triggerfish, the grey Angelfish, the unicorn filefish, and the yellowtail snapper. The yellowtail is kind of like the Sgt Major in Aruba – every time you turn around, there are a bunch of yellowtails trailing you around! They’re your posse!
We have been snapping photos of artwork around the island. Some have been sculptures, while others seem to be graffiti. Pam really likes the one in the header (called the featured picture) of this post, of a couple of birds. It’s quite large and very sweet.
The photo on the left is one of the newer art installations in Blue Bay. It is on the golf course, near the club house. I really like the metal work of it, but we’re not sure what it is supposed to be. They say art is in the eye of the beholder, so do you behold a hippo, or a unicorn?
We’ve been doing some snorkeling, of course, and have seen so many fun things. We’ve explored lots of beaches, some we’ve never been to before. But it seems we see the most exciting stuff right in our backyard beach of Blue Bay. This movie of an octopus is kinda fun. If you look closely as he’s swimming, you will notice one tentacle on the left upper side is noticeably shorter. It has started to regrow, but it’s still quite a but shorter than the rest. He’s a very good size, and was being a bully to a smaller octopus.
