My Souvenir Memories: Willemstad, Curacao

Tuesday, April 17 – Curacao

Our first port…the island of Curacao. A new port for us and our third and final island in the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire & Curacao). I grabbed my camera and went outside to get some photos, but instantly the lens fogged up and ended that endeavor. 😒

After breakfast I turned my phone on and crossed my fingers that T-Mobile was telling the truth when they said there is free texting and data in over 140 countries…including Curacao! I sat outside on the promenade deck and texted our kids and checked email.

When we saw Irie Tour buses loading near the ship I got worried that perhaps ship time was not the same as local time and we were going to be late for our tour. I double checked and the time was correct and our confirmation said we weren’t to meet until 9:30 am.

We had booked an independent tour called West Side Beach Hopping tour with Irie Tours. The directions indicated we were to meet at the white tent which turned out to be next to the other dock where the Navigator of the Seas had just pulled in. We hitched a ride on the shuttle (similar to a large golf cart) to get to the meeting spot.

For anyone planning a DIY day in Curacao, here are the taxi prices posted at the port.

Our tour guide was there checking off names as we arrived and seemed VERY surprised when we said we needed to be back on the ship no later than 3:30 pm. There was only one other couple from the Zaandam, the rest were passengers from the Navigator. This turned out to be a problem. The Navigator was to be in port much later than the Zaandam and the tour wasn’t due back until 4:00 or so. The guide assured us we would be back in time (which we were) but it meant cutting our tour short. More on this later…

No windows...and not the smoothest ride.

Our first stop was to see flamingos. We just stopped along the highway and the birds were quite some distance away. I had chose to not bring my “good” camera with the long zoom since I knew we would be spending time on a beach so the photos are not very impressive. With some cropping and editing, you can at least make out that they were birds. 😉 I would have much rather skipped this stop than to run out of time later in the day.

The second destination was Shete Boka National Park. Huge waves were crashing against the cliff and washing into an underground cavern. We both climbed down into the cave to see the waves (and wondering if that was really a good idea). Just as I climbed up the path to get out, a huge wave washed through the cavern soaking Bob and the others who were still there. He literally jumped straight up but there was no avoiding it!

Adding to the cairns along the path.

Inside the cavern. Although this photo doesn't show it well, the water was an incredible color of blue.

Some interesting trees at the little cafe in Shete Boka.

Moving on, the bus stopped at Playa Piskado…a marina that is popular with sea turtles who come to feast on the fish guts that get thrown into the water (yuck.) Several from our group snorkeled here, but we chose to stay dry since the stop was going to be short. It was interesting to watch a guy cleaning giant tuna and then using a ball bat and machete to cut them up into steaks.

Sushi anyone?

Just a short distance away was Playa Forti. A few people took the opportunity to jump from the high cliff into the water below…scary! Others wanted to jump, but fear took over when they got to the edge and saw how far down it was to the water!

Bob with our bus driver.

Finally we made it to the first beach on the tour…Playa Knip where we had an hour to swim. It was heavenly! The beach was surrounded by cliffs covered with cactus!

We passed by the oldest Catholic Church and cemetery on our way to the last beach, Porto Marie.

Passengers from the Navigator of the Seas were given two hours to spend at the beach where they could swim and get some lunch. Our unfortunate bunch of four from the Zaandam were told to be ready to leave in 25 minutes…only enough time to walk down the beach and back.

No...that is not a dog in this photo...

It is a PIG!

I questioned the guide as to why they weren’t aware that the Zaandam had shorter port times and he insinuated that the schedule had been changed (which it hadn’t.) I was expecting an apology for cutting our tour short or an offer to adjust the price, but instead he complained that we were an inconvenience since they were going to have to make a separate trip to return us to the ship.

If I had known we would spend so little time at the beach, I probably would not have booked the tour. I am sorry that we did not get to see any of the city of Willenstad…especially the colorful buildings that I have seen in so many photos. I did get some photos of the high Queen Juliana bridge and a little of the city from the promenade deck but the Navigator of the Seas was blocking much of our view. Drat.

Queen Juliana Bridge

I used the last few minutes to text home and check Facebook until the ship pulled away from the dock and headed out to sea. Time to put the phone back in airplane mode. (Or I guess in our case it was “ship mode”!)

It was Danny’s birthday so the waiters all sang to him…but it wasn’t the traditional birthday song. The Indonesian waiters sang a song in their own language while accompanying the singing with a drum, tambourines, and even tapping a silver vase with a spoon to serve as chime. Throughout the cruise we would enjoy the tune often as they serenaded others who were celebrating a birthday or anniversary.