Puerto Rico and Southern Caribbean Cruise - Day 7 - Curaçao
Curaçao
I didn't mention in my entry from our sea day that I had been feeling a little queasy. It had gotten pretty windy and the sea was quite choppy and rough during our voyage south to the island of Curaçao I finally opted to put on a Scopalamine patch, which I haven't needed in several cruises. So when we arrived that morning, it felt good to get off the ship for awhile.
We ate breakfast in Cabana's and disembarked at 8:45 to meet at 9 AM for our tour. We had a hard time finding where we were supposed to be. There were two different gates out of the cruise "terminal" area (not really a terminal, more of an outdoor space with kiosks full of tchochkes for sale) and at first we took the wrong one. Eventually we found the right place and our tour guide, Leo. Leo was a twenty-something native guy that, were he an American, I would refer to as a "bruh" and picture him out surfing somewhere. Instead, Leo speaks six languages fluently (Papiamentu, Dutch, English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese) and loves guiding tourists through the Curaçao desert on an ATV.
So we hopped into Leo's tricked out passenger van (souped up engine, fancy rims, and a custom muffler, y'all) and drove over to the start of the tour where we boarded our ATV buggies to head out into the desert. I didn't realize that Curaçao was a desert island (as is Aruba) and it's beautiful in its craggy starkness with scrub and cacti. Unfortunately, the residents apparently don't like hauling their trash to the dump so while we were still close to town, the beauty of the desert was often marred by all kinds of garbage.
I did the driving on the ATV and Roger commented that it seemed like the cars at Disneyland's Autopia (or Disney World's Tomorrowland Speedway) and they were exactly like that. It was a little bit of an adjustment to get the hang of the way the gas pedal worked, which was not like a standard automatic car at all. You almost don't need a brake since it doesn't actually go unless you're putting your foot on the gas.
We first wound our way up a hill where we had a panoramic view of the city, Willemstad. Curaçao is a Dutch island (not an independent nation), though it does have some autonomy, and is the largest island we visited both in land mass and population size. Historically, Curaçao wasn't much good for growing anything and didn't have any gold deposits so it was primarily used as a trading outpost and also, later, as a source of salt. Today, the island houses a large oil refinery. The island is covered in a reddish sand that apparently blows over from Africa and most days there is a slight haze in the air from the Saharan dust.
We descended back down the hill and stopped at an aloe farm and gift shop. I'm not sure how necessary this stop was, honestly, but we took the opportunity to use the bathrooms and apply sunscreen. Like the stop at the batik shop in St. Kitts, I sort of suspect that there may be some incentive for tour companies to bring tourists to stop and shop.
After leaving the aloe farm, we made our way to a series of caves. We climbed both into and over the tops of the caves (some aspects of which were sort of technical and definitely for the sure-footed). The insides of the caves today are home to bats, but used to be a refuge for native populations. The views from the top of the caves, while very windy, were beautiful.
We left the caves and drove to another little cave called "The Cave of Doom" which was a cave next to the ocean where a tunnel feeds sea water up into a cave. As the water recedes, you can see purple coral. It was a really cool little spot. We drove on to the next spot, a natural bridge across the ocean. The sea was rough and the splashing waves spectacular.
From there, we drove around a beach area with wind turbines before making our way to a beautiful little cove with a small beach area protected by a series of volcanic rocks. We had some time there to swim and enjoy the serenity of the area.
After that, it was time to head back to the tour office and then into the crazy van for the ride back to the ship. We got back to the ship around 1:30 and went up to Cabana's for lunch. After lunch, Roger and I wanted to debark again and go see the little downtown area of Willemstad. Emmaline wasn't interested so she headed for the club.
Roger and I made our way across the Queen Emma Bridge, a hinged pontoon bridge that disconnects and opens up to allow ship traffic to pass through. After crossing the bridge, we walked through the town and checked out a couple shopping areas, but we didn't see anything too interesting. The colorful buildings are cute and the bridge was unique to walk across with its flexion and movement but otherwise, there wasn't much to see in town.
As we were heading back for the bridge, the gates were closed and the bridge was opening. Unfortunately, it appeared it was going to be open for awhile, so we followed signs that directed us to the ferry. At the ferry dock, we waited for about 10 minutes for the ferry to take us back across.
We boarded the ship around 3:30 after spending about an hour ashore and I checked in with Emmaline in the club. She was done there so she came back to the room with us then at 4:00 went up to deck 9 for "Fun in the Sun." I'm not sure what that entailed - some kind of games up by the pool. While she was there, Roger and I cleaned off the dust and dirt from the ATV tour. Emmaline returned around 4:45 and we all went and got some snacks before meeting Black Widow at 5:15, which was a fun meet and greet. Then back at the room, it was Emmaline's turn to wash up.
After she was clean, we went to the Promenade Lounge at 6:15 to complete a flower thermometer craft. The Walt Disney Theatre was showing Mary Poppins at 5:00, but we had already seen it so we skipped. After the craft, Emmaline wanted to go see "Mickey Mania" in D Lounge, which was sort of a Disney trivia game show. Then at 8:15 it was time for dinner and we were back in Triton's for the evening with the "Captain's Gala" menu. The girls left dinner early so that they could go make "Stitch's Space Goo" (aka slime) in the kids club. After we finished our dinner, we picked her up and then it was off to bed to rest up for last port day.
Click here for Day 8.
I didn't mention in my entry from our sea day that I had been feeling a little queasy. It had gotten pretty windy and the sea was quite choppy and rough during our voyage south to the island of Curaçao I finally opted to put on a Scopalamine patch, which I haven't needed in several cruises. So when we arrived that morning, it felt good to get off the ship for awhile.
We ate breakfast in Cabana's and disembarked at 8:45 to meet at 9 AM for our tour. We had a hard time finding where we were supposed to be. There were two different gates out of the cruise "terminal" area (not really a terminal, more of an outdoor space with kiosks full of tchochkes for sale) and at first we took the wrong one. Eventually we found the right place and our tour guide, Leo. Leo was a twenty-something native guy that, were he an American, I would refer to as a "bruh" and picture him out surfing somewhere. Instead, Leo speaks six languages fluently (Papiamentu, Dutch, English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese) and loves guiding tourists through the Curaçao desert on an ATV.
So we hopped into Leo's tricked out passenger van (souped up engine, fancy rims, and a custom muffler, y'all) and drove over to the start of the tour where we boarded our ATV buggies to head out into the desert. I didn't realize that Curaçao was a desert island (as is Aruba) and it's beautiful in its craggy starkness with scrub and cacti. Unfortunately, the residents apparently don't like hauling their trash to the dump so while we were still close to town, the beauty of the desert was often marred by all kinds of garbage.
I did the driving on the ATV and Roger commented that it seemed like the cars at Disneyland's Autopia (or Disney World's Tomorrowland Speedway) and they were exactly like that. It was a little bit of an adjustment to get the hang of the way the gas pedal worked, which was not like a standard automatic car at all. You almost don't need a brake since it doesn't actually go unless you're putting your foot on the gas.
We first wound our way up a hill where we had a panoramic view of the city, Willemstad. Curaçao is a Dutch island (not an independent nation), though it does have some autonomy, and is the largest island we visited both in land mass and population size. Historically, Curaçao wasn't much good for growing anything and didn't have any gold deposits so it was primarily used as a trading outpost and also, later, as a source of salt. Today, the island houses a large oil refinery. The island is covered in a reddish sand that apparently blows over from Africa and most days there is a slight haze in the air from the Saharan dust.
We descended back down the hill and stopped at an aloe farm and gift shop. I'm not sure how necessary this stop was, honestly, but we took the opportunity to use the bathrooms and apply sunscreen. Like the stop at the batik shop in St. Kitts, I sort of suspect that there may be some incentive for tour companies to bring tourists to stop and shop.
After leaving the aloe farm, we made our way to a series of caves. We climbed both into and over the tops of the caves (some aspects of which were sort of technical and definitely for the sure-footed). The insides of the caves today are home to bats, but used to be a refuge for native populations. The views from the top of the caves, while very windy, were beautiful.
We left the caves and drove to another little cave called "The Cave of Doom" which was a cave next to the ocean where a tunnel feeds sea water up into a cave. As the water recedes, you can see purple coral. It was a really cool little spot. We drove on to the next spot, a natural bridge across the ocean. The sea was rough and the splashing waves spectacular.
From there, we drove around a beach area with wind turbines before making our way to a beautiful little cove with a small beach area protected by a series of volcanic rocks. We had some time there to swim and enjoy the serenity of the area.
After that, it was time to head back to the tour office and then into the crazy van for the ride back to the ship. We got back to the ship around 1:30 and went up to Cabana's for lunch. After lunch, Roger and I wanted to debark again and go see the little downtown area of Willemstad. Emmaline wasn't interested so she headed for the club.
Roger and I made our way across the Queen Emma Bridge, a hinged pontoon bridge that disconnects and opens up to allow ship traffic to pass through. After crossing the bridge, we walked through the town and checked out a couple shopping areas, but we didn't see anything too interesting. The colorful buildings are cute and the bridge was unique to walk across with its flexion and movement but otherwise, there wasn't much to see in town.
As we were heading back for the bridge, the gates were closed and the bridge was opening. Unfortunately, it appeared it was going to be open for awhile, so we followed signs that directed us to the ferry. At the ferry dock, we waited for about 10 minutes for the ferry to take us back across.
We boarded the ship around 3:30 after spending about an hour ashore and I checked in with Emmaline in the club. She was done there so she came back to the room with us then at 4:00 went up to deck 9 for "Fun in the Sun." I'm not sure what that entailed - some kind of games up by the pool. While she was there, Roger and I cleaned off the dust and dirt from the ATV tour. Emmaline returned around 4:45 and we all went and got some snacks before meeting Black Widow at 5:15, which was a fun meet and greet. Then back at the room, it was Emmaline's turn to wash up.
Click here for Day 8.
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