Welcome to the Chronicles of
~ the Second Noordam Adventure ~ the 15th Anniversary Cruise ~
12/06/2008 - 12/17/2008
12/13 - Curacao
Good morning from sunny Curacao! We are tied up here in Willemstad, where is it currently 80F. It is supposed to be in the mid 80s today, and I don't think there is any rain in the forecast. Here is the morning view: There are a number of ships on the horizon - but then, I suppose that is what happens near a port. We came in early this morning, because one of the passengers is sick, and needed to be put ashore. Our friend Neil, who missed the whale watch, has not been seen by anyone (Dave said he definitely missed dinner the night after the whale watch), so we are hoping it is not him. I'll have to give him a call later - I would have last night, but by the time we got back into the room, it was a little late to be calling someone, especially if they are sick. Last night was a formal evening. One nice thing about formal night is that everyone (okay, most people) are dressed up, and they have been conditioned by the ship's staff to smile when a camera is pointed at them, and not make too big of a fuss. Made my life easier!
This is Grace and Chuck. We, once again, had drinks with them last night before dinner. It is a very nice daily routine. I could almost get used to it! On one of the islands, I saw a cute Tee shirt that said "The Liver is Evil - Must Punish the Liver!" I thought it was a rather creative drinking shirt. WHatever rationale floats your boat, right?
This is Clay and Dennis (Clay is the guy on the right). They are from Orlando, and are fun conversationalists and dinner companions. Shame they don't snorkel!
This is Mary and Don. They have cruised all over the place, owned their own sailboat, and a few days back, did open ocean yacht racing - and won! They are, as near as we can figure, about 80!
This is our waiter, Doddy. He is the most famboyant indonesian I have ever met - or even heard of!
These are our next door neightbors on the ship, Trish and Greg, who we spent time with on Half Moon Cay. We'll also be going snorkeling with them later today. And you thought I was making all these people up!
SUnsets at sea, or at least nice ones, are kind of a rare thing. The humidity is usually high, so the sun "sets" way above the horizon, the clouds never get lit right, or there are storm clouds on the horizon. Not to say it isn't nice out, just often not as pretty as we see at home during the summer. Last night was one of those exceptions, as we were headed west, into the sunset.
When we got back into the room last night, we had our newest towel animal waiting for us. At least this guy wasn't blind! Today is a late departure to sea. 11:30pm is the all aboard, I believe. Our snorkel excursion is not until 1pm, so we are going to poke around a bit, and see what is what, maybe even do some Christmas shopping! What a concept! So, we'll see you all later, after we see what this island of Curacao is all about!
8:05pm - Still Tied to the Pier What a nice day! Curacao was nothing like I expected - not that I had a whole lot of expectations, mind you.
This is the view of the city from the ship looks like this:
So we decided that since we had some time before our 1pm swim excursion, we'd go into town and see what it looks like. When you come off the ship, you hang a right (they had an information desk, and we got a map) and follow along the water. It turns out that they are building this whole entertainment, shopping, and resort complex along the water. It might even be a project that is being built by Carnival Corp (or at least that is the thought when you see the Carnival Casino). It will be quite impressive when it is done. It looks prety nice now, the parts that are set up. They have a bandstand, which had a trio playing when we walked thru.
They even have Christmas trees all over the place.
As you keep going along the waterfront, you see that there is a big channel cutting thru the city (someone told us that there was a big harbor further inland). This is the view looking across the harbor:
This is the view of this side of the channel:
Between the 2 sides is a walking bridge: Now, if you were looking closely, the walking bridge would prevent any ships from getting to the big harbor (and would definitely prevent the cruiseship on the left of the picture from getting in). The walking bridge floats, and when they need it to, they disconnect one side (the far side in the picture), and swing it around, thus opening the channel. Its a pretty neat system.
2/3s of the way across the bridge, this is what the other side looks like. Its very pretty. The story is that the city was once painted white. Then the governor said that all that white gave him a headache, so he encouraged everyone to paint their houses colors. Then they found out, after much painting had happened, that the governor had an ownership stake in the paint factory. Or so the story goes. But all the colors are great to look like.
The area off of the bridge is a shopping district. It reminded us of Faniel Hall in Boston, but way bigger.
And this is Carol poking around the shopping district.
One of the really interesting parts of the city is the American influence. And there is no denying it. It is way more prevalent here than on any of the islands we have been to (except maybe Puerto Rico). See for yourself:
And who ever would have thought that Howard Johnson's would be the anchor for a whole plaza?
This is looking back at the ship across the channel. That fort in the foreground is where the band was.
I was having a little fun, and took this shot:
The fort is the RIF Fort. In my world, RIF is a Reduction In Forces, and this fort was established in 1828! That is a long time to be laying people off!
And this is the gate to the fort. I love seeing Christmas decorations in 85F weather!
And this was just something you couldn't walk by and not take a picture! Okay, so we go back to the ship for a little lunch, get changed, and go down for our snorkeling adventure. The bus we get on is an old school bus (not the short bus), no AC, no frills. Okay, it had "AC" when the bus was moving.
We drive about 25 minutes to this private little beach, while the tour guide tells us a bit about the island, its people, history, and fun facts (like the story about the paint). The beach was gorgeous.
The beach was very rocky with coral, and a little tough to get into, but once you were in, and swam over toward the left side of the area, there were tons of fish. And I even got a few good shots! I even took a little video, but I have no idea how to set it up on the page, and it wasn't the best, so....
This is looking at the beach from out on the water:
One thing about this island is that, like the tourguide said, Cactus Country. But it is not cactus like what you usually see - one or two arms, and a big upright structure. Or at least when I think cactus, that is what I think of. This was more like cactus bushes. And they really are everywhere here. Whole groves and fields of the stuff. Not that I could get a really good shot of them as we drove along. So this will have to do: The island is the source for Curacao - that blue liquor that is made from (I just learned this) orange skins. Can anyone tell me what that stuff goes for? They were selling it at the pier, and I got a 375ml bottle for $15. Did I get ripped off? Anyone? Today they had a barbeque set up on the Lido deck by the pool. And they had pina coladas in pineapples for sale. And if you got one, you had unlimited drinks until 8pm. I think I refilled mine 3 times (and they weren't small!). They were way better than the usual pina coladas they serve onboard. Then we went forward to watch the Zuiderdam go to sea. It was really nice, them leaving at, and chasing, the sunset. They are beautiful ships - amazingly impressive to watch. So that has been our day - we're pretty much relaxing at the moement, and are not expecting to go back out. We pull out at 11:45pm, because is it not a big hop to Aruba. Internet has been impossible to get onto tonite for some reason. I'll try to upload this later, and see if we get lucky. See you tomorrow! Til then.... Keep Smiling!!!
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