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| Merry Christmas Curaçao! |
Humidity – 75%
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
There was no Christmas lie-in for us. Our first
tour met at this morning at 715! Who thought that was a good idea when we
booked this?? I can’t really complain because I haven’t needed an alarm at all
since we’ve been away. It was actually quite lovely to see the sun rise and
watch the sail into Willemstad, Curaçao.
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| dolphins |
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| submarine! |
Our first activity today was to search for more
marine life. As soon as we approached the submarine we were about to board, we
were greeted by about 5 dolphins. Apparently, this is very rare where we were,
so very lucky.
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| more dolphins |
different as we only go just below the surface of the water. Each pair of people shared a seat with a window for each person beside them. As soon as we start moving, the dolphins went with us and more joined. We moved along slowly as the dolphins partied with each other for about 10 minutes. Then we saw very similar things to what we saw yesterday, plus a big ray.
The second half of the tour was to the Blue Curaçao
liqueur factory. This was a super quick visit – we learned, tasted, and
shopped. We bought a sampler pack. We are only familiar with their orange
flavour, but they also have chocolate, tamarind, coffee, and rum/raisin.
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| tons of fish |
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| and lots of coral |
Between stops, we saw different parts of the island while the guide told us all about Curaçao.
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| our guide showing off |
Before the next tour we wandered to the Queen Emma Bridge, affectionately known as the Swinging Old Lady. This is a pontoon bridge which swings to the side when boats need to pass…interesting. I’ve seen draw bridges, but never a bridge that moves to the side like this one.
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| our ship and the town |
We thought we’d better have some local fare, so we found a snack shack for a plate of bitterballen – a Dutch snack. These are like deep fried meat and potato balls served with mustard, 8 were in the order.
As far as tours go, some you win and some you
lose. Fortunately, most you win. Unfortunately, this afternoon’s one was a dud.
Probably a bit of a dud because much that we saw and heard was a repeat from
this morning and the fact that it was Christmas Day had a few things closed.
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| found this one by chance |
The title of the tour was “Historical City
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| salt used for building |
and Local Street Art” – ummmm, the only art we saw was as we drove by. We were also supposed to taste a local liqueur, technically we did, but it was a tiny bit of Blue Curaçao in a tiny plastic cup poured by the bus driver that we drank ON THE BUS. We were also supposed to have a snack which we didn’t. All of these issues aren’t the end of t
he world, but…it was a bit of a waste. There were also 35 people on the tour…WAY too many. Regent tours are typically in the low 20s which is perfect. The guide was entertaining and the AC on the bus was great.
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| in historic part of town |
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| bus sips |
One interesting thing we learned was that in the past salt was mixed with building material. Over time this deterioriates and crumbles.
After the tour we wandered a bit on our own,
sat for a beer some more bitterballen (this time 8 cheese filled balls) and
were off for another wander.
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| decisions, decisions |
Our ship is docked very close to town
(everywhere is close) but not in any sort of developed cruise terminal. The
other 2 ships in town are at the super developed terminal…Starbucks, bars,
restaurants, shops, a hotel etc. We wandered over there to take a look – I’m
not at all sad to be where we are.
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| bitterballen |
One the way back we stopped at the Swinging Old Lady (named after the bridge) micro brewery for one
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| Merry Christmas to us |
last Christmas pint. Well, we never have actually had a Christmas pint or a pint at all over the last days in the ABCs. All the beers have been tiny…this is an actual pint. What is the same about all of these beers is that they aren’t cheap. We also bought a couple of shirts.
Dinner was traditional turkey with dessert as a panettone bread pudding. The dining room was busy tonight, so we didn’t get
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| Swinging Old Lady |
out of there until after the show was almost over, so we skipped it. Chris tried his luck at the casino but returned quickly.
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| Curaçao by night |
1 comment:
104 countries - woot! Merry Christmas:)
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