"Go somewhere warm and relax..."

After we finished our paperwork in December, I asked our agency rep what we should do next. As an adoptive mother of a little boy from Russia, her advice was "go somewhere warm," so Dave and I set upon planning our first winter-time, warm-weather destination trip. For a couple whose idea of a winter vacation is a ski weekend in Duluth, this was, shall we say, a novel concept.

Confident that we were up to the challenge, we went to the bookstore and bought a guide to the Caribbean....But where to vacation? If you haven't been to the Caribbean before (OK, OK, everyone's been to the Caribbean), you don't realize that there are dozens and dozens of hospitible islands for swimming, sailing, snorkeling, scuba, shopping and sleep. We considered all of them, but decided on Curacao, mostly because it was a) great for snorkeling, b) affordable, and c) dutch. Curacao is one of the ABC islands that make up the Dutch Antilles, about 35 miles off the coast of Venezuela.

So, off we went. On February 20 we left the dregs of a Chicago winter, and within hours we were in a different country and a different season.

Here I am, our first evening in Curacao, seeing coral for the first time. One of my objectives for our trip was to snorkel; the first and last time I snorkeled was in Cancun in 1984, and at the time I was captivated. We had read that Curacao had great shore reefs (reefs close enough to the shore that you can see lots of fish just snorkeling), so we were excited and anxious to get on some gear and see what was around.

Curacao did not disappoint. Day 2, Dave and I visited the dive shop that was located on the public beach where our lodge was located (Playa Kalki). We rented snorkel gear, and proceeded 20 yards to the beach. (Tip: when entering surf wearing flippers, turn around and back in....). It was incredible!


Flush from our first successful foray into the underseas world of Jacques...you get the idea, Dave and I retired to the beach cafe for a quick lunch. We discovered another marvel of the area--Amstel's version of a hot weather light beer, called Amstel Bright. MMMmmm....



Day 3 it was time to get in the rental car and explore the island. This required gassing up the car, which I call a "cultural experience," and Dave calls a "pain in the a__"....

He's laughing because he almost entered the gas station using the exit (dutch signage), and was instructed to move the car to the other side of the pump (we still don't know why). Our "car" (generous term for it) is an old rust bucket that we rented from the lodge where we are staying. It shimmies...


We drove down the south coast of the island to Curacao's main city, which is also the capital of the Dutch Antilles region, called Willemstad. It still retains much of the dutch colonial architecture that characterized the city in its heyday--part of its charm and also part of the reason we chose to visit.

Willemstad is bi-sected by a large port (Sint Anna Bay), and residents get from one side of town to another on a ferry. There is a lot of ship traffic. Dave and I love big boats. We had a lot of fun watching container ships come into port, including one ship that was carrying school buses!

By our fourth day we had relaxed. We saw an incredible array of fish during our stay. We snorkeled almost daily. We still don't know everything we saw, but here's a selection: krill, parrot fish (blue and rainbow), fairy basslet, grey and french angel fish, schools of bonefish, grouper, four-eye butterfly fish, sergeant majors, blue tangs, yellow tail damsels, bar jack, banded butterfly, sea horse, flounder (several varieties), needle fish, octopus, green and spotted moray eels, and a sea turtle.

The sea turtle made us think of the movie "Finding Nemo"--they really are as mellow and, like, "Duuuude," as in the movie! (We have since purchased "Finding Nemo" on DVD, and have enjoyed our visits with the fish all over again...We think it will be fun to introduce our daughter first to the movie, and then to snorkeling and the real experience.)



















We spent part of one day touring the local national park, Mt. Christoffel. The entire northwest end of the island is protected. The park includes shore line grottos, cave paintings, and ruins of old slave trading squares, like this one. A highlight of the spin through Mt. Christoffel Park--our very own sighting of the local big bird species, the Caracara.


I was also determined to try scuba diving on this trip. All of the dive shops around the island had resort courses, known as "Explore Scuba" experiences. I left Dave to explore the fishes by snorkel and strapped on a wet suit, tank, regulator, and 20 lbs of weights for a 4-hour-long one-on-one class with a Dutch instructor. It was quite freaky trying to breath through a little tube thingy while 30 feet underwater. I have decided that it's better to "explore" scuba starting in a nice, familiar swimming pool, because man, is it a weird experience. That said, I saw some amazing coral; we explored an area called the Mushroom Forest (ok you baby boomers, no snickering), because of the many mushroom coral formations.


We changed venues for our last 2 days, and moved south into Willemstad. We stayed in a restored 18th century dutch village called Kura Hulanda, which was developed by a dutchman about our age whose family hailed from Curacao. If you ever go to Curacao, we highly recommend their properties. It was quite luxurious.


We also timed our trip to coincide with the conclusion of Carnival. I had seen the leftovers of carnival season when I visited Europe as a college student. It looked like fun--colorful signs, floats, and left behind confetti. So as it happened, on our last day on the island, instead of the gift shopping that we had planned, Dave and I joined the locals and the other tourists and watched the local Grand Carnivale Parade. It was great fun--here are some highlights....


THE GRANDE CARNIVALE PARADE!!!

After waiting for hours (locals had staked out spots along the route from early morning), the first sounds of the carnival parade could be heard far up Willemstrasse. The parade route started about 6 miles up the road at 9 am. At about 3 pm, the first marchers appeared and the parade (which lasted until 8 pm) began! These are costumed parade-goers dressed like the Caracara bird, Mexico's national fowl. The costumes were superb. As you'll see, the costume designs were incredibly imaginative and exuberant! Personally, it made me want to get out my sewing machine and sequin stash! How much fun is that???? (Dave M, this would remind you of Evanston's Fourth of July Parade...)







The gents above look like the Mardi Gras revelers we're used to seeing in New Orleans.

...I must dance!








These caterpillar people were one of our favorites!




Kristen (below) was not chilly, but trying to hide from the sun.



David checks out the pilot boats waiting for the parade.

By all appearances, Carnivale is one of the year's big events. Everybody in town watches the parade, even the pilot boat crews that escort freighters into Sint Anna Bay. It was fun that afternoon to watch a huge freighter come in, with the crew on deck, enjoying the bands and waving to the parade goers.





Admiring her fans admiring her, one of the parade goers gets her groove on! ....





Crazy! Umbrella hats in a fantastic variation on the theme of Spring!



Happy, but tired...and so very glad to have visited the island. When we return to Curacao, which we intend to do sometime, it will be with a little person in tow...