Curacao -- Island Tour & City Stroll - Willemstad, Netherlands Antilles
Willemstad, Netherlands Antilles
We had an enjoyable but short visit to the Dutch island territory of Curacao today during our first port of call on our 11-night Azamara Journey cruise from Miami to Costa Rica. Mike and I went on a three-stop tour of western Curacao during our brief daylight on the island after our late arrival, then walked around the capital of Willemstad for about two hours this evening.
Yet again, I slept about 12 hours, not waking up until 2:58 p.m. as we sailed along the southwest coast of Curacao. It's my third day in a row of hypersomnia aboard the ship. We were scheduled to arrive into Willemstad at 3:00 but the captain had advised us yesterday that we might be tardy due to the unusually strong easterly winds slowing us down as we voyaged across the Caribbean from the southwest tip of Haiti to Curacao. I used the extra time to grab some lunch at the pool grill, then came back to our cabin to get ready for our shore excursion.
Mike and I watched from our balcony on this beautiful sunny afternoon as we sailed into Sint Annabaai, the channel that leads into Willemstad’s port and then Schottegat Bay. We passed Crystal Serenity, which was docked at the sea-facing pier. This was the pier my Celebrity Solstice ship docked at in March 2009, the only other time I’ve been to Curacao. On this visit, we got the best cruiseship pier, Matthey Warf, inside the harbor on the west side (the Otrobanda half of Willemstad). To allow us passage, the fascinating low-level Queen Emma pedestrian bridge connecting both halves of the capital swung open. (When the bridge opens for ship traffic, two free ferries carry pedestrians across the channel.)
Queen Emma Bridge quickly swung back in place at 3:54 just after we passed it and approached the pier. Mike and I headed upstairs to the Cabaret Lounge to check in for our shore excursion, dubbed "Beauties of Curacao." We were assigned to Group #3. An announcement was made at 4:13 that the ship was cleared to discharge passengers and the gangway opened on Deck 3. Mike and I proceeded off the ship and a short walk from the pier to the waiting tour buses. Our tour had been scheduled to depart the ship at 3:30, so we were running about 45 minutes behind – meaning 45 minutes less day light to see the sights. I wasn’t happy about that.
Our tour bus departed at 4:38. The guide introduced herself. Her name sounds like Nubia, but don’t quote me on the spelling of that! We drove west out of Willemstad. The road turned north toward Curacao International Airport, and then we continued west on the only road to the western part of the island, which has the largest population (143,000) of the Dutch “ABC Islands” (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao) of the southern Caribbean.
Just before 5:00, our tour group of 34 people turned left off the main highway onto a side road to the tiny settlement of Jan Kok, hope to the Nena Sanchez Gallery and Salina Sint Marie, a lake popular with pink flamingos. A few minutes later, we made our first stop at the gallery. Not so interested in spending my limited daylight inside an art gallery, I walked down the driveway to watch (through my binoculars) the flamingos resting and bathing themselves in the lake, also known as Salina di Jan Kok. I walked back to take a quick look in the gallery, which features lovely vibrant color paintings of tropical scenes. Given our precious little daylight in Curacao, however, I questioned why we didn’t skip this stop.
We continued on the tour at 5:35, returning to the main road at the village of Fontein. From here, it was 17 km (10.5 miles) to our second stop, a pretty little beach called Playa Kenepa Grandi. Along the way, we had a view of Curacao’s highest point. We pulled into the parking lot at the beach at 6:05, 13 minutes before sunset. We had just a few minutes to take photos from an overlook and stroll on the small beach. Decorated with short palm trees, Playa Kenepa Grandi gave us that first sensation of being in the tropics, and we had a nice view of the setting sun.
Reboarded the bus at 6:15 as they summoned us stragglers away from viewing the sunset so we could press on to our third and final stop on the other side of the island. We passed through Westpunt, the western tip of the island (41 km or 25 miles from Willemstad), at 6:29 during a brief heavy rainfall.
Five minutes later, we turned into Shete Boka National Park. In the rapidly fading daylight, we hiked out a few minutes to the coastal cliffs, where rough surf smashed into the rocks. Quite a pretty sight. And just like that, our tour was finished as darkness set in and we departed at 6:50 for the drive back to Willemstad. We skipped two stops that were described in the shore-excursions literature: the Doktersuin Estate and a view over the Caribbean Sea from Westpunt.
Five miles northwest of Willemstad, just south of the airport, we ran into a short traffic jam due to an automobile collision on the other side of the highway, just before the traffic circle where the road widens from a two-lane country road to a four-lane expressway into the capital. From there, it was about another 15 minutes to Rif Fort, where we were dropped off at 7:46. Our tour ended up being 3½ hours, slight shorter than the four hours advertised.
Rif Fort was established in 1828 to defend the harbor entrance. Today it’s been converted into a complex of bars, restaurants, shops, and offices managed by the adjacent Renaissance resort. Mike and I took a quick stroll through the fort, which offers a nice view from its upper levels across the channel to the eastern section of Willemstad known as Punda.
A bright full orange moon rose over Punda at 7:55 as we walked along the channel. The Queen Emma Bridge, built in 1888 and renovated in 2005-06, was closed to let a large cargo ship pass, so we boarded the ferry at 8:02 for the four-minute crossing to the brightly decorated rowhouses of Punda.
“The colors are said to have originated because an early mayor of the city suffered from migraines due to the then prevalent glaring white of most buildings; therefore, he ordered that all structures in Willemstad be painted in pleasing pastels,” according to Azamara Pursuits.
There were several bars and restaurants with people seated outside along the channel, but Punda became almost a ghost town as we walked a few blocks north to the Waiitgat canal, home of a daytime floating market and the central market. We took a short walk through the quiet pedestrian lanes of the city center, all the shops shuttered on this Saturday night. There was a little activity around the central square, Wilhelminaplein, which was full of holiday lights and decorations.
We set back toward Otrobanda, walking through an eerily desolate Fort Amsterdam, home to government offices. We reached the Queen Emma Bridge at 8:33. This time it was in the closed position, adorned with holiday lights, so we were able to walk across the channel back to the Otrobanda side of town.
Mike had had enough and walked a few minutes back to Azamara Journey. I sat down in the waterfront plaza at 8:38 to get online. Nicely there was free public WiFi access in the plaza. It was a little slow, but I was able to connect, upload a blog posting, and check my e-mail. I then rushed back to the ship, running behind to watch the Redskins vs. Eagles football game, a rare Saturday night NFL game televised by the NFL Network. We got Thursday night’s NFL game on ESPN International on our stateroom TV, so I figured the Redskins game would also be on tonight.
I got back to our cabin about 9:40, 15 minutes after kickoff. Mike was reading and had some random movie on the TV. I changed to Channel 22 for ESPN International and was distraught to see nothing but a black screen. I went down to the casino bar, where nothing was on the two TV screens. I asked the bartender if he could try to put the Redskins game on. He turned on one of the TVs and scrolled up to Channel 22, but the screen was also blank. He shrugged and said he didn’t know what was going on; normally the NFL games are carried on this channel, he told me.
I went down to the front desk on Deck 4 and asked the clerk about the problem. She called somebody on the phone, and explained that ESPN was currently blacked out on the ship’s satellite system and there’s nothing that can be done about it. This being a key game in the second-to-final week of the regular season, I was extremely disappointed not to be able to watch the game. Going to a bar on land wasn’t an option because we’re scheduled to leave Curacao at 11 p.m., which would be in the middle of the game.
Returned to our cabin and tried ESPN one more, but still got a blank screen. Scrolled through the rest of our channels – they’re all coming in fine, including ESPN 2, which is broadcasting a college football bowl game. So frustrating the one thing I want to watch is on the only channel not showing anything. It’s quite bizarre as the Thursday game was on, so why isn’t the Saturday NFL game?
Mike had ordered room service for our dinner, but I lost my appetite and went for a walk around the open decks of the ship to calm down. In addition to the inability to watch the Redskins game tonight, I’m really frustrated at all the long sleep I’ve had on the ship so far. I feel like I’m missing out on fully enjoying my vacation by losing so many hours asleep. I’m anxious about our 8:30 a.m. excursion tomorrow in Aruba. Don’t know how I’m going to make it up for that. I figure I’ll need to stay up the entire night.
Came back to the cabin at 10:41 and ate my dinner – a soggy, overdressed caesar salad and a good but cold pepperoni pizza. I’m really in a bad mood now.
We pushed out from the pier on schedule at 11 p.m. and then backed out of the channel into the open Caribbean Sea, beginning our short overnight trip to neighboring Aruba. I then took another walk around the ship, watching a fireworks show in the distance northwest of Willemstad and trying to clear my head.
Cabin a few minutes after midnight. Read the cruise newsletter outside and then copied today’s photos from my camera to my laptop. As I set up on the rear outdoor portion of Deck 9 outside the buffet, the lights went off at 1 a.m. I sorted photos on my laptop next, so I didn’t need any lights. Spent about three hours going through the last three days worth of pictures for my blog, then went back to the room at 4:04 a.m.
Mike had earlier ordered a chips-and-salsa platter that neither of us ate for dinner. I was hungry so devoured the snack on the balcony while watching TiVo on my phone. I had intended to return upstairs to do some blog writing in my quest to remain awake all night so I wouldn’t miss our 8:30 a.m. excursion to De Palm Island, but I started feeling super tired as the clock neared 5 a.m. so I laid in bed and watched two more shows on my phone.
My plan to stay up all night failed as I crashed in bed at 6:33 a.m., putting my phone away and closing my eyes.