It was a Thursday, I had been in Curaçao for a few days for a work engagement, but now it was time to play! Alex, a good friend of mine would be joining me later in the afternoon. Alex, originally from Canada, had been living in St. Maarten for the past two years working as a teacher at Caribbean International Academy. We had become good friends since then and I was excited to explore the island together with her. We had booked a room at a hostel together, called The Ritz.
The hostel was simply decorated, the bright walls and pink furniture created a fun ambiance. The location was perfect, just outside the historical centre of Willemstad. Alex’s flight was delayed, something not unheard of with Insel Air, but I didn’t mind, and got some reading in while relaxing in the pool-area. As soon as Alex arrived and got settled, we set out to explore and find a dinner spot.
Willemstad, when you see it on the map, is actually quite large, especially compared to our main town. Residents live in the hills surrounding Schottegat, and much of the city is sprawling and rather mundane. But this all changes radically in the UNESCO-recognized old town, which is charming, colourful, and full of art and history. The two oldest areas are called Punda, which was established in 1634, when the Dutch captured the island from Spain. The original name of Punda was De Punt in Dutch. Otrobanda, which was founded in 1707, is the newer section of the city and is considered to be the cultural centre of Willemstad. Its name originated from Papiamentu otro banda, which means "the other side”. According to the government, there are 750 historic buildings in the city, and new scaffolding goes up nearly every month.
We slowly walked through the alleyways in Punda, looking for a restaurant to have our first celebratory cocktail at. It was great to walk along the renovated pastel- coloured historical buildings, which Willemstad is known for. I was also impressed by the amount of art seen on various walls. The shopping choices are similar to St. Maarten, which includes stores offering electronics, clothing, souvenirs, jewellery and perfume, both brand name, and bargain choices. But yet it felt different as they were housed in the renovated historical buildings. History and culture, two aspects our own Philipsburg is lacking at the moment in my opinion. It meant that Willemstad felt less like a tourist trap and more unique than our own town here on Sint Maarten.
We stopped at a busy café, overlooking a square containing huge letter-figures saying CURACAO and DUSHI, which means a number of positive things, including sweetheart & delicious in Papiamentu, the country’s native language. The first ‘Caribbean Breeze’ cocktail was ordered and we toasted to the start of our vacation.
The next morning, we rented a car and were off. With a map in hand, we did not really have a plan, so we decided to take the advice of the receptionist at our hostel and head for a few beaches she recommended for snorkelling. As we had seen from the plane, Curaçao is dry, flat and larger than St. Maarten. It stretches some 64 km in length and is about 16 km at its widest point. We noticed the size difference quickly as our drive to our first beach did take a bit longer than expected.
We were driving through an area called Sint Willibrordus, when all of the sudden, I saw: Flamingos! “Stop the car!” I said excitedly, as I think flamingos are some of the coolest animals around. Alex parked and we walked to a large bay with a number of salt flats. The salt flats of Jan Kok, they were called and it was the first one built on the island in 1650 with the first plantation house (Plantation house Jan Kok) built the same year by the W.I.C. (West Indian Company). Once salt was harvested here, but nowadays the salt flats are the habitat for the flamingos.
We learnt that the small but important colony of 200-300 individuals arrived from Bonaire in the mid-1980s during a particularly rainy year. Once breeding season is over, they fly each year to mainland Venezuela to feed in lagoons along the coast. Although we stood far away from them, the flamingos, locally known as Chogogo, weren’t impressed by our appearance, and slowly walked even further along the salt-flats out of our sight.
Playa Lagun was our next destination, and it did not disappoint, although I would soon realize Sint Maarten definitely has better beaches in terms of sand, Curaçao’s clear water abundant underwater life is impressive. Rocky cliffs adorn the sides of the little cove of Playa Lagun. A few fishing boats rested on the sand. We needed to find some snorkels to rent, so followed a steep stairs leading up the cliffs to Bahia Beach Bar Apartments and Diving Shop.
Ten minutes and ten dollars later our bags were in a locker and we headed down to the ocean. Just a few feet deep, we could already see a nice number of reef-fish swimming about. I was especially excited to see many parrotfish, which I think are not just pretty but also interesting. Did you know: Some male parrotfish maintain harems of females? If the dominant male dies, one of the females will change gender and colour and become the dominant male!
We swam further out, seeing quite a bit of nice coral and sponges, and made our way to the other side of the bay, where soon we were surrounded by hundreds of juvenile fish. They moved in large round shapes, around us and nearby boulders. Every time we swam through the shoal of fish, they encircled us and swam around our bodies, making us feel like we were creating live art beneath the water. It turned into a fun game for us, seeing the shapes we could make, and how the fish would move in various directions. Once our fingers and toes were wrinkly enough from our adventures in the water, we headed out.
The next day, we were going to a beach party called Float Fest 2016, which is organized by radio station Dolfijn FM and Amstel Bright. The idea is that partygoers bring a float (or buy one at the beach) and create a huge floating party in front of a DJ Booth located in the water.
First mission was to get us some floaties. As Curaçao has a larger population, 153,500 (2013), its supermarkets were larger as well, and for someone who loves supermarkets, I was in heaven. I could stroll around the isles for ages, finding new products, marvelling at the variety and thinking of recipes. But Alex and I did not have too much time to linger, as we had a Float Fest to attend. So finding the pool section, we found a choice of floaties: turtles, dolphins, beds, donuts and pizza! We both love pizza, so we chose the pepperoni pizza floatie, and a pink icing covered with sprinkles donut floatie. We were ready!
The party was at Mambo Beach Boulevard, a high-end tourist area that has boutiques, restaurants and a number of other facilities located right at the beach. It was strange to me that we had to pay to get on the beach, which is also the case for a number of other beaches on Curaçao. At that moment I really appreciated the fact that ALL beaches on Sint Maarten are for the public and are required to have free public access on Sint Maarten.
We found a spot between the crowds at a palm tree, found the ‘floatie-pump station’ and soon were dancing in the water along with dozens of other persons and floatation devices. Float Fest would be a great idea for Sint Maarten as well! It was an amazing sight and vibe, adding to more fun memories of our trip to Curaçao.
By Laura Bijnsdorp. Check out next WEEKender for Curaçao Part 2, in which we eat lionfish, dive at a wreck, get bitten by ostriches and climb Curaçao’s highest point! Follow Laura and her travels on Instagram: laurasxm
