The Official Trippingpara’s ‘Vision’ary Southern Caribbean Cruise Review

[trippingpara]

2 hours ago, LindyWebb said:

The beaches in Aruba are amazing - you did miss out with that late docking!

That's what I hear.  Just looks like we'll have to schedule another trip down to the ABC Islands again!!

[trippingpara]

Time Log:

Tuesday, 07 March   

Willemstad, Curaçao

 

 

Today was another early day.  The Evil Rooster from Hell started squawking around 6 am, joined the Carnies for breakfast at Windjammer at 7:00 and off the boat by 8:00 am.  On the docket for today was a private excursion with Gone Caribe.  I had heard a ton of great things about this husband/wife duo so I immediately reached out to them to see if they were available.  Thankfully, they were (this was about a year in advance as they book up quickly since there are only 2 of them).  I elected to do their “Gone Turtles Experience”.

 

They had sent me an email well prior to our course telling us to meet them at the Starbucks in the Renaissance Hotel shopping complex about 2 blocks away from the cruise terminal.  It was easy to find and was apparently where all the vendors meet up with their tours.  We were the first to arrive but within minutes dozens of our passengers were hanging around waiting.  Then it was the awkward, “are you so & so?” from all of the tour guides as they started showing up.  Thankfully, I recognized Jessica from their website so a quick wave to her ended that little dance.

 

She warmly greeted us and a couple minutes later, Joseph, her husband, arrived on scene and introduced himself.  They were such a cute couple!  Jessica was actually taking another group that was there too, so she handed us over to Joseph and off we went!

 

 

The majority of the day was going to be spent up in the northern side of the island where it is a bit more rural, away from the big city feel of Willemstad.  Our first stop was the lookout point overlooking Santa Martha Bay. 

 

 

It was beautiful with its view of Christoffel Mountain in the background.  Joseph took his time explaining everything that we were looking at as well as the history of that area.  And no, Christoffel Mountain is not a volcano.  At certain vantage points, it does look very much like a perfectly formed volcano but as soon as you see it from its profile, you can see that it is a mountain with a thin, long ridgeline. 

 

 

 

Joseph griped about how many photos people post online of Christoffel Mountain calling it a volcano.  So of course, we spent the rest of the day telling Joseph about the photos that we were uploading to Facebook of the amazing volcano that our amazing tour guide Joseph had pointed out to us on Curaçao!  He was such a good sport!

 

After taking a ton of photos, we piled back into Joseph’s SUV and headed further north to the Shete Boka National Park which means “Seven Inlets”.  The park is named for a stunning series of picturesque coves carved out of the limestone on the northeastern coast.  The views are incredible.  The surrounding nature is a rather desolate desert like contrasted with the pounding rough surf of the limestone cliffs and coastline. 

 

 

 

Our first stop was to the Boka Tabla, where huge waves thunder into an underground cavern.  You can go down into the cavern but unfortunately, there was a gate blocking the rock stairs down due to excessive algae growth on the rocks making it very dangerous to climb down into the cavern.  However, you could still peak down into the cavern and see and hear the waves pounding into the cavern.  Wish we could have gone down as that would have been impressive to see up close.  Anyways, we then walked along the limestone bluffs above to see a spectacular view of the rugged north coast of Curaçao. 

 

 

 

 

At the entrance to this inlet from the parking lot, there is also a pretty cool lizard statue for the kids to take pictures with.  Helloooo, you know bloody well that means we had to take some pictures with it too!  Ain’t no way kids are gonna have all the fun!!

 

 

Real lizards are very common around the area too.

 

After a while, we hopped back into the SUV for a quick little jaunt across the park over to Boka Pistol which is rather aptly named.  At one point in time, this was a small hole in the rocks above a small sea cave that would explode like a pistol shot whenever waves would pound into the cave below.  Over time, the small blowhole has worn down and expanded into just a large curved rock that jutted out over the pounding surf below.  As waves race it, they hit the cliff wall and bounce upward slamming into the curved rock, thus bursting outward like an explosion.

 

 

Next up:  Turtle Central!

 

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by trippingpara

[perfect match]

Hey, I remember that iguana! That was our last stop on our Curaçao day. I was pretty tired by the time we got there, especially after diving the day before in Bonaire and two amazing dives that day in Curaçao. I’m not as young as I used to be but I wasn’t about to miss how beautiful this place was. I could rest later.

 

I hope you got to go to the same place we did to see the turtles. I’ve done a lot of dives in a lot of different places over the years and that day of diving is definitely in my top five favorites. I can’t wait to see where you went. 
 

The iguana says hi! 

Edited April 6, 2023 by perfect match

[Merion_Mom]

@trippingpara, I can't recall when I have enjoyed someone's cruise review so much!  Thank you so much for entertaining me.  😄 

[trippingpara]

On 4/6/2023 at 12:32 AM, Merion_Mom said:

@trippingpara, I can't recall when I have enjoyed someone's cruise review so much!  Thank you so much for entertaining me.  😄 

Thank you so much for such kind words, I really appreciate it!  And you're very welcome for the entertainment!

[trippingpara]

Time Log:

Tuesday, 07 March   

Willemstad, Curaçao

 

 (Cont...)

 

Near the northern tip of the island was our next stop and personally our favorite one.  Playa Piskadó, a very small fisherman’s beach and small pier in Sabana Westpunt.  The beach and pier by itself are not overly exciting.  Both are rather small although the view of the surrounding cliffs and ocean are quite jaw dropping.  But it is the turtles that draw everyone here.  For years, the local fishermen have used this beach and specifically this small pier to clean their catches dumping the gizzards and fish heads into the water.  Over time, this has drawn turtles in and is now a regular place for them to come and hang out looking for scraps.

 

 

 

While we were there, a local fisherman sat on the pier and would periodically slam his blunted machete onto the side of the pier.  This hammering sound would keep the turtles interested in staying in that area.  The water was amazing and there were turtles all over the place!  It was not too uncommon to have to keep a watch out for pelicans floating in the water too.  If you get too close to them you just might get a friendly little peck in the back of your head!  The only downside I could see was the sheer volume of people there.  It is a very small beach area and it was hard to swim without running into others (at least right by the pier where the turtles were).  Once you got a few meters away from the pier, the crowd thinned out and you could snorkel freely without worrying about running into others.

 

 

 

It is absolutely impossible to look cool wearing one of these things!  But it works!

 

We were given an hour here and Lady Trip and I maximized every bloody second of that time in the water.  The turtles would be swimming all around you and you would often have to do a little dance in the water to avoid touching them (they have a slime coat on them that protects them and by “petting” them, you wipe that protective barrier off of them thereby potentially endangering them).  When our hour was up, we reluctantly pulled ourselves out of the water and met back up with Joseph (Jessica, his wife was there too with her two guests).  As we got back to the beach, there were several policemen (which are rare to see in Curaçao) and an ambulance on the beach.  Although we didn’t actually see who they took away, the word on the beach was that it was an older gentleman from our cruise ship that suffered what appeared to be a heart attack.  We never were able to verify if that was true or not, but I do hope that whoever they took away recovered from whatever ailed them.

 

After drying ourselves off the best we could, we loaded back up and drove about 800 meters down the road to Restaurant Playa Forti for some lunch.  This place was great.  The view was stunning!  It sat right on the very edge of a cliff overlooking the cove that we were just snorkeling in.  There was even a ledge on the patio for cliff divers to jump into the water below.  It looked inviting but the 80+ foot drop was a bit steep for me!  The food was incredible.  I ordered a Kabritu Stoba (goat stew) with a locally brewed Brasa beer and Lady Trip ordered the Keshi Yena.  It was neat to the see the difference in the Keshi Yena that I had ordered in Aruba and what she got in Curaçao.  According to Joseph, Aruba makes it wrong!

 

 

Joseph enjoyed lunch with us and it was fun being able to sit down and relax and see the island through their eyes.  Once we were all fat and happy, we climbed back in to the SUV and made our way back south to Willemstad.  Throughout the day, Joseph told us a lot of history and interesting details about Curacao and he kept telling us that there would be a quiz before the day was over.  He wasn't kidding.  There was a test!  The first question was: "Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492, when did one of his captains, Alonso de Ojeda, discover Curacao?"  My answer:..."after 1492."  I thought he was going to wreck the car, he was laughing so hard.  Needless to say, I got a point.  Technically, I was correct!  But the answer he was looking for was 1499.  Since we did so well on his test, he made an extra stop for us at WilliWood!

 

 

There's Hollywood, Dollywood and even Bollywood, but only Curacao has Williwood!!  As we entered the outskirts of Willemstad, Joseph asked us if we wanted to be dropped off directly at the ship or at Rif Fort right by the famous Koningin Emmabrug (floating bridge) and Handelskade (the colorful waterfront shops).  We opted to be dropped off by Rif Fort and explore the entrance to St. Anna Bay a bit before we headed back to the ship (we still had a couple hours before we had to be back).

 

 

 

 

 

 

We strolled around the waterfront for a bit snapping pictures and peaking in and out of the local craft carts and shops.  But before we knew it, it was time to start heading back to the ship.  We were only a few blocks away and was super easy to get back.  Once we were back on the ship, we relaxed for a bit, enjoyed the sunset

 

 

 

Afterwards, we headed up to the Windjammers for dinner and we closed out the night with a nice evening stroll, some shuffleboard and finally a couple glasses of wine on the balcony watching the stars and moon light up the ocean waves.  A pretty bloody nice way to end a wonderful day!

 

 

 

Next up:  Our final sea days and final thoughts...

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by trippingpara