Curaçao – Contradictions

Curaçao is a mass of contradictions. The good and the bad, old and the new, the pretty and the ugly. I have tried to discuss both sides of Curaçao, however, when I went through the photos I found that I had really not taken many of the rundown buildings, empty houses and derelict nasty old refinery remains. Unfortunately, while many of the photos show great buildings and artworks much of the place is derelict and rundown, often side by side.

There is a very strong Dutch influence and we met several people who had arrived from the Netherlands and stayed as well as numbers of dutch holidaymakers. Along with large numbers of American businesses, Resorts with private access to the beach it seems the locals are not entirely integrated. The locals we did have the chance to meet were great and very friendly and full of information.

Willemstad

Willemstad town like a game of rugby is in two halves on either side of the main harbour entrance: Punda on the SE side and Otrobanda on the NW side. The fort sits at the entrance on both sides.

Behind the Rif fort, there is a pretty facade of old Dutch buildings.

But further back many are in decay. The fort has now been turned into restaurants and shops both inside and outside the walls.

Waterfront arches are the old wall with restaurants on the seaward side. The building behind the sign is falling apart.

Building Styles and Colours

The yellow coloured walls and ceramic tiles are a common colour theme. Many of the government buildings and offices are repurposed older houses.

Many of the buildings have ornate plaster decorations.

Jewish Area

The first Jewish immigrant arrived in 1634, then other Sephardi Jewish immigrants followed in the 17th Century from the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. The community was very prosperous. In the 20th century, Ashkenasi Jews came from Eastern Europe. There is a very good history on Wikipedia. The houses in the Jewish area are being restored in a project between the government and businesses. This has been a great success and is ongoing.

Workers cottages on the main road out of town.

Street Art

There is one area of the old town especially full of street art, although there is a lot of street art all over Curaçao it is different to Bonaire. Some are very good and I would have liked to spend more time looking around the art in all the different areas.

One common theme here is the Chichi doll. Chichi is the Papiamentu word for ‘big sister’. and represents a vibrant, dynamic and responsible older sister, the eldest daughter of the family. She binds the family together in a loving and caring way. The dolls adorn the touristy shops, the art, and even underwater sculptures!!

Lack of Service but Colourful Businesses

The people are either very nice or trying to rip you off. You can buy very good fruit and vegetables at the markets in town, very expensive fruit and vegetables at the supermarket, and get ripped off( tried by some but not all) if you try and buy some at the stalls on the edge of the roads.

Fees to take money out of ATM extortionate, 7-14USD to take USD from foreign credit or debit cards out depending on the bank. Even though the ATM may look beautiful!!

Service is the exception rather than the rule, though when you do find a good restaurant it is good. Iguacu and The Grill at Punta, The Pier at Caracas Bay, and Jaanchie(walking talking menu) were all good values.

Willemstad Harbour

They have two lovely major harbours but the one near the town is for oil refining and cargo. The harbour reeks of petrochemicals and despite lower activity in the area, there is no sign of any clean up going on.

There is an old Queen Anne footbridge across the harbour entrance that is motorised at one end and can be partially or fully opened at any time to let boats through as shown in the photos earlier. It is an 1888 floating pontoon bridge and pivots on one end with the other end now motorised. Sometimes opening only partially for small craft and right open for big ships. When it is fully open for an hour or so a free ferry service operates across the harbour.

Further inland is the new hugely high motorway bridge—a huge contrast.

Spanish Waters / Caracas Bay

The cruising port, Spanish waters in Caracas Bay, is very large but you are restricted to anchoring in certain areas. The rest of the harbour includes an area reserved for mangroves and much of the other shoreline is private houses and beaches.

Despite having some fantastic sheltered harbours and a large number of local boats Curacao is not set up or really interested in cruising boats like us. There is a small boatyard and marina in the main harbour where some cruisers moor or haul out for the offseason and another small marina in Spanish Waters. The only other option is anchoring in Spanish Waters with many liveaboards scattered around the harbour. Access ashore is a wet dinghy ride to a small dock.

A selection of the houses around the harbour – large and small.

Pontoon around the bay at the entrance protects it from the boat wakes and storms – it also has a great bar there.

Immigration, Customs, Harbourmaster and Cruisers

To make life harder for cruisers The immigration and customs are 10 km from the Spanish Waters dingy dock and 2km apart on opposite sides of the main harbour entry. Buses are few and far between so you need either a rental car or a taxi which are exorbitant.

To get a cruising permit you also need to visit the pilots’ office which is near immigration and they will give you a permit for Spanish waters for 3 months. If you want to anchor in any of the other 6 approved sites you need to pay for a 3-day pass specifying the days. This means planning ahead irrespective of the weather or returning to the office when you decide, therefore, another expensive trip.

Going North

Westpunt area in the north is very nice but a long way in the yacht if you have to come back south 30-40k to check out. By car the rental cars and roads are good. There are a few interesting sites on the way like old plantation houses changed into restaurants, a few sculptures and a few beaches interspersed with failed developments.

Diving

There is diving around the island, a mixture of shore-based and boats. There are many operators and some very good and others not so. Also, several single-person operators are never there when you are trying to find them. In Bonaire, there were utes everywhere with dive gert in the back. Less so in Curaçao but you would not find gearing upon the pavement in the middle of any other city!!

We went diving in Curaçao with Benny and Alice. Benny we met diving in Bonaire and Alice joined us in Curaçao. The shore dive was at Playa Kalki and a boat dive at “Black coral garden” and “Watanula”. The diving was good but not many big fish, probably because there seems to still be a lot of fishing around Curaçao. The last dive was spectacular. As usual the further you get from the regular dive sites the better.

Another favourite activity is cliff jumping from right outside the restaurant.

Klein Curcaçao

We decided we had to get out of Spanish waters with their grey skies, wind and murky water. So we headed off upwind to a little island that is used by tourist boats and locals as day anchorage only. There are moorings which we did use with an extra rope tied on!! What a change of scenery!!

Since we were out in clean water again the washing needed doing, but in such pleasant surroundings it is not a problem.

The island was a paradise for seabirds until the 19th century when an engineer found it was covered in phosphate. from 1871 to 1886 they removed 90 tonnes of phosphate and shipped it to Europe. The island was left bare and a few meters lower. It took the seabirds a long tie to return but they have never reached the same numbers as before. In the 17th century, licences allowed people to catch and slaughter Caribbean monk seals – they are now extinct. the island was also used as a place to leave sick slaves before transferring the rest to Curaçao – they often died here. A very sad history for the island

The original lighthouse was built in 1877, destroyed in a hurricane, the current one was built more in the centre of the island but it is now derelict. There are also two wrecks on the island.

Cruise Operators

No one lives on the island but there are various structures belonging to several different tour groups. Mermaid takes out 130 people per day, St Anne Cruisers 70ppd, 3 other catamaran companies probably total about another 60ppd.

Wildlife

The island is supposed to be a turtle sanctuary but with that many people visiting every day I am not sure how the turtles get on!!

The sand on the leeward side is as fine as talcum powder, very beautiful and snorkelling or diving very easy as the reef drops straight down off the shore.

Ashore are various lizards, seabirds, and even some godwits. All are competing for beach space with the tourists.

We stayed the night, only our boat, a fisherman and a one person on the island keeping watch. Wonderful.

We departed early the next morning on the way back to check out Willemstad.

We checked out, then sailed up the coast to Santa Cruz, stopping for the night then off to Colombia.