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| Welcome to Curacao |
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| Just off the Coast of Venezuela |
Curacao, Portuguese for ‘heart’ was discovered by Portuguese – who else – in
1499. In 1634 the Dutch built Fort Amsterdam, now a shopping arcade and home to
a series of waterfront restaurants, as well as a museum.
In 1888, Willemstad (the Capital of the Island) opened its
famous swinging pontoon bridge, which is also known as the ‘Swinging Old Lady’.
1651 saw the oldest Jewish temple in the Western Hemisphere
opened here.
During the 19th Century, Governor-General Albert
Kickert suffered migraine headaches, which he blamed on the harsh reflection of
sunlight on white buildings in Willemstad. He promptly issued a decree to paint
the buildings any colour but white. Thanks to this suffering soul, we now enjoy
Caribbean hues of blues, greens, yellows and reds throughout Willemstad.
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| Curacao Waterfront |
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| Channel Ferry |
Prinsendam made her stately entrance into the narrow Sint
Annabali Channel, whilst the ‘Swinging Old Lady’ maintained her open position.
We glided through and passed under a lofty highway overpass to tie up…..at the
fuel dock. Prinsendam was riding high, and had almost gobbled up her last fuel;
ergo a stop at the less than touristy dock was in order.
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| Heading into Town |
As it may be, a short walk along the waterfront brought the
visitor into town and to the swinging bridge, where one could cross into
Willemstad centre on foot, or take a shuttle ferry across.
38 beaches just outside town offer reef systems, that draw
diving enthusiasts from all over the world.
The little town lends itself to a leisurely exploratory
stroll through its mostly pedestrian only, narrow streets. An open air market
offers the usual produce. A small fishing fleet docks town side, whose captains
and fishermen are mostly Venezuelans, who offer their catch here in Curacao.
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| Venezuelan Fisherman selling fish on the Floating Market |
It is a great place for people watching along the
waterfront, whilst the swinging bridge opens now and then to let a sailboat, a
tug, or an ocean liner pass through. Pedestrian traffic stops, with a few people
‘trapped’ on the moving bridge, but a few minutes later, normal life resumes
when the bridge closes again.
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| Some Cruise Passengers may finish up like this after two months aboard.... |
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| Don't Worry - Be Happy |
Back Aboard, all but a few passengers are packing up to
leave Prinsendam in Fort Lauderdale; about ninety of our crew are getting ready
to go home for a vacation.
One of the final Grand Hurrahs is the ship building
competition aboard, where passengers construct vessels out of recycle material
and submit their crafts for final judging by Captain and Crew, who evaluate
design, originality, seaworthiness and load capacity.
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| Prinsendam's decks, fully equipped including a pool...The pool area acted also as a 'loading hatch' to store test load in the hull of the vessel - 12 pop cans later, it still floated... |
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Even the life rafts were there....
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| Happy Baker beside the Lido Pool |
Replica Prinsendam won on all counts….
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| Yes, on all counts, even the obligatory slight 'list' |
