Curaçao- Dutch island of the Netherlands ... Caribbean Style!

We arrived early morning in Spaanse Waters (Spanish Waters). A fantastic natural harbour completely protected from the strong trade winds and ocean swell. There are many different inlets all with their own features and the scenery is beautiful in each one. Its dry and arid but hilly and filled with modern looking upscale homes. In many ways the landscape does look like certain parts of Spain.

About 20 minutes away by bus is the largest city on the island and the capital of Curacao. Williamstad is divided in half by a canal and a swinging bridge that connects the two main neighbourhoods. The architecture, the narrow alleyways, the cobblestone streets make the town look very European. But, the mood and the people feel distinctly Caribbean. Everyone is laid back, friendly, helpful and always willing to spark up a conversation about World Cup or politics.

There are many Dutch expats from Holland living on the island and they have all told us that life is much better here. Its much more laid back and doesn’t feel as congested as Holland “You’re free to do whatever you want” we’ve heard multiple people say (whatever that means). People also seem to take great pride in how multicultural Curaçao is. Most residents speak Popimento, Dutch, Spanish and English (sometimes all four languages in the same sentence).

There are many local events on the island. There is a beach movie night that serves popcorn and nachos under the stars. We took this concept back to the boat and have routinely watched movies in our bow hammock. The nights in Spanish waters were always perfect. The trade winds would die down around sunset leaving a cool pleasant breeze. This created the perfect setting to watch the moon rise over the hills on one side and watch the movie and your popcorn bowl on the other. Bella would always lay under the hammock hopeful that we would drop the occasional popcorn, and we always would.

Since we were anchoring in one spot for a few weeks, we took the opportunity to rig up some additional seating.

We went to two food shows on back to back nights. The first was right on the water, filled with booths from all the best local restaurants. Each establishment created a sample menu with 4-5 of their signature dishes. You could go from booth to booth trying many different tastes from many different restaurants in one night. This was an annual event and brought out lots of locals. Ashley and I called it a sort of ‘Classy Octoberfest’.

The second of the two food shows was a vegan food show. We were amazing that Curacao (the home of Chicken & Waffles and Iguana Soup had a big vegan scene. This was hosted on a farm/restaurant that serves food mainly grown on their own property. There was live music, lots of food, smoothies, and various environmental booths. We were particularly interested in ‘Plastic Free Curaçao’ (an organization committed to helping people reduce or eliminate their daily use of plastics).

The first food show produced a huge amount of plastic waste. Each snack sized dish was served in a plastic bowl with plastic forks. All the drinks were served in plastic cups and if you asked to re-use your cup you’d get a funny look. The vegan food show used all recyclable papers and wooden utensils (no disposable plastic were used anywhere).

We’ve documented the amount of plastic waste we’ve seen on beaches all throughout the Caribbean and will write a more detailed post on that later. Spoiler, we’ve seen a lot!

We spent an entire day at the Aquarium. It was fantastic! They had trainer demonstrations scheduled so you could see them in sequence. The first were the sea lions. They’re amazingly smart and agile creatures. They reminded us of Bella… We then saw the first Dolphin demonstration. Even more smart and agile than the sea lions! They also reminded us of Bella… The animals here seemed very well cared for. The tanks are all directly fed ocean water that is constantly recycling. The wall that separates the dolphin tanks from the open ocean is so low that the dolphins could easily scale it and return into the wild. Not only does this conjure up images from Disney’s Free Willy, but apparently it attests to the fact that the dolphins are well cared for and don’t feel compelled to leave. None have.

Curaçao is a physically active, diverse, vibrant community that has all the opportunities and conveniences of the western world, but is also focused on enjoying life, the environment and doesn’t let bureaucracy get in the way.