Curacao is a colorful island. Buildings are painted in colors that shout, “Caribbean!” In March 2017, Our ship docked away from the city at Mega Pier, but it turned out to be a nice cruise port with a few shops and clear directional signs.
White-roofed tourist information kiosks were staffed with friendly, helpful ladies giving away maps of the island and advice – both free of charge.
Our goal today was a relaxing day at the beach. The tourist kiosk employee gave us three recommendations and the expected taxi fare. We wanted low crowds, beach chairs, and changing facilities. She recommended Blue Bay Beach Resort and told us the taxi fare would be $30.00, but if we shared a taxi with another couple, we could split the cost. That is exactly what we did. Within 5-10 minutes, two other couples showed up – also wanting a day at the beach, so we all went together.
Since there were 6 of us, we got a mini-van, and the driver charged us $8 per person. Still cheaper than $30 one way per couple. Our driver asked what time to pick us up, but since we weren’t sure how long to stay, we didn’t give her a time. She gave us her card so we could call her for the return trip.
At the entrance, a lady in a Blue Bay Resort T-shirt collected $8.00 each and told us to sit anywhere we liked.
The beach was wonderful. Lots of available chairs and plenty of palm trees for shade. We found one of the last man-made shelters, the kind that looks like a giant grass umbrella with a counter-top built in. We claimed two chairs under this shelter, laid our ship towels in the chairs and settled in ready to relax.
There was a massage hut nearby offering 60 minutes for $70 US. They had other prices and services available, too.
Servers were available walking among us beach bums, but they were never pushy, just available.Outdoor showers, restrooms and restaurants were handy.
The water was crystal clear and snorkelers claimed that fish and coral was plentiful The sea bottom is a mixture of soft sand and large, slippery rocks. Wearing water shoes was helpful. The temperature of the water was almost perfect. I took a quick intake of breath as the water hit waist level, but it felt comfortable very quickly.
When we were ready to return to the ship I discovered why it was important to arranger for the taxi to return. Unlike some resorts where taxis are abundant waiting to catch a fare, there were few to be found. There was ONE taxi, but he was returning for other guests. Fortunately, his guests were willing to share their cab and we rode back for $15 per couple. Lesson learned – and fortunately not the “hard way.”
In 2012, we docked right downtown. This location was great. A ferry takes passengers from one side of the water to the other, or they swing out the floating bridge. (Notice the floating bridge starting on the lower right of the photo and ending in front of the large orange building.) They would rotate it so that it spanned the water and folks would walk across. There was a cross bar like a railroad crossing barrier. When it lifted, people could walk onto the bridge. If timed perfectly, a person could start walking on one end and be ready to step off as soon as the bridge swung around to the other shore.
On the side where we docked, we walked around the fort, shopped at street vendors, and took pictures of the city.
Several city blocks containing multiple stores were on the other side of the water. We rode the ferry across and were greeted by several private tour operators. We found that the further away from the pier, the cheaper the tour. And they all gave the same basic itinerary: government buildings, Jewish area, The big bridge, Curacao liquor distilary, and an optional stop at a beach. The rest of the pictures in this post are of that trip. You’ll see I have shorter, darker hair, and I look younger. Hmmm… I wonder how that happened.
