Curaçao

Curaçao is the largest and most populous of the three so called ABC islands (for Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao) of the Lesser Antilles. Curaçao is a polyglot (look that one up) society. The languages widely spoken are Papiamento, Dutch, Spanish, and English. Most people on the island (85 percent) speak Papiamentu. Many people can speak all four of these languages. It was humbling to listen to a 18 year old clerk quickly switch languages from one to another without hesitating at all.

We picked up a repaired laptop here that my brother had managed to get fixed under warranty in the US and shipped back to me. Many thanks to Jeff and Peggy for all the associated hassles. We were hoping to get other parts here, but decided to have them shipped to Cartagena.

They had free busses each day for the cruisers that went to the food stores and $1 buses that went to Willimstad. Willimstad was a colorful town with a historic floating bridge. One end of the bridge is hinged and a small diesel and propeller drive the bridge open and closed. We actually were standing on the bridge during a quick opening for a pilot boat.

We saw Father Christmas walking around and we ate local food in the Old market house. Kim had oxtail, I had snapper and Emily had a papaya/pork dish. All were served with bean and rice and hot sauce. We had enough food for 6 and managed to make most of it disappear. It was fresh, tasty and around $20 for everything. We were joined during lunch by a bananaquit bird.

They have an area they call the floating market where many colourful Venezuelan boats pull right up to the city and sell fresh produce. We bought some items and I was happy to use my Spanish again. Dutch and Papiamento exceed my abilities. We did learn Bon Bini is the Papiamento greeting and Danke means thank you.

A 3 year old pilot whale beached itself in Curacao in July and was nursed back to health by the local dolphin center. They named it Sully. Once it was healthy, they tried to release it with a passing pod, but it would not dive with the others and remained behind. After he got tangled in the pen netting and almost drowned, they tried a second release by driving more than 6 miles off the coast. They released him and sped the boat back at more than 35 knots. The whale swam as fast as he could and followed the boat right back to the pen. Thus they still hold it in a pen and are still watching for a passing pod to try another release. Another plan being considered is to ship it to the San Diego zoo. We walked over to the pen and watched it swim around. It sure is a magnificent mammal. Here is a link to a series of articles about Sully.

http://tinyurl.com/yhf9ta7

Along the 30 minute walk, we were escorted by parrots, hummingbirds, orioles and canaries.

We only stayed 5 days here in Curacao. We have a calm weather window coming and are anxious to get this next long passage behind us. We have to go around several Colombian capes that have earned a reputation as being one of the roughest places to pass by boat. We plan to cover about 460 miles in about 4 days and would like it to be as comfortable as possible.

Tom