We've all heard of Aruba, and now that we're scuba divers, we hear a lot about Bonaire. But have you ever heard of Curacao? Pronounced "cure a sow," this beautiful Dutch island is the "C" when you refer to the ABC Islands.
After spending a week catching the bus and looking around the old historic capitol of Willemstad, we fell in love! Business looked good due to the cruise ships coming and going, bringing loads of tourists ready to see the unique sights. We anchored for a week in a huge lagoon named Spanish Water along with about 200 other sail boats. Simply delightful!
Here's a group shot of us with the other two boats we have traveled with from Cartagena. Third from left is Emily, a cute, spunky 24 year old new to sailing (crewing with Jamie), then our Dutch friends Inge and Pieter, 17 year veteran sailors aboard Baerne, and far right is Jamie, the captain of 401(k), and a dive master. In fact Jamie can do just about anything, including repairs to everything we break. And girls, he's single, too!
Inge had Emily and I exercising daily, and she was hard to keep up with. She will be 70 in January, but who would ever guess? "First we do the walk, then we do the swim. That's a good plan, no?" She and Pieter are dear friends whom we will miss when we go our separate ways.
Downtown Willemstad is such a fun place to wander around. Great restaurants, great shopping, friendly people, and interesting Dutch architecture. Don't you just love all the bright colors! It makes you feel happy!
Fort Amsterdam dates back to 1635, and is now the governor's palace and a museum. Look closely at the upper left corner to find a hole left by a cannonball fired by Captain Bligh's troops.
We sat outside on a small private veranda for dinner at this very nice restaurant named De Gouverneur.
Just one of the old buildings with designer shops in downtown Willemstad dated 1708.
Meet Sully, the young pilot whale that washed up on Curacao's beach during the summer. Volunteers rescued him and trained him to follow a boat so when another pod of whales was found in the area, he could be returned to the wild. We were fortunate to see him because he left a couple of days later.
The ruins of Fort Beekenburg at Curacao Bay dating back to 1703.
A large pod of dolphins greeted us as we approached Curacao, probably 40 or 50! 
Sea Ya! Ricky and Robin (Danielle was home visiting family and friends)
.JPG)