Livingstone Jan Thiel Resort Curaçao

... swim. We had been doing this morning routine for about 4 days and on the last day Robin had to bring her mask with the snorkel on it so she didn’t inhale water every time Inge made us swim out to the buoys and back. Since this was our 4th day I guess she assumed that we were ready to swim to Timbuktu and back. So were swimming along, just keep swimming. Swimming. Swimming. And I’m on my back just minding my own ...

... slaap. De rest van het tochtje heeft hij lekker in zijn maxi cosi liggen pitten onder de buiskap.

We waren erg blij toen we na ons verblijf "op stand", met Daan in reddingsvest, weer aan boord van onze Netjer klommen. Daar was het veel minder heet en hadden we eindelijk geen last meer van muggen. Het was nog een grote puinhoop, maar we voelden meteen een gevoel van rust over ons heenkomen. De afgelopen twee weken stonden in het teken van (nog meer) klussen, Daan laten wennen aan ...

... de grote, natuurlijke haven van Curacao. De grote zeeschepen worden hier naar binnen gesleept, dwars door de stad (jullie kennen vast wel het beeld van de pastelkleurige panden met oud-Hollandse gevels aan de Handelskade). De pontjesbrug gaat dan open en voetgangers worden met de pont naar de overkant vervoerd. De Pontjesbrug is erg leuk om te zien, hij gaat niet omhoog open, zoals een normale brug, maar hij rust op drijvers (pontjes) en zwaait ...

... and brown, and there are a lot of cacti everywhere, but it was very green while I was there because of the rainy season. there were only a few beaches and they were kinda torn up from a previous hurricane but still, as you can see from the pictures, very nice. I did one dive, and some free diving while I was there. The reef is very nice around the island. The dive we did was on the wreck that was pretty cool aswell.

... tsss, Isla Margarita is the place to be :) Met de slechtste voorbereiding ooit (lag uiteraard niet aan mij:) vlieg ik morgen... zal ter plekke kijken of ik een hostel kan vinden. In de Footprint staat iets beschreven over een plek waar gesurft wordt dus dat is mijn doel bij aankomst... Daaag

... gezien. Het klikt meteen goed tussen iedereen en ondanks de taalbarriere begrijpen we elkaar prima en hebben we erg veel lol. We wisselen opnieuw cadeautjes uit en hebben eigenlijk helemaal geen zin om afscheid te nemen. Dus nodigen we hen uit op zondag naar onze boot te komen. Wij zijn dan in Mochima, een nationaal park vlakbij Puerto la Cruz. Ze vinden het geweldig en staan op zondagochtend inderdaad voor onze neus. We varen, zoeken een strandje op om te zwemmen en ...

... Man) and another homeless guy who sometimes tries to get money for looking at your car and not stealing it (Car Watch Man, who possesses an enormous amount of hair in one of those wacky local Hair Sausage things), who was horning in on Car Wash Man's territory. This is the **** you'll never see in the carefully tailored sights that the sightseeing buses and the tour boats take you to see. This is the majority of the island: panhandlers, homeless people, underemployment, and poverty.

... the neighborhood. Within ten minutes by car are a Centrum grocery store (the best grocers on Curacao in my opinion); a local bakery known as Fayads which serves excellent bread, cake and other baked goods; a golf course which I have never been to; and a couple of nice sandy beaches, on in Boca Sami and one at St. Michiel. Anybody considering buying property or spending an extended period of time in Curacao would be well advised to look into this wonderful neighborhood.

Again, I did not wake up until past 11am, damn! Fortunately, I did not arrange any shore excursion today (unlike yesterday in Aruba, I arranged two in a row). Since I also did not plan to wander too far from the port area (still not a beach person), I will spend most of today in its capital town, Willemstad. Curaçao is the largest island in the Dutch ABC islands. With 170,000 residents, it is also the most populous island in Nethelands Antilles ...

... 1/2 owned by the Dutch and 1/2 owned by the French. We hired a little car and enjoyed seeing the islands beaches and towns, crossing between the two countries many times as it only takes about an hour and a half to circumnavigate the island. At one stage Avan managed, in the rain, to put the car in a ditch, but fortunately some friendly tourists stopped to help lift us out, and no damage done. St. Maartin is a Mecca for duty free shopping (especially jewelry) for the passengers of huge ...