Curacao: Day 6

What a day!! We both agree that today was the best diving, simply because of all the creatures we saw in one single spot. Today was our last day of diving since we fly out Sunday and want to give ourselves 24hours of surface time before boarding. To send our trip off with a bang, we had hoped to dive Watamula or the East Point but were unsuccessful in finding a boat going to either today. Instead, plan B was put into motion and we dove at Playa Lagun with the intention of diving “Alice in Wonderland” at Playa Kalki afterward. When we first starting planning our trip to Curacao we looked into staying at the condos that rest on the cliff above Playa Lagun, and given that we have driven toward the west end every day this week it will likely be where we stay next time. It’s a sweet little beach, fantastic dive site that hosts one of the friendliest dive shops we have encountered (especially Jalla), and is conveniently located about 15 minutes to both the far end of Westpunt and the city center of Willemstad.

We set out on our dive in hopes of swimming with a sea turtle, which other divers and snorkelers have reported seeing frequently at Playa Lagun. There was also a seahorse spotted chilling out near an anchor just outside the “Lagun” yesterday that we were determined to find. With our turtle and seahorse senses heightened, we headed straight out and followed the lively reef to the left. Within minutes we saw a clan of Lion Fish hiding in the crevices of large Mountainous Star Coral. Lion Fish are not indigenous to Curacao and there are signs up at every beach instructing divers to: A) stay away and don’t touch them B) report any sightings. They are a major threat to the local fish and multiply so abundantly that they negatively impact the local fishing industry. Oh and let’s not forget the poisonous spines that line their striped little bodies… definitely not a fish you want to meet in a dark alley late at night. Unfortunately sightings of Lion Fish are far more common than they used to be, but this was our first encounter and somewhat thrilling just to see the notorious beast first hand. Almost immediately after our brush with the underwater mob we were greeted by none other than our much sought after friend, a Green Sea Turtle! He was fairly small, I would guess 2-3 feet long. He was kind enough to stay around our planned dive depth (cute and thoughtful, what a guy) so we followed him around for a while like a couple of aquatic paparazzi.

We made our way back toward the beach a little earlier than we normally would have in order to leave enough time to find the anchor and seahorse that adorned it. Despite our best efforts we never did find him, we never even found the anchor that was supposed to house him. Turning right heading back into the beach was dense with hundreds of fish from the sand to the surface; this was one of my favorite photos spots on the dive. We took our time rounding the corner, stopping just to watch in wonder as we were surrounded by a plethora of brightly painted tropical fish. Many swam just an inch from our face, looking us square in eye as if we were really the ones on display.

My macro eyed dive buddy Marcus found the tiniest baby Trunkfish (as far as we have determined via photo review) hiding in some coral on our swim back in. It was just icing on the cake after a gorgeous, fulfilling dive. As we rinsed off up at the shop, all amped about what a great dive we just had, a family of four came in right after us celebrating the seahorse they just saw. Aww man, really?? I guess he had moved to a small piece of pipe inside the lagoon and was no longer at the anchor (glad we didn’t spend too much time looking for that thing after all!). They just got lucky and the wife happened to see to him as they were coming back in. They pointed out where he was on the map drawn at the shop, and we decided to go out again in search of him. This would be our last dive of the trip and we decided what better way to end a week of diving than with our first seahorse encounter.  After our lovely lunch by the beach we suited up and headed out again. This time our plan was to search for the seahorse first, and then move on to explore the caves just outside the lagoon to the left. We never did find him, but did see a large Baloonfish hanging out super stealth-like between the wall and the reef. We swam over to him but I kept my distance in naïve fear that he might puff up and charge me… ridiculous, I know. I kept thinking of Brother Bloat from Finding Nemo, we never did see this big guy puff up though. Marcus joked that maybe we should have started talking to him about what tool the dentist was using, “No, it’s a K-FLEX!! *PUFF*” Couple of Disney dorks…

Oh well, so we didn’t meet a seahorse but we still had two immensely fun dives that ended the diving portion of our trip on a high note. No complaints! We grabbed a couple cold Polars and sat down by the sea shore until it was time for dinner.  Tonight we ate at the highly acclaimed Sol Food in Westpunt. It was our one “Must Do” restaurant that I had read about while trip planning and I had been looking forward to it all week. Sunshine and David, a couple originally from Boston, open their gorgeous home every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for casual “mom’s kitchen” style dining. There are about 8-10 tables set up on their spacious back deck over-looking the Caribbean Sea where they invite the island to share in their piece of paradise. We didn’t have a reservation but no worries, Sunshine had a solution for that. She had a long family style table set up with 8 chairs that she aptly called the "No Reservation" table. It was specifically designed for hungry unreserved souls like ours, and turned out to be a really great experience. After emailing with Sunshine throughout the week and finally meeting her in person, I can see why her business is so successful. There is something so intoxicating about the warmth and good vibes dished out by Sunshine. What a neat person.

Not only did this place have an enchanting ambiance, but the food was equally soul-soothing. When we sat down Sunshine laid down a plate of home-made date and nut bread, talk about first impressions. We ordered the vegetable wood fired pizza and the whimsy of the day: spinach and cheese pancakes and potato, onion, cabbage pancakes that she called “Bubbles and Squeaks.” As we enjoyed our home cooked meal we were joined by another unreserved hungry diver, Jared, who we ended up staying and chatting with for the rest of the evening. He was a super nice guy from Oregon and had just moved to the island the day before. When we told him about our seahorse search he informed us that the Alice in Wonderland, where we had originally planned on doing our 2^nd dive that day, currently hosts a little black seahorse right in front of the dock.  He was starting his first day at Ocean Encounters West in the morning, the dive shop at Alice in Wonderland, and offered to take us out to see it. Seahorse aside, Alice in Wonderland was a dive that I had really looked forward to and was bummed we hadn’t fit it in. Needless to say it took no convincing on my part, and with a little time Marcus hopped on board too. With that we made a plan to meet him at the shop at 730 and bid adieu to Sunshine and her gem of a home.
 

Playa Lagun

"Crush"

Sol Food @ Westpunt