Curacao: Day 4

Today we found the perfect mixture of diving and beach bumming. We started the day a little earlier so we had plenty of time to fit in everything we wanted to do… which ironically was mostly to sit on the beach and do nothing. We had our little Euro breakfast on our balcony again before venturing over to Playa Cas Abou. On our way we stopped by the “Flamingo Sanctuary” in which there was not one single flamingo, go figure. Oh well, we snapped a few sad photos in front of the empty sanctuary and continued on to Cas Abou. Cas Abou is known for its post card quality white sandy beach, bright turquoise & royal blue marbled water, and (of course) diving. The white sandy shore is lined with palapas and lounge chairs and there is an open air bar that sits tucked farther back on the beach. There is a little friendly dive shop that sits conveniently over toward the right, patiently waiting for you to pick up tanks and dive in. We wasted no time getting in the water. As we snorkeled out to the underwater marker we saw a White Spotted Eagle Ray chowing down on breakfast. I stayed my distance (big sissy) but caught some cool photos from the surface. Once we descended at the marker we headed right per recommendation of the shop’s dive master. It was another easy going, gorgeous dive. I’m convinced there is not a single “bad dive” on the entire island. The reef is so healthy and just FULL of life. Every once in a while I would take my nose out of the reef and look up to see Marcus just SURROUNDED by vast schools of fish, all varying species. It was something I tried to catch with the camera several times but I don’t think any of the photos come close to capturing that moment. It’s a photo that I will hold in my mind forever.

Some of the highlights, other than the Eagle Ray: a few different trumpetfish, an arrow crab tucked away trying his hardest to not be seen, and some very large yellow tail snapper which had me craving fish and chips at the end of the dive. Right before we turned around to head back to the marker we reached Cas Abou’s own “mini mushroom forest,” another highlight of the dive. Our dive lasted 39 minutes and we stayed around 40 feet most of the time, once again our dive computer gave us a 16 hour desat time. We have talked to several people, including another person with a similar uwatec, and no one can explain it. I have since downloaded the manual but still don’t fully understand. Fortunately, we are more than content being 1 dive a day divers and spending the rest of the day on the beach.

 After our dive we sat under a palapa looking out on the calm water and enjoyed lunch. In addition to drinks the beach bar sold some Dutch snacks, which we didn’t dare deny. We ordered some fries with peanut sauce and enjoyed them with a couple Amstels. That moment pretty much sums up the whole reason we fell in love with Curacao when we first read about in a dive magazine a few years ago: Dutch food and culture in the middle of the Caribbean… a match made in paradise. After lunch we snorkeled around and saw a small yellow eel not too far from shore. Snorkeling was a lot of fun, and I was amazed at how much sea life there is just off the shore, but it really does not compare to diving!

We soaked up some rays as Cas Abou a while longer and then drove to near-by Porto Marie. Porto Marie is another great diving site known to house nurse sharks, spotted eagle rays, and sometimes even turtles in the valley between its two reefs. It is also just a stunning beach, so we stayed and enjoyed it for a while. We sat out on two beach front Adirondack chairs and ordered a drink. Marcus had their beer of the month, Maredsous, a blond Belgian beer. Again, two of our favorite things all found in one place: Belgian beer and a gorgeous Caribbean beach… we LOVE this place! I ordered a Pina Colada with Blue Curacao, which was good but his Belgian Beer was so much better. We snorkeled here as well and saw a very well-disguised scorpion fish that another beach goer had found by almost stepping on.

As the sun began to sink lower we drove back in the direction of our hotel, stopping at the Marriot to watch the sunset from the beach there. After sunset we cleaned up and took a taxi to the Punda side of Willemstaad for dinner at Scampi’s. We have been here 4 days and this was our first time to center of town. We’ve been enjoying the underside and beaches of the island so much we had not even ventured to the historic city center yet. Dinner was good; I had a seafood sampler of smoked salmon, coconut prawns, and calamari while Marcus had a steak. It was nice but I still prefer off the map places like that tiny beach front restaurant Surf & Turf we went to on Monday. After dinner we briefly walked around admiring the brightly colored illuminated buildings that line the harbor. It reminded me of that “Disneyland” feeling we had in a lot Europe where the buildings look too cute to be real. I’m anxious to go back during the day and enjoy more of the sites and shops of the adorable downtown Willemstaad.

Curacao: Day 3

We started our day off with a homemade Euro style breakfast on the beach. We had pineapple jam and oude kaas on dried fruit wheat rolls that we bought on our shopping excursion. The jam and cheese on bread/toast for breakfast is something that was new to me when I went to Europe for the first time and I make it at home all the time now (Marcus loves it). I also cooked Marcus an egg and we took our little breakfast down to the beach. It was a very sunny, beautiful morning. After breakfast we packed a lunch for the day and headed towards Playa Lagun in hopes of diving the Mushroom Forrest. The dive shop at Playa Lagun usually has a dive boat that will take you out to the famous Mushroom Forrest, but not this week. The gentleman at the dive shop recommended we see “Captain Goodlife” (Juney) at Playa Santa Cruz just up the road instead and then maybe come back and dive Playa Lagun afterward. Not only had I read about Capt. Goodlife, but the Dive Master at Marie Pampoen had also recommended him (his exact words were actually more like “He’s a crazy M*F*”). He has a water taxi that just drops you off at one end of the reef, and picks you up 45 minutes later at the other end near the “Blue Room.” Captain Goodlife was busy I suppose- we briefly met him but he didn’t actually take us out, he had one of the boys that works with him do the deed.  It was a short 2 minute boat ride when we arrived at the reef, fell back off the boat into the bright blue water, and started our dive. “OH MY GOSH” is all I kept mumbling out of my reg as we got into the thick of the reef. I knew no one could hear me, but it was a natural response. The dive was absolutely incredible. I thought it was a much better dive than the day before, but Marcus like them both equally. It was just a nice, lazy dive FULL of vibrant colored sea life and coral. In any direction you looked there was a school of fish in your face or a vibrant piece of coral with its own little eco system growing in and around it just begging to be examined more closely. It was a battle going back and forth from enjoying the amazing panoramic view of the mushroom shaped coral to getting in a little closer and enjoying the dive from a macro view. Surprise, surprise… we got so caught up in taking photos we never quite made it to the blue room. Not even close actually. When we were done with the dive we popped up and saw the boat waiting at least 100 yards away where were supposed to have made it by that point. They spotted us and picked us up, laughing the whole way over to us I’m sure. Oh well, we didn’t get to see the Blue Room but had an AMAZING dive none the less.

After our dive we went back over to Playa Lagun where we enjoyed our lunch on the beach and logged our dive. Both of our computers said we had a desat time of 16hours which was impossible (our max depth was 44 ft. and our dive lasted 45 minutes), but still being fairly new divers it worried us. We talked to the gentleman at the dive shop and all of us chalked it up to the fact that I had shared my air with Marcus towards the end of the dive (I still had over half a tank left). By the time we finished our lunch and hung out at the beach for a bit the dive shop at Playa Lagun was shutting down and we were feeling pretty lazy. We decided to make it another “one dive day” and headed over to Jaanchies for dinner. Jaanchies was recommended by Sunshine (restaurant & apartment owner on Westpunt) for local cuisine. It was as visually entertaining as it was delicious. The man who owns it is obviously a bird lover and the entire restaurant is surrounded by bird feeders tucked into local flora. The birds flutter from limb to limb as they sing and gobble up the food from their various feeders. When we arrived the owner was walking around with a bag a sugar, putting a little into each bird feeder to keep them coming back for more. The way it’s set up is tasteful, and the birds don’t actually come into the restaurant and disturb your meal. They are just there to serenade you and were even kind enough to pose for a couple of photos. We each had the seafood combo and Marcus tried the Iguana stew. The combo was shrimp, grouper, and Caribbean rice… put a little of the garlic tartar on the grouper and it was to die for. Marcus said the Iguana stew was good, but didn’t finish it. He said it was kind of like buffalo wings, “definitely not as good though.” I give him kudos for trying it. I was tempted but decided Iguana didn’t quite fit my pescatarian diet, however I have seen alligator on a couple menus and that may qualify for a tasting. Still haven’t found a place serving barracuda, I’m dying to try it.

After dinner the owner invited us to sit in some nearby rocking chairs and told us he had a surprise coming. We obliged and took a seat in the big comfy rockers. He then brought out a two neopalatin ice cream sandwich desserts which we enjoyed as we rocked back and forth and watched the birds. After our delightful dinner we raced the sun over to Playa Kaliki to watch it set. It was a rocky, more secluded beach over to the right and had a dive shop over to the left. We only stayed long enough to watch the sunset and then drove along the north side of the island back to the hotel. Back at the hotel we made a couple rum libations that we took down to the beach. The beach was technically closed but we went for a swim anyway, no one bothered us or seemed to care. We stayed out there just swimming and chatting the rest of the evening. The area of the beach we were on was near the Blues Bar, which we plan on checking out either Thursday or Saturday when they have a live band. On our way back to the room we stopped by just to look at their menu and it just so happens Tuesday is burger night. We were a couple drinks in at this point and getting a little hungry so Marcus got his burger fix and ordered a Texas Burger to go.  I made my own late night snack back at the room (nutella on parisettes) and we sat out on the balcony to enjoy them both. We definitely let our inner fat kids out, hopefully this won’t be a nightly tradition!

Curacao: Day 2

We started off our first full day in Curacao with a hot cup of coffee on our balcony, just relaxing and taking it all in. After our little morning java we drove to Centrum market to do a little grocery shopping for the week. This is something I look forward to everywhere we go and was one of the highlights of my day. I LOVE going to grocery stores in other countries, and this little place didn’t disappoint. As to be expected it mimicked Alberthein grocery store in Holland. We loaded up on Oude Kaas (“Old Cheese:” crumbly, stinky gouda- a favorite to both of us) several other types of Gouda, and some produce. The “sweet” aisle was probably where we spent most of our time- I love all the Belgian and Dutch treats! We finally narrowed it down to some speculaas (spiced cookies, great with coffee) and parisettes (mini cookie-like Belgian waffles). We then made our way to the grown up aisle where there was array of different flavored Curacao liquors to choose from. Blue Curacao is what we were most familiar with, but here they had rows and rows of different flavored “Curacao liquors.” There was so much to choose from; we eventually picked up some Curacao Rum & Curacao Coconut Liquor. I think we just might have to go back and pick up a few more of the flavors before we leave though!

For breakfast we went over to the bakery where we bought Arepa Pompoena (Dutch pancake), a couple croissants, and a Kroket. The Arepa Pompoena was amazing, similar to a crepe but a little thicker with raisins scattered throughout.  Marcus was not a fan of the meat and potato deep fried Kroket (I didn’t try it). After our shopping excursion we stocked up our fridge and mini kitchen and then sat out on the balcony with a map and made a dive plan for the day. We chose “Tugboat” based on recommendations from family as well as dive magazines, plus it’s not too far from where we are staying and it was already nearing noon.  Well that plan was a bust… apparently Tugboat is and will be closed for quite some time. There was a language barrier between the security guard at the gate and myself so I’m not exactly sure why it’s closed, something a about a large boat I think (Cruise Ship?). We later talked to a few other people including a dive master working at a local dive shop who didn’t even realize it was closed. We drove around to Kabaye, a nearby dive site but decided to go back to Marie Pampoen which had been recommended to us by the dive master at Atlantis Dive Shop.

There are two dives at Marie Pampoen: a deep dive (around 90 feet) of sunken cars in which sea life have made a home, and an easy going 45ish foot plateau reef dive. This was our first dive in Curacao, first shore dive by ourselves (no boat to come pick us up where ever we pop up like we had in Cozumel) and no dive master to navigate us back. Needless to say we chose the easier of the two dives and may have to come back to see the underwater car yard another time.

The dive was wonderful. We saw our old friend the Rainbow Parrotfish, various other species of Parrotfish, Yellow Tail Snapper, various Angelfish and Groupers, a couple of the slightly more elusive long Trumpetfish and the big exciting sighting of the day... a Spotted Moray Eel. I don’t think the moray eel is that rare, but they can be hard to spot simply because they hide out in little caves of the coral. Marcus spotted him (he always finds the good stuff, good dive buddy) and pointed him out to me just as I was about to swim right passed him. We had fun with our new camera and mom’s underwater housing, it’s a lot different than the little disposable underwater cameras we are used to using. We can’t wait to get home and go through all of our photos and hopefully even make some “wall art” out of them.

Neither of us bothered to look at the compass on our way out (oooooops) but managed to “navigate” back perfectly by pointing in the direction we thought we came from and just making sure our dive computer showed that we were slowly ascending. We were very lucky, and definitely won’t make that mistake again! As we came up the sun was beginning to set, which made for some cool photos from the water. The dive shop that sits there on the beach also has an outdoor restaurant called “Surf and Turf” attached to it. It was simply a small kitchen with a deck coming off of it, steps leading to sand and about 8 or so tables and chairs set up along the water. They were just starting to set up as we packed up our gear and chatted with the incredibly nice dive master at the shop. He gave us some detailed advice such as: at Playa Lagun, swim out to the right and about 15 minutes into the dive and around 45 feet there are usually 3 ________ (blanking on the name) fish. Hopefully I’ll remember before we go out there, I presume they were some of the more rare fish. Anyway, after talking with him and another guy from Holland for a while, we grabbed a table along the shore and enjoyed the sunset. We ordered the Surf and Turf, fried plantains, fries, and a couple cold ones. Despite having to wait quite some time for our meal (they had lost our ticket), the setting and food were amazing.  We couldn’t have asked for a better ending to our first Curacao dive.

After dinner we drove back to Avila and had dessert at the outdoor “Bella Terrace” restaurant. Marcus had a warm apple tartlet with ice cream and I had a passion fruit mousse. His was delicious, but neither of us were too impressed with mine. We ended up going back to the room and having a couple of our Belgian treats to satisfy the sweet tooth. After dessert we made a couple coconut rum cocktails and went for a walk along the beach and resort. We found a little spot that sits up overlooking the ocean where we sat the rest of the night just talking, laughing, and finishing our drinks. It was beautiful spot and fun ending to our day.

Marky

Britt finding Zen

Trumpetfish

Sunset view from our dinner table

Curacao: Day 1

As I sit to write this my feet are kicked up on our balcony overlooking the calm turquoise  water, a cup of coffee on one side, Marcus on the other, and the sweet chirps of local birds singing fills the warm air. Is this Heaven?? Despite the cliché I truly do feel that this is my idea of what Heaven should be. When I die, I want to go to the Curacao in the sky.

We arrived around 2pm into the adorable little Hato airport. Nothing like our big boisterous, granite slab countertop in the bathroom SFO. Petite and colorful, the airport sits surrounded by cactus and adjacent to the ocean (the landing strip was no more than 30 yards from the ocean). As we landed we gawked at the unreal bright blue water and reefs clearly visible from the plane. Already we could tell this was unlike any place we have been before.  

We made our way through customs and immigration still in that “Oh my gosh I can’t believe we are really here!!” mode. There was a snag when we picked up our rental car as they tried to give us one with a broken radio/CD player. Marcus spent a good portion of time before we left making us Island CDs to listen to while we were here so we were really bummed. We eventually got a different car (a BLUE one at that!!) and headed to our Hotel.

Somehow, despite all odds against me and my natural lack of direction, I was able to navigate as Marcus drove to hotel with ease. The drive to the hotel was very interesting itself. The architechture here is simply beautiful to me. The colorful, ornate, and somewhat European Victorian little rundown houses that were scattered along the drive had my camera fluttering. We arrived to the hotel around 4 pm. We could not be happier with our choice to stay here, this place is simply stunning. Covered in local flora and fauna and built in the traditional “Dutch” style architecture, the Avila sits perched right on the beach. As we checked in we were presented with a glass of sweet carribbean fruit juice. Why thank you. We quickly unloaded the car and headed up to see our room. We were given an Ocean View room with a little patio equipped with table and lounge chairs… definitely going to be our breakfast spot most mornings.  Our room is in the newer building of the hotel and is very modern inside, nothing like the tropical exterior. I’m super stoked about the little kitchenette and look forward to cooking up some fresh catch of the day to eat on our balcony at least one night.

After settling in we walked down to the beach where we grabbed a spot under a nice big palapa. There is an adorable ship turned into a bar that is conveniently situated on the beach where we grabbed a couple drinks to take back to our beachside seats. We layed there most of the evening as the sun faded, getting up only a couple of times to take a dip. There were schools of fish in the water right in front of us, and boy were they friendly. Obviously used to visitors, the fish swam right up to us. One little guy seemed confused and kept circling Marcus and I like we were prey? I’m not sure, but he was cute and I even got to touch him.  

When the sun completely sank we rinsed off the sand, got a little fancier, and took a cab over to Mambo Beach for dinner. We had heard that this was the place to be on Sunday night for live music and dancing (the guy who helped us with our car rental called it “local night”). Well that was correct indeed. The place was swarmed with people and loud club music right on the beach. Everyone looked to be having fun but I am an old soul, and something just didn’t feel right. We decided to walk along the beach to Lions Dive Resort (two min walk), home of Hemmingways. Ahhh, much better. The dinner tables are set up on the sand under light strung palapas. We grabbed a seat and just relaxed for a bit as the live band set up. They were not offering their normal menu as it was their buffet night, so we delightfully indulged in some fresh local fanfare.  My favorite was the Bangamary, a white fish which I was told is similar to Grouper. Everything was good though, and given the setting and company I’m not sure I could complain even if the food had been terrible.  A few Mai-Tais, Margaritas, and some fruity little green things later we called it a night and took a cab back to our hotel.

Day 13: London

1/8/11

Needless to say we slept in today after last night's shenanigans. It was our last day in London so we decided to see Buckingham Palace since that was the only thing left on our "London Napkin List" that we hadn't done yet. The cloudy weather cleared as we arrived and we took some pretty photos of the palace with the parting clouds and blue skies. Marcus was disappointed by the sloppy guards. They looked around, had poor posture, and were not at all what I had remembered from my last trip to London. As we walked from the tube to the palace I had told him how these guards were the real deal, unlike the teenagers that work at the London Tower. Bummer! After admiring the palace a bit we stopped in the shop that's right next to it and saw the official wedding china of Prince William and Kate. I'm not much for following celebrities but the Royal family is my new found "celebrity" interest. Now that we have been to both the wedding and reception venues together and I'm looking forward to the "we've stood right there!" moments :)

We then headed over to Camden Town to do a little shopping. Simba had recommended it the night before and we didn't have any other plans, why not? Once we arrived I realized that I had been there before and just didn't recognize the name. We enjoyed a beer and snacks on the 2nd floor of a cool, funky pub that overlooked the plaza. The streets were packed with tourists and identical shops so we got the few souvenirs we were after and headed back to Gloucester Square for some fish and chips. There we had by far the biggest and best fish & chips of the entire trip. The "Cod-father" was ginormous, at least a foot long. Exactly what we were looking for.

We went back to the hotel and watched some British TV before finally calling it a night. It was a nice quiet end to our two week long vacation. We've both been going back and forth between feeling like it is ending too soon to feeling ready to get home to our baby boy. I think two weeks was the perfect amount of time for the number of countries we visited and we are both missing our KaiKai. I can't wait to see his excitement when we get home and cuddle my handsome Kai-Pie!

Day 12: Back to London

1/7/11

We took the train back to London today. We had such a blast the first few nights we were here that we decided to book a couple more before flying out on Sunday. After checking into the hotel we met up with Simba and Claudine, whom we met on NYE in Paris, for dinner and drinks. Simba lives right outside of London and Claudine is still in town visiting him until Sunday. We met up at the Waterloo station and walked to a nice French restaurant that Simba had picked out. The restaurant was in an area of London that we hadn't visited yet and it was nice walking around and seeing a different part of the city. Dinner was delicious, with the exception of the butter that I smothered on some bread and bit into before realizing it was ANCHOVY butter. Bleh. After dinner we walked in search of a pub. We saw some beautiful views of the city lights as we crossed several bridges over the Thames River. Simba was a great tour guide, pointing out monuments and even telling us why the Jubilee bridge that we were crossing was in fact called the Jubilee bridge (it commemorates the Jubilee, 50 year reign, of the Queen). Marcus and I are going to have to buff up on our Cali knowledge before they ever come to visit so we can return the favor :)

We ended up at several pubs through out the night. My favorite pub was one of the first few we went to. They were packed and played awesome music (you can never go wrong with Journey). Everyone sang along as they played the "Baywatch" theme song, which was totally a first for us. Silly Brits. I was shocked to find that most pubs close around 1 am. So as one closed we walked to another. By the end of the night, or morning rather, we ended up at a club that was open until 4. After the last club closed we went to Mickey D's to fill our belly's to (hopefully) help prevent a hangover. It felt so wrong, we don't even eat Mickey D's at home. Then again we don't party like this at home either. When in London...

Day 11: Bruges

1/6/11

The gorgeous weather that we had yesterday didn't last long. We were greeted with wet cobble stone and cloudy skies this morning. We almost made it through our entire trip without seeing a single rain drop. I guess we can't complain about one rainy day in a two week long holiday, and it definitely didn't stop us from enjoying our day. I found the weather to be quite romantic. Cuddling under an umbrella as we went from chocolate shop to chocolate shop tasting and comparing. Our agenda today was to not have one. We tasted chocolates, ate waffles, and even had real chocolate that was made with milk and melted Belgian chocolate...best hot cocoa ever. It was kept in a machine that constantly churned the sweet concoction so the chocolate wouldn't settle to the bottom or harden. Another tasty treat to add to my list of things I need to learn to make when I get home.

The most interesting chocolates we tried today came from The Chocolate Line in Simon Stevin Plein. Marcus had the "Havana" which was made with dark chocolate soaked in Cuban tobacco leaves and he loved it. Per recommendation of the gentleman helping us, I tried the sun-dried tomato, black olive, and basil chocolate (that's all one chocolate). Surprisingly it was pretty good, I couldn't eat a whole box of them but maybe that's the point. Marcus hated it all together and quickly washed it down with some of the hot cocoa. His face reminded me of Will Ferrell in "Elf" when he tried the "Passion Fruit Spray." Poor guy :)

We did a bit more shopping, visited a Belgian beer vault, and finally had a delicious dinner at l'Estaminet. I had angel hair pasta and Marcus had lasagna, both of which were topped with a thick slice of cheese, baked, and served in adorable clay pots. I doubt it constitutes traditional Flemish cuisine, but we made up for that fact by ordering a Duvel and Trappist Rochefort 10. The restaurant itself had a great vibe: quaint, dim candlelit room with windows dressed in Belgian lace and filled with locals. Definitely a place we will visit again when we return to Bruges.

We go back to London in the morning. It's always sad for me leaving one country to go to another. I'm confident we will return to Bruges sooner than later. We are already talking about our next trip. It truly is the most romantic city in the world in my eyes, and I don't think anything will ever change that. Favorite moment of the day: Slow dancing in rain to Van Morrison singing "Have I told you lately" in the middle of Simon Stevin Plein. I'm so happy we chose to come to Bruges, these memories will truly last a lifetime.