12.12.2420 N 68.88.2420 W

After spending a lot longer in Bonaire than we had originally intended we headed over to Curacao as a last stop before hauling out in Aruba. Alison and Derek from Ariel had given us some good recommendations for  yard in Aruba that was cheap but safe so we hurriedly booked in and then set off in that direction. 

After an over night sail we anchored up in Spanish water in Cuaraco. We managed to see a few friends from other boats which was a welcome sight. Our check in experience was a bit of a nightmare and found us heading to the capital ‘Willemstad’ traipsing around for a full afternoon trying to find all the relevant buildings and officials. I think we got our passports out over 6 times just to get checked in for a couple of days. We were then told we would have the repeat the experience in reverse when we decided to check out…. 

After all that we deiced to head off exploring around the city and found lots of interesting abandoned mansions. Apparently Willemstad was a central point in the days of slave trading and many people had become very rich from it. Since then the city hasn’t seen such affluence and many of the old elaborate buildings have fallen into disrepair. It was very interesting exploring around them. 

We were also able to check out the slave museum there which was well worth a visit. After our wanderings we decided to relax away from the boat and had a lovely dinner, ice creams and a few drinks before deciding to head back to the boat. We knew we had missed the bus back so decided that a taxi couldn’t be that expensive as it wasn’t far. Wow we got royally ripped off. We got a taxi from the taxi stand and the guy drove us around in circles before charging us $ US 70 for the trip! We hardly had enough and looked at each other to work out if we should just run (but the guy was pretty scary) so we decided to empty out pockets and pay.

After feeling a bit cheated in the city we decided to hire a car the next day and go off exploring a bit more – this also turned into a bit of a ripping off exercise as  the only place we could find that was hiring cars was in a posh hotel….. After getting sorted we went off around the island and found a lovely tiny restaurant which was in the back of a Hawaiian ladies house. We had delicious food and some good conversation. She gave us her copy of a guide she had written for the island which we gratefully took and carried on our adventures. 

We found an area in the north with some  good blow holes and natural pools and well as a fun beach for some cliff jumping. We saw more flamingos and then gradually made our way back to the boat. 

After returning the car and checking out we planned to leave that evening as the sun was setting to get us over to Aruba.