Monday, August 14, 1995 - Curaco

I walked up to Fort Nassau in the cool of morning. It's on top of an even higher hill than the one I climbed yesterday, so I had another great view of the harbor. Then I went into town to try to find a decent grocery store, but the only one I found had absolutely nothing I wanted. The Tourist Information Office was open by then, so I got a map and found out where there's a super market and a laundromat. The area we're in is called Scharloo. It's the "old residential district," with emphasis on the "old". There are nice areas in Willemstad, too, of course, but I don't like it as well as Oranjestad. Willemstad is much larger. The island of Cura‡ao is more than twice the size of Aruba both in area and population. It lacks the charm of Aruba and the cheerful, happy people. There is ugliness here and destitution, which didn't seem to exist on Aruba. Between town and our boat is a dock where Venezuelan boats bring vegetables and fruit and other wares that they sell in open-air stalls. I was walking through it when I saw Roy coming towards me! That was lucky. We went to McDonald's for breakfast. On the way back to the boat, we bought a few potatoes, oranges, and bananas in a circular market. I'm glad I've learned a few words of Papiamento; the grocer didn't speak English. He told me the amount to pay in Papiamento, and I actually understood what he said! We took our papers to the Port Captain's office. She filled out a little form and said we didn't have to go to Customs. Only took a couple of minutes. Easiest place we've ever cleared into. A French sailboat tied up in front of us. Its skipper came back from the Harbor Master's office and told Roy the Harbor Master wanted to see him, so Roy went over there. No problem. He just said we had to leave here by two o'clock, which we were planning on doing anyway. Had no problem motoring to Spanish Water. Lovely sunny day and light wind. The engine didn't overheat. The entrance to Spanish Water is very narrow and hard to locate, as it is unmarked, but when we finally saw it, it was easy to enter and the water was plenty deep. Most sailboats anchor in front of the yacht club, which is just to the left of the entrance. We went to the right and had a huge area of the bay all to ourselves. This bay is nearly as large as Schottegat, much prettier, and just as well protected. We anchored in 31 feet of clean water, surrounded by green hills. There is a phosphate stripmine nearby, but it doesn't look too bad. There are a number of attractive houses on our windward side, but to leeward is open country. We can easily paddle to the isthmus where the bus stops. As soon as we'd eaten lunch, we got in our Royaks. Roy paddled to the yacht club, but I went in the opposite direction, followed the shoreline for quite a ways, and also explored some tiny islands. Just as I was about to return to the boat, here came Roy, so we returned together. I went for a little swim, and then we rinsed ourselves off with fresh water. Yesterday evening when we were Royaking, the latch broke off the hatch cover on my Royak. Roy said he could put it back on, so as soon as I got my Royak on the boat this evening, I handed it to him. A few minutes later, he stood up, carefully holding the latch in his hand. He tripped or slipped, reached out to steady himself, and plunk, there went the latch in 31 feet of water. It's a good thing my Royak will function without it. This is such a lovely place to be! It's quiet and peaceful, we have complete privacy, we don't have to worry about bumping into other boats or their bumping into us, the air is exactly the right temperature, the water is delightful. We sat on deck after supper and appreciated.