Day 3 (March 12, 2017): A wild, windward coastline!

Today for us was what vacation mode truly looks like!  Day one, you're exhausted.  Day two, you're still trying to figure the place out.  But day three, and you're the pro -- routine starts to take hold, and you're trying to remember your boss' name. So that's where we found ourselves this morning!  The clocks went ahead for Daylight Savings Time in North America, but nothing changed here in the Caribbean.  We were up just past 7AM, at breakfast by 8AM, and under 'our' palapa on the beach at 9AM.  In the water, out of the water, in the water, out of the water.  Snorkel, snorkel some more.

[ The black and orange Trupial was a pleasant entertainer on the beach this morning ]

At 1PM we went back to our room and got ready to head to Westpunt (Dutch for "west point").  The island's two national parks are in the western end and one of them, Shete Boka National Park, is on the Windward coast.  It was just a 35km drive from the hotel, but 35km here takes a good hour to complete.

[ When we returned from a morning at the beach, we found this, left by the maid ]

Shete Boka is a coastal adjunct to the other (inland) national park, named Christoffelpark.  It covers 10 kilometers of the rocky wave-exposed north coast of the island and has 10 pocket beaches, where three species of sea turtles are known to lay eggs.

[ Guarding Shete Boka National Park!]

I grew up in Newfoundland, and I think I know a thing or two about big waves.  But honestly, I've never seen smashing waves like the ones I saw in the park today.  Because the coastline consists of lava rock that has been eroded by the sea, the coastline consists of eroded overhangs that create the best conditions for smashing wave action.  Add to this the exposure to the wild Atlantic on the north coast, and the result is magnificent.

[ The smashers at Boka Tabla at Shete Boka National Park ]

We did three walks in the park:  to Boka Tabla and its sea cave, to Boka Wandomi with its 'Natural Bridge', and finally to Boka Kalki.  The park is definitely a highlight of Curacao.

[ 'Natural Bridge' at Boka Wandomi, Shete Boka National Park ]

We continued on to the very western tip of the island, where we visited Kalki Beach in Westpunt, and then continued in a loop back to Willemstad.  What struck us more than anything is that the forestation of the island largely consists of cacti.  It looked so much like southern Arizona!

[ Never seen a Caribbean island so filled with cacti! ]

[ Playa Kalki at the western tip of Curacao - one of dozens of beaches along the west coast ]

[ Coral sculptures at Playa Kalki ]

[ On our drive to/from Westpunt, we passed graveyeards such as this one:  Curacaoans bury their dead in valuts above ground ]

We made it back to city by 5PM, but decided to drive over the impressive and highly curved Queen Juliana Bridge.  We happened to notice that the Queen Emma pontoon bridge had just opened to allow a ship to pass, so we watched as the bridge closed again.  Quite the sight!

[ Bananas growing near our hotel ]

Back at the hotel by 6PM, I went for a last snorkel, we watched the sunset from the Exec Lounge while munching h'ors d'oeuvres, and then had a light dinner at the hotel.

It has been a great couple of days here in Curacao, and we are sad that our third planned day has now been gobbled up by an unexpected 15-hour trip to Guyana with a detour to Miami -- a trip that was supposed to take 2 hours on a direct flight.  (More on that tomorrow...)  We would have loved to spend Monday, as planned, here in this very special Caribbean paradise.

[ Just to situate Curacao, in case you can't quite place it -- I couldn't either, by the way, before we planned the trip! ]