We had made a "note to self" yesterday to try to get to the dinning room between 8:30AM and 9AM instead of sliding in around 9:15AM. They seem to have a hard time getting the main dish out in a timely fashion close to closing at 9:30AM. Well, best laid plans and all that...we are ready to go at 8:20AM and the safe won’t lock! So, by the time security gets there takes the old safe, brings a new one and gets it installed, it is after 9AM again when we get to the dinning room. Again the oatmeal for Dick and Carolyn’s eggs take a long time. We aren’t really in a hurry, the winds and the currents have conspired to delay our docking from 11AM to 1PM.
We get finished by 10AM even with the slow service. Dick makes it to Trivia and his team wins today...Yea! The Staff improvises and puts in a talk by Terry at 11AM, "The Naughty and the Nice" which was interesting..about nautical phrases.
At 1PM Dick goes up to Deck 12 forward to get sail in pictures
and Carolyn goes to grab a bite to eat and takes pictures from the back of Deck 11.
It is a gorgeous colorful entrance We leave the ship about 1:30PM with the first of the tours. The only problem we have getting off is that the Doctor stops the line to take a sick passenger and his wife off. What a way to end a cruise...hope he is better soon.
Since the dive plan was messed up by the weather, we didn’t even try to get on another tour. Our plan is to just walk around and maybe take a taxi to a beach. The ship is docked in Otrobanda, "the other side", built in 1707 and considered the cultural side of Willemstad.
The taxis are lined up outside the gate, but they want to fill the van for a $20 pp for a two hour tour. Not our cup of tea, so we walk on across the floating bridge to Punda, meaning point, established in 1634 when the Dutch captured the island from Spain. Dick needs to find a webbed belt for his shorts and Carolyn just wants to poke around. We find the belt, walk around looking at all the neat buildings
and visit the floating market...all the vegetables and fruit come over from Venezuela 37 miles away.
They are cheap, but the boats look rather flimsy! We also walk down to the point and look around Fort Amsterdam.
It is now about 3PM. There are two guys hawking a tour so we talk to them and wind up taking their tour for $15 pp. They have a nice new air-conditioned 20 passenger bus and there are four of us on the tour. The other couple speak mostly Spanish so the guide gives the tour in both Spanish and English and tries to teach us a little of his native tongue Papamiento. He speaks English, Dutch, Spanish, Papamiento, German and French. We have a good time with him, he is funny and very personable. We visit an overlook for the beautiful Spanish Waters
and Caracas Bay and then Mambo Beach.
Then we drive through the old Jewish area. There are beautiful restored homes there.
We also stop at the local Chobolobo Liquor Factory where they make Curacao, the orange flavored liquer, for a tasting and to learn about its production. It is a good tour and are back at the Queen Emma Pontoon Bridge at 5:30PM, but it is open
so we have to catch the ferry back to the ship. The sun is setting as we walk along through the square and get some last minute shots of the interesting people and the colorful architecture.
Willemstad is a UNESCO site and it is easy to see why.
Dick heads on to the ship and Carolyn makes one last shopping stop. Back on board we have a cocktail while dressing for an early dinner. We have a dive scheduled in Aruba tomorrow and we are tired. Dinner is Seafood Rendez-vous, Caesar Salad and Grilled Tournedos of Black Angus Beef with Ruby Port Wine Sauce for both of us and Dick has a side of Frog Legs a la Provencale. After all that and several glasses of the good red from last night, we sort of pour ourselves into bed!
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