Exploring Willemstad...

While Ashlynn & Jimmy went off in search of adventure (they tried to go windsurfing, but ending up going out on a Vespa to an ostrich farm without a camera), Veronica and I took the shuttle into the nearby capital city of Willemstad (with a population of 140,000). This city is made up of two distinctive parts separated by a bay, both of which are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites because of their architecture. Here you see Punda (the point), established by the Dutch in 1634.
Across the water is Otrabanda (the other side) founded in 1707 and considered the working class side of the city.

Lawyers Have Been Here...

I always thought the Caribbean had a reputation of being very laid back. Perhaps that was case in Curacao until the lawyers arrived. I thought warning signs were bad in the US until I saw the signs around Willemstad. I sure didn’t get a feeling of confidence in their bridge-making abilities when I saw the sign above on a pedestrian bridge: Walking over the bridge is at your own risk.
It might appear that my judgment is really poor that I took Veronica on the ferry to cross the bay after reading that the government takes zero responsibility for the ferry, but it was a calculated risk as I figured the distance was short enough to swim if the darn thing sunk.

Floating Market...

The Floating Market in Willemstad is a colorful open-air market. Venezuelan merchants sell fruit, vegetables and fish while living on the small boats moored behind their stalls.
It always amazes me to see fish sold at street markets without any refrigeration or even ice chests. The weather was perfect for our entire vacation with highs around 82° and lows around 72°, but this is clearly much warmer than we normally store our fish.

Kids will Kiss Anything...

The aquarium next door was small, but the girls loved being able to stop by to watch a show whenever they felt the urge. There were several opportunities to meet the animals and Ashlynn made sure not to pass any of them up. Here she is kissing a nurse shark.
Veronica didn’t end up kissing a shark, but enjoyed touching one then feeding this one.

Antics at the Aquarium...

It’s true: the sea cucumbers do look a lot like poop. So, the above photo shouldn’t be surprising, yet somehow I am still amazed by our complete lack of maturity (Jimmy for the act itself, Veronica for laughing and me for capturing it on film). Is it bad when the nearly 11-year-old is the most mature one in the group?

Royal Sea Aquarium...

When I researched where to stay in Curacao (a much larger island with 142,000 inhabitants compared to Bonaire’s 16,000), I quickly found the Royal Sea Aquarium Resort, which ranked #1 on TripAdvisor. I knew that the girls would be thrilled to be staying right next to the aquarium with free unlimited access and somehow managed to keep it a secret until they saw an ad in the taxi on the way to the resort. We were all really pleased with the choice: very nice suites with great ocean and aquarium views. The girls thought it was especially cool that they got to sleep in Murphy beds that pulled down from the wall.
For the first three nights, we stayed in a pool front suite. On the last night, we relocated (a strange aspect of staying in a timeshare resort) to an oceanfront suite with a great view of the dolphin show next door.

Surrounded by Water...

The resort in Curacao was oceanfront, but rather than having a beach along the ocean, there was a rocky bulkhead. This was nice for watching the sunset, but not for swimming. Luckily, there was a small beach along the harbor side of the resort which gave easy access for snorkeling. The visibility wasn’t great, but there was an added bonus to snorkeling here: getting glimpses from underwater of the dolphins at the aquarium.