Panama Canal 2022 Trip Report P14
Curazao
In Curazao we got probably the most hilarious tour operator for many reasons.
One, his spanish was kind of basic and he used a lot of catchphrases.
We went to meet him by the starbucks after walking for a bit on the port.
Curazao's port is quite big.
What was in the menu:
- The Town, a short visit and talked about how the island is divided into the protected natural area and the industrial zone.
- Punt Pistola, where we saw a famous entrance of the sea where the rock had a formation of a funnel that made the sea water impacts sound like a pistol shot. It was in one of the national parks.
- Then we went to see the turtles at Playa Grandi.
- We went to see Williwood and a local church.
- A local fort and the gorgeous inner bay of Curazaos's port.
- The touristic zone (beautiful) of Curazao's downtown.
- The stores.
The area of the Punt Pistola was protected and requires a fee, also quite a bit of driving.
Also explained that you can (with a lot of difficulty, because how hot it gets) to get up to Mount Christopherson.
Also the tale that whoever puts rocks together, their love would last forever.
Check the Punt Pistola noises in the video here:
After this, we went to see the turtles as we were unable to see them in Bonaire.
My mother had the idea of swimming with them but we were told it was not the season so there might be very few turtles. And yup, There were only 3 large turtles and some smaller ones in the area.
It was still nice to see them.
Note that if you get to this area, they warn you to ignore the man in the docks. Who seems to claim HE is the one attracting the turtles FOR YOU, makes lots of noise and can get very forceful in demanding tips from tourists.
Good thing he did not even noticed us lol.
Some turtles:
We did a PIT STOP in a local restaurant, with no costs because the "REY" (king, the only one as he kept insisting, aka our tour operator) was friends with everyone.
Saw also some birds, I was lucky to catch this guy as they usually got INTO the forest instead of flying away.
The next stop was very funny.. Because our tour operator asked if we knew Hollywood and I said no?
Well that we now had the amazing opportunity to know WILLIWOOD.
Aka some artists decided to put that logo there where the salt mines swamp was, now it was full of flamingos (another good spot to shot at them with camera).
There was a lookover that allowed you to have a vantage point and see the birds with ease.
Fun story, there was this guy in the tower (a man in his 50's 60's) who seemed like to be an hobbyist like me in terms of photography.
He had a decent camera but his lens was.. holy .. one of these 3000$ USD cameras.
I commended his lens and he told me If I wanted to test.
I declined and thanked him. 1) I did not want to be liable for any problems 2) Salt and Dirt can get inside the lens and the sensor of the camera.
Continued in Part 15.
