Curaçao - Bonaire

Antoine's view

The first time I made a stopover in Curacao, I was heading towards the roughest crossing I have done so far. The western part of the Caribbean Sea can be rough enough to be somehow frightening; so, if you sail from the Lesser Antilles to Panama, prepare well your boat, reinforce anything that could break; a good place to do these jobs is the island of Curacao, that offers excellent anchorages and very good technical resources.

It is the largest of the Netherlands Antilles, which consist of two groups : south, Curacao end Bonaire (the island of Aruba that was once part of the group has obtained from the Netherlands a statute distinct from Curacao, inside the Kingdom of the Netherlands) and, at the northern end of the Lesser Antilles, the southern half of Saint Martin, and two little visited islands, Saba and St Eustatia, better known as Statia.

Curacao is as cosmopolitan as the surprising language that is spoken there, ?Papiamento?, a mixture of all the dialects spoken by all those who once landed on the island, French and English at the time of freebooters, Spanish, Dutch, etc.
The most striking image of the capital, Willemstad consists in the brightly coloured fronts of the houses on the quay of Punda : Holland revisited with bright colours ! It?s as spectacular as the view of the ?kunuku? landscape, made of thorny bushes and tall cacti, that occupies the larges part of the island.

The island of Bonaire, to the east of Curacao, has become a mecca for divers.
It?s the only island I know where you can reach most diving sites? by car or bus, going into the water from the shore.
The northern part of the island is a vast natural park, home to many pink flamingos.
The south is still occupied by vast salt ponds: salt once brought wealth to the islands in this area, and many naval battles were fought in this area for the possession of this salted treasure!