Curacao, the best island ever

Me at the Sea Aquarium!
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What a beautiful, clean, wonderful island.  What a shame that this was such a short day!  We were supposed to get in at 11am but we got off the ship more like noon.  And then we all had to be on again at 5:30pm.  If I go back to any of the islands I visited on my cruise, it will be here.  Definitely.

We docked in Willemstad, the capital.  The bay area is beautiful.  The ships dock on the newer side of the bay, called Otrobanda.  The other side, Punda, is connected to Otrobanda by the Queen Emma Pontoon Bridge.  The bridge, floating on pontoons, swings open to allow ships and boats access.  There is also a ferry to take people across, when the bridge is open.  The little buildings on either side are painted colorfully and are well taken care of and reflect the Dutch influence.  This entire interesting area is a UNESCO world heritage site.

The pontoon bridge as it swings open
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We had only an hour or so before our tour of the day, so ran out to do some sightseeing and shopping.  We just missed using the pontoon bridge - it swung open just as we were getting there.  So instead we squeezed onto a ferry and were soon in Punda.  It was fun to walk the narrow streets and duck into interesting stores.  True to its Dutch descent, there were some great cheese shops that we picked up treats in.  Altogether there was a great selection of shops, something for everyone practically!  We took the ferry back to Otrobanda and ate lunch there at a little crepe place by the ship - seriously yummy stuff!  Then we ran back to make it in time for our tour.

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Through our ship, we did a tour to the Sea Aquarium, an awesome place.  It is an aquarium with dolphins, sea lions, flamingos, and more!  It is located right on the beach, so the water coming into the enclosed areas for animals is fresh sea water.  We were also told they even take their dolphins out to sea every day, but they have problems getting them to go far from the aquarium!  We went to the Dolphin Academy at the aquarium, where we can learn all about dolphins.  There are different levels of encounters you can do, based on what you are comfortable with.  We chose the easiest, the Dolphin Encounter.  In this, you stand on a platform in their pool (about waist deep) and get to kiss the dolphins, get kissed in return, pet them, see them do tricks, and learn about them.  There is also a dolphin swim that we witnessed, where people go into the deep water and help the dolphins perform tricks.  They got to hold the fins of 2 dolphins and get pulled along!  We were too chicken to do the swim, but I was very satisfied with my experience.  The dolphins are so soft and smooth.  I was a pleasure to get to touch them and learn about them from their trainer.  We worked with Tayla, a young (7 year old) bottlenose.  Apparently dolphins aren't all smiles and niceness; Tayla had scars from fights!  She is about 400 pounds.  Her trainer, Livingston, has worked with her from birth; in fact, the two share a birthday!  He said even dolphins have off days and don't want to perform their tricks, making the trainers look not-too-bright sometimes.  For rewards the dolphins getting food (herrings are fattening so they can't eat them too often) but also pets and applause, so they won't always expect food.  After our encounter we had a bit of time to walk around the aquarium before heading back to the ship.  The area around the aquarium looked super nice.  I would love to stay at a beach hotel out there!  Maybe someday.  Back at the ship we had about an hour to run back to the pontoon bridge - this time it was open, stretching across the harbor!  We ran out about halfway to get some pics before hurrying back to the ship.  I loved Curacao so much, I can't wait to return!  I will always remember it fondly as the place where a dolphin had a bodily function towards my family and I.