As light crept in from the darkness of my daily perch, morning revealed an amazing moment of beauty. Down the eastern coast of our island, I witnessed a morning rain storm creeping up the coast line. The sight was majestic by all means of the imagination. As furious as the storm seemed from miles away, a steady stream of what seemed to be heavy rain hit the island relentlessly. It's movement was musical and the coast line seemed to almost embrace this welcoming shower of goodness. Just as I had watch it begin, I watch the cloud burst disperse as well.
Returning to my picture taking and my blog writing, I found myself caught up in the moment. The hustle and bustle of the ocean before me and the canal to my left brought fisherman, and captains of ships and vessels to my doorstep. Does this world exist when I am no longer witnessing it? Does the daily report of weather back home actually happen when I'm relaxing and enjoying my morning sunrise in +34 degree warmth? I believe the answer to these questions remains in the simple yet truthful reminder of how small our world is, and how small we are within it.
The universe can be cruel at times as well. For example, while I thought I had escaped the storm, it
caught me with my guard down. First came the angelic "tinking" of drops hitting the beach water surface, and this was quickly accelerated to a deafening pounding rain with no escape. I joined my new friend Pink under the beach canopy/cabaña, and sheltered my electronic toys from the spray and mist that caressed our skin. We were both caught off guard. The rain was refreshing, and of course, where there is rain followed quickly by sun, magic appears. The next display was the colourful and vibrant treat in viewing the biggest rainbow I have ever seen. At times, the colours spanned from the docked cruise ship in our bacyard to over our hotel. I felt it was a bit entertaining to see it's beauty hovering above my Aunt Linda's room and balcony. Perhaps this would bring good luck to her during this evening's casino visit.
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Note: For this next adventure, I will add pictures when I return home. I promise it will be worth the re-visit!
A Snorkelling We Go...After breakfast, 6 members of our group met in the lobby to board the taxi waiting for us to take us to Pirate Cove for snorkelling. I was so pumped for this opportunity! As we wound our way over bridges and through neighbourhoods, we witnessed many of the places shown to us by our wise and vibrant guide Robert just a few days earlier. Pirate cove was a little "hole in the coastline" outfit, owned by Canadians. Hard Paper Mache type statues lead us to the office where we gladly settled our debt and waited for boarding - no stow-always permitted! Once on the Catamaran, the captain took us across the bay to pick up another waiting group. From there we toured Spanish Bay, home of the multi-million dollar villas and Table Hill (Mountain). We over-looked this Bay when we were on our bus tour on Tuesday while at the "Billion Dollar View" in Jan Theil. As we cruised around the waterfront, Bill and Melinda were having a hard time agreeing on which villa would be theirs, until we spotted a little "fixer-upper" which seemed so out of place among the others. Our group agreed unanimously: we could all see great potential for our "Annual Framily Conferences" here in Curacao, and it would be only fair for Aunt Linda to buy, build and invite us back
Snorkelling, by the way, was everything I had hoped for and then some - multiplied by about 25! I think you get the point. We snorkelled at a barge site where they use this massive machine to dig fibre optics throughout the island. Under the barge it was dark, confining and to some a degree intimidating, but O-M-G, it was amazing! We saw lots of fish and coral. We petted a flounder, saw a lobster and proudly, I spotted a Trumpet fish all on my own. I couldn't possibly name everything we saw. Our guide Richard was very knowledgeable and patient with everyone. For some reason, many participants scooted quickly back to the boat and left the discoveries to us stragglers - bonus for is! Even though it was approaching lunchtime and the BBQ could be seemingly tasted through my snorkel I could have stayed there forever - honestly!
After our amazing BBQ lunch, we took a short boat ride to our second site to snorkel a second time. This site had a shipwrecked tugboat and MANY more fish than the first site. Here we fed bread to the fish. I had so many fish around me at one point, I couldn't see the water, and this is no stretch of the imagination. When Bill sends me the video, I promise to upload it here for all to see. In neither spots, I was a little surprised that the coral wasn't as vibrant in either snorkelling spots as I had thought it would be based on movies and pictures from the Caribbean. However, this does not imply I was disappointed either. At the tugboat site there was this very thin coral which swayed with the waters motion, flexing in every direction like a fragile piece of silk. However when I touched it, I was very surprised how rigid and hard it felt. I am not sure how long the tugboat had been in it's current spot, which is a question I failed to ask the crew unfortunately, but there was a great deal of sea life growth throughout it's remains. I loved just floating and watching the fish swimming in and out of the doors, windows and crevices, some of the fish seemed to be playing a game of hide-and-go-seek. In this particular snorkelling spot, I found it a bit cooler, and the wind was picking up, so the waters where becoming a bit rougher just prior to being called back into the catamaran. I was actually getting quite chilled, a feeling I have not felt since leaving Toronto. The stubborn side of me refused me to considering abandoning this amazing opportunity of taking in all this aquatic activity and beauty for which I was witnessing. Before returning to our water taxi to go back to Curacao Reality, I dove down a couple more times to try my hand at touching the tugboat. This no easy feat: I'm in salt water, I float without a struggle in pools and fresh water lakes, AND there was a slight under tow. All these elements combined with my limited oxygen supply to make the distance presented many challenges. Against the odds, I managed to touch the railing and the starboard side railing once each.
The return to the loading dock was very enjoyable. Since the activity was completed, I felt much more comfortable joining my fellow group members in a glass or two of the famous Captain's Rum Punch. It is said after 6 glasses the captain becomes more appealing to your eye. I can assure you, I did not test this theory, but Murray and Bill may have a different opinion!
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Encounters with the Dolphins at the Curacao AquariumMeanwhile, on th3 same morning, six other members signed up to experience dolphins up close and personal, while 3 three others joined them as observers. I am writing on behalf of their experience as narrated by Linda and Ann. Please, if anyone has anything else to add, please include you thoughts in a comment for all to see.
A bus ride from our hotel took the group of 9 to the Curacao Aquarium. Even the night before this group left you could feel their excitement! Upon arrival they conducted a self-guided tour of the Aquarium which included an educational film on dolphins, which might I add based on comments made to me, I am definitely questioning the PG rating of this adventure! One of the many highlights was feeding and petting the sharks. Betty and Donna fed the sharks using a long pole with meat on it. Please, follow the accompanied video link: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205189880840452 and watch with enlightenment - and perhaps a little entertainment as well!
(I apologize in advance - even the videographer, who will remain anonymous even though it's her birthday tomorrow, admits filming isn't her thing!)
From here the group visited a boat with glass sides and observed the beauty of the ocean in all it's splendour. Big, small, wide and tall, gorgeous and sinfully ugly, the display was beautiful! There was so much to see and at times it seemed hard to take it all in. Time passed into long moments of "ahhh's" and "ohhh's", and with each minute that passed seemed to bring yet another new discovery and display.
The group was then treated to a dolphin show which pleased the crowd in every respect. Even Bev and Marisa got a little love action on the side. Those 2 girls really need to be closely chaperoned at all times!
Then, with much anticipation, the moment of their individual dolphin encounters was here. One by one our group of six approached the dolphins via a platform. In turn, the dolphin approached and stood vertical so the participants could either hold their fins or their under belly and then receive a gentle kiss. Members could savour a few minutes of personal time with the dolphin before it moved on the next person. Each participant has since articulated to me the utter awe of the experience. As the story goes, Betty was almost knocked over by her encounter, which isn't too surprising, given that the dolphin had more vertical leverage than our dear Betty. Some have described their personal encounter as therapeutic, spiritual, memorable, exhilarating and even life changing.
It's funny, without consultation, both of the individual groups agreed to "talk down" the individual experiences to the other group when we returned. Neither group could contain their excitement once meeting up with each other! The wide-brimmed smiles and memories etched in our brains will surely last forever and a day. Dunki (thank you) Curacao for sharing your beauty with us!
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