Sail into sunset
and well equipped – I could find no fault. Like all the ship’s crew, friendly stewards Raka and Sandra did an exemplary job.
Curacao
I knew very little about the most populated of the ABCS and our second stop, other than it is the home of the eponymous fancy blue liqueur.
Joining a group tour with guide Hetty, we headed to the Hato Caves near the airport. Rich with stalactites and ’mites, there is also a ‘Bat Cave’, with plenty of the little chaps flitting about (they eat nectar and avoid humans!).
Back in the UNESCO world heritage site capital Willemstad, Hetty walked us round the old town to see historic Dutch buildings and the star of the show, the 1888 Queen Emma Bridge, a wobbly pontoon which links Punda and Otrobanda across the harbour and opens for shipping.
From the 550ft long ‘swinging old lady’ there’s a great view of the Handelskade waterfront with its
colourful buildings. Bright and cheery it may be, but there is a dark history too as for 145 years it was the heart of the slave trade, with tens of thousands of Africans shipped here in chains to be sold to plantations in the Caribbean and South America.
After hearing all this, Hetty’s group was in reflective mood as we set off to test the bridge’s wobbliness.
The port is a 10-minute walk from the bridge, and you pass through the 5ft thick walls of the 19th-century Rif Fort, which now houses smart bars and restaurants and offers great sunset views.
Aruba
It’s just 14 miles off the Venezuelan coast, which can be seen on a clear day, and the third and final stop before the two-day journey back to Florida.
Its capital,
Oranjestad, is highly commercialised with diamond and souvenir shops, but some historic Dutch buildings remain.
I walked to the 1798 Fort Zoutman and its lighthouse, now a museum, and on to Governor’s Bay beach, where watching a determined pelican fishing for lunch in the strong trade winds provided much entertainment – and three fish for the hungry bird.
Those winds were truly powerful, so much so that as I was strolling past the marina I was accidentally blown straight into Lucy’s Retired Surfers Bar and on to a seat in the shade.
Purely in the interests of research, and because it was hot, hot, hot, I stayed to test a local Chill beer. Inexplicably, like a duff LFT, the first test was inconclusive, so I had to have another one. It’s a Chill wind…