Day 6: Curacao on the Carnival Magic

And here we are, in our final of four ports for this cruise. After a nice, long slumber, Cindy and I had no difficulty getting up and starting our day. The ship was still a few minutes from docking, so we sat on the balcony to watch the process. First breakfast arrived within our requested time and we enjoyed our coffee as the Magic gracefully slipped into her mooring.

Hello, Curacao!

With the whole day ahead of us, we took our time sipping coffee, savoring our breakfast and watching all of the activity on the pier. Being in no hurry to get off the ship, I grabbed our small pair of binoculars to look at some of the more distant parts of Willemstad that we could see from our balcony. I happened to glance at one of the nearby piers and saw.....divers?

Yep, two divers, plus a "shore tender" (my words) were walking to the edge of the pier and studying the water. They discussed something amongst themselves, although I was too far away to hear what they were saying. In short order, the two divers jumped in with a classic giant stride entry. It was a lonnng way down, though, and I can only imagine how it felt hitting the water. 

Can we join y'all?

Let's zoom in a bit

That orange thing the diver in the foreground has is called a surface marker buoy ("SMB") or "safety sausage" in slang. A diver will tow this with him/her while diving, and lets people on the surface know that a diver is just under it. Cindy and I watched them swim towards the shore, then come back to the pier and swim around under it. It looked like they were doing some sort of inspection, based on their actions. We joked about this being a "dive excursion" where only two divers showed up, but also discussed our curiosity at what exactly they were doing. From the equipment trailer that was attached to their truck, it was obvious they were some sort of commercial diving operation.

At one point, they were under the pier and we could no longer even see their bubbles. We decided to start our day in Curacao so we headed out to see what we could see. I always take my GPSr with us any time we are in a port if for no other reason than to keep a tracklog of where we've been, or recording dive locations (with the dive operator's permission). With no luck finding any geocaches yesterday, we hoped to find at least one today.

By now we didn't even need to wait for an elevator to deck 0. One was immediately available and we were off the ship in a flash. I selected the nearest geocache to our position and we began the walk down the pier into town. It's December and feels like July at home. Definitely warm and humid today. 

Welcome to Curacao

Our first cache was located in the historic fort just a short walk from the cruise terminal. As I mentioned in my Aruba blog, all we had was the coordinates, no notes, hints or descriptions. Had I thought about it, I would've done it "old school" and printed out a select few cache pages so we'd have something to go on. No worries, we'll just do what we can and hope for the best. 

We walked through the Renaissance Mall to the Rif Fort. For being just 12 degrees north of the equator, it still felt like Christmas, heat and humidity notwithstanding. The area was decorated quite nicely and lent itself to a festive atmosphere.

It's that dude from Frozen

photo by Cindy Newman

Pretty tree!

photo by Cindy Newman

We didn't see any of this the last time we were here, as we went to the dive shop immediately after getting off the ship. I can only imagine what it would look like after dark, with all the lights glowing. In contrast to the Christmas decorations, the nearby fort with displays of different cannons lent an entirely different feel. 

Heavy metal

 

Big bore!

I tried to find a plaque or sign describing these particular pieces but didn't see any. I'm wondering if these are actually carronades.  Given their relatively short length and large bores, that's my best guess. Are there any historians reading this that could lend their expertise?

As we got closer to the actual fort, both Cindy and I noticed some of the stones the fort was built of weren't stones at all, but coral. This definitely gave us a new perspective on coral, as now we've seen it both live and as a building material. Just how old is this coral, anyway? If the fort was built in 1828, how old was the coral then? Most curious...

Fort wall

Closeup of some coral

The GPSr indicated the cache location was nearby, but after a thorough search, we couldn't find it. Having a description or hint definitely would've helped us, I think, but alas we gave up and continued on our way. 

View from near the cache site

We descended the narrow stairs back to ground level and I called up the next closest cache. Not only was it a quick walk, but we'd be passing by another landmark that Cindy wanted to see. Both of us forgot one important thing to bring with us to this landmark: a padlock. Even before we left home, we talked about getting a small lock and neither of us remembered to do so.

"Punda Love Heart"

This will just give us an excuse to come back, right? I honestly don't recall where we first heard about this sculpture, maybe on The Amazing Race or a travel show. Regardless of where we heard about it, I'm glad that we actually got to see it up close. Please remember that you can click on any photo to see a larger format of it without losing your place here. The same holds true with any links you see in blue. Clicking on them will just open another window and keep your place where you were.

I had to stop and photograph a few more cannons on the way to our next cache. Luckily, Cindy was still busy admiring the heart sculpture while I dashed over to the pair of cannons and snapped a few photos. 

24-Pounder Cannons

Descriptive plaque

Unlike yesterday in Aruba, we actually found two caches today while exploring the local area. I normally don't take pictures of the cache or where it's hidden unless the cache page specifically requires a photo to claim credit for a find. If the cache container is something unique, I'll take a picture but won't post it if it will be a spoiler. The two we found were standard containers for the size they were and didn't really warrant a photo. Which ones did we find? We found GC2M1VJ and GC7MPBG. Those links will take you to their respective pages on geocaching.com.

Besides the obvious fun of finding a cache in new places, geocaching in places like this will invariably take you somewhere you never knew existed and would pass by without ever knowing it. From the No Name Beach Club in Cozumel to a SAR Base in Sitka, we've found some really cool places to visit. I encourage you to give geocaching a try, especially if you love to travel. You never know what's out there, like the Curacao Maritime Museum. 

This hidden gem was a fascinating look at the maritime history of Curacao from its earliest days until modern times. Both Cindy and I were impressed with the amount and variety of displays in this museum. There were many models of sailboats, tugboats, and ships of various sizes.

Smit Rotterdam

Tugboat & Tanker

Taras Amsterdam

Naturally, an old diving helmet caught my attention, and I had to take several photos of it as well. It was a US Navy Mark 5 diving helmet from around 1948.

Front view

Left side view

Right side/back view

We spent about an hour looking at all the exhibits then moved on. It rained while we were in the museum so the air outside felt almost like a sauna with the increased humidity. We had to cross this pedestrian bridge to get to the museum, but the unusual thing about this particular bridge was that it happened to be a drawbridge. The only other time I've ever seen anything even remotely like this was when I took a canal boat trip in the UK many years ago.

Pedestrian drawbridge

View along the bridge

With no specific plan, Cindy and I just explored the local area, stopping in several shops to see if something just jumped out and begged us to buy it. She found a pretty Christmas placemat and napkin set that we could use for the upcoming holiday. Scattered throughout this whole area were interesting sculptures and wall murals. 

A different kind of songbird

One wall mural, just down from the singing birds, definitely got my attention. It wasn't so much the exquisite painting of this raptor, but the text beside it. Calling upon all of my Lord of the Rings nerddom, I still couldn't decipher what it had to say. Maybe it wasn't Dwarvish...

What does it say?

If anyone reading this has any insight about this mural, I'd love to read all about it. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

About this time both of us started getting hungry, so we decided to return to the ship. If we happened to come across a unique shop, we stop and go in, but generally make our way towards the cruise terminal. 

Lunch is just over there

Hey, where's the bridge?

While we were having fun, exploring the area, the swinging bridge lived up to its name. There was already a growing crowd of people waiting for the bridge to swing back. Most took advantage of the time and found a shady spot to sit and relax. I overheard a couple of people talking and from what I gathered the bridge could swing back very soon or half an hour from now. Another passerby just shrugged and said he'd take the free ferry across. 

Free ferry? Oh, maybe that sign that says "Free Ferry" with the white arrow pointing to a loading area should've been my clue. We decided not to wait for the bridge and took the ferry across. As we got to the other side, about 10 minutes later, we got to watch the bridge swinging back into place. 

Our "all aboard" time was 3:30, and we boarded right around 2. Plenty of time! We dropped off our bags in the room and grabbed a light snack on Lido. Even this close to "all aboard," the Lido was still relatively empty so we were able to get our lunch in no time at all. For a change of pace, we took our sandwiches and drinks back to the cabin so we could eat our lunch on the balcony.

What goes great with lunch on the balcony? A short nap! I managed to dose a little, but our next-door neighbors apparently didn't know just how loud their door was every time it slammed closed. Every few minutes I'd hear a SLAM as they went back and forth between their balcony and cabin. 

An entertainer or DJ or whatever you want to call him was on the pier by the ship with a loudspeaker and was giving us a good send-off. Our sailaway time came.....and went. We were still tied up and there weren't even any line handlers on the pier waiting. After about half an hour passed, the CD made an announcement that the ship was waiting for two ambulances to transport some passengers who needed medical attention. Ahhh, so that explained the delay.

We got underway around 5:25 or so. I got dressed for dinner, then spent the rest of the time on the balcony, watching as we departed Curacao. I was able to watch until there was really nothing more to see before we had to go to dinner. Following are some shots I took as we left.

What a fantastic day in Curacao! I was ready for dinner by now and looked over the menu carefully. Hhhhmmmm, what looks good?

Appetizer: Honey Roasted Ham

Pineapple chutney, ginger bread, mustard mayo

This was......different. I liked the combination of ham and pineapple together, but overall I think I'll choose something else next time. It was a smaller appetizer compared to others, so for those with smaller appetites, this might be perfect. 

Main: Chicken Milanese

Charred lemon, sauteed green beans

One word best describes my entree: crunch! The breading on the outside had the perfect crunchiness to it, while the chicken was still tender and juicy on the inside. I'll add this to my "keeper" list as well. Put this on a toasted garlic bun and it would make a fantastic sandwich.

Dessert: Carnival Melting Chocolate Cake

Finally! Here we are, only a couple of days left on the cruise, and I'm just now ordering Carnival's signature dessert. Maybe that says something about how good the rest of the desserts have been. The dessert comes with only one dish of ice cream, but seasoned cruisers know to order it "Mickey Mouse style" like above. If you like rich chocolate desserts, this is absolutely for you. 

During dinner, we asked our tablemates how the Big Sexy private tour went. They agreed it went much more smoothly than the one in Aruba, and all seemed to have a good time. Excellent! I'm glad it worked out better this time. We'll have to hear all about it at Cigars Under the Stars tonight.

There are two new comedians aboard, Ronnie Bullard and Diane Ford. The first show, Ronnie's wouldn't start until 10:30 pm so we had plenty of time to hang out at the piano bar until then. We made a detour to the Alchemy Bar before finding seats at the piano bar. I'm going to try something different tonight based on Jovana's recommendation. Cindy agreed that something a little different was in order, too. I picked "The Deal Closer" to try, as Jovana had suggested it the other day.

The Deal Closer

Absolut Vanilia Vodka, Disaronno Amaretto, Irish Cream

and chocolate liqueur. The best advice this side of Dr. Whoever.

Bam! That's the sound of this huge chocolate flavor hitting me full in the face. Just a few paragraphs ago I mentioned how Carnival's chocolate melting cake is perfect for those who love chocolate. This drink would be the liquid-equivalent of that. A thick, rich, chocolatey taste hides any hint of that alcohol bite, so be careful with it. 

"Lemon Drop"

Wayyyyy back in 2008, Cindy ordered a Lemon Drop Martini while we were on an Alaskan cruise with Holland America Line and totally loved it. She's had several other versions since then but none have compared to what she had on the Westerdam. Until today. She described the flavor profile to Jovana and asked what she could come up with. And what, exactly, did Jovana produce? A winner! Cindy proclaimed this every bit as good as what she had on the Westerdam, and would most assuredly order this again. Yay!

Even though I've mentioned this a couple of times, in previous blogs, I'd like to remind y'all once more that Carnival has switched to environmentally friendly straws. These sugar-based straws eventually melt, so a thick drink like the Deal Closer really needs a "regular" straw. I'm going to order a set of stainless steel straws that we'll keep with our cruise gear to use with drinks like this. These are reusable and are available in many places.

We hung out at the piano bar, having fun until it was time for Ronnie's show. On the Magic, the entrance to the comedy club is literally just a few steps from the piano bar, so we didn't have far to go. As soon as the doors were open, Cindy and I went in and got great seats close to the stage. I've never really found anything spectacular on the comedy club's drink menu, so I try to grab something from the Red Frog Pub or Alchemy Bar if I have time. 

Ronnie put on a hilarious show, and we enjoyed every minute of it. Some people say I have a pronounced Texan accent, but Ronnie definitely has that Southern twang as well. And it works for him. As we filed out of the comedy club, he was there at the entrance, thanking people for coming to his show. I shook his hand and complimented his performance. Little did I know we'd be seeing him again shortly.

Other than Lido, our favorite public deck has to be deck 5, the Promenade Deck. Everything seems to be just a few steps away in any direction. From the comedy club, we swung by the Alchemy Bar on our way to Cigars Under the Stars. All of the bars were really hopping, and it took a bit longer for us to get our drinks than normal. No worries, though, as soon as our drinks arrived it took us less than a minute to join our friends on the Lanai outside the Red Frog Pub.

Our usual crowd was here, and I enjoyed hearing their stories of how the day went. It sounded like the private tour in Curacao was a blast, and everyone had a great time. With just two sea days left and then home, we didn't want to think about the end coming up. Since we were in a public area, there was always constant traffic of people walking back and forth. Some would give us strange looks as someone in our group said something funny and we all roared with laughter. We hadn't been there more than about 20 minutes when who should happen to walk by but Ronnie Bullard! 

Josh has known Ronnie for several years from his time as a CD. He got Ronnie's attention and invited him to join us. He didn't have another show tonight so he was happy to sit in with us and share the good times. One of our unofficial rules was that any new person joining our group had to say who they were, how they knew Josh and one interesting fact about them. It's a great ice breaker and oftentimes leads to some rather humorous conversations. Ronnie was no exception, and we made him go through the introduction as well. 

He hung out with us for about half an hour before calling it quits, and we all bade him good night. The rest of us continued to sit under the stars and keep the fun going for another hour or two. Yes, we made our obligatory stop on Lido for ham and cheese sandwiches or pizza before retiring for the night. How could we not?

And that wraps up our day in Curacao.

Next up, our two sea days and going home. Still lots of activities to cover, including our Secret Santa gift exchange. 

Until next time...

carpe cerevisi