Oranjestad, Aruba

Our final port of call on our July 2012 cruise was Oranjestad, Aruba.  We chose to go snorkeling in the morning and then to wander around Oranjestad in the afternoon.  Our snorkeling adventure began with a walk along the pier to the Fiesta, a 62' catamaran operated by Red Sail Sports.  Our two snorkeling locations were Catalina Bay and the scuttled Antilla warship.  The visibility at Catalina Bay was good, but it was so poor at the wreckage that the Antilla was not visible without diving.  

Sailing past our ship

School of fish in Catalina Bay

Other dive and snorkeling vessels

Another fish in Catalina Bay

Catalina Bay shoreline

Still more fish and coral

During our return to Oranjestad, we stopped to assist a young man who had fallen off of a personal watercraft.  The craft was drifting away faster than he was swimming.  Once the crew got him on board, they realized that he wasn't completely sober and the crew would not approach his jet ski until he gave his key to one of them.  The crew member jumped in and brought the man's craft around about the time the authorities arrived to escort him back to the beach.  This activity took about an hour and left us will little time to explore the town.  We did have time to walk a few blocks into town and east of our dock.  After asking several locals, I managed to find the Aruba Aloe store in the Renaissance Mall.  As the temperature was in the 80s, we also found the Lecca Lecca Italian Gelateria by asking some of the retailers where to find some good ice cream.

View looking west on Havenstraat 

View looking east on Havenstraat

Kong Hing Supermarket

Northeast entrance to Renaissance Mall

Renaissance Water Taxi Dock

Lecca Lecca Italian Gelateria
Weststraat 13

Interior of Lecca Lecca

Shops adjacent to the cruise terminal

Oranjestad from the ship

Renaissance Hotel and Mall

Renaissance Lagoon

Queen Beatrix International Airport (AUA)
9000 foot runway 11/29

Mount Hooiberg (elev 541 ft)

At sea

Sunset

The official tourist website for Aruba is at http://www.aruba.com.

Willemstad, Curaçao

The third port of call on our July 2012 cruise was Willemstad, Curaçao.  Long before we docked at the Mega Pier in the Otrobanda section of the city, the Queen Juliana Bridge dominated the skyline.  The bridge was opened on April 30, 1974 and stands 185 feet above St. Anna Bay.

Queen Juliana Bridge

Mega Pier

Once we arrived, we boarded a tour bus for an overview of the city.  Staying in the Otrobanda district, we saw several buildings that were constructed in the 1880s and 1890s.  Many of these buildings were constructed as family homes for the wealthy.  Over the years, the weather took its toll on the buildings.  Many have been renovated into office space in the last few decades.  The Club House was the family home of one of the first architects on the island, Antoine Martis. It now houses a suite of modern offices.

Club House
Hoogstraat 18-22

Another renovated office on Hoogstraat

San Mateo Parish

Our first stop was at the Curaçao Museum at the western end of Otrobanda on Van Leeuwenhoekstraat.  The museum is housed in a former colonial hospital.  Inside were displays of period furniture and modern abstract art as well as a stained glass map of the Caribbean. 

Curaçao Museum

Cannons protect the side entrance

Stained glass map of the Caribbean

Stair case and breezeway walls 
lined with artwork

Replica slave shelter

Replica slave hut

Cockpit of the first KLM plane to cross the Atlantic

Upon leaving the museum, we crossed the Queen Juliana bridge into the Scharloo district.  From the western approaches of the bridge, we had a nice view of our ship beyond a sea of tile roofs as well as magnificent views of St Anna Bay and the Punda district.

Carnival Freedom docked at the Mega Pie

Punda in the distance with Otrobanda in the foreground

Punda from Queen Juliana Bridge

Once in Scharloo, we passed the small Queen Wilhelmina Bridge, although my only picture is obstructed by urban landscaping.  Continuing through Scharloo led us to many additional examples of local architecture, including a psychologist's office, an office center, a shopping center, and additional offices.

Queen Wilhelmina Bridge
built in 1928

 Skuchami
Breedstraat O 178-180

Skalo Office Center
Scharlooweg 74-76

Shopping center

Another house remade into offices

Traveling further east, we drove through a more suburban section of town.  After driving up and down a series of residential streets, we stopped at a hilltop souvenir shop with a breathtaking view of Spanish Water and Table Mountain.  At one time, the mountain was a phosphate mine.

Spanish Water Bay

We then proceeded down to the Jan Thiel Beach area with its myriad of resorts.  One in particular that caught my eye was the Livingstone.

Livingstone Resort

Iguana lookout

From the resort area, we traveled directly back to the wharf area in Otrobanda.

Rush hour on Queen Juliana Bridge

Isla oil refinery on Schottegat Bay

As the tour ended, we chose to be dropped off near the pontoon bridge instead of at the ship.  Several of the shops in Punda stayed open past their normal closing time of 6 PM to accommodate cruise ship tourists.

Looking across St Anna Bay to Punda

Pedestrian traffic on Queen Emma Bridge

Queen Juliana Bridge from Queen Emma Bridge

Shopper's heaven

Bell Clock building

Governor's Palace

Pastel Punda buildings on St Anna Bay

Rif Fort, 1828

Fort entrance leads to more shops

Punda after dark

The queue for boarding our ship

For some reason, this stop was my favorite of the cruise.  Was it the fact that it didn't rain?  Was it the Dutch atmosphere of the city?  Was it that we were able to stay onshore after dark?  Was it the friendly local people?  Was it a combination of these or something else entirely?  I really don't know, but I do know that I truly enjoyed our time on the island.

The official tourist website for Curaçao is at http://www.curacao.com/en.
The UNESCO World Heritage information may be found at http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/819.