A Walk with Friends at Spanish Water, Curacao

January 23, 2024 Tuesday
We so enjoyed spending the day with other new boatie friends John and Marilyn (SV Faith) who were anchored next to us in Spanish Water.  They had visited Curacao before and knew all the good places to walk to from the dinghy dock.

After lunch at “Victor’s place”, we walked over to the dive shop that was located right next to an oil rig that was being refurbished.  Interestingly, tourism is not currently the top industry in Curacao; refining all that Venezuelan oil is.  However, a shift away from refineries is underway because of the sulfur emissions resulting from the process, and tourism is being actively promoted.

A quick walk up the hill took us to the ruins of the old Sailors Quarantine Hospital, built in 1883 for sick sailors.  If there were any illnesses on board a vessel, its crew were required to quarantine here for 40 days before going anywhere else on shore.  The view of Caracas Bay is stunning, and because of the open construction of the building, the breeze up here provides a cool freshness.  However, given the state of “modern medicine” 140 years ago, I wonder what it was like here back in the day…

After leaving the hospital, we walked about 2 miles to the end of the peninsula which overlooks the inlet where we came in, as well as the Sandals Resort.  The pretty music from the resort kept up entertained as we trekked about in the heat.

Our final stop was at old Fort Bekenburg which provided a great vantage point of Caracas Bay.  This fort was built by the Dutch in 1883 with stones brought from the Netherlands by merchant ships using them for ballast.

On Saturday, January 27, we left Curacao, thankful for the good welding job that Vedha did for us!  We were also thankful that this diversion to Curacao spared us the very challenging conditions our W-ARC friends were experiencing in Colombia.