Pam & Sara amuse the Caribbean (a.k.a. our trip to Curaçao, April 7-12 2005)
Saturday, April 9 - an adventure to the Grot von Hato (Hato Caves)
If we're going to have an adventure, we'd better have a good breakfast. And what a fantastic location for it! (Blue Oceans, the restaurant at the resort)
A glance over at the sea lion area, while
we're waiting for breakfast.
This was the view to the sea lions, from
just in front of our front door.
Sara, waiting at the bus stop across
from the Breezes resort.
A few of the minibuses that we got to
be so familiar with, after catching one from the first bus stop.
We'd asked our front desk clerk (Ramona Carolina -- SO helpful!) if there was a tour bus to the caves. She said we could just take a public bus. Head to the bus stop on the road, wait for a BIG bus that lists "Hato", and tell the driver to drop you off at the caves. No problem. After a couple of the minibuses came and went, with no bigger bus in sight, we took a minibus into town. There, we transferred to a big bus, and were on our way. If only I hadn't interfered... See, we took a left turn at a large building which I was certain was the airport. And as the map showed that the caves were just across from the airport, we clearly had overshot our mark. So we jumped off at the next stop, and crossed the street, to wait for the next bus back the other directon. We sat there, staring at this little bar, for about 25 minutes before deciding it would probably be quicker to just walk back. Famous last words.... We walked probably 2 miles, finally got to this building, and it turns out to be a racetrack or something -- not the airport. And we were nowhere near the caves. We asked a very baffled couple where we were, they showed us on the map, and we hopped a minbus back to Otrabanda, to catch a big bus to Hato. After a detour of several miles and a few hours, we did finally make it to the caves.
Oh, THAT big bus....
So many houses on the island are painted colorfully, and we saw even more of that on the bus ride toward the caves.
This is the busy bar that we stared at
for about 25 minutes.
Not the airport, after all.
A grape soda helped make things more
bearable....
Hooray! We've reached the Caves!
A little explanation, in case you didn't
know why you were here.
Sadly, the grill was closed.
That's okay -- an ice cream bar or a
bag of Cheetos is a fine lunch, don't you think?
This wasn't the only iguana we saw on
our trip, just the only one I got a picture of. (middle of the picture,
just slightly above center)
Our guide takes us up the 49 steps to
the cave entrance.
Inside, the paths are easy to navigate,
and it's full of stalactites and stalagmites.
Lots of very interesting patterns have
been formed by the centuries of limestone dripping off the ceiling
This room had an opening at the top through
which the long-nosed fruit bats fly out at night for dinner.
The algae, which may not be very good
for the cave, sure made for interesting colouring.
The sunlight beaming in.
On this tour, there were just 4 of us
-- Sara & I, and a Dutch couple. Our guide just switched back &
forth between languages as easily as turning his head.
Outside, there's a nice walk through
the woods, which is full of lizards skittering away through the leaves.
While most of the vegetation we saw was
beautiful, ot all of it was welcoming.
When we arrived back in Otrabanda, we
had a late lunch at a nice little outdoor cafe among these trees.
The Queen Emma pontoon bridge was opened
while we ate -- as is done up to 30 times per day!
Once it closed again, we were able to
walk across to Punda.
I have to say, the fashion sense of the
women in Curaçao differs greatly from what I'm used to here in
Colorado.
This was one of the nicer minibuses that
we rode in.
The flowers growing on the walls near
the resort were just gorgeous -- at least 6 different colors!
...yeah...that walk yesterday involved
more sun than I thought.
Sara gets ready to try snorkeling for
the first time.
Self-portrait
(I love my Sony marine pack!)
Sara, underwater in the lagoon
Sara, floating away, looking for fishies
Look! Fishies!
After a long day of caving and snorkeling,
we headed dowtown to find a bite of dinner. Along the way, we stopped
for a glance across the harbor at Otrabanda.
By following a group of tourists coming
out of a hotel, clearly dressed for dinner, we happened across a great
restaurant right on the water.
Sara, looking happy and content.
I took pictures of the waves that she was loking out on (about 25 feet behind me), but it was too dark, and the flash doesn't have an infinity setting.
Me, looking exceedingly happy. And I
was. Yummy coffee, tasty dessert, a good friend, and a Caribbean vacation
-- how could I not be happy?
There were actually several restaurants
behind this fort wall. Next time around, perhaps we'll try the pizza place.
The entrance to the restaurant row --
but I think, if we'd found it this easily, it wouldn't have felt like
such a treasure.
We walked back through town to the bus
depot, passing this beautiful little building.