Herbie, a five-foot long gentle giant grouper, likes to have his photo taken with swimmers at the Curacao Sea Aquarium. Visitors over the age of 12 can participate in hand-feeding fish at the venue built on a coral reef. photo submitted
Face to Face with the Critters of Curacao
UNDER THE SEA
By Janice Mucalov, Contributing Writer
NorthShore News, August 6, 2006
"My plan is to start you with the sharks, then the stingrays, then the turtles," explains our dive guide Aline van Kampen. No, we're not going to be fed to the sharks – we're going to feed them. Right now at the Curacao Sea Aquarium, this option doesn't sound any more enticing.
Many of Curacao's beaches are a mixture of white sand and coral, so wearing water shoes is mandatory. photo Janice Mucalov
Near Aruba in the Caribbean, the Dutch-influenced island of Curacao is gaining a reputation for its superb snorkelling and scuba diving. Built directly by the sea on a coral reef, the large impressive aquarium is one of Curacao's finest attractions – and a place where you can safely interact with undersea critters, like swimming with dolphins and snorkelling with sea lions. As for feeding the sharks, the brochure for the aquarium's Animal Encounters program assures me this is where my "worst fear" will become my "most treasured memory."
While snorkelling is an option, my companion (who is a non-diver) and I choose the dive experience ($54 US pp). Both divers and non-divers from age 12 and up can participate in this hand-feeding activity. We're first given a 30-minute dive introduction and fish briefing. Then outfitted in scuba gear, with cans of sardines hanging from our vests, we sink down 12 feet to the sand and coral bottom.
As it turns out, it's not the sharks I should worry about, but the stingrays. "They won't sting you," Aline had reassured us. But knowing a person means food, they virtually swarm us as we enter the water. Two beautiful white creatures knock me over with their soft undulating wing-like fins. But I recover my balance, and the stingrays swim off as I start following Aline to the shark area.
A wire mesh fence with a plexiglass wall separates the sharks from us. As instructed, we push our sardines through four-inch holes in the plexiglass. Immediately, several lemon and nurse sharks charge toward us and squish their fierce-looking faces against the holes.
A wire mesh fence separates sharks and swimmers. photo submitted
Emboldened by now from my stingray escapade (and knowing I'm safe behind the plexiglass) I'm comfortable returning their stare. With my face right up against the plexiglass, I peer down inside the open jaws of the lemon sharks just before their teeth bite into the sardines. The nurse sharks suck up the bait, and I hear a funny whooshing sound as they inhale their food.
By now, I'm thoroughly enjoying communing with Curacao's marine life. We move on to stroke the soft underbellies of the stingrays as they nuzzle the fish from our hands. And we admire the giant turtles, as well as gentle "Herbie," a goliath grouper fish five feet in length who loves to have his photo taken with swimmers.
After visiting the aquarium, we're keen for more underwater adventures. At the Lodge Kura Hulanda and Beach Club – Curacao's newest luxury hotel – I sign up for a boat dive to the "Mushroom Forest." Considered a "World's Best Dive" by Sport Diver magazine, the site is named for the star coral that have grown into tall mushroom-shaped domes. In between these giant coral clumps, I swim with squid, multi-hued parrotfish and a school of silvery barracuda; I even spy a "hairy crab" hiding in a crevice.
A trio of musicians perform on the street in Willemstad. Papiamento, Dutch, Spanish and English languages are spoken in Curacao. The island off the northern coast of Venezuela belongs to the Netherland Antilles, a self-governing part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. photo Janice Mucalov
What else is there to do in Curacao? Beaching, of course. Many of Curacao's beaches are a mixture of white sand and coral, so wearing water shoes is advisable. Near the island's capital of Willemstad, beach clubs with seafront restaurants and palapas and lounge chairs for rent are popular. But with a car, quiet out-of-the-way places to soak up the sun can also be discovered.
Then there's colonial Willemstad itself. A replica of downtown Amsterdam, all its roofs sport red tiles and the shops and buildings are painted the colours of a rainbow. We stroll about the central harbour area and see Fort Amsterdam, built in 1634, with its egg yolk yellow walls, and the 1708 Penha building, still a perfume shop. At the covered old market, renovated to house local cuisine stalls, we try okra soup (very gooey – it's made with the okra vegetable, pork tail and salted fish), goat curry, and funchi (a corn flour biscuit).
The small Kura Hulanda Museum, which depicts the history of slavery on the island, is also worth a visit ($6 US pp, which includes a guided tour).
Curacao is a sophisticated island that, until recently, wasn't heavily marketed to North American tourists. That's changing. The airport is currently undergoing a huge expansion, and large new Hyatt and Renaissance hotels are about to be constructed. "Curacao is expecting a big development push," says Enrico Lindenhahn, general manager of the Lodge Kura Hulanda and Beach Club. "In three to four years, the island will be on the known tourism map."
In the meantime, prices are currently very reasonable (and cheaper than neighbouring Aruba) – restaurant dinner entrées average $15 US, a guided Willemstad walking tour costs $15 pp, and a café latte and toasted ham-and-cheese sandwich at the airport is a bargain at just $5. Now, before Curacao is really "discovered," is a good time to visit. You may not lose your fear of sharks, but you're sure to bring home treasured vacation memories.
IF YOU GO
Where to stay:
Perched on low rugged cliffs overlooking a white coral-and-sand beach on Curacao's secluded west side, the 74-suite Lodge Kura Hulanda and Beach Club just opened in April, 2006. It's the second resort on the island by Dutch entrepreneur Jacob Dekker, who also built the boutique Hotel Kura Hulanda (a member of the "Leading Small Hotels of the World") in Willemstad.
The oceanfront units are two-storey duplexes painted the mint green, baby blue and peach colours characteristic of Curacao's gingerbread architecture. Serene ground-floor studios (my personal favourite) have French doors opening onto a covered porch with cushioned rattan furniture, and beyond that another patio with lounge chairs set amid golden hibiscus. Tucked away behind Euro-style cabinets is a compact kitchenette complete with microwave, fridge, two-burner hot plate and everything else needed to make a light meal. Two double beds with Egyptian linens, a hide-a-bed sofa, dining table and four chairs, spacious bathroom, and showpiece Asian art round out the stylish space.
I was also impressed by the outdoor kitchen and living/dining room of the one-bedroom suites in the eco-desert huts spread out among the cacti and thorn bushes.
Other facilities include a beach bar and grill, swimming pool with shade cabanas, large fitness room, and the open-air, thatched-roof Watamula Restaurant. And at one end of the property, wooden stairs descend to a pre-historic collection of grottos known as the "Indian Cave."
Until December 21, 2006, nightly oceanfront studio rates are $225 US per double; $235 for the one-bedroom eco-desert suites (7% tax and 12% service charge extra). All-inclusive and combination packages with the Hotel Kura Hulanda are available. 1.877.264.3106. www.kurahulanda.com
Getting there:
American Airlines offers two direct flights daily from Miami to Curacao. Flying from Vancouver, you need to overnight in Miami, unless you take a red-eye from Vancouver. On the return, you can fly home in a day. Package holidays (for example, offering SuperClubs' all-inclusive Breezes) are also available from Canadian tour operators, with charter flights direct from Toronto and Montreal.
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