The alarm went off at 6:05 am. Good thing I had set 2 alarms as my phone was set for 6:00, but it turns out it was still on Florida time, and we would have been an hour late. We were getting ready to land in Curacao, but our cabin is on the side looking out to sea. We could see a couple ships, but nothing else.
The pilot boat had just left, and we noticed that the side thrusters were on, but we were not moving ahead. I thought they were trying to keep the ship stable in the wind. Little did I know. By 7:00, we had gone up to deck 15 to see what was going on. It seems that the side thrusters had been moving us toward the pier, because be were already tied up.
 |
| Old Cannon on the Shore in Willemstad |
 | |
| Sculpture Made of Old Car Bumpers |
Our tour guide indicated that the government had taken over the old houses of the rich early landowners, once they had deteriorated, and was restoring them. They have to paint them every 3 months as the salt plays havoc with the plaster and the paint. Willemstad is also a UNESCO Heritage site, so they get some funding from them to help with these restorations. In the end, it certainly makes the building look great. Very few are white plaster as a previous governor made a law that they couldn't be white because all the white buildings were giving him migranes. After he died, it was found that he owned the local paint factory, so perhaps it wasn't the white giving the headaches ;-)
 |
| Famous Restored Building |
We ended the tour where the head of government sits, and decided to walk back to the ship (only about a 15 minute walk). This took us over a pontoon bridge that had to open when boats wanted to go up the waterway. This bridge was built in the late 1800s, and still worked very well. It was used to walk over the waterway, that was big enough for cruise ships to pass through, along with freighters that moved to an inland water area.
 |
| Us on the Way Back to the Ship |
 |
| Fruit Market From Venezuala |
Back on board, we had about an hour before final boarding, so we spent some time in our room, cooling off. About 12:15, we went back up to deck 15 to watch the ropes being cast off, again. 12:30 came when everyone was supposed to be back on board. Shortly after that, announcements began asking 4 people to contact the guest services desk, so we assumed that someone was not back yet. We were supposed to sail at 1:00, so they were cutting it close.
 |
| The Pontoon Bridge |
We watched a ship's officer walk out to the shops, and then a woman hurrying back to the ship with him following her. The ship blew its horn, and we watched to see if anyone else would show up. A short while later, a bus drove up, 2 people got off, and then they stopped and talked with the driver, not even paying attention to the ship. At 1:00, they blew the ship's horn again, and these 2 looked up, and then ran to the gangway. As they got close, people on the ship were jeering and giving them a hard time - pretty embarrassing, I think.
No one else showed up, so about 1:10, we set off, pulling away from the pier, making a 180 as we left, and heading north along the island. This turn put our cabin on the shady side of the ship, so we went back to our cabin and sat on our deck as we sailed up the island. After an hour, we got to the end of the island, and it was open water to the east, after that. We were on our way to the Princess Cays once again.
We went for dinner at 5:30, because we wanted to go to the Theatre to see the show. It was a new show for us, and sounded interesting. We like to go to the 7:00 show so we can go back to our room afterwards and watch TV as we start to fall asleep.
Tomorrow is another day at sea, before we reach the Princess Cays on Friday, so it should be somewhat uneventful. We shall see ...
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.