Today’s port of call on the cruise was Curaçao, another one of the Dutch islands. We again took a bus tour to get a feel for the island. It took us through the city of Willemstad, including seeing the pontoon bridge, before stopping at the Curaçao Museum. We spent some time there, looking at the exhibits and talking to our guide before getting back on the bus to head to the original Curaçao liqueur distillery. There are a number of imitators, but this is the real thing. They’re a pretty small operation, which explains why it can be tough to get, even in a city as big as Dallas/Fort Worth. We got to do a tasting, including some other flavors I hadn’t heard of before like coffee and rum raisin. While in the gift shop I picked up a bottle of the blue and orange colors, as well as some miniatures of the other flavors, all at pretty decent prices. We boarded our bus and drove to the Hato Caves. The caves are limestone caves, with the formations that you’d expect from that geology, except that they’re in what was the coral reef millions of years ago. There was a bit of a hike, through more rain, to get to them, and they’re on the small side, but they’re in good shape and it was an enjoyable stop on the tour. That was about the end of the tour, so we drove back to Willemstad and got dropped off in the city so that we could walk around and do some final shopping.

When we got to town, the pontoon bridge was closed, so we walked around the open air market on that side, picked up a few things, and tried to kill some time in the hopes that it’d open. Sadly, that wasn’t to be, so we hid out from another rain shower, waiting to board the free water taxi. Once on the other side, we walked around looking for somewhere to eat and settled on a small cafe. Service was a little slow, mostly because they were short staffed. I enjoyed a couple beers, including a Venezuelan one, and had a great Thai curry dish.

With our bellies full, we walked around a little more, didn’t really find anything that we wanted to buy, so we started back to the ship. This time the pontoon bridge was open, so we got to walk across, getting a great view of both sides of the city, as well as some colonial forts. There were a few vendors set up right in front of the ship and I managed to score a shirt, another Christmas tree ornament, and a few small souvenirs.

After dinner we decided to do a load of laundry because some of my dive gear had gotten pretty smelly. And yes, I did rinse it as soon as possible after getting back. Thankfully the washer took care of it, and the cabin wasn’t funky any more.