Visiting Curacao was an unexpected but pleasant surprise.  We  arrived at the Miami airport on our way to Suriname.  As we were checking in the agent told us that our connection to Curacao was fine, but the flight from Curacao to Paramaribo, Suriname had been changed and we would have to stay in Curacao for a few days. 

Of course we were very upset...ha ha.  We arrived in Curacao not really knowing anything about the place other than it was an island and it had beaches.  That is all I was really interested in.  We managed to get through customs without having our bags checked as we were supposedly in transit.  Not knowing much about the place we decided to go to a reliable hotel which we knew wouldn't be a dive.  We chose the Sheraton.  We arrived and the hospitality started right away with complimentary drinks as we checked into our room.  I also remembered that thanks to my old employer, Russell, I had many Sheraton points which got us an upgrade to a suite.  The suite was big, though there was just enough room for all of our luggage... 

The next day we went into town.  The taxis are quite pricy and they offer two fares to get downtown, $12 and  $8 US.  The more expensive fare leaves you on one side of a bridge and the $8 fare on the other side.  Take the cheaper fare, it only takes about 2 minutes to cross the bridge.  The town has lot of small cafes and restaurants and they also have lots of duty free shops selling the regular stuff... perfume and liquor.  One interesting thing to note is this moving bridge.  It literally moves out of the way so boats can get by.

That evening we went on my first night dive.  The first  few minutes were a little disorienting, but it got much better.  The animal life was amazing.  A big turtle, puffer fish and lots of colors. 

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Downtown street


The Dutch style shops


View of the waterfront


Lunch on the waterfront


The view from our room