Netherlands Antilles Travel Guide

Having been fortunate enough to live in Curacao for two years, this is easily one of my favourite places to live/visit. Most people will travel to Curacao for the climate, and for a laid back beach holiday.  Yet, there is so much more than this once you scratch the surface. Willemstad is full of history, and with all the old colonial buildings that are being resotred, it's easy to see why it's a UNESCO world heritage site.   Many people (probably from Cruise ships) say they go to Curacao for the shopping, but to be honest, I could never quite see the attraction.  There are lots of jewlery shops in Punda, but other than that, the shopping would be the last reason I'd visit Curacao. There's an abundance of outdoor activities to do, ranging from Scuba Diving, Swimming, Windsurfing, Sailing, Mountain Biking, Horse Riding, Hiking, Fishing ... the list goes on. The climate is as close to perfect as I've ever experienced, ranging from 26-29 degC during "winter", to 28-31 degC during the warmer part of the year.   Although Curacao is in the tropics, the steady trade winds that blow almost every day out of the NE take the edge off the heat, and the low humidity (only about 50%) make it shorts and T-shirt weather all year round.  Mind you, many of the locals will wear jeans, especially during the cooler part of the year (go figure). There is a reasonable amount of tourism in Curacao, but one of the things I liked about it was that it doesn't (yet) feel over run with tourism, like so many other Caribbean islands (eg. Saint Martin).   One of the benefits of the tourism, is that there's an exceptional selection of good restaurants to choose from.  Also, there's no shortage of places to party (eg. Mambo beach), so there's something for everyone. With daily direct flights from Miami and Amsterdam, it's super easy to get to Curacao.  You can also fly direct from Curacao to Bogota, Caracas, and Jamaica (amongst others), making it easy to include in a Caribbean or South American trip. Check out www.curacao.com for all the details.

Plaza Resort Bonaire (http://www.plazaresortbonaire.com/) is a good place to stay, though I've heard there are some places that cost a bit less but maybe not as nice.  This place has it all, though, especially if you are a SCUBA diver.  Bonaire, in general, is one of the best places I have ever dived.  It is very easy beach diving.  Just rent a pickup at the airport, get your gear and go around the island to the marked sites (look for a painted yellow rock or two w/the dive site name on it) and park on/near the beach and go.  It's really easy. The nightlife is so-so.  I found the service to be really slow.  Maybe it depends on where you go, but of the places I went to (can't quite remember the names right now), they were generally slow so don't expect fast service. Bring snorkeling/SCUBA gear, camera, sunscreen, etc.  The visibility underwater is probably 50-80 feet, perhaps more.  The whole island is a protected marine sanctuary. Getting around: you can rent 4 door pickups at the airport and beat-up motorcycles in town.  If you stay on the main roads you'll be fine, but if you venture off, you could be in trouble as sometimes the road really dissolves into remnants of what might have been a road years ago.

Bonaire is a divers paradise. It is basically the tip of a mountain sticking out of the water so you can dive the sides of the mountain sloping into the water all day. They call these dives "wall dives". I went with a Dutch dive master that had trianed the fish. He could pick up a French Angel fish out if the water for a photo op and then put it back in the water it would swim around him and then he would take it out again for another photo op. You have to be careful diving the walls. One person on our dive had a tooth squeeze from going so deep. You don't realize how for down you are going, you easily reach 100' depth before you know it. Another neat thing about the island and it's people. i had a friend from HS who was form there, is the crazy mix of cultures and ethnicities. They speak a language, I beleive it is called papiamiento. It is a mixture of  5 languages. I know it has Spanish and Dutch, I believe French but I am not sure of the other two. The other thing you might here about is the hill. It  is like a pimple on a flawless face. But a facinating pimple, none the less. Aruba is flat, completely flat. Like that old joke, a Pirate's dream, a Sunken Chest.  but it has one boob. This one hill. lol. I have a weird sense of humor, sorry!