Curaçao in the Caribbean

Since we're already on the east coast, instead of heading home we decided to head to somewhere warmer.  Theresa got the idea in her head to go someplace tropical in early December and three weeks later we were headed down to Curaçao.

 
Instead of bringing our bikes, we rented a car.  Good thing too!  Our hotel was an hour drive from the airport and a taxi ride alone would have cost $100. 

The other great part of having a car is that we get to stop where ever we want!  Our usual island ritual is to get a fresh loaf of bread and tropical juices to snack on.

Theresa bid on our hotel on Priceline.  We ended up getting the $429/night Hyatt Regency Hotel for $175/night.  There was only one small issue we discovered.  The day before we arrived, we called to confirm our reservation and learned that the owners were in legal proceedings to separate with the Hyatt chain.  So while we were driving and trying to find the hotel, all the signs for the Hyatt had been taken down.  Eventually we drove to a guard shack and asked where the Hyatt was. They told us we were in the right place, even though there were no signs.

The room was beautiful!

For dinner, we enjoyed a delicious meal of bread, cheeses, and juice!

And our patio looks out towards the lawn and the water.

The Hyatt even had a private beach with plenty of lounge chairs. 

We spent the entire first day enjoying the sun and reading.  The weather was amazing!  85 degrees and sunny almost the entire time!

These guys were everywhere.  I imagine they are the squirrels of Curacao.  Anything you'd get too close, they'd run for a tree and start scrambling up it to get away.

On our second day, we drove an hour to another beautiful beach, Cas Abao.

The water here is super clear and looks awesome.

We've seen most of these fish at the other tropical places we've been, but they're still fun to see.

Theresa kept circling this rock trying to get a photo of the eel inside.  It never did come out and I'm sure Theresa would have been a little freaked out if it did.

Get a picture of the blue fish! Get a picture of the blue fish!

Can you spot the fish in this picture?

 He blends in very well.

There were lots of these yellow fish, though that one in the middle looks like he's had better days.

Someone took a bite out of him at one point.

After we were done we rented a couple beach chairs for $5 and read our Kindles and enjoyed the sunshine.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped off in Willemstad, which is the biggest city in Curacao.  We had dinner at a sidewalk cafe then walked around a little bit.  You can see that it's a Dutch territory. 

Fun times in Curacao!