Tag Archives: curacao

The Guardian Indian

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During one of our fabulous pizza parties at Thom and Bianca’s house, one of their (and our new) friends, Ingmar mentioned an Indian statue up on the mountain protecting and overlooking Spaanse Waters.

As the story goes, Spaanse Waters was underseige with the enemy hunkered at the top of the mountain shooting down.  The Indian showed the locals a protected way to get close to the top, under a huge rock overhang to take back their territory.  And now the Indian lives there watching over the bay.

Sounds fascinating, so we wanted to meet this Indian.  We had a general idea of where he was located which meant we knew which mountain he was on, and which approximate overlook.  We did not know how tall he was, what he looked like, what he was made of or how big he would be – just that there was an Indian protecting the bay.

The first time we went searching for the Indian, we were in our standard shoe attire – flip flops.  We made it 3/4 up the hill when we realized we were either on the wrong path or wearing the wrong shoes so we turned back.

On a different day, we wore tennis shoes.  Let me tell you that it felt incredibly weird to wear enclosed canvas over my feet – they felt cramped, hot, and miserable – why do we wear shoes?   At least they gave a little more protection against the prickly thorns, cacti and plants.  We followed the same trail and got to the part in the path where we are had to shimmy sideways between a large boulder and cliff to continue forward.

We were able to finally spot the Indian from the trail – follow the pink arrow and zoom in.

Pink arrow pointing to the Indian. View from 1/2 way up the mountain.

Up, up, and up we climbed until we were finally rewarded with the site of our elusive Indian.  He sure does have majestic views from his perch high up on the mountain.

Guardian Indian over Spaanse Waters

Panorama view – so pretty

The Indian’s view of Curacao Yacht Club

The Indian’s view of the channel (to the right of the bay)

Matt meets the Indian

Sharing a reflective moment.

We didn’t just do that, did we?

Accomplishments:

  • Great hike
  • New discovery
  • Awesome views

Hidden Tide Pool

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While I was in the States, Matt had explored some new territory and came across a pretty big tide pool that he wanted to show me.  We hopped in the dinghy and headed to Fisherman’s Harbor.  Hoofed it past the Pirate’s Nest and up the small hill,  past Van Den Tweel market, and past the Jan Thiel resort.  At the end of the road is a trail that will take you past the Aquarium and to Punda (we have not walked this complete trail yet which a little over 8 miles).

Looking at the map, there is a star in a circle (left) near Mermaid Boat Trips, that is close to the Fisherman’s Harbor.  Then if you look toward the bottom right corner, below the two “Jan Thiel Beach” marks you will see an upside down wish bone which is the tide pool we found.

Walk from Fisherman’s Harbor to Jan Thiel Beach tide pool. Lower right corner, see upside wish bone

However, we turned left toward the water and headed down the short cliff to discover a nice little, rocky beach with just a handful of locals.

Rocky beach looking back at Jan Thiel Beach Resort.

We kept going and somewhere in the middle of the beach was the perfect pedestal for a rock tower – compliments of Matt.

Matt’s beautiful rock tower.

Rocky beach

We left our tower and headed toward a bushy area that revealed a pretty tide pool – the deepest section is only about mid-thigh and it is protected by the reef on one side and the beach on the other.  Makes for a nice place to cool off.

Matt cooling off in the tide pool.

Cute little dog cooling off with the humans.

Tide Pool

  • Waiting pool for humans
  • Swimming pool for dogs
  • Home to the underworld

Bushy Bridle & Shaggy Shackles

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After sitting in the same spot in Spaanse Waters for 6 weeks we have unwillingly acquired new sea life on everything that is below water.  That would include, the props, zincs, freezer plates, bridle, shackles, anchor chain, and hulls.  Luckily our bottom paint is holding up “pretty” good. We had it painted with Sea Hawk red in December at Grenada Marine so it is holding its own against the freeloaders who want to claim the bottom of our boat as their new home.  However, the other items are suffering immensely.  Since we are in pretty deep  (@ 8 meters), silty, unclear water with a decent current and lots of wind, we have not had many opportunities to clean the bottom.  Matt made a few attempts and came back up covered in tons of little tiny shrimp crawling in places that you don’t want critters.

On of our folding props completely covered in hairy growth.

We recently purchased a new power washer, as the motor on the old one decided to stop working – no telling how old it was but it served us well.  Matt decided to try a different approach to cleaning the bridle, shackles, and anchor chain.  He lugged the power washer to the bow, attached the hose and started attacking the chain with vigor!  It was a slow process that he had to repeat on each side of the chain, for every link of the chain.  As the chain cleaned up, he slower raised the chain to access the next several links.

Matt cleaning our anchor chain.

Attacking the growth with the power washer.

Cleaning the anchor chain to get to the bridle.

One link and one side at a time.

Partially cleaned anchor chain.

As you can see, the hair is so bushy thick is about 5-6″ in each direction making the circumference about 1′ all around.  You cannot even see the shackles in the center (they are attaching the bridle to the anchor chain)

Our bridle is attached to the anchor chain with stainless steel shackles, but you can’t even see them.

Unfortunately, the rest will have to wait until we get to cleaner, clearer, shallower water – hopefully within the next week as we plan to move Sugar Shack to Fuik (pronounced Fowk with a heavy “O”) Bay or Klein Curacao.

What’s Worse?

  • Cleaning the bridle daily or weekly?
  • Cleaning the bridle when you’re ready to leave?