On Saturday March 12, Tom and I boarded the large Holland America ship the Westerdam to fulfill another of our bucket list wishes – to navigate the Panama Canal.

 

We left Fort Lauderdale harbor heading  to the beautiful private island of Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas – a lovely and relaxed way to begin our voyage.

 

 

 

 

 

From Half Moon, we were off to the ABC islands. Where/What are the ABC islands you might ask. Well, they are three, tiny, Dutch islands in the South Caribbean Sea – Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao – A,B,C (although we did them in the reverse order).  The national language for the ABC islands  is Papiamento – a combination of Dutch, Spanish, African, and Arawak. It is a musical language from a vibrant people.

 

So Willemstad, Curacao was the first stop. Willemstad is the quaint and colorful capital city of Curacao.

 

The population of Curacao is about 155,000 and the island covers 171.4 square miles. The Dutch architecture is evident in the pretty buildings throughout the islands.

Tom and I walked across the Queen Emma Bridge into town.

 

I spent the afternoon walking around this charming city enjoying the sights, sounds and spicy smells.

 

 

 

And then it was on to the tiny B of the group – Bonaire.

 

Bonaire is the smallest of the three islands – only 114 square miles with a population of only 17,000.  Our tour guide pointed out that Bonaire can host up to two cruise ships at a time – an influx of 5000+ people on this tiny island – WOW!

Anyway, the snorkeling is great in this part of the Caribbean, so I chose to go on an excursion on the Aquaspace – half snorkel boat and half submarine – pretty cool.

 

The fun and informative Gift was our gift for the day.

And Dirk captained our craft.

We spent the first part of the trip in the bowels of the boat watching the coral reef  as we sped along to our snorkeling spot.

Over night we sailed on to Oranjestad, Aruba. I slept like the dead that night but was up early the next day for another exciting excursion on the island of Aruba.

This one was called “The Natural Wonders of Aruba!” And so we were off on the tour bus with our adorable excursion guide Bexana from whom we learned (among many other things) that Aruba covers about 179 square miles and has a population of 103,400 people.

We stopped first for a quick photo op at the local cemetery. I know it sounds a bit strange, but it was really pretty interesting.

Shortly after, we arrived at our first official stop – Aruba’s Natural Bridge along the rocky northern shore.

 

From there we motored to the interior to The Granit Boulder Park to see the rock formations and learn about some of the local history from Bex.

 

 

The last of Aruba’s natural wonders on our agenda was my favorite – The Butterfly Garden. I love butterflies almost as much as I love flowers and this did not disappoint.

This was one of the exhibits just to give you an idea of a few of the butterfly varieties they had at the garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And so we say goodbye to the beautiful beaches of Aruba and the other ABC Islands. Next stop Cartagena!