Not my first time in Curacao, but the first time staying up in Westpunt, the northernmost end of the island. It has a feel like Bonaire at this end, far from the busy vibe of downtown Willemstad and the vacationing area of Blue Bay.
The back had a metal ladder that descended into the water. Rickety and not really feasible with snorkel gear but I succeed using some creative tucking (let’s just say that criss-cross straps can work for fins as well as suits).
But it gave me a chance to get into the water the night of arrival and swim around the corner to Playa Lagun. The fire corals are in good shape here, but the star and brain corals are showing bleach stress. You can see how one is mostly white, and the other is a mottled purple-brown. That means that it has been warm enough that the coral polyps have ejected their photosynthetic buddies.
Playa Jeremi was on my agenda the next day. Jeremi was amazing in 2023. It was still amazing in some areas. One of the interesting things about Curacao is how much soft coral there is there–sea fans, sea plumes and Gorgonians waving in the water. Here was also have a couple of staghorns that I suspect were transplanted on some dead coral, and a brain coral in the background.
I was particularly fascinated by the nacre, or the purple substance the fan colony uses to adhere to rocks. It reminds me of oyster nacre.
On the more southern side, a number of villas have gone up or been remodeled, and it is clear that local construction is not taking any care with their debris:
You can see how the diversity of fans and plumes has been lost. It was heartbreaking, and after documenting the destruction, I went back to our residence quite depressed.
Well, tomorrow is a new day, right?
Snorkeling Adventures 