Day 3 - Jan Thiel Beach

The troops decided that the 5am bugle call was not to be in order this morning. I was out voted, so I went down to the beach to see the sun rise. High pitched melodies fill the air this morning as the birds came to life. It was definitely feeding time for the hummingbirds. There are two different species here on Curacao. I have only been able to photograph the Blue Tailed Emerald. The Rubby Topaz hummingbird simply flies to quick for this poor Olympus to capture a good shot of one.

I walked the grounds until around 8:30am when I went back to the room to find the Queen of Island had awoken. As for the two little ones, all I heard were snores. They had played hard yesterday and took in quite a bit of sun. Plus, we had been up early the last several days and all they wanted was to sleep in this morning. Wishes granted.

Well, only until 10am. Then all wishes were off. Jan Thiel beach was to be the destination for today. The beach was only about a 15 minute drive from the resort and had quite a bit of restaurants and shops. Our goal was to go do some snorkeling there and grab lunch at one of the area's diners.

Zest was the choice for grub. It was a modern looking beach side restaurant which served mediterranean style food. Anna got a local white fish, which was mouth watering. I had a very scrumptious spicy chicken sandwich. Thomas had a chicken soup and Olivia had a steak tuna with fixin's. Olivia's was hands down the best, although all of ours were delicious.

We swam for the remainder of the day at Jan Thiel until around 5pm. Before heading back to Santa Barbara, we stopped at the local Dutch supermarket. Let me just say, I wish we had one of these back home.

Thomas and I dropped the girls off at the room and went out for about an hour walk on the beach. Found some pretty neat items. Trying to figure out how we are going to bring all these little finds home. We won't worry about that just yet.

Dinner was at Bella Italia. A restaurant and gelato cafe on the grounds here at the resort. Thomas decided to stay up in the room as he was beat, so the ladies and I went to the cafe. The food was good, but being an ice cream man, the gelato was better.

Back to the room and time for some relaxation.

Day 2 - Final Pics of the day!

Olivia took some amazing pictures throughout the day. Most all are from our day trip to Willemstad today. Our family photographer for sure.

The above is a 1 cent NAf - Worth about $0.006

Olivia photographed him in Rif Fort on the Punda side of Willemstad.

She saw this sign on our climb up to the top of Rif Fort, Curacao.

Amazingly she still like sushi. However a minute later she saw a skinned goat hanging on a meat hook.  

Olivia took this shot at the Panadaria we ate this morning.

Local plant. I believe they call this species a Palm,

Day 2 - Afternoon at the beach

Here are some pictures of a couple of neighbors we ran into during the afternoon. Some above the sea and some under.

Caracara which we startled while he was eating. He flew up to the cactus for safety.

Frangipanis right outside our room at Santa Barbara Beach Resore

3 to 4 Foot Iguana on the grounds of Santa Barbara Beach

Pretty fish looking for shelter near a dock

Lionfish!

Not sure yet, but going to identify this guy. About 15' down under a rock formation.

Day 2 - FIrst out at 7am and Mama spots a day walker

Early morning and Mama spotted a HUGE crab. Took plenty of pics of it and even a video or two, but will most likely have to wait to upload the video until we find a good wifi. We watched this guy for quite some time.

Walked about the property a bit before everyone arose and just kept finding very interesting wildlife. Finally  at about 8am we went back upstairs to our room and awoke the new island's princess. She actually got up and ready pretty quickly. I was quick astonished.

Searching for some food, we hopped into the D-mobile and headed for downtown Willemstad. It didn't take long and we spotted a interesting panadaria (bakery). Thomas got a ham and cheese sandwich and Anna got a cheese filled fritter. Both we quite good. Not the filler food I was looking for though. Another couple of miles and we were in downtown.

Willenmstad at the port is like any other cruise terminal. Shops, shops and more shops. Not really our cup of tea, but nevertheless we meandered around, grabbed some grub and enjoyed the sites.

Dushi - The new word learned this morning seems to be everywhere. It translate into nice, cool, awesome, or whatever positive expression it can be associate with. So as you can imagine, we had a hell of a Duchi morning. LT seems this to be absolutely funny. The kids are getting a kick out of using the word with everything.

Anyway, its about 2pm and we are heading down to the water.

Santa Barbara Beach and Golf Resort

Our place for the next several days will be at the Santa Barbara Beach and Golf Resort. Located on the southern part of the island, it is nestled on a small peninsula which was formerly a rock quarry. We did not have many chances to preview the grounds yet, but feel sure we will see everything the place has to offer over the next several days.

To visit their website: http://www.santabarbararesortcuracao.com/

Below are a view photos we captured of the grounds:

Santa Barbara Beach Resort Lobby

View off the dock locking back to the resort. Thomas is in the water.

Thomas and Olivia's new playground.

At Santa Barbara Beach Resort near the southern side of the property.

Day 1 - Curacao here we come!!

The day had arrived and we were ready for the full day of excitement. Well as much as 4:30am excitement could possibly be. Tired eyes awoke to the repeating sounds of an early morning alarm. Determined to kick the Sandman out for the day, we hit the airport and went through security only to have each and every one of Anna's three bags get flagged and checked by security. I asked for a pat down, but TSA quickly denied me the pleasure. Off to the terminal for the flight bound for Miami. Here we come! 


The Schiffers hit Miami only to venture literailly one gate over to board the flight bound for Curacao - the final destination. 

We arrived at Curacao at 2:35pm and hopped into our Dutch shuttle - the newly -"runs worse than the iron van" - Daihatsu POS. Hitting the means streets of Curacao we took in the view until we got outside of the city. Once outside the metropolis, we laughingly punched on the accelerator only to find out the acceleration speed was that of a crippled sloth. After the tears dried we scooted a little further down the road to come to our new home for the next two weeks - Santa Barbara Beach and Golf Resort. Two words - Freakin' Beautiful!!!

Checked in, unpacked and hit the water right away. Wow! Changing in his fashionable European knee high length  thongs, Thomas took to the reef and started shouting fish sightings. Excited Olivia and big Daddy threw on our suits only to follow. Anna was quick behind us. Everyone saw all kinds of fish and coral. Once you step in the water here, aquatic life is all around you. Needless to say, our family Cousteau gave his first viewing a two thumbs up. We stayed in the water for about an hour and then got ready for dinner.

DInner was at 7pm at Shore, the resorts high end restaurant. Needless to say the view on the ocean was astounding, but the food was enough to equate to an appetizer for me. Everyone left hungry. Won't be eating there again. Belly feeling a bit empty, we hit the Sushi bar for desert. Yummy!

Off to the room for a good nights rest and ready to take on the Island for Day 2!!

Bags Packed and Counting down the Hours!

Decided to head out early today and left Charlotte before 12pm. We wanted to make sure we would miss downtown Atlanta 5pm traffic. Luckily, we hit downtown right around 4:15pm. Perfect timing! It was already looking like it was going to be a pretty messy late afternoon on 85. We rolled into the Embassy Suites near the Hartsfield Airport about 4:30 and dropped the bags off in the room. Thomas slithered into the old swim trunks and took a dive before dinner. After the swim, we grabbed some over priced under rated food at the hotel bar & grill and pretty much called it a night.

Everyone is ready for morning to come!!!