Arriving to the pier, the ocean was quite choppy with steady gusts of wind. As the ship tethered, we watched from the Promenade Deck as the tug pilot boat bobbed in the sea below. The backdrop of Willemstad, Curaçao was colorful
up against the clear, turquoise blue ocean water. In the distant horizon we saw three gigantic steel towers with huge flames shooting out from the tops. Willemstad, Curaçao's close proximity to Venezuela makes them an oil town. Release of excess fumes causes the flames to burn 24/7 from the towers. Night and day, it makes an interesting backdrop.
Once we disembarked the ship, we walked to the Queen Emma floating bridge, which was drawn opened as a massive oil tanker floated up the channel that divides Willemstad into two sides and thus closed to pedestrian traffic. This floating bridge was built in 1888 and restored in 2006. It allows foot traffic to cross the channel from one side to the other. So, with no bridge, we jumped on the free ferry that took us across the channel and deposited us in downtown Willemstad. Small cafés lined this side of the channel with high end shopping mixed with narrow, deep "mom and pop" stores. Willemstad's buildings are famous for their cheerful, colorful painted fronts. We went shopping (see my separate post about my lucky t-shirt hunt), and visited the open fish and farmers market.
Once we were ready to head back to the ship, we were able to cross the floating bridge, which bounced up and down with the current of the channel.
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