The Famous Willemstad Waterfront
We arrived at Spanish waters, the easiest protected anchorage on the island. It is a large lagoon, with a variety of rocks and reef to catch the unseeing. Unfortunately it was Sunday and the local traffic was busy in and out of the lagoon. We found a good spot to anchor, but it took us a little longer to find the dinghy dock. It seems that sometimes the descriptions we find to explain the area are not always what they seem. A drink at the local bar and we found out there is a local bus to town. As we had no local currency till we found an ATM, we dined on the boat. We managed to find a bus to the main town of Willemstad in the morning and started the process of clearing in. Our first issue was not being able to find the customs building. Eventually we got directions but it was sad to see that there was not a sign on the building to say we were in the right place. Eventually we realized the building does have a sign but it is across the top of the 5th floor. Forgive us for not being that tall. After our piece of paper from customs, it was off across the floating bridge (circa 1888) and down to the small (if you can call 1500 passengers small) cruise ship terminal to immigration. After being confronted by one of their officious gate guards, it was a long walk down the jetty to immigration, a small office past the tall bridge. Another piece of paper then upstairs to the Port Captain. Here we had to wait, as she was busy dealing with someone who did not have the right paperwork for his boat. Over an hour later and we were dealt with and for the first time we parted with $10 for our anchoring permit. So all in all, we got exercise walking around an incredibly quaint town (UNESCO says so and we agree wholeheartedly), took half a day waiting and parted with very little cash. Not bad. Now we were ready to take in the wonderful sights. The waterfront of Willemstad is renowned. I have done many jigsaw puzzles of this waterfront and just loved it. The buildings have been restored to their 18th century splendor and are colorful. It is a small slice of colonial Europe at its best. The waterfront is so picturesque; it was hard to tire of it.