On day two, we made a quick trip into town for some shopping and then gassed up and headed to make a island tour of Curacao. Once again, the sun was in all its splendor. The colors were vibrant! A little bit of "Korsow" history... The Arawak Indians were the first to inhabit the island. In the 1790's the last Arawak died, mostly from disease brought over from more "modern" parts of the world. History tells us that Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci claimed the island for Spain in 1499. As Legend would have it, Amerigo Vespucci dropped off some sailors at Curacao because they were striken with scurvy as he headed for South America. He expected them to die in dry climate on the island, but instead found them very healthy after almost a year! He called the island "Curaçao" after the Portuguese word for heart, "Coração", or so the story goes.

Our guide, local Curacao resident and good friend, Javier de Castro, took us to Boca Tabla on the northern coast. From centuries of pounding waves, many caves are carved right out of the limestone. This cave is about a two minute walk from where we parked the van. It was easy to walk down to and we were dressed in shorts and tennis shoes. There are more challenging cliffs and heights, including Mr. Christoffel, the highest peak on the island.

Isn't the color of the water beautiful? This is Curacao's own Blue Grotto.

There were more caves; pockets where centuries of waves had travelled hundreds of miles to end in a spray and splash which over time created a thing of beauty.

Here we are on top of a high cliff near Christoffel Park. The camera caught an unusual tint, but the skies really were very blue that day. This is just off the road a few steps and is impressive. The water below eventually gets back to ocean. This side of the island is not heavily populated. There are some homes along the rocky coast. If you are in to hiking, this is the place.

It is hard to imagine such heights on Curacao. Yet, not far from this Caribbean paradise is the South American continent and, of course, the Andes.

Still, one expects these to be sand, palm trees and an occasional hill set off with a Dutch inspired home. We again enjoyed the contrasts.

The view was so spectacular from here I couldn't resist and got Adriana to pose for this picture. She almost didn't want to leave as this was another very peaceful locations on Curaçao.

Note the boats below. This is a perfect harbor for boats as it's accessable by sea and land. The road we were on was taking us down to the beach...

We'd been to Aruba a few times, but were surprised to find on this our first trip to Curacao, that you actually pay a fee to visit the beaches. What this fee does is allow for maintenance and conservation. Javier paid everything. We do owe a debt - what beauty we about to experience!

More of Curaçao | A Visit to Aruba | A Visit to Italy