The movie

“Fascinating Curaçao” is a brand new dvd production of high quality, in 16:9 format and filmed in high definition, in four languages: English, Dutch, German and Spanish. After 4 months shooting and two months careful editing it is now ready to be sent worldwide to interested Caribbean fans. There is a special price for pre-order, send us an e-mail to curacaodvd@yahoo.de. The official release will be in August 2006.
This DVD is a 52 minutes documentary about Curacao, showing everything you need to know before spending a good time in the island: the most beautiful beaches, the best sightseeing tours, interesting Museums and the unique nature, as well as the colourful Carnival. Highlights like Klein Curaçao, Christoffel Park and the funny “te zee, te water, in de lucht”, a kind of Soap box derby on water. There are no advertisements and you get 28 extra minutes of bonus, with highlights not shown in the main film, like other beaches, landhouses and historical buildings, more Museums and National Parks, SeÚ celebration (harvest festival), dolphin therapy, the first Mountain Bike World Cup on Curaçao, sailing and marines, kite and other sports, Jewish heritage, the manoeuvre Joint Caribbean Lion, the Hato Caves, the Harley Davidson and the classic cars clubs. You will also find information for investors and emigrants, aerial views and much more: links to the most interesting websites about Curacao to provide all extra information you need and of course, a nice picture album.
We have shot a total of 40 hours in Curacao and have a high definition stock footage of excellent quality.
More Caribbean films will be coming up soon.

Sports

Curacao offers many possibilities not only for divers: other watersports like windsurfing, snorkeling, sailing and deep-sea fishing are widely promoted.
You can play golf at the Shell 9-hole golf course and the new 18-hole course near the Blue Bay golf resort; horseriding can also be arranged. Hiking tours at the national parks and biking through the island are also an option.
The first round of the Mountainbike World Cup was on the 1st. of April for the first time in Curacao and all the top riders have made the trip.

Kas di Pal' i Maishi

This straw (sorghun stalk) house reproduces the life at the country side in the mid-nineteenth century. It was the simplest form of house construction during the seventeenth, eighteenth and early twentieth century, by descendants of slaves in the surroundings of plantation houses in Curaçao. Although it was for sure not as cosy as it looks like - there were many people living in such a little house and considering the heat and the lack of water...
Interesting is also the cactus fences, to prevent the animals of coming into the yard.
Such a pleasant place to visit: the owner cooks you a typical meal and has curious stories to tell. There are nice postcards where she is dressed in traditional Curacao's costume.
See also in the DVD a short movie about other interesting museums in Curacao.

"Juan Sebastian deElcano" - the school ship

So many Spaniards have been to Curacao only just after the discovering of the island... The "Juan Sebastian de Elcano" is a four-mast Top sail Schooner. It is one of the biggest and most antique sailing ship on duty.
Once again we woke up very early to see them entering the harbour and to hear the cannons with the salutation. Unlike the Bounty, no cannon ball reached the walls of the Governeur palace. We waited in vain as they left the harbour, expecting to see the sails in the wind. At the time they did it, it was already too far away for our zoom.

Maneuvre

Joint Caribbean Lion was the name of it. Training the Navy, Air Force, Army and Military Police...Troop contibuting nations were the United States of America, United Kingdom, Canada, France and Belgium. Venezuela and Chile contribute with observers.
Those ships are huge and it is a very strange sensation to see them in a place you think it is like paradise. Anyway, we were glad that the Dutch marine did not block the access to the beaches or places were they were, and people were allowed to film and take pictures.

No wind today...

It was a Sunday and we were going to Landhouse Ascension (once a month you can enjoy local music, a small handcraft market and some snacks there). Suddenly there was a big kite on front of our car, driving very slowly but scaring people at the sidewalk, as it was exceeding at least one meter at each side of the road. We are glad to say that nobody has lost his head, neither the cars coming in the opposite direction suffered more than a shock. Some trees though have lost the branches. The police came by chance and stopped them, but they did not want to frustrate the children and followed them, to make sure no accident would happen. We were so curious that we changed our route too and arrived in Barber, the place where the kite was supposed to fly. What a pity, there was no wind!
We drove back to Ascension and had a nice Sunday afternoon!

Carnival and SeÚ (harvest celebration)

We have been to different carnivals in different countries but this one is now our favourite! We were there to work but people insisted we should be working, dancing and drinking with them. This is a great opportunity to feel the warmth of Curacao's people. The Carnival is funny, peaceful and full of colours. No matter how old you are, you are welcome to take part on it.
The Seú is a parade on the second day of Easter to remember the old harvest celebrations. It has a different pattern from the Carnival but it is celebrated with the same enthusiasm.

Landhouses and Co.

A cosy part of our work was to film inside of the land houses ( the best translation for "Landhuis" would be plantation house). They were built in a way to get adequate ventilation and good sight to other land houses, in case of emergency. Most of them still have part of the old furniture, and of course "ghost" tales, like land house Ascension: "shon" Martin, a slave supervisor, was buried close to the house in a way to keep watching over the slaves, who would always claim to see his ghost...But today this place is quite safe, since the Dutch marine uses it for training.
St. Juan and Cas Abou are other well preserved land houses, St. Nicolas is being renovated.
Between a visit and another, we have a break on the beach again. On the way back, we stop at this nice dark-red country house :Papaya.
The kunuku houses where used by the slaves and were built of different materials, there are many good preserved kunuku houses still in use.

Klein Curacao

One of the stars in the Curacao flag is the symbol of this small neighbour island, Klein Curacao: "Little Curacao". This was a really nice tour, we even saw dolphins on the way back to Curacao. There is nothing in this island, except for the old light house - and that is enough! This light house was built in 1850, rebuilt in 1879 and once again in 1913. It gives the island a special atmosphere, together with the freighter ship wreck at the other side of it. The beach at Klein Curacao has fine white sand, you can go for a walk at this site, or like us ingenuous and curious sea men apprentice, look at what has been brought by the rough sea at the other side and wonder where all those boat pieces come from.
One cannot forget to say, the BBQ prepared by the Mermaid crew was great!

And of course beaches!

Yes, the tourquoise color is true. It hurts the eyes but it is balsam for the heart, giving you immediately a holiday feeling. There are about 40 recreational beaches in Curacao. Some are sandy with coconut trees, others have little stones and coral pieces, practically all of them have no dangerous currents and are never overcrowded. It is hard to say which beach is the most beautiful, there are so many special places - it depends on what you are looking for. The Caribbean colour is more intensive at Playa Kenepa, the sand is white at Port Marie and Bon Bini Beach. A quiet place you find at Playa Jeremi and St. Juan... Go for a cocktail at Mambo Beach!
Some beaches are free, some others require a fee but provide you toilets, showers and snack bars.
Interesting is the story of Port Marie. It has a double coral reef. The area was site of a famous slave rebellion in 1795, nowadays is a model of sustainable development. In 1999, the shallow coral was destroyed by the tidal following hurricane Lenny. Local preservationist Van den Bulck and marine biologist Kuenen initiated a huge volunteer project to build 280 reef balls and restore the reefs. The project was successful and the conditions are still monitored annually. Port Marie has also beautiful hiking trails with breathtaking views.

Fauna of Curacao

Animal encounters are always impressive. Birds like parakeets, some hawk species, troupials and canaries are easy to see (not always easy to film or photograph). Whiptail lizards are the most common reptilian. The females are brown-grey while the males have the head, legs and tail brightly turquoise blue. Iguanas can reach a length up to two meters. They use their camouflage after being discovered - if it does not work, they will run away and surprisingly they are able to move very fast. We have made this experience trying to film the iguana visiting our garden, but it did not wait for us to turn on the camera and zoom it. The same happened with the hawks. We watched the hawks hunting for about two hours, but it is not possible to be as fast with the camera as they are... Anyway it was nice to observe them flying and falling down from the sky over their prey.