Curacao, Day Two

One nice thing about Curacao is that it is in the Atlantic time zone.  My kids have an internal clock that wakes them up everyday between 6 and 6:30.  It doesn't matter how late they go to bed, they will be up at the crack of dawn.  But in the Atlantic time zone, they get up at 7am or 7:30.  Win!

For breakfast we went to the Tiki bar for their buffet.  Normally, we would say the buffet was overpriced for what you got, but our kids ate free.  So 4 for the price of 2 was cheaper than going to Denny's.  While we were eating, some landscapers were trimming the coconut trees and Rob asked for one for the kids.  It turned into quite an adventure. Rob proved that you can open a coconut with a pocket knife and the kids drank coconut milk and ate the coconut meat.  

After breakfast we rented a car.  Now, I don't know if you've ever rented a car on a Caribbean island, but it isn't like renting a car in the US.  The windshield had a large crack and the driver's side had no lap belt.  Seriously, the shoulder belt was tied to the clip with a knot and there was no lap coverage.  Luckily none of the roads go faster than 45 miles an hour.  And we had the car seats for the kids, so 3/4 of the family was safely secured.  

Our destination that morning was the Aquarium.  From the brochure and website it seemed a lot like the Theatre of the Seas that we went to in Key Largo.  My kids love sea life, so it seemed like a safe choice.  I will say the aquarium was *ok.*  It seemed old and there wasn't that much to see, the snack bar for lunch left a lot to be desired.  But we saw an awesome sea lion show, touched a lot of cool things in touch tanks, and watched people swim with dolphins.  

Editorial Note:  If it seems like I have a lot more pictures of Anne than Ryan, it's because she is in a phase where she loves having her picture taken and Ryan either makes a goofy face or hides.  I'm just saying this now, so that when they are 20 and read this, they understand that I don't love Anne more.  Hehe.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by a place called Mambo Beach Boulevard.  The kids and I stayed in the car while Rob checked it out.  He said it looked like fun, so we decided to come back another day.  It would turn out to be a lot of fun, so of course I will tell you more about it later!

With all the sun and running around at the aquarium, everyone needed a nap.  So we went back to the hotel and took a break.  It was much just what Dr. Anne ordered, and once we were refreshed we headed to a place called Pirate Bay.  

If you have never been to a Caribbean Island, the beaches work a little different than in the US.  You have a few open, public beaches, but most of them are owned by a restaurant or hotel.  You pay an entrance fee to that establishment or you rent a chair or buy a meal and that gets you entrance to the beach.  So Pirate Bay was a restaurant with a fantastic beach.  We got two chairs in the shade, swam, and then had a fantastic dinner.  

What can I say? The Blue Lagoons were fabulous.  

So that was Day Two.  Check out the video on my Facebook comments of Anne catching a wave!