This little Caribbean island is the C in the ABC islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao - also known as the Dutch Antilles. 

At the very south of the Caribbean, off the coast of Venezuela, these islands were owned and governed by Holland from around 1814 but now Curacao and Aruba are self governed with EU funding and status. 

We were here in December 2020 - Europe had just tightened its Covid restrictions, and the day we arrived, we heard the catastrophic news that, not only were all bars and restaurants to close, but alcohol sales in shops is now prohibited. Not the best welcome!

So - what to do on this beautiful island?

It took us two exhausting days of walking, walking, getting lost, more walking, then finally getting a taxi - to become legal within the country - passport stamp, public health and customs - all in different places, very far apart.

We thought we were getting somewhere -  having achieved the immigration clearance and obligatory passport stamp.

Next step - Public Health which was obviously very busy due to Covid. Eventually, we found the tiny little office upstairs in an old government building, somewhere, in the middle of nowhere.

As we arrived, we met up with about 30 young Filipino guys hanging about - waiting, also, to be checked in. They had arrived recently into Curacao on a big cargo ship. Hmmm, what to do - normally, we would just go to the pub, but we were - god knows where - no bars around. And, anyway, no beer to be sold in Curacao at the moment. 

We were advised to come back the next day. 

A good walk around the main town of Willemstad revealed a definite look of Holland - as I think these photos will show? Some local food in the market was delicious - goat curry and rice and beans - perfect. 

The taxi drivers - who, like most Dutch people speak really good English (we were very very grateful) revealed some animosity on the Island surrounding Covid lockdown and their loss of tourist income. The Dutch Government are paying furlough money to the population, but this is only 80% of their salary, and like a lot of service related jobs, the real income comes from tips. The other common gripe was the surge of the "all inclusive" resorts on the island. Naively, I had never considered the effect of an all inclusive hotel on the local population, but it makes sense.

People, having spent a lot of money for their holiday, may not leave the resort, and if they do, will come back for the meals they have already paid for - hence, no tourist income for the local community. 

This is the same throughout the world and we could only sympathise with the poor guy. At the same time we were wondering what we were going to do on this island- basically, everything was closed. 

As we passed a roadside sign of a big bottle of blue curacao, some distant bells started ringing in my memory. Blue curacao - curacao - of course - the island of curacao!!  I remember seeing this bottle in my mum and dads very extensive booze collection, circa 1975 maybe?

 I think it was used for making cocktails?

Yes - the very same liqueur, made on this island, not only blue curacao, but lots of different flavours. And, interestingly, the taxi driver told us, the factory/distillery had been given special dispensation to remain open for tours and production during the Covid lockdown.

BINGO!!!

So the next day, there we were - it was quiet, only us, and another couple. We all got special attention and had so much fun as I think the photos show...

We had taken a PADI diving course previously (Quite an intensive 4 day course we really hadn't made much use of so far!) and we were planning to get some practice in/do some diving in Curaçao - this is something Curacao is well known for. 

Unfortunately, there was no diving going on anywhere in Curacao - it was a shame - no diving, no bars, no restaurants, no shops, no alcohol sales.

We got news from some friends who had just arrived, that Colombia was not only up and running, but kickin!

Goodbye Curacao - maybe next time.....