One of the most amazing things I have ever done caught on video! When they told me I could swim with wild sea turtles, I hadn’t put much hope on the whole trip.
You know how it goes. You book a trip and when you arrive at the destination you either have to be very lucky to see one single turtle or return home with the thought “at least we had a beautiful day on a boat.”
And when you are in the Caribbean, every trip comes with an abundance of brown rum, so that definitely livens things up.
However, as a huge animal and nature lover, I couldn’t let this opportunity pass by, 'cause what if there were actually groups of turtles cruising through the shallow waters of Little Curaçao.
With our expectations set on low, we boarded a catamaran named “Jonalisa” and set sail for a tiny island just 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) South-West from the mother island Curaçao. And what unforgettable, fantastic day we had!
A little bit of history
And with a little, I really mean a little, cause how much is there to say about an island that’s about 3 km2 (1.2 square miles) big.
If you are not interested in the history and just curious to see some turtles in action, fair enough.
🐢 Here’s the video:
Sorry for the quality as my compact underwater camera (Fujifilm XP) is an ancient, cheap little thing and the shaking…. well I had to swim to keep up with these guys. They go a lot faster than you may think. I cut most shaky bits out of it as even I was getting seasick by the look of it.
Ohh and don’t forget to turn on the speakers as I added my favorite underwater song: "The Little Mermaid - Under the Sea." I believe you can guess what my favorite Disney movie was when I was a little girl.
I'm sure it will stick in your head for the rest of the day!
Scroll down for more underwater pics!
For those who are interested, here’s everything I know. Which is not much!
While Little Curaçao is a rather barren island, once upon a time it was covered in trees and green grass. It was the home to a few farmers, goats, and hundreds if not thousands of seabirds.
Until the 19th century, Little Curaçao ticked all the “Robinson-Crusoe-kinda-island” boxes. Beautiful sandy beaches surround by tropical blue water. A shipwreck on one of its shores.
While a handful of farmers, goats, and birds were living their days in peace, the population of men and goat stayed the same, but the birds went into mating overdrive.
These birds grew in numbers and their droppings too. When seabird poo combines with limestone, phosphate is formed. In 1871 an English mining engineer John Godden accidentally stumbled upon this forgotten island and discovered the vast amounts of this precious mineral and shipped it to Europe.
As a result, the island flattened out and the seabirds, goats, and farmers left and never came back.
Before all that, the island also played its part in the slave trade. African slaves were brought to Curaçao by the Dutch West India Company (founded in 1602). Before these slaves came ashore, the sick were placed in quarantine at Little Curaçao. For many of them the little island became their last resting place.
And that’s actually all there is to say about Little Curaçao
Our underwater day in pictures
Today, Little Curaçao has no permanent inhabitants. Apart from some coconut palms, palm-frond covered sheds for day trippers and fishermen, an abandoned lighthouse and a shipwreck, the island hasn’t much to offer.
But its waters do. These turtles love the shallow waters and sea grass and actually don’t mind you being there and stalking them. I think I swam for hours with them. Such a graceful species.
So here are some more tortuga pics!
My silly husband
sneaking into the picture!!!
Other random underwater pics
Unfortunately, Little Curacao has no reef surrounding its shores, but if you guys like the underwater world I have some pictures of that too while scuba diving. But those are for some other time.
Above sea level pictures
A hurricane completely destroyed the first lighthouse and crippled the second one.
A small tanker, the Maria Bianca Guidesman, slowly been eaten away by the Caribbean waves.
I hope you enjoyed reading this post! Until next time!