Traveling With Torie

Over this summer, I visited many places including the island of Curacao. This is an island near Aruba that is also owned by the Dutch. Many people have never heard of it before, but I am hoping through my trip and sharing all of the details, more people will think about visiting! 

Through my Instagram page, I saw a few fellow travelers post about Curacao and I was intrigued. Of course, many others were posting their trips to Aruba with the beautiful beaches and the flamingoes, but I saw that Curacao had so much in common. Curacao is less crowded though. 

There really is so much to do there and we couldn’t fit it all in during our 6-day vacation. I also really wanted to make sure I had time to enjoy our resort and its private beach. I truly do enjoy laying out on a beach all day, especially if it’s as beautiful as the one at the Curacao Marriott. As an independent travel advisor, I used one of our partner companies to book our vacation package. I spent a lot of money, but also was rewarded with a commission (that’s never a bad thing)! We visited in early June which was less busy than their peak season, the spring months. We enjoyed the lack of crowds although the temperatures were very warm. One strange thing we experienced was that it rained every single day, but no longer than 5 minutes total. We at least got a sprinkle, but never enough to ruin our plans for the day. 

Curacao is located further away from the hurricane belt, so it usually does not experience hurricanes like other Caribbean destinations. There can be tropical storm conditions if a hurricane is likely to form, but usually, that category isn’t reached until further up into the Caribbean. Fortunately for us, we missed out on the tropical storm that passed through a week or so after we left. 

My favorite thing we did during our trip was the boat trip out to Klein (Little) Curacao! The boat ride to the little island is about 2 hours. The ride there was pretty rough. If you’re likely to get seasick, it may not be the excursion for you. The boat was a Catamaran so you could definitely feel the movement going on. The ride back is much calmer and this time you are not going against the wind and the waves. The island is perfect for those wanting to walk trails, snorkel, scuba dive, relax, or just swim in the beautiful blue water. Our boat tour company provided snorkels for us to use and had a separate place on the island for our crew to lay out and leave our things. You have to go from the boat to a smaller boat to get to shore (or swim) so you will get wet at some point. We could leave some of our things on the boat, but I needed most of the stuff with me. 

Part of the boat tour included a traditional BBQ lunch made by the ship crew. We had lunch on the boat, a little party, and then headed back to the island for a couple more hours. On the island, there are two main attractions, not including the beach itself. There is an old abandoned lighthouse that can be explored and also ship wreckage on the other side of the island. This can all be walked to, but I didn’t expect to do much walking so all I had were sandals. It was also really hot so walking in the heat instead of being in the water wasn’t my favorite. I did enjoy walking to the lighthouse, while Eric continued on to look at the shipwreck. My mom did the relaxing part and stayed on the beach. 

One thing I missed doing was snorkeling to see the sea turtles. There are sea turtles on this island, but unfortunately, when I went in to snorkel I didn’t see any. Other people on our boat did see some in the water though. The last thing about the boat ride was that it was not a private boat, but we enjoyed the people on it with us! There are private boat options that can be found through Trip Advisor, but I didn’t want to pay the extra $$$. 

The trip to Curacao this summer was likely one of my favorites this year. I had been dreaming for at least a year about getting to visit this lesser-known destination and I was so excited when we actually booked it! After visiting this island in the Caribbean, I am wanting to visit more!! Where should I go next? Hopefully, soon I will find myself in the Caribbean again.