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We arrive at 'Harbour Town Marina', on the western lee side of this small island, next to the main town of 'Kralendik'. The island is flat and barren, only about 30 kms long and 7 wide. The population is about 17,000. It relies on scuba diving tourism for 90% of it's economy, with salt mining supplying the rest. The island is just north of Venezuela. There are coral beaches with very clear water. It is famous for off the beach scuba diving.
We had quiet an ordeal going through immigration and customs. It is a dutch state in the Caribbean which is very strict. Although we are only staying 2 days we all had to go back to immigration in the town, two days in a row to check in and check out.
After we check in, our taxi driver Henk, takes us for a tour of the island. It is dry, they make their own desalinated water, with an abundance of rocks and cactus. Henk tells us they make soup from cactus and the Iguanas of which there are many. There are also lots of goats and importantly, many off the beach dive sites, all signposted with yellow markers. There is a very large brackish lake where we spotted pink flamingoes.
We have a local cuisine lunch in the small town of Rincon. We have stewed goat and chicken with rice and beans. Along with delicious very cold Amstel beer.
We then visit the only high hill on the island, then onto the salt mines which have been operating since the islands were discovered by the Spanish in 1699. The mines used many slaves in the 19th century and on the beach there are still small slave houses, where the workers lived during the week.
We take Scott and Christie out to dinner at a nice restaurant called 'Capriccio'. The owners Donna and Chef Andrea, are great hosts. They have an amazing international wine cellar and great food including smoked Wahoo. It has very modern crisp decor and the place is busy. The prices are reasonable for such quality. We walk back to the Marina.
Tuesday we have a guided scuba dive tour, starting at number 29 'Buddies Reef' which is run by a very efficient operator called 'Yellow Submarine'. Our guide Rob drives us to the location. The girls have a 40 minuet snorkel with many fish to see. MB and Wok have a very pleasant dive at the gentle drop off seeing many nice fish and corals.
We drive south to number 56 'Red Beryl'. The girls have another 30 minuet snorkel, this time with beautiful coral gardens but less fish, with a reasonably strong tide so a hearty swim.
This is an excellent scuba dive for the boys, with a steeper drop off, with lots of good size fish, a conger eel and beautiful ferns and corals. The dives were not as good as some islands in the Caribbean, but access to some 100 sites for off the beach diving is unique.
The afternoon is spent with pampering, the hairdresser for the girls and massage for the boys.
At 7pm we leave the Marina for an overnight cruise to our final Caribbean Island, 'Aruba'.
JB and Mick
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