Dutch Caribbean Beyond Curacao: Saba Diving, Sint Eustatius History, Bonaire Marine Park, the ABC Island Circuit, and the Best Willemstad Hotels
The Dutch Caribbean extends beyond Willemstad to encompass the unspoiled volcanic Saba with its world-class pinnacle diving, the historically significant Sint Eustatius, the cyclist and shore-diver paradise of Bonaire, the complete three-island ABC circuit, and the characterful Kura Hulanda and Avila Beach hotels as the finest Willemstad accommodation choices.
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Saba: The Unspoiled Queen
Saba, the 13-square-kilometer volcanic island of the Dutch Caribbean, 150 kilometers north of Curacao accessible by turboprop from Sint Maarten in 12 minutes, is the most unspoiled island in the Dutch Caribbean, with no beaches, no mass tourism, and the Mount Scenery at 877 meters as the highest point in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Saba Marine Park, encompassing the volcanic underwater pinnacles that rise from 30 to 60 meters below the surface, is considered by dive professionals to be among the finest advanced diving in the Atlantic.
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Sint Eustatius: The Golden Rock Heritage
Sint Eustatius, the 21-square-kilometer Dutch Caribbean island known historically as Statia, was the most important free port in the Atlantic world in the 18th century and the site of the first international salute to the American flag in 1776 when the governor saluted the Andrea Doria with the ceremonial gun. The St. Eustatius Historical Foundation Museum preserves the history of the island that was for a period the most valuable real estate in the world for the Dutch merchant empire.
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Bonaire: The Marine Park Cyclist Island
Bonaire, the ABC island adjacent to Curacao, has established itself as the leading shore diving and kitesurfing destination of the Dutch Caribbean through the Bonaire National Marine Park that protects the entire coastline and the flat salt flat landscape that is perfectly adapted to bicycle touring and kitesurfing. The Bonaire diving, accessible from the shore at more than 60 marked sites without boat requirements, is routinely rated among the five best diving destinations in the world by the dive industry press.
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Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao: The ABC Circuit
The ABC island circuit, encompassing the three southernmost Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao in a combined itinerary of 2 to 3 weeks, provides the most complete experience of the Dutch Caribbean available to a visitor, with the resort beach culture of Aruba, the world-class shore diving of Bonaire, and the UNESCO colonial heritage of Curacao offering three completely different Caribbean island personalities within the same constitutional and linguistic framework.
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Curacao Oil Refinery: The ISLA Heritage
The ISLA oil refinery on the Schottegat inner harbor of Willemstad, operating since 1918 on the crude oil of Venezuelan Lake Maracaibo and the largest source of employment and government revenue in Curacao for most of the 20th century, closed in 2019 leaving an industrial heritage of tanks and infrastructure and an environmental remediation challenge that is the defining economic and environmental issue of contemporary Curacao. The refinery site redevelopment plans represent the most important urban planning decision in Curacao history.
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Willemstad Hotels: The Kura Hulanda and Avila Beach
The Kura Hulanda Hotel in the Otrobanda district of Willemstad, built within a restored cluster of 18th century merchant houses and incorporating a museum of African heritage and the transatlantic slave trade in the hotel complex, and the Avila Beach Hotel on the Willemstad waterfront that was originally the colonial governor's summer residence, represent the two most characterful accommodation options in the capital for the visitor who seeks the historic fabric rather than the resort beach experience.