Why Curacao? (Part 2)

I had a fabulous time in Curacao, got my Advanced Open Water diver certification, and made some great friends in Mark, Suzy, Jesper, and Frank at the Dive Bus. My last day of diving I spent the evening down at the dive shop drinking WAY too many Polar beers (the local beer imported from Venezuela - very cheap!!) and spent the next day flying home with a severe hangover. Many would think that experience would be a negative...but believe it or not it just reinforced that this is the place for me!!

As soon as I got home, I immediately started talking about moving to Curacao. I talked to my boss and asked him if I could move my job, talked to my parents and asked for their thoughts, mentioned it to a few (dozen) friends, and started researching the possibility of moving here. Also, I started researching my next trip down here - scheduled it for September - and brought my mom with me.

While here in September 2006, I did my Emergency First Response and Rescue Diver course. Actually, mom also got her Emergency First Response certification while here - we learned emergency first and second aid, CPR, and "Hello, my name is your name. I'm an emergency first responder. May I help you?" Here's Bob, our CPR dummy who so graciously helped us out....but as you can see, he had a rough day of it....needed a beer and a smoke afterwards....

I made up my mind during this trip that I was going to make my move to Curacao happen. I put together a 1 year plan - which included a way for me to not be dependent on my Aon job for income. I moved back in with mom & dad starting in January 2007, signed up for a 9 month long massage therapy course, and started socking away $ into savings. Needless to say, it was a busy 9 months - working full-time, attending massage therapy classes at nights and on weekends, still traveling for my job, AND living with my parents again!!! :)

I made the move on October 3, 2007. I moved into a vacation apartment for the first month while I was looking for something more permanent, and bought a car within the first week. Below is a picture of my lovely 2003 Nissan Platina - made in Mexico - took me HOURS to find the oil dipstick!!!!

So to the question, 'Why Curacao?', my only answer is "Because I felt this is what I needed to do." And here I am....

Why Curacao? (Part 1)

Wow - that's a really good question! I've tried to answer this one many times, but I always feel the answer doesn't quite justify moving so far away, putting my career on hold, and leaving friends, family, and my dog behind.

Anyway....it all started in November 2005. I had just returned from a fabulous 2-week dive vacation in Fiji. I had been looking forward to this trip for about a year, had a wonderful time, had some great dives, and made some great friends! (Hi Ari, Jeff, Mandi, Que, and Mark!) I was only back for about a week and realized that I was experiencing post-vacation let down, didn't have another dive vacation planned, and was starting to get a little blue. So I turned to one of my dive books The Best Dives Sites of the World and started to investigate where to go next. After several passes through the book, two locations were standing out, Sharm El Sheikh and Curacao. But I had already been to several locations in the Caribbean (Belize, Cozumel, Grand Cayman), so I decided to go to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt to dive the Red Sea. I started checking out flights and deciding if I should do a live-aboard (dive boat) or do day trips and stay on land. I was researching for about a week, found some great airfares, etc., but for some reason, I just couldn't commit to the trip yet. I picked up the Best Dive Sites book again and Curacao started jumping out at me much more than it had before. I did some quick airfare and Marriott searches and booked it that day.

I also started looking for dive shops to do my Advanced Open Water certification while I was there. I sent e-mails to about 5 different dive shops enquiring about certification. I heard back right away from Suzy at The Dive Bus. I only heard back from one other dive shop - about a week later - after I had already booked everything with The Dive Bus.

I arrived on the island of Curacao on April 6, 2006 and took a cab to the Marriott. While in the cab I had this overwhelming feeling that I belonged here. It's very hard to explain - even though I've tried numerous times. And for anyone who's been here for a visit, you know that the trip from the airport to the Marriott is not the prettiest part of the island - by any stretch of the imagination!!!

Here are some pics from my first trip to Curacao in April 2006.

The view from my hotel room at the Marriott - looking out to the ocean.

The crazy folks at The Dive Bus...Mark and Suzy wearing their floppy bunny ears for Easter.

Welcome to my Blog!

I finally decided to start the blog I promised everyone before I left for Curacao. I know it's been almost a year since I moved, but hey - I've always been a procrastinator...and you all know it!! :)

For those of you I haven't been as good at being in touch, I promise to post some pictures and tell some of the more interesting stories about transitioning to life on an island - and there are some doozies to tell! The picture above are the apartments I live in - I'm the 3rd apartment down. It's simple but comfortable - and very affordable - about $700/month - which includes cable TV, high speed internet, and use of washer/dryer.

So welcome to my blog - and my goal is to post something at least once a week to keep everyone up to date. But feel free to nag me if I haven't posted for awhile!

Take Care!
terri