Archive for October, 2010

Bringing Sand to the Beach

Posted by admin in Curacao News, News From The Resort on October 21, 2010

Good evening from Curacao. We all know the saying “don’t bring sand to the beach?” Well, here in Curacao, it has a totally different meaning. This is Dutch today bringing sand to the beach and building what will be a new sandy beach for Royal Resorts five Star Hotel.

If you look in the background you can see how small the beach area has become from years of constant wave action and storms. There are very few natural, sandy beaches in Curacao, as this is a rocky island that is lined in limestone. So, if you want sand……you have to truck it in from the North coast (good luck with that), or dredge.  Over the last 20 years, Dutch has turned this entire Sea Aquarium area from Royal Resorts to Breezes, which all used to be a dump-site, into a family oriented beach and hotel area.

That takes a lot of sand. The sand here that Dutch is laying out on the beach today was dredged months ago from the Sea Aquarium area, then trucked to a nearby field where it was sifted and dried and then trucked back and laid out under the beautiful palm trees. Who would have known? Most tourists that come here think the sand is all natural but boy are they ever wrong and what they don’t know won’t hurt them, right?

I think Dutch told me they were bringing in 28 dump truck loads today for this beach alone. Once the sand is dumped it is then spread out by the man himself and then within days the sun will dry it and it will look like it was born there, cool huh?? So remember the next time your walking down the beach and leaving your “footsteps in the sand” and having a “Sand-sational time” especially here in Curacao you may want to stop by and say thanks to Dutch for all the hard work!

Extracted from http://www.coralreefphotos.com/

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Sully Safely ‘Landed’ at SeaWorld

Posted by admin in Curacao News, News From The Resort, Seaquarium on October 4, 2010

Named after the famous airline pilot Captain “Sully” Sullenberger, Sully the pilot whale arrived to SeaWorld on Jan. 4, 2010 after being transported from the Curaçao Sea Aquarium, in a special transport unit aboard a chartered FedEx A300 Airbus cargo plane.  Sully, who weighed nearly 1,000 pounds and measured approximately 11 feet long upon arrival at SeaWorld, has been cared for in a behind-the-scenes animal care pool at SeaWorld since then.

Sully’s story is one of courage, tenacity and the will to overcome extreme odds.  The animal was found beached on Jan Tiel Bay in Curaçao in July of last year.  Rescuers from the Southern Caribbean Cetacean Network (SCCN) were called in to investigate.  Their initial assessment was that the pilot whale was suffering from severe starvation and dehydration and was not likely to survive.  In the days to come, they tube fed Sully with a special formula until he was able to eat whole fish.

Once Sully was nourished and energetic, rescuers made several attempts to re-introduce him back out into the ocean and to wild populations of pilot whales.  Each time rescuers took Sully out to sea, he followed the boat back, sometimes at speeds near 25 mph.

Sully continued to appear healthy and active, but each attempt to release him was unsuccessful.   Because he is young (estimated to be between one and three years old) and showed no signs of being willing or able to re-integrate into the wild, experts determined that the best place for Sully would be in a zoological facility with other pilot whales.  SeaWorld San Diego was deemed the best choice because it is one of the few places in the world to house pilot whales and has a team of experts who have cared for the species for more than two decades.

Extracted from www.seaworld.com

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