What you can see on the Willemstad cams
One camera, on the Otrobanda shore, faces the Handelskade, the Punda waterfront, with the Queen Emma Bridge and the boats on the channel. The other is on the seafront in Pietermaai, east of the centre, at the calm, walled-in bathing cove of the Avila Beach Hotel and its beach pavilion. One shows the city, the other the calm sea that laps at its edge.
The Handelskade across St. Anna Bay
From a hotel on the Otrobanda side, this camera faces the Handelskade over the water: the row of gabled façades painted yellow, pink, green and blue that line the Punda side. In the foreground lie a small square with white tents and a flagpole, and on the right the floating Queen Emma Bridge stretches across the channel.
It is the classic view of Willemstad, and the cam to open when the bridge swings aside for a ship. SHOWME Caribbean streams it on YouTube, with the date and time along the bottom.
The cove of the Avila Beach Hotel
This camera watches the bathing cove of the Avila Beach Hotel, on the seafront of Pietermaai, just east of the centre of Willemstad. A curved breakwater of dark rocks holds the sea back; inside it, the water lies calm in front of a beach pavilion with a pointed roof, and the red roofs of the hotel and the town rise behind.
The camera faces the open sea, so the drops left by a passing shower can rest on the lens for a while. SHOWME Caribbean streams it on YouTube.
Punda, Otrobanda and the floating bridge
The old city has two halves, Punda and Otrobanda, "the other side", separated by St. Anna Bay, the channel that leads into the big natural harbour of the Schottegat. They are joined by the Queen Emma Bridge, a pontoon bridge for pedestrians that swings aside on its hinge whenever a ship needs to pass; cars cross high above on the Queen Juliana Bridge. The historic centre and the harbour were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1997, and Punda also holds the Mikvé Israel-Emanuel synagogue, the oldest in continuous use in the Americas.
When to watch Willemstad
The Handelskade glows in the late afternoon sun, and after dark its façades are lit up along the water. Cruise days bring crowds to both sides of the bridge from early morning.
Nearby
Pietermaai, east of Punda, is a district of restored merchants' houses turned into hotels, bars and restaurants. Scharloo, across the smaller Waaigat harbour, keeps some of the grandest old mansions. Mambo Beach and the Sea Aquarium are a short drive east along the coast.
Getting there
Curaçao International Airport, at Hato, is about 12 km (7 miles) north of the centre. Cruise ships dock on the Otrobanda side, so passengers walk across the floating bridge to Punda. When the bridge is open for a ship, free ferries carry people across the channel.
