Franko’s Curaçao Mini-map and Reef Creatures Identification Guide

This is a great fish cards because it is a part of my trio of fish cards for the Southern Caribbean Sea, which are of islands known as the “ABC’s” – Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. Franko has a series of mini-map/fish cards consisting of one for each of these three islands. This fish card therefore, is all about some of the world’s greatest coral reef ecosystems, and the incredible opportunities it offers to divers and snorkelers. Curaçao (pronounced “Kur-uh-sow), which is the largest of all of the Netherlands Antilles islands, is famous for desert island beauty and it’s wonderful underwater. In fact, the island has its own underwater treasure called the Curaçao Underwater Park. The entire leeward side of the island is full of beaches, bays and points for the ocean lover to enjoy. From north to south there are almost 40 miles (54 kilometers) of beautiful seashore to visit, including Westput, Punt Halve Dag, Kaap St. Marie, Punt Kanon, Boca Santa Cruz, Boca St. Marie, Fuikbaai, Soto, San Willi brordo, Bullenbaai, Oostpunt, Kniplagun, Willemstad, Punda Sint Michiel, Cas Abou, San Juan, San Nicholas, Santa Crux, Niewport, Barbara Beach, and Rif Baai Seaquarium. Curaçao is the site of the town of Willemstad, which is the government seat of the Netherlands Antilles. Other than its rich undersea life, Curaçao is lacking in most natural resources, yet its location and its port has made it militarily important and economically powerful for hundreds of years. Curaçao’s oil refinery and petroleum storage have been its biggest income source for decades, but its reefs are so fabulous that much of the island economy is also based on visitors who come to dive, snorkel and sit on its beautiful beaches. Side 1 of Franko’s Curaçao “fish card” is a mini map of Curaçao with a listing of 66 dive sites. Many of the sites around Curaçao are accessible from shore, and dive shops offer excursions to many others as well. All of the Curaçao sites as they appear on Franko’s Curaçao fish card are listed below. Divers who visit Curaçao will soon find out that Curaçao is a world class dive destination. And similar to its sister islands, the Curaçao’s tranquil, crystal waters are especially friendly to underwater photography. This Franko map/fish card is dedicated to promoting Curaçao’s fabulous underwater scenery. Also it is intended to inspire the viewer to love the reefs and reef creatures that fill Curaçao’s vast underwater. The colors of my map clearly say that “Curaçao is beautiful and fabulous!”; and “I love Curaçao!” I’ve depicted the island of Curaçao as a green jewel within a beautiful setting of descending shades of ocean turquoise. The shaded relief of the hills, which represents the topography of Curaçao, was actually hand-drawn by yours truly, based on old Dutch charts of the island. This Curaçao map is basically a painting, although it was done entirely with computer graphics, rather than actual paint. The map also includes a miniature globe map (more computer graphics by yours truly) for a perspective of just where in the world Curaçao sits. Although Curaçao is in the southern Caribbean, right above Venezuela, along with its sister islands, Bonaire and Aruba, it appears to be the center of the world, according to this globe’s perspective. For many of Curaçao’s diving tourists, it is the center of the world because it is simply so fantastic. Tourists and divers love to come back to Curaçao. Besides the little map, side 1 of this fish card also shows two sea turtles – both the green sea turtle and the hawksbill sea turtle, as well as a southern stingray, a triton’s trumpet, and a queen conch. This small sampling of reef creatures is a preview of the 100+ reef creatures that constitute side 2 of the fish card. I put turtles on side one simply because it is such a thrill for all scuba divers and snorkelers to find them. Perhaps the only way to have more fun in the water is to see dolphins (or maybe a shark or two!). Side 1 is the Curaçao mini Franko map, but on side 2 the viewer will find the favorite, colorful tropical Caribbean fishes, corals, sponges, and invertebrates that crowd the colorful reefs of Curaçao. This constitutes the “Reef Creatures Identification Guide” portion of Franko’s fish card. The map is colorful because I simply made it that way, based of the reality of Curaçao’s beautiful shape and it’s location in the warm, tropical Caribbean Sea, but Side 2 is colorful because that is just the way Mother Nature intended Curaçao’s beautiful reefs to be. No artist could really improve on or truly depict so much beauty that is in every single part of and within every single creature on the Curaçao reefs. The colors of the fish on side 2 of Franko’s fish card of Curaçao proclaim: “Curaçao’s reef creatures are beautiful and fabulous!”; and “I love Curaçao’s reefs!” But this isn’t just a nice picture or superlative souvenir of Curaçao’s beautiful Caribbean reef creatures. Indeed, it is also a useful tool for divers and snorkelers who are interested in knowing what it is they are looking at when they are down there. This fish card is actually waterproof and durable, so divers can take it with them for underwater fish identification, if they wish. The viewer of Franko’s Curaçao Reef Creatures Identification Guide has a handy checklist of dive sites, dive planner, and useful underwater fish identification tool. The viewer will note that the fish card has a sampling of approximately 100 of Curaçao’s most common and most beautiful reef creatures. When diving or snorkeling this card can be used to satisfy your curiosity about what that beautiful fish you just saw is called. The astute observer will note when diving that there are actually hundreds of species that are not on Franko’s fish card! However, this is a great sampling of many of the most common and interesting characters, including a few, but definitely not all of the various parrotfishes, triggerfishes, angelfishes, wrasse, filefishes, groupers, grunts, rays, surgeonfishes, sharks, lobsters, corals, sea fans, sponges, mollusks, and much more. Many thanks go to Trident Diving Equipment, because the good people there helped me greatly with my fish artwork. Choosing which 100 or-so reef creatures was a task that was also aided by a few scientists who have made it their passion to study Caribbean reef creatures. This fish card has actually evolved since its first edition, with the addition of a few species, and the replacement or art improvement of others. This Curaçao fish card and map are both works in progress, with continuous improvements with each new edition. Franko Maps products are all this works in progress. Indeed, there is always room for improvement, your inputs are welcome and often very helpful.