Willemstad is a UNESCO heritage-listed town and a very easy place to explore on foot directly from where cruise ships dock.
The Rif Fort provides a lovely way for disembarking tourists to make their approach to the old town and is lined with all of the usual elegant shops offering special prices for cruise passengers (300 per cent markups).
Approaching the Queen Emma pontoon bridge, the boys spied crabs on the rocks below and so we sat for a while, the boys watching the crabs and Nath and I watching the movement of pedestrians over this floating bridge to the colourful and quaint Punda side.
Later in the day, we watched the pontoon bridge opening up to allow the passage of small motorboats, luxury cruisers and even a massive oil tanker.
The entire bridge swings open and we watched the spectacle from the Punda shoreline and then from the free ferry boat that offers a way around the temporary impasse.
We explored the Punda side for a couple of hours, including time in a local playground.
The floating markets offer food and wares brought in mainly from Venezuela but weren't what we were expecting.
(If you've been to the Damnoen Saduak markets in Ratchaburi, Thailand and came here expecting the same, you would be disappointed).
Away from the streets catering to the majority of the tourist traffic there was a marked drop-off in the pleasantness of people and the clean, fresh facade.
We got the impression that while Willemstad has an incredibly beautiful waterfront, with colour and history worthy of boasting, if you peel back the veneer, not everyone is benefitting from the tourist dollar.
