Piscadera Bay ( Dutch: ''Piscaderabaai'') is a

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary b ...

and a neighbourhood in the

Netherlands Antilles nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

. It is situated at the western side of Otrobanda, in the southern part of

Willemstad Willemstad ( , ; ; en, William I of the Netherlands, William Town, italic=yes) is the capital city of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that forms a Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent country of the Kingdo ...

, the capital of the southern Caribbean island of

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

. It contains a fort of the same name, the

Caribbean Marine Biological Institute Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity Foundation (previously The Caribbean Marine Biological Institute; commonly referred to as CARMABI Foundation or just CARMABI) is a research organization in Curaçao, former Netherlands Antilles. ...

, and several hotels. It has a small beach, as well as a vacation village and holiday resort, with tennis courts and casinos.

Sint Anna Bay Sint Anna Bay (Dutch: ''Sint Annabaai'') is a deep channel approximately one mile long and up to 1,000 feet wide, located on the island of Curaçao between the two parts of Willemstad, Punda and Otrobanda. The bay opens into the Caribbean Sea at t ...

is nearby. In the 17th century, maps of Piscadera Bay showed it to be a popular locale for fishing, with over 400 different species noted.

History

Three hills (Veerisberg, Evertzberg and the Seru Pretu) dominate the landscape around the bay. In the late 17th century, plantation Veeris owned by Anton Veeris was established around the bay. The plantations Raphaël and Klein Piscadera followed later. Fort Piscadera was constructed in the 1700s, and rebuilt in 1744. After the abolition of slavery in 1863, a village developed based on agriculture and fishery. In November 1930, the village was annexed by

. In the 1930s, employees of

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

settled in the village as well as Lebanese businessmen. From the 1960s onwards, luxury holiday resorts developed along the coast.

Landmarks

Fort Piscadera

In order to provide protection to Piscadera Bay, a fort was constructed on the cliffs overlooking the bay in 1700s, however it fell into neglect. The fort was restructed in 1744. It was seized by the British army in 1804 for a week in order to bombard

. This attack was unsuccessful and the invading troops were forced to leave the fort. By the 1950s, it had disappeared in the vegetation, and it was decided to restore the fort. The fort is in a dilapidated state in the precincts of the Curaçao Resort.

Research

In 1955, the head of the Petroleum Industry in Curaçao proposed funding for setting up of a scientific institution on the Piscadera Bay as it was found to be a perfect location for research, and then plans were prepared to establish the institution. The research station, known as the

(CARMABI) was soon established at the open end of the bay to conduct research in the field of

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

—fisheries in particular. Renamed Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity Foundation after a merger with National Parks Foundation of the Netherlands Antilles (STINAPA), but still referred to as CARMABI, or CARMABI Foundation, it is "the largest field station in the

Southern Caribbean The Southern Caribbean'' is a group of islands that neighbor mainland South America in the West Indies. Saint Lucia lies to the north of the region, Barbados in the east, Trinidad and Tobago at its southernmost point, and Aruba at the most we ...

Commercial

One of the notable hotels overlooking Piscadera Bay is the Floris Suite Hotel. It contains 72 suites, each with their own patio. The hotel's open-air restaurant, ''Sjalotte'', serves Mediterranean cuisine. The Hilton Curaçao Resort, set in gardens, contains 197 rooms and a

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

-style casino, with three restaurants, its own brewery, and a dive centre. The luxury five-star four-diamond

Marriott Marriott may refer to: People *Marriott (surname) Corporations * Marriott Corporation, founded as Hot Shoppes, Inc. in 1927; split into Marriott International and Host Marriott Corporation in 1993 * Marriott International, international hotel ...

Beach Resort and Emerald Casino contains 237 rooms and 10 suites, and like the Hilton contains a casino to attract American tourists. The Marriott also has a dive centre and a water bar serving drinks. Other seaside landmarks are a convention and trade center, as well as the recreational area of Koredor.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{Commons category, position=left Geography of Curaçao Willemstad Populated places in Curaçao