Curacao Reef Creatures Guide
Franko's fish cards are stiff, laminated plastic, with a hole for a lanyard. Take it snorkeling or scuba diving with you! Size of Fish Cards: 6" x 9"
FM-FISHCUR (Laminated $5.99)
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http://frankosmaps.com/curacao-reef#sigProId4719c273fb
Description
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 Curacao. 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. Curacao (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 Curacao 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. Curacao is the site of the town of Willemstad, which is the government seat of the Netherlands Antilles. Other than its rich undersea life, Curacao is lacking in most natural resources, yet its location and its port has made it militarily important and economically powerful for hundreds of years. Curacao’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 Curacao “fish card” is a mini map of Curacao with a listing of 66 dive sites. Many of the sites around Curacao are accessible from shore, and dive shops offer excursions to many others as well. All of the Curacao sites as they appear on Franko’s Curacao fish card are listed below. Divers who visit Curacao will soon find out that Curacao is a world class dive destination. And similar to its sister islands, the Curacao’s tranquil, crystal waters are especially friendly to underwater photography. This Franko map/fish card is dedicated to promoting Curacao’s fabulous underwater scenery. Also it is intended to inspire the viewer to love the reefs and reef creatures that fill Curacao’s vast underwater. The colors of my map clearly say that “Curacao is beautiful and fabulous!”; and “I love Curacao!” I’ve depicted the island of Curacao 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 Curacao, was actually hand-drawn by yours truly, based on old Dutch charts of the island. This Curacao 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 Curacao sits. Although Curacao 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 Curacao’s diving tourists, it is the center of the world because it is simply so fantastic. Tourists and divers love to come back to Curacao. 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 Curacao 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 Curacao. 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 Curacao’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 Curacao’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 Curacao reefs. The colors of the fish on side 2 of Franko’s fish card of Curacao proclaim: “Curacao’s reef creatures are beautiful and fabulous!”; and “I love Curacao’s reefs!” But this isn’t just a nice picture or superlative souvenir of Curacao’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 Curacao 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 Curacao’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 Curacao 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. So, go ahead and help, if you wish, by emailing me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. While I’m at it I’m going to write down a list of every single Curacao reef creature that is on my fish card. There are over 100 species shown, plus a few juveniles and male vs. female depictions for variety. Since I put them on the fish card in random order in the first place, I’ll list them here in random order. So, here is the 2006 edition of Franko’s Curacao Mini-map and Reef Creatures Identification Guide list:
Franko’s Curacao Caribbean Reef Creatures:
Queen Conch
Hermit Crab
Southern Stingray
Green Sea Turtle
Hawksbill Turtle
White-spotted
Eagle Ray
Blue Tang
Slippery Dick
Barred Hamlet
Triton's Trumpet
Bermuda Chub
Smooth Trunkfish
Yellowhead Wrasse
Black Durgon
Glasseye Snapper
Pluma
Queen Triggerfish
Longspine Squirrelfish
Redlip Blenny
Sergeant Major
Sargassum Triggerfish
Blue Chromis
Sand Diver
Scrawled Filefish
Foureye Butterflyfish
Spiny Lobster
Coral Crab
Clown Wrasse
Gorgonian Fan
Green Moray Eel
Trumpetfish
Sea Fan
Fire Coral
Finger Coral
Giant Brain Coral
Mountainous Star Coral
Brown Tube Sponge
Branching Vase Sponge
Basket Sponge
Black Sea Cucumber
Soft Coral
Yellow Tube Sponge
Elkhorn Coral
Fairy Basslet
Spotted Moray Eel
Spotfin Butterflyfish
Brown Chromis
Spotted Scorpionfish
Tomtate
Sand Tilefish
Orange-Spotted Filefish
Squirrelfish
Palometa
Yellowstriped Goatfish
Cleaning Goby
Sheet Coral
Queen Angelfish
French Angelfish
Blue Angelfish
Rock Beauty
Reef Butterflyfish
Gray Angelfish
Tarpon
Banded Butterflyfish
Yellowfin Damselfish
Bi-color Damselfish
Blue Parrotfish
Rainbow Parrotfish
Coney
Bar Jack
Red Hind
Black Grouper
Nassau Grouper
Tiger Grouper
Graysby
Cero
Barracuda
Spotted Drum
Spanish Hogfish
Hogfish
Yellowtail Snapper
White Grunt
Grey Snapper
French Grunt
Bluestriped Grunt
Schoolmaster
Seahorse
Creole Wrasse
Bluehead Wrasse
Yellowtail Parrotfish
Stoplight Parrotfish
Ocean Triggerfish
Princess Parrotfish
Queen Parrotfish
Silversides
Mahogany Snapper
Honeycomb Cowfish
Striped Burrfish
Horse-eye Jack
Yellow Stingray
Spotted Trunkfish
Glassy Sweepers
White-Spotted Filefish
Octopus
Orange Tube Sponge
Anemone
Orange Sponge
Nurse Shark
Cushion Sea Star
Spanish Lobster
While I’m into making lists, here are the fabulous and famous 66 Curacao Dive Sites as they appear on my mini-map of Curacao. These sites constitute world-class scuba diving, both by boat and from shore, plus a variety of fantastic snorkeling in warm, crystal waters of Curacao’s reef system. You really need to go there to find out first hand just how extraordinary Curacao’s underwater is. Here is the list:
Curacao Dive Sites:
Playa Kalki
Playa Piskadó
Playa Forti (Sweet Alice)
Grandi Knip (Playa Abou)
Klein Knip (Playa Kenepe)
Playa Jeremi
Playa Lagun
Boca Santu Pretu
Mushroom Forest
The Cave
Sponge Forest
Playa Hulu
Rediho
Black Coral Garden
Hell's Corner
Mako's Mountain
Airplane Wreck
Harry's Hole
Playa Hundu (Lost Anchor)
Boka Grandi
Playa Mansaliña
Big Sponge
Playa Largu
Cas Abou (Lower House)
Porto Marie (The Valley)
Daaibooibaai
St. Marie
Light Tower
Seldom Reef
Bullenbaai
Pestbaai (Lover's Beach)
Vaersenbaai
Car Wrecks (By the road)
Halfway
Boka Sami
Snake Bay
Kaap Mal Meeuw
The Wall
Blue Bay
Piscaderabaai
The Crash
Double Reef
Superior Producer
Oswaldo's Drop-Off
Car Pile
SS Oranje Nassau
Shipwreck Point
Saba
Boka Di Sorsaka
Sandy's Plateau (Jan Thiel)
Diver's Leap
Piedra Di Sombre
Kabes Di Barankes (Beacon Pt.)
Caracabbaai (Lost Anchor)
Tugboat
Kabaye
Small Wall
Punt'i Piku (Barracuda Point)
Eel Valley
Fuikbaai (Newport)
Barank'i Karanito (Kathy's Paradise)
Punti Sanchi (Smokey)
Guliauw
Piedra Pretu (Black Rock)
Oostpunt (No Way)
Basora