HISTORY

PortoMari's Past - A Fascinating History
Sea Turtle Rescue
Playa PortoMari - A New Start

From the very beginning of Dutch rule in Curaçao, the sheltered bay at PortoMari was considered to be of strategic military importance for the defence of the island and in the 18^th century a fortification was built on the top of Seru Caballé, a hill on the east side of the bay. Rebuilt in 1742 as Fort Porto Marie, it was equipped with ten cannons, both 12 and 18 pounders. During the British invasion of Curaçao in 1805, the Fort was by no means up to strength. The English captured the Fort, threw the one only remaining cannon into the sea, plundered the powder-house and devastated the battery. Thus the curtain fell on Fort Porto Marie.

PortoMari played an important role in the slave uprising of 1795. It was here that the slaves gathered and the famous discussion took place between Tula and Pastor Schinck. Fierce fighting followed during which many rebellious slaves were killed.

About 200 slaves and freed slaves used to live and work on the plantation. They raised livestock, cultivated maize, grew fruit and vegetables in the orchard near the landhouse, made charcoal and tended the limestone ovens. After emancipation in 1863, most of the freed slaves continued to live on the Plantation.

A couple of years ago PortoMari had the good fortune to take part in a sea turtle rescue. Visitors to the beach found tracks in the sand, and shortly afterwards they saw their first baby turtle emerging to take a look at the dangerous new world. The female sea turtle will lay anything from 70 to 200 eggs about 60 cm deep in the sand, and usually the hatchlings are able clamber out on their own. In this particular case, nature was allowed to take its course and most of the turtles sought their destiny alone without any outside help. However, four weak hatchlings were removed to a place of safety at the Seaquarium to enable them to recover their strength. Then, precisely one year later, the inseparable quartet of Loggerhead turtles, now strong and healthy, were released into the sea at the place of their birth.

It will take another twenty-five years before any of the female turtles that hatched on PortoMari beach that day will return to lay their first clutch of eggs. You can be sure we’ll be there to welcome them back!

Personal Impressions from the first Manager of Playa PortoMari, Ingrid Lochem

Ingrid and her husband, Harry, have been running the beach bar and restaurant from 1996 till 2005.

When my husband and I visited Porto Marie in 1990 during one of our many vacations on Curaçao, we were allowed to drive straight onto the beach and then, to protect our delicate skins from the fierce sun, we created a little shade by hanging a towel over the car door. In 1994, we visited Porto Marie again - this time to look into the possibility of "becoming involved in the activities to develop the plantation". Two years later we came to live in Curacao permanently and, together with a number of other partners, took the final decision "to do something with Porto Marie beach".

An extremely hectic time followed. 29 September 1996 was chosen for opening the beach under new management because on that day a "Treasure Hunt" had been planned. The day before the opening, we still didn't have any water, the personnel was new, the varnish on the surface of the bar was not completely dry and the kitchen equipment still had to be installed – what could go wrong, did go wrong. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic party and later that evening we were able to look back on a very special day. Everything worked as it should, the treasure was found, the winners received a ticket to Miami and we survived our first day in the hospitality business.

There were also frustrating occasions: the oil disaster in September 1999 when our beach was covered in a thick layer of black ooze and shortly afterwards hurricane Lenny paid us a visit. Fortunately we always had the feeling that we were doing something right in spite of the immense physical and mental tiredness that often overwhelmed us.

We are always trying to make the beach better and work daily on the extension and improvement of our services. Our endeavours are rewarded when we notice that our beach guests often make repeat visits. We also do our best to keep visitors informed of developments by means of information boards and personal contact.

Supported by the many experts around us in the areas of sustainable development, we hope that Playa PortoMari will be a beach where the local population as well as the tourist will feel at home and enjoy good service for a reasonable price in a nature-friendly environment.

Note: The article above uses two forms of spelling, Porto Marie and PortoMari. This is intentional. Originally the Plantation was known as Porto Marie, but when the new owners took over, the name was changed to Plantages "PortoMari". The beach area is now known as Playa "PortoMari".

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