How often does the pontoon bridge move?

[Kikkycat]

I've been drooling over the beautiful webcam shots provided by caribbeanboy. It looks so pleasant and warm - quite a difference from the East Coast of the US today! But glancing at it twice in the past 20 minutes I've noticed the pontoon bridge in motion both times. Is that common, to have it moving back and forth so much? Or is it just busy with morning traffic?

 

Here's the webcam: http://liveincuracao.com/livewebcams/

[caribbeanboy]

Depends on the traffic but as often as needed and 24hrs per day!

[Tohna]

We were in Curacao a few years ago and my husband was waiting to walk across the pontoon bridge but it opened before we could get there and it never closed the whole time we were there. He was very disappointed so we are going back next month (not just for the bridge) and his goal is to walk across that pontoon bridge. Is it normal for it to stay opened for hours?? Do you think he will have a shot at walking across it this time? We will be there in the early afternoon until around 3.30 or 4.

 

If he doesn't get to walk across it this time I will have to listen to him whine until we can go back again!!

 

Help with any information and thanks.

[ninkb]

We had just walked onto the bridge when it opened to allow a small boat to pass. It was fun to ride and experience the opening/closing. It didn't take any longer than 5 min. Went across 2 or 3 times that day and never had to wait long to cross.

 

But I have no other knowledge of how long a wait can be. I'd hate to be on the "far" side and want to get back for the ship's departure, only to find the bridge "stuck open" for some unknown reason. Surely there's someone with a boat who will ferry passengers back . . . or there will be many cruisers trying to get to the next port. What a pain!! Or maybe someone just wants to stay in Curacao!!! We were there for Super Bowl in 2008; they were selling plenty of Super Bowl shirts to all the Americans on the ships.

[John Bull]

There's a free ferry which operates when the pontoon bridge opens for shipping :)

Looking through the web-cam http://www.webcamcuracao.com/ the bridge hinges from the left, away from the camera, just like a door. You'll often see a small-to-medium cruise ship moored on the left bank just beyond the arc of the bridge and the ferry operates from this point. Some pretty large cargo ships pass through :eek:

When a cruise ship is manouvreing in/out of that berth, it interferes with the arc of the bridge and the route of the ferry, so can hold things up for 20 mins or so. But for boats & ships passing through, the hold-ups I've seen have only been 10 mins or so. The skill is in figuring whether it's quicker to use the free ferry or wait for the bridge to re-open for pedestrians :cool:

The Mega Pier, for larger ships, is on the far bank, way over to the left beyond the camera view and about a ten to fifteen minute walk. But if you take a taxi, then rather than going the long way round via the high road bridge in the background you can take the taxi to the pontoon bridge, the centre of town starts on the camera side of the pontoon bridge.

 

It's a super place, very dutch architecture, but not the cheapest shopping in the Caribbean

John Bull