Blauw
Plantation Blaauw
Blauw, formerly a plantation of 226 hectares, lies between the former plantations Klein Piscadera, Groot Piscadera and Klein Sint Michiel. Because it was formed out of plantation Groot Sint Michiel, it was first called Oud Sint Michiel and later Klein Blaauw, after Anno Blaauw, who developed it as a plantation in 1701. Little else is known about Anno; he stayed on Curaçao only briefly and left no descendants.
Klein Blaauw bordered the former (Sint) Elisabeth of Charles Cabrol, who named his plantation after his wife around 1786. This plantation, of which remains of the plantation house still stand today, was later added to Klein Blaauw. Blauw was then also called Groot Blauw, (Sint) Elisabeth, Blauw Blauw, Blaauw or Blije Rust. But as usual, popular speech prevailed in the naming and it remained Blauw.
Blauw suffered many failed harvests, and cochineal cultivation — an insect that produces a red dye — proved unprofitable in 1850, as did the investigation into phosphate on the plantation. Blauw was therefore one of the plantations that around 1850 was bought mainly as a country residence because it lay close to the city.
Betty Jacobs
According to the author Norbert Hendrikse, at the beginning of the 20th century Blauw was owned by Hubert "Betty" Jacobs — who was only 25 years old — together with his brother-in-law Hubertus Jonkhout. Betty, an enthusiastic farmer, also had an international herd of livestock consisting of, among others, 100 Frisian pedigree cows, 400 blackhead sheep from Tenerife, American chickens, and also pigs and bees. Milk, vegetables and fruit were delivered from Plantation Blauw to the sisters at the hospital, and tonnes of honey went to the brothers of Brakkeput, who also exported it to the Netherlands.
Hendrikse tells that at one point Betty had as many as 75 employees, and that after the rainy season large stretches of land were cleared for planting Maishi chikí (small maize).
The spines of the infrou (a cactus) were literally burned away with burners, so that this type of cactus could serve as fodder for cows and sheep.
Concrete telephone poles
Betty himself also restored the plantation house of Blauw, which still has the original roof tiles. A restaurant and the golf club of the present Blue Bay Resort are housed here.
In 1936 he built a stone crusher, in which explosives were used to pulverise hard boulders to produce gravel and sand. Gravel was used to improve dirt roads before a layer of asphalt was poured onto them.
Places along the coast that were unsuitable for swimming he blew up using explosives, and he used the sand from the stone crusher to "upgrade" the beach. He stopped doing this when it turned out that the coral was dying as a result, although on the other hand the sea apples also disappeared from the area.
During the war years a telephone connection was established between Blauw and the city. Because of the shortage of wood, Betty came up with the idea of making concrete telephone poles for the connection with the city, and he arranged the sand, stones and cement for this himself.
Coastal battery Blauw
Following the Pearl Harbor incident on 7 December 1941 between the world powers, Curaçao became very directly involved in the war: the oil refineries of the small islands of Aruba and Curaçao accounted for as much as 80% of the total supply of aviation fuel of the western Allies. This vital supply had to be protected, and within the framework of military cooperation between the Netherlands and the United States, the first American troops arrived here on 13 January 1942.
According to Allan van der Ree, initiator of the war museum at Blauw, a coastal battery was then built on the high coastal ridge of the former plantation Blauw. The strategic location was for the defence of the refinery, the harbour and the many storage tanks of Shell at nearby Bullenbaai. This was where the storage and shipping location of the aviation fuel, so important to the Allies, was situated.
The Americans brought all their own equipment, as well as supporting weapons and instruments such as heavy guns, anti-aircraft guns, listening equipment, searchlights and radars, which were also placed at other strategic points on the island. The guns were manned 24/7 and ready to fire.
Armament stronghold
On the north-west side of plantation Blauw the Americans built the Base Camp, fenced off with rows of barbed wire, which also had a battery of anti-aircraft guns, a command post, searchlights and barracks for 213 men, medical and logistical services, kitchens, washing facilities, toilets and maintenance services.
Seven underground ammunition bunkers were also dug, and a separate garage complex was needed to keep the rolling stock ready. In addition there were forward posts with machine guns.
But the most striking was the imposing armament structure, consisting of four large, round concrete rotating platforms that could turn 360 degrees. As a result, the enemy, from whatever direction he came, could not escape the artillery.
On each platform four Long Toms were placed: 155 mm calibre guns with a barrel range of 5,915 metres and a weight of almost 14 tonnes.
But the Battle Station at Blauw "never fired a shot in anger", as the saying goes. There was, however, an incident on 6 June 1942 in which a German submarine surfaced just off the coast of Blauwbaai. The Battle Station then did fire 5 shells, but already at the first shot the "startled" submarine dived again and escaped.
Incendiary bombs on Bullenbaai
In that same year a German U-boat also surfaced at Bullenbaai and fired eight incendiary bombs at the full storage tanks. At least, that is what they thought: they were shooting at a few large lamps that the American soldiers kept burning during the blackout, which were far from the "real" tanks, hidden under large camouflage nets. A quick reaction followed with targeted return fire from the Dutch Marine Marinus van Niel, who was on watch at the Bullenbaai coastal battery. The American coastal battery also fired at least 1 additional shot, after which the Germans fled. German sources later confirmed that the armament on the spot was sufficient to keep them away from Blauwbaai for the duration of the war.
Battle Station
After the war, the guns, barracks and bunkers were all dismantled, and all explosives and ammunition were taken away by the Americans. A few 155 mm shells were found close to the gun emplacements in 2011, but on closer examination they turned out not to contain explosives. At the end of the war the site was returned to the owner of Blauw, and in August 1945 the last Americans left the Battle Station.
Ammunition bunkers
Of the extensive military infrastructure little remains at Blauw: two underground ammunition bunkers and two water tanks that supplied the toilet and shower barracks with water. There is also the last remaining foundation of an original barracks, on which the war museum was later built: a replica, made as original as possible, of the 16 American barracks that once stood here. Close by, on the highest part of the limestone rock hill, stands the concrete base of one of the four rotating gun emplacements.
Near the museum stand a D-6 Caterpillar from 1944 and the body of a Ford troop transport truck. In front of the bunkers on the slope are a large American Navy anchor from 1944 and a Cletrac: an aircraft tractor from 1942 built especially for the American armed forces, which was used at the American air base at Hato.
The Coastal Battery at Blauw is now a protected monument.
Popular family beach
When the beach of Blauw was opened to the public it was the most popular bay on the island. By pulling a small bell, the Portuguese overseer came to open the entrance gate, and families gathered under the large Manzaliña trees for a day at the beach. Various staff outings were also organised here.
Betty died in 1960, after which his wife Lena ran the plantation together with her five children. During her management the part of the plantation owned by her brother was bought and the subdivision of Blauw was begun. Lena died in 1989 and in 1990 her children sold the plantation to the project developers of the Blue Bay Resort.
Where barracks, guns, military vehicles and barbed wire once defined the landscape, the luxury holiday park and villa complex Blue Bay Curaçao Golf and Beach Resort arose around 1990.
