I made a reservation with Rent-A-Retro, a shop in Willemstad who delivered the scooter to my cruise ship dock. The guy was a little late for the arranged drop-off, but not too much. He told me that the rate was normally $50/day but he'd only charge me $45. When I told him the web site quoted $40, he didn't argue, and charged my credit card for that amount. He also did a charge authorization for $100 as a deposit, which was less than the $300 the web site quoted. I didn't argue.
The bike was a 50cc automatic, four-stroke from the sound of it. (I'm not an engine kinda guy so don't quote me on that.) The speedometer topped out at 60kph or 40mph, but on some of the steeper down-hills I exceeded that. On some of the up-hills I topped out at a modest 20mph (indicated). I mostly cruised at around 35-40mph, which is my preferred speed, going WOT only when trying to get up hills at full speed. The odometer said only 210 miles when I started, and the scoot was in very nice condition. The styling was definitely "retro", with a motorcycle style headset, teardrop-shaped rear end, and enough floor space for a medium-sized dog to curl up. It could seat two... but not two of me. The "squat" shape had me worried that I'd be hunched over, but I was comfy the whole time. I didn't see any indicator of who made it, or where. It's no Buddy, but it was a nice scoot. I felt a little like Che and Alberto on their ride around South America on their motorcycle La Poderosa.
They provided and required a helmet, which was little more than a skid-lid with a chin strap. It also had goggles, which fit over my glasses, but I didn't wear them much because my glasses provided enough protection from the wind. Although I am normally very careful about wearing protective gear, I made an exception in this case. I've gone nearly 9000 miles on a scooter without serious incident; the odds that my first ride without (much) gear would also be my first ride with a crash, were slim enough. (Yes, I realize that riding an unfamiliar scoot in an unfamiliar country increased the odds a bit.) I wasn't going to haul my armored jacket to Curaçao just to reduce those odds from "slim enough" to none. I had intended to bring my summer gloves... but forgot them. So for one day, I was one of those lunatics who rides in just shorts, sneakers, t-shirt, and an oversized yarmulke strapped to the top of his head.
During my research I'd read a warning not to try scooting in Aruba because the traffic is so bad, and in downtown Oranjestad where we were, it was bumper to bumper. But at least in the part of Willemstad, Curaçao where we docked, and the territory to the northwest that I rode through, the traffic was minimal. The roads were mostly two-lanes (often without a center line), and I'd guess that most of the vehicles that passed me were going around 50mph. Before passing me, they followed at what I'm sure they considered a polite distance... of a few feet. I didn't feel "threatened" like I often do by cagers back home. Maybe because the vehicles weren't thirty times larger than me. Mostly I ventured off into side roads, which were even less trafficked, discovering little villages and secluded beaches. There were several roundabouts I had to navigate in the city, which I don't have a lot of practice with (the handful back home scare everyone so much that they drive through them at 10mph), but I think I handled them fine.
I navigated without a proper map. Just before leaving home, I had used the map app on my phone to view almost-street-level images of most of the island, which it caches temporarily in memory. This way I wouldn't need to load that data over wifi (which wouldn't be available at all outside of Willemstad) or the cell network (which would've cost a fortune in "international roaming" charges). The phone's GPS (usually) showed me roughly where I was on that backdrop. I rode to the northwest end of the island and back, with stops along the way for beaches on the south shore, and for the caves and other rocky features of the north shore. I went a total of 95miles, in 5 hours. A good day's scooting.
The temperature was nearly 90ºF, but I stayed cool enough. My sunscreen proved inadequate, leaving me with a pink face and burns on the tops of my hands (which would have been covered by my gloves if I'd remembered them). And at the end of my ride, I got caught in a brief rain shower. But it was worth it, for a chance to experience one of the places visited by the cruise, in a way that most cruise passengers never will. I did it... MI way.
