Day 9: Ariba Ariba Aruba

Saturday, April 3rd

At 6:00 am, we pulled into our last port, Aruba, gliding to a stop right in front of Senor Frog's bar and disco. Aruba is really a party town; kind of the Caribbean version of Cancun. Since there didn't seem to be much to see on a walking tour, we decided to spend our last "real" day snorkling on De Palm Island.

The south coast of Aruba had a number of barrier islands about a thousand yards off shore, with a lagoon between the island and "real" Aruba island. Many of these have been developed as "day resorts". Like a real resort but with no overnight accommodations.

That's what De Palm Island is. Our bus right from the pier took us through town and past the airport down to the power plant. South of the power plant we boarded and open boat and motored out to the island.

The island is an "all inclusive" day resort. You get free snorkel gear, free bannan-boat rides. There's a water park with slides for the kids. If you want to pay extra, you can go on a SeaTrek in a dry suit with an old-fashioned diving helmet. (You walk along the sea-bed on a hike). The have beach chairs and umbrellas as well as free drinks and free food.

We went for the snorkling and the Parrot Fish. There was about a half-mile of reef right off the island, along with two smaller lagoons for the kids. As soon as we put our stuff in a locker, we got our fins and masks and headed out to explore it.

Although the environment wasn't as pretty as Virgin Gorda, there were a lot more fish; really big fish. The big draw here is the Blue Parrot Fish. It looks kind of like a dolphin fish with a high forehead and a little parrot beak. The smallest ones were about a foot long and the largest were two feet or more.

We snorkeled for about an hour, then got out and rested for a bit. Then, we went back in again and explored the other half of the reef. By this time it was around 11:00 and the fish were looking for shade. So, we headed up to the restaurant that was built out over the water and went swimming underneath it. There were whole flocks of little yellow fish (about 6 inches long) as well as a large pike-like fish that Kathy saw. (I really can't see anything without my glasses unless it's really close, really big or really colorful.)

After another hour or so, we got out for another rest. Kathy wanted to snorkel one last time, so I sat up in the restaraunt and watched her explore. When she got out it was 12:20 and we only had another 25 minutes before our boat left to return us to the ship.

We spent that 25 minutes at the lunch buffet: barbecue chicken wings, crab salad, fried bananas, baked grouper, fresh fruit.

We got back to the ship around 1:30 and took a nap. (I kind of like doing that; I wonder if I ought to start napping every afternoon in my office.) Tonight was the second formal night, so we got dressed and went to dinner around 6:00.

Second formal night was lobster night, and that's what both of us had. We each got a half of a lobster tail, some shrimp and some scallps over a risotto base. It wasn't as good as I'd expected. They also had the waiters carrying baked Alaska in a parade, and the introduction of all the food service staff.

After dinner, Kathy pointed out that it was only 8:00 pm. I tried to drag her onto the dance floor, but she knows how I dance, so we went to the room instead. We were going to read our books. I almost read a page.