Day 15: Thursday, March 15 ~ Aruba Day 2

Our wonderful cruise was coming to an end, and today was our last port day.  Since we docked in Aruba overnight, we didn’t have to wait to dock and for the ship to be cleared before getting off this morning.  That was a good thing because we had our earliest start time of the entire cruise today!  We booked a 3-hour champagne brunch snorkeling tour with Octopus Aruba, and we had to meet them by 8:30am at their beach hut up on Palm Beach.  We wanted to take the bus again, but the bus only runs at certain times, plus time to walk there and to walk from the bus stop out to the beach, so we wanted to leave the ship by 7:30am.  That wouldn’t be possible on any other day of the cruise because we always docked at 8am, so today was the perfect day to take this tour.  The tour cost $60 USD per person, and they required a $10 per person deposit paid via PayPal with the balance paid in cash on the day of the tour. Here is a tour description from the Octopus Aruba website:

During our morning half day cruises we stop to explore two snorkeling destinations. The first is “The German Freighter” and the second is “Catalina Bay”. We sail to the famous Antilla shipwreck, home to millions of tropical sea dwellers. The Antilla, which sank more than 60 years ago, remains completely intact and is widely regarded as one of the best sunken shipwrecks in the Caribbean. The next stop is in shallow waters of Catalina Bay you will brush up on your snorkeling skills as you spot angel fish, damsel fish and more swimming around sea fans and coral. New to snorkeling? Not a problem! Your experienced captain and first mate will patiently work with you to make sure you have a safe and enjoyable experience. We provide a homemade breakfast of baked goods and open cocktail bar. And our delicious lunch features a fresh crusty French bread, topped with salad, cheese or meat.

We requested room service deliver our breakfast between 6:30 and 7am… the earliest time we needed for the whole cruise.  It wasn’t even light outside when they knocked on the door to deliver our food!  We ate inside the cabin while we finished getting ready, so no photos today of our breakfast with a pretty view in the background.  We left the ship so early that the main terminal area wasn’t opened yet and we had to detour through the shops to get out.  A short 10 minute walk later and we arrived at the bus station. Today we noticed there was a lady sitting in the ticket booth, so we were able to buy a roundtrip Arubus card which was valid for 2 trips and cost $5 USD.  That was much more convenient than needing the exact change to pay for 2 one-way bus rides!  I’m not sure if the ticket booth was opened yesterday and we just didn’t see it, or if it was closed when we arrived, but keep your eye out for it on the side of that white booth.

There was actually about 10-15 other people taking the bus so there was already a line to board when we arrived.  We all piled on quickly and the bus left once we were all seated, even though it was at least 5 minutes before the scheduled time. Considering we were in the Caribbean and everything is usually on “island time,” it was surprising that the bus left early!  I was glad we gave ourselves a few extra minutes or we may have missed the bus. The ride up to Palm Beach takes about 20 minutes, and the bus driver was nice enough to announce each of the stops so we knew when to get off.  Our instructions said we needed to meet on the beach between Playa Linda and the Holiday Inn, so we got off the bus at the stop for Playa Linda and continued walking until we found this path to cut through to the beach.

That path led to a parking lot, and just beyond that was another path that led to the beach.  We immediately spotted this booth straight ahead of us, with a sign for Octopus Aruba.

I did find it a little strange that our instructions just said to find their beach hut between the two hotels considering they are located right next to the Pelican Pier and that would have been a more specific landmark to find them.

The beach looked beautiful in the early morning sun.  Finally, after 2 long weeks of harsh winds, the weather started to cooperate and there was just a light breeze.

Our instructions said to meet at this hut on the beach at 8:30am, but there was no staff from Octopus Aruba anywhere to be found.  At around 8:45am, a guy walked up to the booth, took out a binder, and said it was time to check in.  I guess he was working on island time?  He checked our names off of his list and we paid him the remainder of our fee for the tour.  Unlike yesterday when we could board Mi Dushi’s boat directly from the pier, Octopus leaves their boat anchored off the beach and sends a small boat back and forth to ferry us over there.  In theory, this shouldn’t be a big deal, but they could only fit 6 passengers on the boat, and there were over 40 people on our tour, so it took over half an hour to ferry everyone back and forth.

We were in the first ferry, so we had a while to just sit on the boat and wait for everyone else to arrive.  At least we had time for a nice photo before the boat started moving and my hair got all crazy!

Finally, at 9:30am, all the passengers were on the boat and we could get
the tour started.  There were 4 guides on the boat with us, and they explained how the morning would go, that we could use the bathroom down on the lower level if needed, and then they started to serve a light breakfast.  First they came around with a basket of pound cake and banana bread.  It had been 3 hours since DH and I ate breakfast on the ship, so we were ready for a snack and this hit the spot!

After everyone had some food, this guide came around to pour us a mimosa.  I was surprised that they served alcohol before we went snorkeling until I took a sip of the mimosa… there definitely was some champagne in there, but it was very diluted and I doubt anyone felt the effects or would be at all impaired if they tried to snorkel after this drink haha

We sailed north along the coast in the same path we went last night on the sunset cruise.

Along the way, we spotted Mi Dushi heading in the same direction!

At 10am, we arrived at our first stop: the Antilla Shipwreck.  This is a very popular spot for snorkeling tours and there were already several boats here by the time we arrived.  This was one of my complaints with Octopus… they took one whole hour between the time we were told to be at their hut and when we started the tour.  We could see many other boats load up and leave while we were still anchored at the beach.  It seemed like a poor use of time, and as a result, when we finally got to the snorkeling location, it was very crowded.

The guides handed out snorkels, masks, and fins to anyone who needed it, and instructed us to swim forward of the boat in the direction towards shore to find the sunken ship.  The current was very choppy today (not surprising given the strong winds from the last 2 weeks!), so I asked to borrow a life vest to wrap around my waist to help me float.  When I jumped in the water, I could barely see anything.  It was extremely murky and I had to swim really strong to go against the current towards where the guides told us to go. Unfortunately, the water was so churned up that could just barely make out the shape of ship.  I couldn’t see any coral or fish or anything worth seeing, and it was quite a disappointment given how hyped up this snorkeling location was.

DH dove down to see if the conditions were any better when you got deeper into the water, but he came up a few seconds later and said it didn’t make any difference.

We decided it wasn’t worth wasting our energy and that the water was just too choppy and murky to see anything down there, so less than 10 minutes after jumping in the water, we swam back to the boat and gave up.

When we first arrived here, the guides said we would spend 40 minutes snorkeling at the shipwreck.  I told the lead guide about the poor conditions and hoped that we could wrap things up a little sooner here to give us more time at our second snorkel location.  Unfortunately, they were a bit disorganized in helping people get into the water, so even though no one stayed out there for much time, we ended up staying for the full 40 minutes because it just took that long to get everyone off the boat and then back on and settled after snorkeling.

At 10:40, we left the shipwreck site and motored about 5 minutes up the shore to Boca Catalina.  Once again, there were already a lot of boats here when we arrived.  In fact, many of them were the same boats that we saw at the shipwreck because they left first and arrived here before us.  It really would have made more sense if we could have come here first, before all of the other boats arrived, and then gone to the shipwreck second, after they all left.  But what do I know??

I count 8 big tour boats already here before we arrived

These boats looked very crowded!  The Carnival Vista was also in port with us, and I think they may have chartered some of these boats for ship excursions.  We could see the towels from a distance and all I saw were bright blue Carnival towels… none of the yellow Celebrity towels.

The guides spent a full 10 minutes trying to pull our boat into the middle of the other boats, but for whatever reason, they couldn’t get the right position and had to take us out to the far right side on the end.  Not only did that waste time, but it meant we had a lot further to swim to get back to where the coral was.  I’m not sure if it was their first day on the job or what the problem was, but this tour just didn’t seem very organized at all.  When they finally dropped the anchor, they said we could have 30 minutes to snorkel here.  This spot was much calmer than out by the shipwreck, so I wasted no time and jumped in the water to explore.  As disappointing as the snorkeling was at our first stop, I was very impressed with the snorkeling here!  Although the coral wasn’t very colorful and was likely just dead and rocks, there were tons of different fish hiding in the rocks and it went on for quite a distance so there was a lot to see.  

One last snorkeling selfie for the trip

Christmas Tree Worms on the Brain Coral

Sharptail Eel!!  Part of me was freaking out when I saw this because I thought it was a snake, then I realized it may be an eel, but either way I was freaking out but kept telling myself to stay calm so I could take a few photos and then swim away lol

Don’t miss the giant Stoplight Parrotfish camouflaged on the ocean floor

I stayed out there for 25 minutes, then swam back to the boat and was one of the last people back on board.  Since our snorkeling tour was cancelled in Bonaire, I think this was the best snorkeling spot of our cruise (second runner up was Sugar Beach in St. Lucia, which may have topped the ranks had it not been so choppy, murky, and windy that day).  After all that swimming, I was ready for a snack!  The guides walked around with a basket of pre-made sandwiches for lunch. It wasn’t the most generous portion considering it had one slice of turkey, one piece of cheese, and one slice of tomato, but it was good enough to curb my hunger for the time being.

They also took orders for drinks.  They had a few fruit juices, sodas, and a variety of liquors including rum, vodka, tequila, and whiskey.  I ordered a rum punch and it was quite tasty.

The guides pulled up the anchor, raised the sails, and we spent the last half hour of the tour sailing back down the coast towards Palm Beach.  While I don’t love that catamarans offer no shade, I do love that they can let wind catch the sail instead of using the motor.  It is so relaxing to coast along the water, listening to the waves gently hit the side of the boat, and not having to block out the noise of a loud motor.

I think this was the beach where we stopped for 20 minutes on our tour yesterday… those yellow trucks look familiar!

A little blurry, but check out all of those windsurfers!

These guys were really flying!  It was so fun to watch them and I was quite impressed with their skills

It didn’t take long before we were passing the big hotels in Palm Beach

We got back to our spot next to Pelican Pier at about 12:15pm, and they started the slow process of taking us back to shore on the little boat, 6 people at a time.  Honestly, I thought this tour was just okay.  I thought they needed some help being more organized and there were just a few things they could change which would have made the tour much better. Another thing I just realized now was that when I was emailing back and forth to get the details for our tour, they told me we would have a maximum of 24 people on the boat.  There were DEFINITELY more than 24 people on this tour with us because there was one big party of 15 people, plus several other smaller groups of 2 to 4 people, and I did a headcount at some point and counted close to 40 people (and that was just from who I could see sitting at my spot, so I may have missed a few).  I always prefer to book tours with fewer people involved, so I don’t really appreciate that they crammed that many people on our boat.  Seating was a bit limited and lots of people had to sit on the flat part at the front of the boat when they would have preferred to sit on a bench.  I should have taken a better photo to show how it looked with everyone on board but I didn’t think of it at the time.

On the bright side, the boat was in good condition, the snacks were tasty, and any day sailing in the Caribbean sun is a good day in my book! Once we got back to the beach, we walked back to the bus stop to catch a bus back to the cruise port.  The bus shelters all show this map with the various bus routes.

Look for this yellow sign to designate the bus stop.

We had very good timing with the buses in Aruba and a bus picked us up just a few minutes after we got to the bus stop.  We had originally considered spending some time at the beach after our tour, but DH wanted to do some shopping to buy souvenirs and we thought we would find more options if we did that back near the cruise ship.  Taking the bus in this direction is really easy because the last stop is the one we needed to get off at for the cruise port.

The main street is lined with lots of jewelry and souvenir stores selling anything you might want or expect to see.  We poked around in a few of the stores but DH didn’t see anything worth buying.

You can also get a nice view of the cruise ship from across the water

We had spotted another market further up the street that we rode past on the bus so we decided to walk back that way and see if DH could find what he was looking for.  On the way, we found the I ❤ Aruba sign and took the obligatory photo.  To be fair, we had a great 2 days in Aruba, so we could truly say we loved this island!

We crossed a little side street and reached this flea market.  It was far enough away from the other shops that the prices were a bit cheaper, but unfortunately DH still didn’t find anything he liked (he is very picky!).

We walked back towards the cruise ship and found a large souvenir store that had tons of souvenirs and DH finally found something he liked.  By now, it was 1:45pm and I was starving so we walked back to the ship to grab food before the lunch buffet ended.  Today’s theme was pubs and pies, and they had lots of mini pot pie options.  Sadly, these were like 80% crust, 20% filling, and they looked better than they tasted.

I was always a fan of the cold salads station as there was usually a pasta salad and a seafood salad that looked good.

Lots of options for breads

Deli meats and cheeses

When in doubt, I grabbed a small slice of pizza to finish off my lunch

On the way out of the buffet, I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful views of Aruba from so high up on the ship so I walked around on the outside decks to take a few photos.  

The island looks so completely flat except for that one hill in the distance

Looking out into the distance to the north, we could see some of the high rise hotels on Palm Beach

At 3pm, we went up to the Sky Lounge for another round of music trivia. Today’s theme was The Beatles and DH and I gave it a go with just the 2 of us.  Since we obviously knew the artist for every song was The Beatles, we only had to guess the song titles for 15 songs, with a maximum score of 15 points. In the end, we scored a 13, but of course another team scored a perfect 15 and we did not win.

After trivia, we headed back to the Sunset Bar for one last sail away.  Both the Eclipse and the Vista were due to sail away to head north to Miami at around 4pm.  We grabbed 2 seats at the bar and ordered a round of fruity cocktails:  a Bahama Mama for me and a Miami Vice for DH.

We had a great view of the front of the Vista from back here.

For round 2, I ordered a Blue Hawaiian.  One of the ladies sitting next to me saw my drink and asked what it was, and then ordered one for herself haha  These always look so fun!

At about 4:45pm, I noticed the ship was moving.  We had officially pulled away from our last port and were making our final journey home for the end of the cruise.  It was such a bittersweet moment because I didn’t want this wonderful vacation to come to an end but I was still looking forward to our final 2 sea days.  

Bye bye Aruba

Lots of people were out on deck to watch the sail away

That water park at the end of the airport runway must be pretty exciting if there is a plane taking off or landing!  It reminded me of like Maho Beach in St. Maarten

That hotel looks really nice… I think it’s the Renaissance Island Beach

One last glimpse of Aruba

The pilot boat headed back to shore for the Carnival Vista’s turn to sail away

We stayed out at the Sunset Bar until Aruba was just a spot on the horizon, then went back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. Tonight’s menu was new to us and had a few interesting options that I was looking forward to trying.

Venison Carpaccio

Seafood Crepe

Crispy Pork Schnitzel

Whole Wheat Spaghetti Pomodoro

When Pinto brought over our dessert menu, he mentioned the customer satisfaction survey that we would receive by email at the end of the cruise.  He told us that the scores we give for the Oceanview Buffet also reflect on him and the rest of the MDR waiters because they work up there too, and he encouraged us to give him as many 10’s as possible.  Celebrity uses these surveys to decide who gets promotions and other accolades, so Pinto stressed how important it was for us to fill it out and give positive feedback.  We were very happy with Pinto and Jose, and we did plan to give them good marks on that survey, but this whole interaction felt very awkward.  I don’t like being told how I should fill it out and what scores I should give.  That defeats the purpose of asking about customer satisfaction!  Perhaps he is instructed to do this by his superiors? I’m not sure, but it just felt awkward and forced.

Dessert Menu

Blueberry-Apple Turnover

Beggar’s Purse

After dinner, we went to the Martini Bar so I could order my favorite after-dinner drink:  the Black Forest Martini with Grey Goose Cherry Noir, Godiva Chocolate Liqueur, maraschino cherry juice, and chocolate syrup (it can come with whipped cream on top but I skipped that)

Just as we were finishing our cocktails, we noticed Captain Leo was walking by so we asked him to pose for a photo.  He was a great captain- very funny, often visible on the public decks, always willing to chat or answer a question, oh, and he’s pretty good at driving the ship too!

Tonight’s show in the theater was a comedian named Dan Wilson.  The daily schedule described him as a class clown, and his act was very funny.  Of course, comedy and humor are subjective, but judging by all of the laughter from the audience, it sounded like lots of other people enjoyed his act too!

After the show ended, we went upstairs to the Sky Lounge for a few minutes where the house band Back Before Sunset was performing for a dance party.  We only stayed for a few minutes though because we also wanted to check out an event down at the Martini Bar.  It was called Mirage @ Martini and was described as an MTV video hits dance party. We weren’t quite sure what that meant, but when we got downstairs, we saw that they had cleared away all of the couches and coffee tables from the area around the martini bar.  They set up 2 large screens, one which played the original music videos for some popular 80’s songs, and another which was back lit to show the silhouette of one of the dancers performing from behind the screen.

It was an interesting concept, and I do love some good 80’s music, but ultimately that early wake up call this morning got the best of us and we retired to the cabin by 10:30.

Step Tracker Daily Total:  10,077 steps; 3.826 miles

Day 14: Wednesday, March 14 ~ Aruba Day 1

(Eddy’s pronunciation: ARAB – ah )

I was really excited that the overnight port on this cruise was in Aruba.  Not every Eclipse 14-night sailing stays overnight here, but this is the most commercial of the ABC islands and has the most variety of things to do, so I was glad we had 2 days here to explore.  I wanted to do a good variety of activities, so we did a 4×4 jeep tour on Wednesday morning, a sunset cruise on Wednesday evening, and a snorkeling tour on a catamaran on Thursday morning with time for shopping in the town on Thursday afternoon.

ABC Tours is one of the top-rated tour companies in Aruba, offering land tours in 4×4 jeeps and UTVs.  The UTVs looked a bit too adventurous for my taste, but we have toured in 4x4s before and enjoyed it so we decided to go with that instead.   Aruba has a really rugged east coast as compared to the beaches along their west coast, so I used this tour as an opportunity to explore the east coast and booked us on the Natural Pool Safari.  The tour is 4.5 hours long, including 4 stops, lunch, water, free pick up and drop off at the cruise port, and costs $86 USD per person if booked online, including a 10% discount for booking 7 days in advance.  The only issue I had was that we had to prepay in full upon booking online, which I prefer not to do in case the itinerary changes and then I have to deal with getting a refund.  They do have free cancellation with one week notice, so we had that reassurance at least!

Here is the tour description from ABC-aruba.com…

If you are looking for a quick get-away from the busy areas and can’t wait to be mesmerized by some serious scenery of Aruba’s jaw-dropping coastline, our half day, four hour Natural Pool Safari is designed for you.  We leave ABC’s headquarter in a small caravan and before you know it you will be stopping at the beautiful historical sites on Aruba, such as;

-The Natural Bridge

-Bushiribana Gold Mill Ruins

–Aruba’s Arikok National Park

-Natural Pool at ‘Conchi’

The Natural Pool Safari tour will take you down the rugged roads of our beautiful island. The best part of this trip is that you will get to experience the Natural Pool by swimming and snorkeling. The pool is formed by a wall of volcanic rock formation that allows a tranquil and refreshing swimming, on a side of the island that is otherwise not possible. While snorkeling, you will be amazed by colorful fishes and coral life.

Here is today’s daily schedule:

Today looked like a cloudy day.  When we went outside on our balcony, it was hard to know if we were docked because we faced out to the water.  I know it is luck of the draw and depends on the port and the Captain’s preferences, but overall, the port-side balconies had better views of land on nearly every day of our cruise.  

After another omelet and bagel with smoked salmon for breakfast on the balcony, we left the ship just after it was cleared at 8:10am.  I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for, but just after stepping outside the cruise terminal, I ran into a lady holding a sign for ABC tours.  She checked our names off her list, then directed us to a 15-passenger bus which would take us to the office to start our tour.  We waited a few minutes for 4 other people to get off the Eclipse and join us, and then we set off for the 5-minute drive to the office.  We knew we were at the right place when we saw all the jeeps parked out front.

These were the UTVs for a different tour.

OMG, this part was total chaos!  We walked into the small office and there must have been 100 people in there and no one really knew where to go.  We found the woman who drove us to the office when she got behind the desk, and she helped us sign our safety waivers and fill out our lunch request forms.  The options for lunch were BBQ chicken drumsticks, soup, or a vegetarian dish.  ABC Tours offers 3 or 4 tours in both jeeps and UTVs, so everyone had to get sorted out to the right group.  The lady told us to stand outside and look for our guide, Rocky. At least we could get out of the tiny office, but it was still a bit confusing outside because no one knew who was on the tour with them and who the guides were so we were all just milling around. They really need a better system for getting the day started- perhaps staggering the start times of the different tours so everyone doesn’t arrive at the same time?  

Eventually, Rocky introduced himself and gathered up the 18 people taking the Rugged Natural Pool Safari tour.  He said there would be 3 jeeps for the 18 of us, but only 2 guides so we needed one person to volunteer to drive the last jeep.  DH wanted to volunteer but I discouraged it because I had a feeling the driving would be challenging and it would turn a fun day into a stressful one.  Luckily, there was a family of 4 with 2 teenagers and the father volunteered to drive so they got their own jeep, Rocky took 8 people in the back of his jeep, and the remaining 6 of us went into the last jeep with Andrew as our driver. Spoiler alert:  DH was really glad he didn’t drive because we were in for a bumpy ride!  But let’s not jump too far ahead.

It took a really long time to get everything organized and start our day, but we finally left the office parking lot at 9am.  Our caravan rode about 10 minutes to the first stop of the day- the Diocese of Willemstad church.  

Rocky gathered up everyone from all 3 jeeps and explained some background about the church, then gave us time to go inside and explore.  

We stayed here for about 5 minutes to see the gold-plated church altar.  It was also pretty to see the bright sunlight shining through all the stained glass windows.

Next, we rode a few more minutes to the Casibari rock formations.  This is a very popular tourist site and there were hundreds of visitors when we arrived here (including several excursions from the cruise ships).  It is a series of huge boulders where you can climb up a marked path of rocks and stairs to reach an overlook point on top.  When we first arrived here, Rocky gathered up everyone from the 3 jeeps to give us a little history about Aruba.  He spoke for about 10 minutes, then told us we could have 20 minutes to explore the grounds.  Because it was so crazy crowded when we were there, it took nearly 10 minutes to climb to the top of the rocks.  The climb as not very hard, but I would recommend wearing closed toe shoes (our tour description actually said no flip flops allowed so we were wearing sneakers anyway).  

Climbing up and through the boulders

Notice the hair on these 2 women… yup, it was another super windy day in the Caribbean!

Once we got to the top, the views of Aruba were quite impressive. Casibari is located a bit inland, but we were able to see out to the ocean and even see the cruise ships docked in the distance.  

See the cruise ships in the distance?

Looking back towards the parking area, you can see all the big tour buses and vans.  This was definitely a popular stop for tours today.

We took a few photos, then made our way back down to the ground.  Luckily there was a separate staircase to go down so it wasn’t nearly as crowded.  

Down on the ground, there is a walking path that winds through the park and is lined by super tall cacti.  Aruba is technically in a desert climate, but there is something weird about seeing a cactus and a cruise ship in the same line of site.

After we all piled back into our jeeps, we headed off to the highlight attraction of the tour- the Arikok National Park.  I knew we were in for a bumpy ride over the rugged terrain, but nothing could prepare me for this!  Luckily the seats in the back of these Land Rovers had extra cushioning and they are built for driving over rocks and up and down steep hills, but don’t forget to fasten your seatbelt tight!!  We were bouncing all over the place, so I was glad we only had 6 people in our jeep because I am sure those with 8 people in their jeep were bumping into each other more than is comfortable.  Andrew had great control over the vehicle and really knew how to get us excited by speeding down the steep hills and around curves so fast I thought the jeep may tip over.

Things got especially tricky when a bunch of bigger tour jeeps approached in the opposite direction as they were leaving the park.  The path we were driving on was barely wide enough to count as a one-way road, but definitely not wide enough for two-way traffic!  Andrew handled it like a pro- he just drove off the road!  Crisis averted!  Incidentally, I was very happy we booked with ABC Tours in this moment as we only had 6 people in our jeep while the people on the tour with that other company (not sure which one) had 16 people in each jeep!  It looked very crowded in there and definitely not comfortable for such a long day of riding on uneven surfaces.

Anyway, after a while of driving through dirt and rocks with hundreds of cacti surrounding us, we reached the ocean! The steep cliffs and jagged shoreline reminded me a little bit of the California coast.  I am not sure how it looks on a normal day, but the extreme winds crashed the waves against the shore, creating an incredible explosion of water.  It was like liquid fireworks!  

When the guides parked the jeeps, Rocky told us all to get out and gather around as he explained what would happen next. This stop was at the natural pool at Conchi and the original plan was for us to go swimming and snorkeling here. The tour description on the ABC Tours website said: “The best part of this trip is that you will get to experience the Natural Pool by swimming and snorkeling. The pool is formed by a wall of volcanic rock formation that allows a tranquil and refreshing swimming, on a side of the island that is otherwise not possible. While snorkeling, you will be amazed by colorful fishes and coral life.”  Obviously, this was the thing I most look forward to on the tour, so you can imagine my devastation when Rocky explained that it was too windy and unsafe for us to swim here today.  He said that the water is usually very calm inside the pool because the rocks surrounding it create a barrier against the waves, but that today it was so windy and the waves were so rough that they were crashing over the protective rocks and we could get swept out to sea if we tried to swim here today.  He said that he would let us walk down to the beach to take some photos and we could stay here for about 20 minutes, and as a replacement, we would go swimming at a different beach for a few minutes at the end of our tour.  Yet again, the wind would ruin our tour, but such is life so we just tried to make the best of it and enjoy what we could of this natural pool.

Climbing down to sea level was no easy feet (…see what I did there? Hehe)  If you take this tour and do get to swim in the natural pool, make sure to bring along water shoes for the hike down there because it would be really challenging to walk down these stairs in flip flops.  

These photos do not really capture how incredible this beach was.  The wind was fierce and the sun was at a funny angle so it’s hard to show in a photo what we could see in person, but I’ll do my best.  

We stayed for about 15 minutes, then climbed back up the stairs to the jeeps.  I am still quite disappointed that we missed out on the opportunity to swim here, but maybe someday I’ll be lucky enough to return here in the future.  We left Arikok the same way we entered, then drove over to our next stop.  On the way, we passed some pretty sites.

Our next stop was the natural bridge.  Or should I say, the site formerly home to the natural bridge, since the bridge itself fell down over a decade ago.  There is now a smaller bridge that formed next to where the original stood, and they have a huge mural showing what the bridge originally looked like.

Rocky told us the story of the natural bridge and how it fell down early in the morning when no tourists were around, so luckily no one was injured.  A new natural bridge is starting to form, as you can see over Rocky’s right shoulder.

I know I look ridiculous, but just in case you didn’t believe me about the wind…

It took me a loooong time and a lot of ripped out hair to untangle my rats nest when we got back to the ship after the tour haha

Here is where the original natural bridge stood.

We walked around a little and explored the grounds.  These rocks stacked on top of each other are said to bring good luck or something like that.

Too bad I wasn’t aiming my camera just a little more to the right!  There were some serious waves crashing against the shore here!!

There was a little gift shop with some food and restrooms, but I didn’t go inside.

Time to get back in the jeeps

Riding over to our next stop

Our next stop was the Bushiribana Gold Mill Ruins. Right now, it is the stone shell of a building, but originally, it was home to a gold mill that was designed to look like a fort so pirates would think this was protected land and not come ashore here and no one would know about the gold.  Andrew explained that the original name of this island was Orouba which means “there was gold” but it later shortened to Aruba.  We spent a few minutes climbing around inside the mill, but the guides said we needed to return quickly so we would have time to go to the beach.  

By now, it was 12 noon, so we jumped back in the jeeps and sped off for the 20 minute ride to our last stop at the beach. Since this was added on as a replacement for our stop at the natural pool, I didn’t know where we were going. When we arrived, Rocky explained that this was Tres Trapi, a section of Malmok beach with a scenic view of the very clear water.  He said we could stay here for 20 minutes, and then we would have lunch.  I decided to just enjoy the views and take photos along the beach since 20 minutes was not really enough time to bother getting in the water, but DH did go swimming for a few minutes and said the water felt refreshing.

When it was time to leave, we piled back in the jeeps for the short ride back to the ABC Tours office.  The way Rocky had described it, I thought we were eating lunch at the beach, but instead, we were actually eating at their office.  They have a restaurant set up along the side of the office with several long tables such that each jeep is set up at its own table to eat the lunch we selected earlier this morning.  We were so dirty and sweaty at this point, and we didn’t really want to eat lunch at the office with a view of the parking lot, so we asked Andrew to drive us back to the cruise ship.  Also, I thought lunch was included in the time of the tour, but it was now 1pm, when the tour was supposed to end, and we had not eaten yet and still had to get back to the ship.  We needed time to shower and get ready for our afternoon tour so I really just wanted to get back to the ship at this point.  Had we been eating on the beach as we thought, then we would have been fine with it, but at this point it just made more sense to skip the ‘free’ (pre-paid for with our tour price) lunch and go eat something even better back on the ship. No one else on our tour was from the ship, so it was no big deal for Andrew to drive us back now instead of after lunch.

Andrew drove us back to the port in our jeep, but he could only go as far as the security gate, so we had to walk another 10 minutes to get back to the
ship.  We were back on the ship by 1:30pm and went straight up to the
Oceanview Café for lunch.  I apologize to anyone who had to look at me at this moment because I looked ridiculous.  The extreme winds from the jeep tour really did crazy things to my hair and I desperately needed a shower, but that would take too much time and lunch would be over if I took care of that first, so I had no choice but to brave the buffet looking like a crazy person.  At least it was worth it for a very tasty meal.

The ‘pizza of the day’ was kind of random today, with spinach, olives, feta cheese, and baby shrimp.  I’ve never had shrimp on pizza, but it was surprisingly good! I also really liked the tortellini salad, shrimp salad, and mushrooms.

After lunch, a painful experience of removing all the knots from my hair, and an extremely long shower, we got ready for the second tour of the day.  We were staying in Aruba overnight tonight, so we wanted to take advantage of it and book a sunset catamaran tour.  Mi Dushi has a big 60-person catamaran docked in Palm Beach and they offer several options for daytime snorkeling tours plus this 2-hour evening tour.  We did not plan to go into the water on this tour as we have a snorkeling tour scheduled for tomorrow morning, so we just dressed nicely in plain clothes.  There was also the option to wear a bathing suit because the boat would anchor off the coast of one of the beaches and they have a rope swing if you want to jump in the water.  The tour also includes “light snacks” (whatever that means!) and an open bar with cocktails, soda, juice, and rum punch.  We had to meet the tour at 4:40pm at their dock in Palm Beach near the Marriott Hotel, and they do not include transportation from the cruise ship.  We could have taken a taxi from the ship to the Marriott for $14 each way, but we wanted to save a little money and be adventurous, so we took the local bus. After exiting the cruise terminal area through the security gate, we continued walking up to the main street. Directly across the street is a little alley that opens up to a big parking lot and this is where you can catch the local bus.  The bus system is called Arubus, and they have a very helpful website where I was able to find the maps and schedules for each route, so I knew we needed the L10 bus and it runs approximately every 15-20 minutes.  We left the ship at 3pm and arrived at the bus stop just as they were loading the 3:15pm bus.  The bus driver let us pay for our tickets on the bus, and he did take US dollars but he did not have any change in US currency.  The bus costs $2.60 per person, each way, so we each ended up with the equivalent of 40 cents in Aruban currency.  We did not know this at the time, but there is also a place to buy a roundtrip bus card for $5 USD so that will save you a few cents and eliminate the currency issues, so we did that the next morning when we took the bus to our other tour.  The bus is very clean, and it was interesting to see the mix of locals and tourists on the bus.  I told the driver where we were going when I boarded the bus, so he was helpful about announcing each stop so we knew when to get off the bus.  It was actually an interesting ride as the bus took us along Eagle Beach and then up towards Palm Beach so we got a good introduction to the hotels and touristy beaches in Aruba.  In the high-rise section, the hotels were HUGE and reminded us of Las Vegas.  It took about 15 minutes to reach the high-rise area and we got off the bus at the stop in front of the Marriott.  

We weren’t exactly sure where to go to meet our tour since the directions just said to find their pier between the Marriott and Holiday Inn hotels.  The first hurdle was figuring out how to get from the main road to the beach.  After walking for a little while, we couldn’t find any cut-throughs to the beach so we eventually gave up and just walked through the main entrance of the Holiday Inn.  Luckily no one seemed to mind.  We got out to the beach and started walking in the direction of the Marriott, but wow, this hotel is huge!  Just when we thought we got to the end of their property, there was another building that was still part of the Holiday Inn.  When we finally did reach the end, it wasn’t hard to find the pier because the Mi Dushi boat was docked and very easy to spot.  It has bright colors painted all over it and is clearly labeled so it’s always nice to know we found the spot we are looking for.  I made sure to give us lots of time to get down here, not knowing how fast or reliable the bus would be and not knowing exactly where we needed to find the boat, but now we were 45 minutes early for the tour. We spent a few minutes walking around the beach near the Marriott, and oh my, was this place ever hopping! Maybe it’s because it is spring break time, but it was very crowded at this beach with hundreds of lounge chairs filled with people.  It seemed like a vibrant, fun atmosphere but this beach was definitely not relaxing at all.

At around 4:15pm, we were tired of walking around the beach and wanted to get out of the sun.  It was still 25 minutes before we were due to check in for our tour, but the boat was docked right there so we decided to walk down the pier and ask if we could sit onboard a little early.  

 Like I said, the Mi Dushi boat is hard to miss!

Our notes said that the boat would be docked at the Hadicurari Pier.  Unfortunately, this giant sign is located at the end of the pier, so you can’t easily see it from the beach.

Looking back towards the beach from the end of the pier

When we got there, one of the employees was starting to set up.  He said it was too early to check in because the girls who did that process aren’t there yet, but he was nice enough to let us sit on the boat to get out of the sun. The boat is really big with 4 different levels of seating.  Since we were not going swimming, I wanted to sit as far from the water as possible to avoid getting splashed or bumped into by people in wet bathing suits, so we went straight up to the top level.  There were 2 long benches that could easily seat 4 people each, and the roof above it was lined with palm fronds for a little extra Caribbean flare.

At around 4:45pm, the girls arrived from the office to start checking
everyone in.  They checked our names off their list, then asked us to sign a safety waiver and gave us each a wristband with a silver charm dangling from it.  They told us they would collect the bracelets later (as if we would have wanted to keep it??), and that we should go sit and relax until everyone else was checked in.  The boat was big enough to hold 60 passengers but there were only about 30 people on our tour, so we had plenty of room to spread out.  DH and I spent most of the tour up on the top level, and another family of 4 sat up there with us.  There was a group of around 10 college-aged kids who were likely on spring break. They were the only ones wearing bathing suits and they took over the front section of the boat.  The rest of the passengers spread out in the middle section and the back section of the boat and everyone seemed very comfortable.

Promptly at 5pm, the check in girls came around and collected all of the
plastic bracelets.  I don’t exactly understand what the purpose was since we only had it for 15 minutes and they collected it before we left the dock.  It was a bit weird, if you ask me!  The girls left the boat and we were left with 3 guides for the remainder of the tour.  They explained that we would sail out along the coast towards the north for about half an hour, then we would anchor off the shore of one of the beaches so we could go swimming and use the trapeze swing if we wanted to, and finally we would sail back south as the sun was setting.  The tour was 2 hours long and we would be back at the pier by 7pm.  There was a bathroom on the boat, and an open bar for the whole length of the tour.  He pointed out a few safety things and then we were on our way!  

Despite the strong winds, we had clear skies and it was a lovely evening for a sunset cruise.

Looking back towards the high rise hotels on Palm Beach

The best part of having such strong winds was that there were lots of wind
surfers.  It was amazing to watch them fly across the water… they were moving faster than us on the boat!

We climbed downstairs to the bar area to check out the situation.  This guy stayed down there the whole tour, acting as the bartender.  They had lots of different fruit juices and sodas and he mixed it with either rum or vodka.  They also had a pre-made cocktail called Boom Boom.  We tried that first, but neither of us liked it.  I stuck with rum and pineapple juice for the rest of the tour.  I was a little surprised to see that they did not serve beer, only rum and vodka, but I was okay with that.  They also had a bowl of pretzels and tortilla chips and some salsa for us to snack on.

He served the drinks in small cups that were probably 8 ounces, so we had to make several trips down to the bar to get refills. At least the drinks were very strong!

At 5:30, we arrived at our destination and they dropped the anchor just off the shore of one of the beaches.  They invited us to swing on the rope swing or go swimming if we wanted to, but only about half the people on the tour actually went in the water.

One of the guides helped people climb up onto the ledge and then he told them how to use the rope swing.  Even though I didn’t go in the water, I had a lot of fun watching these crazy people try to use the swing, some more successfully than others!

Don’t mind my crazy hair and my dress blowing everywhere in this photo… the strong winds plagued us yet again!

 This photo shows a good perspective of the seating on the boat.  I was standing at the very front on the lowest level, then there are 2 middle levels, and you can see the top level at the back where we were sitting under the shade of the little roof.  They also had cup holders near the seating around the whole boat.  That must come in handy for the daytime tours so you have a place to put your cup if you want to go snorkeling.

At some point, the Jolly Pirates boat anchored next to us.  I did consider their tour when I was looking at our options, but they required payment in full at the time of booking and I usually avoid that kind of tour in case the cruise ship doesn’t arrive in port or something.  I was glad we booked with Mi Dushi when I saw how crowded the Jolly Pirates boat looked!

When we signed up for the tour, the description said it included light snacks.  When I saw the pretzels and chips and salsa, I assumed that was our snacks, so imagine my surprise when the guides handed out warm chicken and veggie skewers, followed by cheese empanadas!  Both were delicious, and while not quite filling enough to substitute for dinner, it was enough of a snack to hold us over.  

It was hard to capture this as a photo, but this woman was swimming out past the buoys with her dog.  They came up alongside our boat from the shore, and then kept swimming further out into the ocean.  I assume she turned around eventually!

As the sun sank lower in the sky, the guides called everyone out of the water, pulled up the anchor, and we continued on our way.

They sailed further north along the coast, all the way to the tip near the
lighthouse, then made a big U-turn to go back south.

The lighthouse in the distance

This boat looked like a lot of fun with the twisty slide off the back

We spent the rest of the tour slowly cruising south, watching the sun set and sipping fruity cocktails.  Not a bad way to spend an evening in paradise!

I kept watching for the Green Flash as the sun dipped below the horizon, but no such luck. The boat docked back at the pier promptly at 7pm, marking the end of the tour.  Overall, we were pleased with the tour.  This was more of a booze cruise than a romantic sunset sail, but we knew that going in and we knew what to expect, so that was okay with us.  It was nice that the boat was only half filled so we had lots of space to spread out, and the little snacks provided were unexpected and tasty.  We would definitely book with Mi Dushi again, but maybe for a daytime tour instead next time.

Our original plan was to go out for dinner at one of the restaurants along the beach, but after eating a few chicken skewers and empanadas on the tour, neither of us was hungry.  We wondered back towards the Marriott and went into their lobby to use their restrooms.  While there, we noticed that they have free wifi for one hour!  We were both getting tired and still feeling the effects of those fruity cocktails on the boat, so we lounged around in the hotel lobby and checked our emails and social media feeds for a while.  As it got closer to our 60-minute time limit, neither of us was hungry yet for dinner so we decided to just head back to the ship instead of going out for dinner at the beach.

We asked one of the employees at the hotel front desk where we could catch the bus and she directed us to walk across the parking lot out to the main road, and we would find a bus shelter nearby.  As we exited the hotel, we spotted a taxi looking for passengers so we asked what it would cost for a ride back to the cruise port. He said it was $14, so we decided to save a few dollars and just stuck with our plan to take the bus for $2.60 per person. When we got out to the main road, we stayed on the same side of the road as the hotel and turned left in search of a bus shelter.  It was quite easy to spot at night because the shelter is well lit, and about 3 minutes after we arrived, a bus pulled up that was clearly labeled as going towards Oranjestad.  I must say that the bus system in Aruba is very convenient, efficient, and surprisingly clean!  The bus was at the end of its route and at the end of the day, yet it was still spotless!

I’m not sure if you can see it from the photo, but after you pay your fare to the bus driver, you pass through a turn style. When you need to get off the bus, you must exit at the back door because you can’t go back through the turn style in the wrong direction.

This is a photo of the bus schedule.  Either of these bus routes will take you up towards Eagle Beach and Palm Beach.

This is not the greatest photo because I took it at night, but I just wanted to show you where to catch the bus.  This photo was taken at the edge of the sidewalk, coming from the cruise ship.  After you exit the gates to the cruise port, keep walking straight until you reach the main road.  If you turn right, you will see this cross walk just a few feet ahead.  Cross the street here, and you can buy a ticket from that white booth and then continue to the parking lot behind the booth to board the bus.  It is very easy and a short walk from the cruise ships, plus it’s very affordable!

When we reached the cruise port, it was 8:30pm and there was a security guard sitting at the gate, ready to check our seapass cards.  I think they had someone stationed here all night so we could come and go as we pleased. From there, it was another 5-10 minute walk to reach the gangway and reboard the Eclipse.

I still wasn’t very hungry, but it was getting late and I knew I should try to eat something for dinner.  We could have gone to the MDR but I didn’t really want to deal with a long meal.  Instead, we went up to the buffet and DH picked a few options from the Mexican food station while I got a made-to-order pasta dish.  

I was so exhausted that I nearly fell asleep mid-meal, so when we finished eating, we just went back to the cabin and called it a night.  When we arrived, we saw that Albertina had left us our disembarkation information.  

I was way too tired to deal with reading that right now so I stuffed it in a drawer to worry about later in the week.  I quickly filled out the breakfast room service door tag, then crawled into bed and fell asleep.

Step Tracker Daily Total:  12,436 steps; 4.703 miles