Aruba - Day 6

The pictures are:
. . . On our way to town.
. . . Feeding
. . . Just one of hundreds
. . . A turtle just walking around.

Well we started this day like all the others – and it is not boring!!!

We were both down to the beach by 10:30 and stayed there until 1:30, eating a hot dog on the beach for lunch.

For the first time we went to using oil, only for the last ½ hour and it was spf 2, a product we had never used. Anyway, the oil felt good and ½ hour is all we could stand.

Then it was back to the room to clean up and catch the 2:30 bus towards town where we stopped at the Butterfly House. It was really neat. They took us on a 25 minute tour and the guy was very knowledgeable about butterflies.

Back on the bus we headed for town to see what we hadn’t seen the first day. Not very many shops there except tourists shops. Every day they have at least one cruise ship dock right on the edge of town.

This will be the last entry because tomorrow we are heading for home and we really enjoyed the trip, but we are ready to get home. Six days at a destination resort is a couple too many.

Our opinion of Aruba is it is a very clean country. There isn’t a lot of grass because it is really a desert country. The fences are even made of cactus! It is a country built for the tourists who use the beaches and ocean. I am sure there are some cheap places to stay; however, the Marriott attracts a lot of money from the east coast. Most of the people we met were from either Boston or New York. There is a huge Marriott timeshare development adjacent to the hotel so the casino was jammed every night and boy did the people staying here have lots of money. The casino staff is not interested in people at all. They are very distant and we never had anyone introduce themselves to us - we did not like this casino and probably will never be back. We would go to San Juan first as it is probably the best casino in the Caribbean

The Marriott staff, as well as the people who live in Aruba are very nice and friendly and we enjoyed them a lot – especially eating at their restaurants. We were lucky in getting an upgraded room. The regular price on the room is $800 a night, and there are people here who pay that and a lot more – not us!

Anyway a great trip – miss everyone and we will see all of you soon.
Love – Mom (Barb) and Ed

Day 5

The pictures are:
. . . That’s our ship in the background.
. . . The Marriott – we are in the right wing, front corner.
. . . Barb with “punch” on the ship.
. . . Dinner

The day started out like the last couple except even later. Ed was on the beach by 10:30 and Barb was there by 11:00 – relaxing is wonderful!!!

We had lunch on the beach consisting of a yogurt and banana for Ed and a strawberry smoothe for Barb – what a great lunch.

Then at 2:30 it was on to the pier to board the ship the Jolly Pirate.

We spent the next 3 hours sailing up the north coast and stopping twice to snorkel. The water is unbelievably clear and there were lots of fish. The third stop was for the kids to swing off the side of the ship into the water. We decided to not try it.

This sun is really hot and we still haven’t gotten past spf 4 lotion. This may be the first southern trip we have ever had where we did not use oil. But, Barb probably will tomorrow!

Dinner was a chicken cordon blu on the beach that we split and it was great. When we ate it was 81 and getting colder.

Then it was on to the casino and for only the second time since 1993, we have had a losing trip in the casino. We might not even go tomorrow night to cut our losses.

Night for now.

Day 4

The Pictures are:

. . . Small boats and kitesurfing.

. . . Dinner

. . . Ed's favorite food stand!!

What a routine – we went to bed early at midnight and Ed was up at 9 to have breakfast and reserve some beach chairs.

Barb was at the beach by 10 and until 2:30 we were on the beach. This was probably the best day with virtually no clouds and we came close to getting too much sun. We walked a lot and had fun watching the windsurfers and kitesurfers. With the wind here, they really can travel fast.

We then sat on our balcony for the rest of the afternoon. The balcony is 50’ long and we sat in the shade side overlooking the pool and talked and people watched – it was just relaxing fun.

When it was time for dinner, we walked down to the strip mall about ½ mile away and ate at a local restraurant.

Back to the hotel for a short break and then into the casino to try to win back some of our money and we didn’t do it. Ed played for a long time at his table and Barb had miserable luck at the slots – oh well, maybe it will be better tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be another day like today except we are going snorkeling at 3 – should be a lot of fun. This blog is being posted tomorrow because we were tired when we got in last night - sorry about that.