Day 7

Aruba
As we pulled into Aruba, I knew that I would like it a lot. It was not nearly as mountainous as the other islands, but it also had very white beaches and aqua water. We walked into town and found a bus station and took a bus down to the excursion which I planned. We went to Mumba beach where all of the high rise hotels and resorts are. There were plenty of restaurants there too, just like in the States….like, Tony Roma’s, Fridays and Hooters. Very resort like. We boarded the “Jolly Pirates” ship. It was a 1920s sea crooner. It was a sail and snorkel. Our first stop was the ship “Antilla”.

That was a world war II German ship that the Germans scuttled when the British surrounded it. It was pretty eerie diving by the ship under the water. We were in deep water there, but there were many fish all around the ship. Once I got over my fear of the sunken ship it was quite fascinating to look at under the water. For being under the water for 70 years or so, it had still retained a lot of its structure. It was sunken at an angle, so the top of the ship was about to the surface of the water. After 30 minutes of exploring, we went back to our ship. Our next stop was a shallow water beach front with a lot of coral and many schools of fish. In most of the locations we saw different types of fish. The variety was amazing.
Then our next stop was by far the coolest location. It was up against some cliffs and there were crabs and pelicans along the sea wall. After exploring there we got back on the ship and ate the catered lunch. We had chicken cabobs and ribs which were really not all that good but we were hungry. They also had an open bar which everyone took advantage of but us. Then they started the rope swing. Dan was one of the first to go. Dan attempting to do a flipI was trying to work up the confidence. Most people did O.k. but many women as soon as they grabbed on they fell off and everyone laughed….I didn’t want that. I finally decided that I would regret it if I didn’t go so I tried to get some pointers in line on how to stay on the longest. I guess I didn’t do too well since I fell pretty soon but I thought that I could do better next time so I got back in line. During this time Dan was supposed to be taking pictures but a few polls and people got in the way. I did hang on much longer the second time and had a better dismount off the swing. (the only reason why I would put such a hideous picture of me on this blog was just to prove to you I did it)
We then headed back to shore. The view around us was just amazing of all the beaches, hotels and palm trees. I was wearing one of Jaime’s sun hats that she let me borrow but as we were sailing back the hat flew off my head and into the water. The captain noticed and abandoned the wheel and took a little tender boat back and wore my hat back to the ship. The nice southern lady next to me felt it necessary to share with him that he saved the hat for a 4 month pregnant women…I didn’t think It made a difference. I was very grateful though that he did it for me. pretty scenery from our boat ride back to shore.



At the beach where the ship was docked we walked through one of the hotels and swam in one of their pools to cool off and rinse the salt water off. I very much liked that area and would want to go back. We ran to catch the bus back to town. Once there we did a little bit of souvenir shopping at little kiosks made especially for tourists. Then it was time to go back to the ship again. We were so exhausted from all of the sun of that day and the whole week that we just crashed.
That night it was our second formal night on the cruise. I didn’t feel like getting dressed up or getting ready for the night so I half did the job. We didn’t even take pictures that night but our dinner was delicious. I had King Prawns and lobster. There was a big dance show that night but we skipped that and went to a ventriloquist act instead which was lame.