Puerto Rico and Southern Caribbean Cruise - Day 8 - Aruba
Aruba
We awoke around 7:30, got ready, ate breakfast at Cabana's and disembarked at 8:45 AM for our 9:00 AM car rental pickup. We waited at the location they indicated but they did not arrive. By 9:20 I was annoyed and trying to figure out what to do. Our phones didn't work in Aruba so we couldn't call. I asked at the nearby diamond store if I could use their phone and they refused. So I went into the Harley Davidson store and they agreed. (That might say something about diamond people vs. bikers...) I called the car rental and they said that they would send someone so finally at 9:40 we were picked up and taken to the offsite car rental place. We got the car sorted out and by 10:00 AM we were on the road. I still don't know why they weren't there. I saw that they had a list of pickups on the car counter when I was filling out paperwork and it said "9 AM cruise terminal" on the list. Someone dropped the ball, I guess.
Our first stop was the Casibari Rock Formations, about a 15 minute drive from the car rental place. We walked around the gravel trails looking at the incredibly huge boulders for about 20 minutes and climbed to the top of the largest pile to take in the view. We also saw some really cool bright blue lizards and Emmaline spotted a hidden Mickey rock (in profile). Casibari was neat, but really full of tourists.
Our next stop, about 7 minutes away was another rock formation, the Ayo Rock Formation. I actually preferred this to Casibari. Ayo is perhaps less tall and impressive, but the trails snaked between some of the rocks and we went through sections that were almost like caves. There were also fewer people at this set of rocks and we spotted some wild goats (that I couldn't get a good photo of) and some petroglyphs.
After a quick bathroom break, we jumped back into our car and drove about 5 minutes to the Bushiribana Ruins. These ruins of a former gold smelter date back to 1825 when gold was mined nearby and sit near a rough and craggy coastline on the northeast side of the island. The sea was tumultuous and the waves crashed against the rough volcanic rocks that made up the coastline. It was a beautiful, albeit windy, setting.
We bought some overpriced water from a food truck set up there selling snacks and beverages and got back into the car, driving along the coast about 5 minutes to the Natural Bridge. The actual "Natural Bridge" collapsed in 2005, but there is still another one there dubbed "Baby Bridge." I have to say, if this one is the baby, the other one must have been really impressive! The surf and volcanic "beach" here were also very impressive and beautiful. We stopped into a shop lot where a lady was making stroopwafels. Emmaline wanted some so we bought a bag of broken bits, which seemed easier to manage in a car.
By this time it was almost noon and we were ready for lunch (well, those that didn't eat a bunch of stroopwafels) so we drove back to town and stopped in at Linda's Dutch Pancakes and had some savory and sweet Dutch pancakes. Aruba, like Curacao is also a Dutch island, however, they have some additional independence that they obtained in the 80's, though apparently they aren't fully their own nation. It sounds very complicated and I don't entirely understand it all.
So we're eating Dutch pancakes which were very large and very yummy and very expensive. Roger and I could have potentially shared one, except that he's a meat eater and I'm a vegetarian and we couldn't agree. We should have asked if we could do half and half. Oh well, we're on vacation so here's to $50 worth of pancakes!
We finished up there and after a brief stop for some caffeination at Starbucks, we hit the beach around 1:30 PM. We found a parking spot at Eagle beach and paid $1 each to use the bathrooms at a bar to change our clothes. The beach was beautiful, but was extremely windy and now and then a particularly large gust would blow a stinging blast of sand at our backs or faces, which wasn't pleasant. Emmaline enjoyed digging and building a sand castle and we all enjoyed the surf a bit. The beach was very busy, apparently busier than normal because they were celebrating a holiday. Every January 25th is Betico Croes Day, celebrating the man that helped Aruba attain their "Status Aparte" which has to do with the aforementioned not quite independent, yet independent status. I'm still confused. Anyway, loads of people were apparently off from work and they all went to the beach.
We stayed at the beach until around 3:00 PM, when we decided we'd had enough wind and sun and we packed up and returned the rental car and got a ride back to the port. Then we purchased a beautiful handmade magnet for our fridge that somehow went missing between that time and when we arrived home. It's hanging out somewhere with the Genoa magnet we got in June and met the same fate. There are probably some missing socks in the same place. Back onboard the ship around 3:45 PM, we showered, ate some snacks and Emmaline went to the club while I started to organize things and get a few things packed so I wouldn't have as much to pack on our sea day.
At 6:15 PM it was time for the evening's show in the Walt Disney Theatre. This time we saw Max Winfrey who was billed as performing "physical comedy." What that actually means, apparently, is juggling. He was a good juggler and put on an entertaining show. After the show we changed into our semi-formal clothes and had some more photos taken. We ended up buying one of these. I also would have liked one of the formal night photos, but I didn't feel that we needed both and they've done away with the 10 photo package, which is annoying and the 15 photo pack is ridiculously priced.
After that, it was time for dinner and we were back in Animator's Palate for the animation magic show. We all drew our little characters and they were shown up on screen parading around. I'm glad they have this show also on the Wonder now (we didn't have it last time we were on the Wonder, but we did do it on the Magic in June). It's very cute and I love to see everyone's different drawings.
After dinner, the girls went off to the kids club and Roger and I went to see a comic in the adult club. Maryellen Hooper was really funny. I was almost in tears a couple of times she cracked me up so much. Most of her act was about being a mom and she dished about her husband and every day life. She was like a modern day Mrs. Maisel. By then it was late so I picked up Emmaline from the club and we all went to bed.
Click here for Day 9.
We awoke around 7:30, got ready, ate breakfast at Cabana's and disembarked at 8:45 AM for our 9:00 AM car rental pickup. We waited at the location they indicated but they did not arrive. By 9:20 I was annoyed and trying to figure out what to do. Our phones didn't work in Aruba so we couldn't call. I asked at the nearby diamond store if I could use their phone and they refused. So I went into the Harley Davidson store and they agreed. (That might say something about diamond people vs. bikers...) I called the car rental and they said that they would send someone so finally at 9:40 we were picked up and taken to the offsite car rental place. We got the car sorted out and by 10:00 AM we were on the road. I still don't know why they weren't there. I saw that they had a list of pickups on the car counter when I was filling out paperwork and it said "9 AM cruise terminal" on the list. Someone dropped the ball, I guess.
Our first stop was the Casibari Rock Formations, about a 15 minute drive from the car rental place. We walked around the gravel trails looking at the incredibly huge boulders for about 20 minutes and climbed to the top of the largest pile to take in the view. We also saw some really cool bright blue lizards and Emmaline spotted a hidden Mickey rock (in profile). Casibari was neat, but really full of tourists.
Our next stop, about 7 minutes away was another rock formation, the Ayo Rock Formation. I actually preferred this to Casibari. Ayo is perhaps less tall and impressive, but the trails snaked between some of the rocks and we went through sections that were almost like caves. There were also fewer people at this set of rocks and we spotted some wild goats (that I couldn't get a good photo of) and some petroglyphs.
After a quick bathroom break, we jumped back into our car and drove about 5 minutes to the Bushiribana Ruins. These ruins of a former gold smelter date back to 1825 when gold was mined nearby and sit near a rough and craggy coastline on the northeast side of the island. The sea was tumultuous and the waves crashed against the rough volcanic rocks that made up the coastline. It was a beautiful, albeit windy, setting.
We bought some overpriced water from a food truck set up there selling snacks and beverages and got back into the car, driving along the coast about 5 minutes to the Natural Bridge. The actual "Natural Bridge" collapsed in 2005, but there is still another one there dubbed "Baby Bridge." I have to say, if this one is the baby, the other one must have been really impressive! The surf and volcanic "beach" here were also very impressive and beautiful. We stopped into a shop lot where a lady was making stroopwafels. Emmaline wanted some so we bought a bag of broken bits, which seemed easier to manage in a car.
By this time it was almost noon and we were ready for lunch (well, those that didn't eat a bunch of stroopwafels) so we drove back to town and stopped in at Linda's Dutch Pancakes and had some savory and sweet Dutch pancakes. Aruba, like Curacao is also a Dutch island, however, they have some additional independence that they obtained in the 80's, though apparently they aren't fully their own nation. It sounds very complicated and I don't entirely understand it all.
So we're eating Dutch pancakes which were very large and very yummy and very expensive. Roger and I could have potentially shared one, except that he's a meat eater and I'm a vegetarian and we couldn't agree. We should have asked if we could do half and half. Oh well, we're on vacation so here's to $50 worth of pancakes!
We finished up there and after a brief stop for some caffeination at Starbucks, we hit the beach around 1:30 PM. We found a parking spot at Eagle beach and paid $1 each to use the bathrooms at a bar to change our clothes. The beach was beautiful, but was extremely windy and now and then a particularly large gust would blow a stinging blast of sand at our backs or faces, which wasn't pleasant. Emmaline enjoyed digging and building a sand castle and we all enjoyed the surf a bit. The beach was very busy, apparently busier than normal because they were celebrating a holiday. Every January 25th is Betico Croes Day, celebrating the man that helped Aruba attain their "Status Aparte" which has to do with the aforementioned not quite independent, yet independent status. I'm still confused. Anyway, loads of people were apparently off from work and they all went to the beach.
We stayed at the beach until around 3:00 PM, when we decided we'd had enough wind and sun and we packed up and returned the rental car and got a ride back to the port. Then we purchased a beautiful handmade magnet for our fridge that somehow went missing between that time and when we arrived home. It's hanging out somewhere with the Genoa magnet we got in June and met the same fate. There are probably some missing socks in the same place. Back onboard the ship around 3:45 PM, we showered, ate some snacks and Emmaline went to the club while I started to organize things and get a few things packed so I wouldn't have as much to pack on our sea day.
At 6:15 PM it was time for the evening's show in the Walt Disney Theatre. This time we saw Max Winfrey who was billed as performing "physical comedy." What that actually means, apparently, is juggling. He was a good juggler and put on an entertaining show. After the show we changed into our semi-formal clothes and had some more photos taken. We ended up buying one of these. I also would have liked one of the formal night photos, but I didn't feel that we needed both and they've done away with the 10 photo package, which is annoying and the 15 photo pack is ridiculously priced.
After that, it was time for dinner and we were back in Animator's Palate for the animation magic show. We all drew our little characters and they were shown up on screen parading around. I'm glad they have this show also on the Wonder now (we didn't have it last time we were on the Wonder, but we did do it on the Magic in June). It's very cute and I love to see everyone's different drawings.
After dinner, the girls went off to the kids club and Roger and I went to see a comic in the adult club. Maryellen Hooper was really funny. I was almost in tears a couple of times she cracked me up so much. Most of her act was about being a mom and she dished about her husband and every day life. She was like a modern day Mrs. Maisel. By then it was late so I picked up Emmaline from the club and we all went to bed.
Click here for Day 9.
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