So our last foreign port arrives today, and we dock at Aruba. Our excursion today is called "Sea and See," quaintly enough, and it involves looking at underwater shipwrecks in a semi-submersible, then going around in a bus tour on land to check out the land portion.
Aruba appears to be mainly a resort island now; it was originally a Spanish port that was eventually taken over by the Dutch. Although they used to have reasonably productive gold mines, it seems their main resources now consist of casinos and timeshares.
The first part of our excursion takes place on an Atlantis boat that basically has a glass-bottom basement. You descend into the lower part of the ship where you can get a reasonable view underwater. It is actually fairly reminiscent of the submarine rides, as you can look up and see the surface of the water just out of window frame.
The ship we see is apparently a German freight carrier, who sailed into Aruba, dropped it's cargo, and then got trapped here when Holland entered WWII. The crew hurriedly decided to sink her, rather than let her get captured, and then surrendered to get taken to a POW camp.
The ship was a fairly young one, so the metal has withstood corrosion well, and it's ended up as a sort-of man-made reef for the fish. There are a number of snorklers around the whole West side of the island, all congregated around the various wreckages there.
After returning to shore, we get on our blessedly air conditioned bus and travel to the California lighthouse, home to many picturesque iguanas.
The lighthouse is on the Northernmost part of Aruba, named after a ship called California that wrecked on the point. The memorial plaque implies that everyone was overjoyed because they salvaged all the stuff and sold it at markets. It doesn't mention how overjoyed the passengers that lost all their stuff were.
We drive on to the Casibari rock formations. This turns out to be a large heap of rocks that people can clamber up and under to get to the top and check out the view. I don't know how tall people did it, as I had to duck down in some parts to avoid braining myself on the rocks.
It's a pretty small island, and you can see the ship in the distance from the highest point. I ask the guide what the significance of the rocks are, and he says they think that they were once under the water, and now they are above water. I refrain from noting that that's pretty much what they think about everything.
The last stop of the day is at the Natural Bridge, which was apparently pretty significant back in the day. They make a great point of saying how it used to be the number 1 tourist destination. Unfortunately, a few years ago, the natural rock formation spontaneously collapsed, so probably bumped down the list, I'm thinking.
There is another rock bridge forming, however it's still unstable. Perhaps eventually it will reach the same point as the original rock bridge.
After the tour is over, we make it back to the ship in time for lunch. Mom subsequently goes to watch Wall*E, while I walk around the major city for a short while. The overwhelming major impression of the town is its incredible heat and humidity. It's so humid, as Hochberg would say, you almost need a snorkel to breathe. There are several malls within walking distance to the ship but as it turns out, they are all outdoors malls and the humidity is so oppressive, I'm unable to think about anything but how to get to the nearest area with air conditioning. Eventually I retreat back to the air conditioned haven of the ship where the only things to concern you are doing the YMCA with Chip and Dale.
The family cabaret tonight is "Magical Danny," who is very funny despite playing to only a handful of people. We meet our new towel animal on arrival back in the room.
Dinner tonight is "Around the World" and is better than you might expect, for such a shotgun approach to international cuisine. My appetizer is made up of scallops, which are very good, and rice, which is not. A trend is developing, where the rice is typically either hard and underdone, or mushy and overdone. Only rarely do you get something in between. Mom gets spring rolls, which she likes, despite her initial assumption that they would come fried (?)
The entree is a seafood dish from Belgium, I think, which is very nice, although they have a slight tendency to serve their clams and mussels closed, which I had always heard was unsafe. I don't die after eating them however, so that's something. The desserts were a little recycled I think, as they seemed familiar from some of the late-night buffets.
The adult cabaret is Jeff Civillico, who is a comedian/juggler and is generally excessively entertaining, despite a tendency to self-promote during the act. He has several more sets scheduled in the next few days.
Tomorrow: At Sea Again.
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