Our last full day in Aruba

December 16, 2008 Maurice 2 Comments

On Friday, our last full day in Aruba, we split up the pack. Pete rented a jeep and toured the island with a local woman he met while at our first condo.

Pam, Mike and I were happy to see calm, clear oceans, so we headed north to the lighthouse, and Arashi beach. We had jumped in here early in the first week. The water is clear and calm and we saw some things we’d never seen before!

Tops on the list, was an octopus! Was that cool! Mike spotted him as he moved from the sand to over a rock and changed color from sandy white to a mottled kind of color matching the rocks. He was as tough to see initially as the scorpion fish. If you look at the enlarged picture, you’ll see his eye, and toward the center/right you’ll see one of his tentacles turned over, exposing his “suction cups.”

Some other intriguing fish we saw were the Queen Angelfish, a brilliantly colored fish that is on the cover of our “fish book” for identifying species. We’d never seen one in the ocean, and she was certainly worth the wait!

Also appearing was a lobster, a huge school of Caribbean reef squid, another Queen triggerfish, a smaller barracuda, and of course the French Angelfish.

By early afternoon. we’d tired ourselves out, so we decided to pack in a bit of shopping. Pam and I had been shopping for pinky rings, but had found nothing we really liked. We stumbled upon a nice small shop, A Touch of Gold, run by a nice family. Pam regaled them with her Punjabi swearing, and we had buckets of laughs with them.

It’s funny – you go into a jewellery store, tell them you are looking for a pinky ring, wanting to spend in the $500 range, and suddenly $1500-2500 rings are appearing. Nice – thanks for listening. I tell these guys what I wanted, and they show me 3 rings all under 600 bucks. Guess what? They got the sale! Then Pam started with her tales of Punjabi cussing, and suddenly she’s layered in gold! hah If we ever come back to Aruba, you can bet they’ll get a return visit from us!

Pam wanted another night in a casino, so we went over to the Seafront Casino. Nearby was a nice little shopping mall, open late. There we had dinner at a restaurant recommended by Linda earlier in the week, the Waterfront Crabhouse. Dinner was terrific! I had the same dinner I ordered at the disastrous Petit Cafe. The fish was PERFECTLY cooked, the shrimp were stunningly prepared and scallops a thing of beauty. A wonderful singer performed for us a few short steps away. The full moon was gorgeous; the stars twinkled merrily in the sky; sadness was in the air, but it was really a perfect finish to a really marvellous vacation.

I want to thank Pete and Mike for coming with us and joining in the fun. We had some fun times, some great meals, saw terrific vistas, met some great people, saw some amazing fish – all in all, just a great time.

Thanks Aruba. We’ll see you again some day!

(I’m going to post one more page of Aruban pics – of just the birds we saw. Some really cool birds make Aruba home – as you’ll see! )

Aruba, Vacations

Thursday on De Palm Island again

December 15, 2008 Maurice Leave a comment

Today, we went back to De Palm Island, so Mike could see the blue parrotfish. For me though, the real highlight was seeing the Midnight Parrotfish; that has been the highlight of the fish experiences so far. It’s a magnificent looking creature. He’s the only one we’ve seen of his species. Poor guy has to be lonely!

There were also some trunkfish, of a size we had never seen before. After checking in our book, we found that they were the max size for this fish. They were SOOOOoooo cool. I’m totally fascinated by them. I must have about 300 pictures of them alone! hah

We also saw the absolute biggest French Angelfish we’ve seen down here. I didn’t even realize they grew that big! Most we’ve seen were half that size. When we were in the Caymans, we bought a photo of the french angel, but never saw one there. We saw some juveniles, but no adults. Down here in Aruba, we see them every time we’re in the ocean.

Pam finally got to see her Red Lipped Blennie – they’re a really skittish fish, and tough to get a picture of… as soon as you point the camera at them, they’re gone. I’ve got some great pictures of rocks trying to photograph them! hah

Pam and Pete were the brave ones of the crowd and did the Sea Trek helmet walking, where they had a helmet on their heads that had oxygen pumped into it as they descended 25 feet into the ocean. You have to stop every few feet to pop your ears because of the pressure changes on the way down but you don’t have to do it on the way up. The fish were the usual fish you get to see around these waters but Pam did get to touch a sea feather and see it pop back in it’s little hole. It was a pretty fun experience.

We had dinner at the Petit Cafe, overlooking Oranjestaad’s harbor. It was a nice setting. It’s so cool to eat outside at 8 pm, in the nice warm 80 degree weather. I tried a new drink called the Nutty Monkey – very good! An adult slurpy with banana and coconut booze.

Unfortunately the food was poor, the worst we’ve had. I had the “Treasures of the Sea” – lobster, shrimp, and mahi-mahi. I ask you, when was the last time you NEEDED a steak knife to cut a lobster tail? 4 small shrimp, badly overcooked, a small lobster tail – and i mean small – two bites – and a little piece of mahi-mahi, with a scoop of rice and KFC-style coleslaw – 36.50 US dollars – a total ripoff.

Ah well – at least the beer was cold.

Aruba, Vacations

Diving a wreck

December 14, 2008 Maurice Leave a comment

Today, Thursday, December 11, we woke up to a beautifully calm day, and the ocean was glassy smooth. So we headed north to a wreck that is easy to swim to from shore.

It was really quite something. Literally, MILLIONS of fish hang around the ship, inside and out.

The water depth is 6-8 feet so the viewing is fantastic. We saw tons of the usual suspects, plus some gorgeous French Angels. There was a huge trumpetfish. Man, what a big guy he was.

But the real treat was the trigger fish. I love that fish – had a really cool experience with one in the Caymans, but this was the first one I’ve seen here, I think. He was a great looking fish, but he didn’t like to be photographed. It’s not a bad pic of him, but wish I could have gotten a beauty of him!

We did see a barracuda, but it was a smaller one, only about 2 feet. We also saw a couple of cool scorpionfish. They look just like a rock, so it’s really tricky to see them in the water.

For dinner, we headed out to an Argentine steakhouse called the El Gaucho. We’d heard good things about this place, and it took us a while to find it. As we were about to give up, we stumbled upon it. It was busy, as we were told it would be. We had a small wait, but they are associated with a small club, Garufa’s, across the street, so you can go have a drink, listen to the entertainment, and they’ll buzz you when your table is ready. TRUST ME ON THIS ONE – skip Garufa’s! haha That night’s entertainment was karaoke, and I take back any nice things I’ve ever said about karaoke. My ears are still bleeding.

The meal, however, more than made up for it. It’s a beautiful restaurant inside. The tables are large, with leather/cow-hide seats. They serve you on wooden chargers. The waiter, a local Aruban, was funny, friendly and efficient. The food was unbelievably good. Our friend Jorge insisted that Argentine beef was better than Alberta beef, and guess what? He’s 100% correct! Easily the best steak I’ve ever had. Pete felt the same thing.

For desert, I had the tiramisu, and it was the best desert on the island. The meal was so fantastic I had to have a nice port and a Cuban cigar to finish it off in style. The port was really nice, but the threat of divorce stopped me from the cigar! haha

Another fantastic day in paradise!

Aruba, Vacations

Wind in Aruba?

December 11, 2008 Maurice 1 Comment

While we were researching Aruba before we arrived, many people commented on the Trade Winds. Most said it was nice to have the breeze of the trade winds to keep you cool on the hot days on the beach. One guy said, “let me tell you something – they are tradeWINDS – not Trade Breezes – it’s windy there!”

Guess who is right? Trust me, it’s WINDY here. Very windy. How windy is it? If Boeing had their factory here, they wouldn’t need a wind tunnel!

It sure makes for some tough swimming! The surf is quite high, and you need to be a reasonable swimmer to be tooling around in the water. So – of course – we were out there again!

The water was so “tossed up” that it was tough to get good photos. We tried to get in at Arashi Beach, but it was too choppy, and so sandy, we decided to head back out to Baby Beach and hope for better conditions. It was nicer, and we were able to get in the water for an hour or so, but it was too much like work! hah

We headed back into town and had lunch at Senor Frogs. It’s a chain restaurant, that is all over the Caribbean and Mexico. I remember going to the Frogs in Mazatlan 30 years ago – so they’ve been around!

There is really nice bronze statue of Simon Bolivar, the great liberator. Not sure why he’s important to Aruba, since their National Independence was fought and won in just the last decade. But Aruba has many nationalities here, and lots of South American peoples are here. In fact, the friendliest people we’ve met here have been from South America!

We had dinner at the French Steakhouse. It was a nice dinner, with live piano music. He played some Christmas songs, but you know, it’s just not like Christmas when it’s 85 degrees, you’re sitting around in shorts and t-shirts and women are walking by in very small bikinis!

We finished the night with some gambling in the Alhambra Casino. The casinos here are smaller than in Vegas, and smaller than most in Vancouver too. A couple hundred slots, a dozen table games, and a sports book, and that’s about it. They allow smoking, which is fairly standard, but lots of men are puffing on big Cuban cigars, so man, the air is thick!

Aruba, Vacations

Monday in Aruba

December 9, 2008 Maurice 1 Comment

Today we did some things we’d done before, so Mike could see the island. We took a spin down to Baby Beach, near the oil refinery. The weather was sunny and windy. (Big surprise!) lol

The fish viewing was great! We saw a ton of things, and a few scary ones! There were at least 3 big, badass barracuda. One was definitely full grown, at least 4 feet. The other was a slightly smaller one at about 3 feet and a third one was about that size as well.

The BIG one got annoyed at a school of tangs around it, and he gave chase to them – let me tell you, that was about the time I decided I needed a break! haha

We had lunch at Charlie’s Bar again. It really is a crazy place – kinda nostalgic, kinda tacky, very friendly, and just lots of stuff to see. Every table has a RESERVED sign on it, so dang, you’re just so special the minute you walk in!

Pete and I got sunburned again. Apparently this sunscreen stuff is supposed to help with that, but being a tad thick, it’s taken me a while to warm up to the idea of it… Modern science! Who knew?

We had dinner in the High Rise Hotel area, which was probably a mistake. It’s a very Americanized section, and the food is bland and boring. We tried Iguana Joe’s, which bills itself as the place with the best ribs on the island.

Peter and Pam thought the ribs were pretty good, but Mike thought they were the best ribs on the island, because it’s the only rib joint on the island! hah I had the mahi-mahi, but it was overcooked, the potatoes were gross, but the coleslaw was fantastic! Overall, give Iguana Joe’s a pass. It’s just not very good.

We did have a pretty nice sunset tho! We’ve been trying to get some pictures of the sunsets, but we’ve done poorly. Finally Peter snagged a couple really nice ones.

Hope you enjoy!

Aruba, Vacations

Sunday December 07

December 8, 2008 Maurice 3 Comments

We picked up Mike from the airport on Saturday evening. He’s darned pale! haha Being new to the vacation thing, he wanted to watch a hockey game… (He’s confused – we’ll get him relaxed soon enough….)

So Sunday we had a leisurely breakfast by the pool. Then we decided to take him up north to the California Lighthouse and do a bit of snorkeling nearby. Note the size of those coffee cups! Pam felt they were a little too small, mind you!

We stopped at the flea market to grab a t-shirt or two and some shorts for Mike…. Well – we kinda hit a bit of weather! Aruba typically gets 20 inches of rain a year – and we got about 10 inches in this downpour! Too funny – Mike’s first day on the island and we get rained on!

We made it to the California Lighthouse, and the sun came out and it was lovely for the rest of the day. How about this flower? This was taken with the new camera’s “Super Macro” mode – not to be confused with “macro” mode…. Not sure of the name of the flower, but it was around the restaurant at the base of the Lighthouse.

Then we hit the beach. And did we pick a great spot! Some terrific fish to see and tons of stuff to see. Even the odd piece of coral! Mike is now hooked. He said, forget the shopping, let’s get right back to the ocean!

We had dinner in a nice beach side restaurant called Tulips. Pam and I had a local Aruban dish called Keshi Yena, a baked chicken dish with tomato sauce and cheese. It was sensational. The flavor was amazing. I’ll definitely be ordering that the next time I see it on the menu.

Aruba, Vacations

DePalm Island

December 6, 2008 Maurice 1 Comment

I’m posting this late Saturday night, from our second condo. I’m going to talk about our trip to DePalm Island on Thursday. It has easily been the best snorkeling we’ve had on the island. Click on the pic to the left to get a panorama of the whole island.

It’s a cool deal – there is one price, and it’s for the whole day. They come and pick you up in an air conditioned bus, and take you to the southern part of the island. From there, it’s an easy five minute ferry ride to the island.

Once on the island, there is a restaurant that serves an all you can eat buffet breakfast, with everything from french toast, eggs, bacon, ham, sausage, fruit, cereal, juices, yogurt – you name it, it’s there. That is available til 11 am. At 11:30 am lunch starts and again, a generous buffet lunch, that is served til 3:30. Again, all you can eat.

There is a bar that serves any mixed drink, rum, vodka, whiskey, pina colada, daquiris, beer, etc. This place also serves all you can eat burgers, hotdogs, chicken, fries etc. There are over 70 rides for the kids in the water park.

And then – there is the snorkeling! WOW – just spectacular. You can even swim out to a coral reef. DePalm Island tho, is famous for the Blue Parrotfish. And wow, what a great fish!

The Blue Parrotfish is quite large, about as long as a person’s leg in some cases. They are extremely friendly, and very curious. They come around in schools of 5 or 6, and they will even let you “pet them.”
They want you to feed them and Pam and Pete did. They had tons of fish hanging around them and I tried to snap pic after pic! However, the Olympus sprung a leak and I was only able to get a few pics in before it died. Quite annoying – but now that Mike is here, we’ll head over again next week, so I’ll be able to put up some pics, since I have replaced the Olympus with the latest model.

All in all, it was a great day. Tons of things to see and do. Nice food, lots of it, and nice beach chairs, palapas, drinks…
Seldom does something so hyped, so talked about, so advertised, live up to it’s reputation. But DePalm Island delivered. It’s the coolest thing we’ve done so far! It’s definitely worth a repeat visit.