Short swim at Malmok

PelicanToday was Sunday, a traditionally slow day in Aruba. Most of the locals have the day off, and very few shops are open. We did a bit of shopping at the outdoor flea market, picking up a few souvenirs. We’re nearing the end of our vacation, so we’re trying to figure out what we’ve missed! Turns out, that’s not much! We’ve done pretty much everything!

Queen triggerfish After the shopping, I had a brief swim at Malmok. We usually enter at Boca Catalina, and swim up to Malmok, because it is tougher to enter the ocean at Malmok. But Pam wasn’t up for a swim; she just wanted some sun. So she rested on the sand, reading her book, while I jumped in at rocky Malmok beach.

The water clarity was very good today, and things started happening very soon after I got in. Within seconds there was a school of large squid. Then there was a beautiful Queen Triggerfish. I glanced to my left, and there was the largest barracuda I have ever seen! He was as long as me, and as thick as my leg! He was enormous! He swam with me for a while, and as soon as I turned my camera on him, he drifted off. Bit of a diva, I guess.

Hawksbill turtle Mere minutes later I came across a hawksbill turtle. She was quite large, with the typical serrated backside of hawksbills. We swam together for quite a while. She was not in the least worried about me, and I could have reached out and touched her. She let me take as many pictures and movies as I wanted, completely oblivious to my presence. Unfortunately, I waved my arm to turn and that startled her and she moved away quite rapidly.

Green turtle I turned and looked at the shore and realized I’d moved quite a ways off shore. I lazily drifted back towards shore thinking I’d had a pretty great swim, even if it was less than thirty minutes. Suddenly, another turtle, a green turtle this time drifted lazily under me. I followed her for a long time too. All she did was swim in circles! I could have swam with her for as long as I wanted. She was much smaller, and might even have been the same one we swam with a few days ago.

Yellowtail damselfishI made my way to shore and got to within ten feet of the exit point, when a sharptailed eel caught my eye! This is a quick moving eel, and he seemed to be up to something. He was poking his head in every hole, even digging in the sand. Suddenly another half dozen fish started following him. I guess his digging around was stirring up some food. ParrotfishSuddenly, he went kind of ballistic, much like the octopus did when he grabbed a scallop. His dorsal fin was very pronounced, something I’d never noticed before. A slippery dick (a type of longish fish) grabbed something the eel had dug up, and they kind of had a tug of war over it!

Sharptailed eelI tell you, for a short swim, I saw some really remarkable things. Malmok has a great reef, and it’s always worth it to jump in the ocean at this beach. It’s a bit rocky to get in, but the effort sure pays off!

Renaissance Island

FlamingosSaturday was our first chance to visit Renaissance Island, the private island associated with the resort we’re at here in Aruba. There is a free shuttle boat that leaves the dock every fifteen minutes. You insert your hotel room key, and presto, you’re admitted to the boat. It’s quite a short ride, about five or ten minutes, with the route running right under the airport landing route.

Feeding flamingosAfter disembarking, you can head left or right, to one of two protected beaches. To the left is a restaurant, with fairly good food prices, and outrageous drink prices. There are lots of lounge chairs, and some hammocks at each point. The swimming area is reminiscent of Baby Beach, with a shallow sandy pool protected by a breakwater. There is a raft in the middle, and people lay on floating mats in the water, grabbing some sun.

Yellowtail parrotfish The snorkeling in the pool is naturally not great, but once you reach the breakwater, that is an entirely different matter! We saw some pretty cool fish there, and several we have not seen. The highlights were probably a big black margate, a rather large porcupine fish, several kinds of parrotfish, including the elusive blue parrotfish, the rainbow parrotfish and several good sized barracuda.

Stoplight parrotfishHere is movie of a vicious damselfish attacking Pam. It’s at least two inches long, so you can imagine the terror that Pam experienced.

Striped mullet There was a school of large fish, which we have tentatively identified as striped mullet. They seemed to be munching on coral, but looked like sleek predators. You can exit the protected pool through a smallish gap, where the water rushes at a considerable clip. Outside the breakwater is supposed to be two wrecks, one a plane, the other a ship. We did not go outside, but we might another day!

Striped mulletIf you went to the right as you left the boat, there is another beach, with a protected swimming hole, perhaps slightly smaller than the side with the restaurant. This is the adults only side, since it allows topless sunbathing.

Yellowtail snapperAnother unique feature of this side is the family of pink flamingos who live here. I had mentioned to Pam that I thought it was kind of weird that Curacao had pink flamingos in the wild, but none on Aruba. Well, here they are! They have little dispensers, like peanut dispensers in some grocery stores, that for a quarter give you a handful of food to feed them. They’ll take it right from your hand!

Peacock flounderJuvenile SchoolmasterThe Island is a very cool feature of the resort, and I’m sure we’ll be back several times. The snorkeling was very enjoyable! And we do want to get a bit of sun too. Our backs are fairly brown but our faces are not as dark as Pam wants!