Monday we got started late, since some guy from Vancouver slept late… real late. Pam decided to have a suntan day laying by the pool, so Mike and I headed to Mangel Halto. It’s a pretty tricky snorkel, since it’s basically in the open ocean. You want to do it when the current is nice and calm. Well today was not that day! We arrived to the beach to find it very rough so we decided to give Baby Beach a go.

We jumped in but the current was really bad here too! We spent maybe twenty minutes in the water and decided to head north again. Mike has never snorkeled “the wall” before, and it’s a spot Pam doesn’t really like to go, so we jumped in. It was really terrific.

I’ve already talked about the amazing bait ball and the enormous number of fish that make it up, so I won’t belabor that point. Suffice to say, it’s a remarkable thing! We got a couple decent shots of some big barjacks and ceros that kind of patrol up and down the edges. There  were lots of coronet fish too. And a good sized barracuda. I messed with the image of the barracuda a bit, kind of making a “painterly” effect – not sure that’s effective, but it’s different anyway.

We stayed in water quite a long time. There was lots to see, and it never gets old watching the movement of the big bait ball. There are three large ceros that lead a big group of big barjacks up and down the outside of the fish which is really quite neat to see. I’ve never seen a cero that large before. Now we’ve seen big barjacks, bigger than here, but I don’t think I’ve seen such a large grouping of barjacks this size before!

For dinner we continued the hunt for good ribs. We headed over to Iguana Joe’s. It’s in the highrise hotel area, so a little more touristy. The service is quick…. it’s a high traffic area so they try to get you in and out in a hurry. We all had ribs. Mike and Pam had the “original ribs”  and I had the dry rub ribs. The ribs were very meaty, and tender. They liked the sauce a lot. You had your choice of sides – all nice, but nothing spectacular. It was a decent meal. But I just had the impression you could have the same experience just about anywhere, not just on Aruba. But, it was nice to sit outside in the warm weather and watch all the people go by.