After breakfast we decided to check out Arashi Beach, the northern most beach on the island, near the California Lighthouse. We thought we’d swam this beach last year, but we had not. It’s very popular with locals, and most of the people there on Sunday were not tourists.
It’s easy to see why this beach is popular – it’s got a wide white sandy beach that goes out into the ocean for quite a while. It’s great for simply being in the ocean, without fins or masks – just to swim and play. But the snorkeling is amazing, too!
We finally saw our first turtle in the wild! That was very cool, very special. He was a hawksbill turtle, about 3 feet long. He was under the surface, and I was diving to get a shot of a little fish, when suddenly this beauty was there! We’ve waited a long time to catch one of these guys in the wild, and it’s so cool we did…
But there was something else at Arashi that was truly stunning to see. It’s difficult to describe what it was we saw – but there were literally millions and millions of fish, all involved in some intricate movements, flowing through the water. It was like a giant ballet – unique columns of fish like ribbons of moving color would flow and move and dart, all in perfect harmony, seemingly being directed by some underwater conductor. 
It was not some local thing – it was over hundreds and thousands of square meters – we swam for 20 minutes or more, just totally and completely surrounded by this mass of fish. It was intoxicating. I kept expecting the phenomenon to end, but it seemed to just go on and on forever. It was truly humbling. We are going to go back to Arashi in a couple of days to see if they are still there. Trust me, these pictures do not do this phenomena justice. Really, we were in awe.
We headed slightly south – less than a kilometre, to Malmok Beach, a beach we had visited last year while a baptism was going on. No baptism this year, just lots of families enjoying the ocean. It’s got a very sandy entry to the ocean, and there were a couple of Red Sail catamarans there, so you know the snorkeling is good!
We saw some “big” French Angels, and then each subsequent French Angel we saw seemed to get bigger! I’ve put up a pic of the largest we saw. Now the guide book says they grow to a maximum of 18 inches, but this guy must have been hanging around with A-rod, cuz he must have been two feet at least!
There was a huge peacock flounder – they are so cool to see move. They remind me of a magic carpet ride! Thin as a sheet of paper, they just wiggle a bit and they are gonzo! We also saw what we thought was a “miniature” porcupinefish – about 8 inches long, which was a webb burrfish. He’s a real shy guy, and tried to hide in the seaweed, but didn’t move off, even when I came within 6 inches of him.
Sunday is not a shopping day in most of Aruba, but they are trying an experiment near the high rise hotels, whereby they have created a mall of sorts, with lots of nice shops and restaurants that stay open late into the evening. Most shops close at 5 or 6 every day, so it’s nice to be able to walk around in the evening while the sun is down and do a bit of shopping.
We strolled around, watched a light show with dancing waters in the fountain, with Enya singing Caribbean Blue in the background. Very nice. We had dinner at Scala, a restaurant on the second floor, so we could watch the people stroll by below us. Dinner was amazing again. Wonderful food, wonderful service, wonderful ambiance, wonderful company. A brilliant conclusion to a brilliant day.
Mike and I started the morning by swimming out to the wreck. It was very calm, and the visibility was very good. But you know something? There just isn’t that much to see, besides the wreck! The fish were all the usual suspects, and this is the first time I’ve been there where there were no barracuda. It’s tough to get in here, as the entry is very rocky and a bit of a pain to get in. It’s very shallow for quite a ways, so Pam didn’t come in with us. We only stayed a short while, then got out.
Then, we hopped into the ocean at Arashi Beach. The waves at Arashi have been quite high lately, but they were very calm today, so we jumped at the chance to try out this beach. It was a pretty darn good swim! Lots of fish to see, of course, but some neat stuff to see as well.
One of the neat things we saw was an ocean trigger fish. They are quite large, over 3.5 feet high and about as long. They look really neat swimming through the water, and always leave the area whenever a snorkeler comes near. The picture we have is quite grainy, because it is taken from such a distance away, but it gives you an idea of them.
We saw a couple of ceros who circled around below us several times. This is not a fish who worries about snorkelers! They are hunters for sure, and rove the ocean looking for tasty morsels. They are similar to a barjack, but much sleeker looking. It’s pretty rare to sight them, but in the deeper water, we’ve seem them a couple of times.
Then we saw a rather large octopus, who was an active swimmer! He didn’t just sort of hide under a rock like a lot of them do… this guy was out in the open and wanted to stay there! I’ve ended this post with a nice movie of him – check out the color morphing, and his brief little swim at the end of the movie.
