Tag Archives: flight

Aruba, Vacations

Arrived in Aruba, safe and sound

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OctopusWe got into Aruba safe and sound. Our flight out of Seattle was a bit late in leaving, but since we had a three hour layover in New York, was no big deal. The flight out of NY left on time, and both flights were PACKED and I do mean PACKED! They were asking people to check some carry on luggage, since the overhead bins were too full, but of course, not many did. Boggles the mind how much they allow people to bring aboard the cabin!

Barjack Pam’s leg was quite swollen, after being stuffed on those planes, especially the one into Aruba. It was an older Boeing, and very cramped. Definitely thought it was supposed to be an Airbus, since I try to book only the Airbus now, but must have gotten switched. We arrived in Aruba on time, and rented a smallish car! Pretty funny really. Makes a Smart Car look BIG!

Scrawled filefishWe got in the ocean for the first time today (Sunday). We drove up to Arashi Beach, on the north end of the island, but the waves looked a little heavy, so we went slightly south to Boca Catalina. They have improved access to the nice sandy entrance, by putting in some pretty good stairs. Pam was a little nervous about how things would go, but she came through like a trooper. She thoroughly enjoyed being in the water, and getting out was easy and painless. We were a little worried how that would go, since sometimes a big wave can whack you hard, but we managed it very well.

Orange FilefishIn the water was surprising! We saw an octopus almost immediately! I first saw him on top of a pile of coral/rocks and wondered what the heck is that! Getting a bit closer we saw it was an octopus, and he quickly got off the top and slithered down a crack. We saw scrawled filefish, orange filefish, polka dot filefish and regular brown filefish! And we saw LOTS of each – it’s quite unusual to see so many – the polka dot one is one I’ve seen VERY rarely.

Queen AngelThere were tons of BIG barjacks. Usually they cruise through the area, in groups of three, and quickly swim off… not today. They hung around, in quite shallow water, and a triggerfish was swimming with them! Then we saw a school of little barjacks, 30 or more in a school – never seen that at all.

There were lots of French Angels, and we saw juvenile ones too, and a couple of Queen Angels too. There was one moray eel, who moved across the bottom so quickly I was astonished. I knew they could go fast when they wanted, but never dreamed they could move THAT fast! There were a bunch of coneys, and they swam around with a French Angel too.

French angelWe saw puffer fish, flounder, lots of grouper – most grouper I’ve seen in one dive actually… So all in all, a pretty amazing first day in the ocean.

We ate at home today – bought groceries at Super Foods – so no restaurant review. They had a big tent out front, making and selling freshly cooked beignets, dusted with sugar. They were AWESOME! They had huge cookers and they were just popping them out! People were lining up for ’em.

 

Aruba, Curacao, Vacations

Back in Aruba

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Winging itWe flew back to Aruba on Saturday. We were sad to leave Curacao. It was a nice week. We saw several new beaches, lots of new fish, a wild boar and her babies, and we had a spectacular swim on the Friday through the coral forest. That swim is a memory that will stick with us forever. We’re already making plans to come back next year, so we can explore it even more!

Aruba from the air The flight out of Curacao was on time, and arrived ahead of schedule. It’s a great little flight using Insel Air. The only real drawback is the “departure tax” the government charges. It was $32.00 each, and that was about one quarter the cost of the flight! Too funny… but like Jorge says, “Everybody’s gotta have a job!”

We arrived in Aruba at 1:30 in the afternoon, grabbed our car and checked into our new timeshare, the Paradise Beach Villas. This is a new condo for us and it’s quite nice. It’s right across the street from Eagle Beach, a fabulous Renaiissance Islandswimming beach. We got our room right away, and went and lay in the sun for a while, sampling the hot tub and the two free form swimming pools. Of course, happy hour starts at three, so that’s a great bonus!

Here is a brief movie of the plane we flew over on… we were in the BACK seat! ALL the passengers were in front of us, so you can see it was a packed flight! haha

=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnrkiHyXx10

Turtle
Curacao, Vacations

Charlotte NC

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Charlotte NC Airport.Well we’re in Charlotte, NC, and it’s 3:30 am Vancouver time. We are waiting for our connecting flight to Aruba. We have about a 3 hour layover here. It’s a very nice airport, with rocking chairs all over so you can sit and relax. There are electrical plugins, and they offer free wifi connections, too. So you can sit in the rocking chair, with your laptop plugged in, and surf the web while waiting for your flight.

Seattle’s airport charges $7.99 for 24 hrs worth of connectivity, the typical ATT ripoff “featured” in so many US airports.

We were having a bite to eat and a beer in the Seattle Taproom in the airport, when the waitress said, “you’re ordering a beer? I’ll have to see some ID.” I said, “ID? Really? How old do you have to be to drink in this town??”  But I still had to pull out my ID and prove I was over 50 I guess. (Pam was going to have a coffee, but decided to order booze so she could feel young…)

We’re heading for breakfast now, then maybe a nap til the flight. The US Airways flight from Seattle to NC was uneventful. The flight was crowded, packed even. But all went well.