Tag Archives: Lourdes Grotto

Return to the “Lighthouse”

Panorama in Aruba

We had a really nice swim yesterday. The clarity was the best we’ve had so far. We swam over to the turtle grass just off of Boca Catalina and saw a pair of turtles gnawing on the grass. Then there was another just a few feet away, then another…. All in all we spotted five turtles! Quite a collection for the first good day of snorkeling.

All lit up

We saw lots of the regular fish, and since we’ve posted many shots of the same fish over and over, I thought we’d cut you guys some slack and not post any shots of fish! We kept our swim short – don’t want to over do it. Still feeling wonky.

Lourdes GrottoWe had a nice dinner in and then headed down to San Nicolas to see the famed “Lighthouse” in all its glory. And wow, did it live up to the billing. There are a TON of lights. Lots of people were coming by, and tons of people were wandering around the site. Music was playing, food was being served – it was really festive!

Lourdes GrottoThe Lourdes Grotto was also lit up, but not quite as many lights as at the Light House. Still, pretty impressive display there as well. I really like the way they have covered the tree trunks in lights. Really sets off the displays. I’ll have to steal that idea next year on our display!

We have a movie, but the internet connection is not great here, and I’m struggling trying to get it uploaded – if it ever does, it will show up at the bottom of this post!

Return to the Lighthouse

All lit upWe had a really nice swim yesterday. The clarity was the best we’ve had so far. We swam over to the turtle grass just off of Boca Catalina and saw a pair of turtles gnawing on the grass. Then there was another just a few feet away, then another…. All in all we spotted five turtles! Quite a collection for the first good day of snorkeling.

Lourdes GrottoWe saw lots of the regular fish, and since we’ve posted many shots of the same fish over and over, I thought we’d cut you guys some slack and not post any shots of fish! We kept our swim short – don’t want to over do it. Still feeling wonky.

We had a nice dinner in and then headed down to San Nicolas to see the famed “Lighthouse” in all its glory. And wow, did it live up to the billing. There are a TON of lights. Lots of people were coming by, and tons of people were wandering around the site. Music was playing, food was being served – it was really festive!

Panorama in Aruba

Lourdes GrottoThe Lourdes Grotto was also lit up, but not quite as many lights as at the Light House. Still, pretty impressive display there as well. I really like the way they have covered the tree trunks in lights. Really sets off the displays. I’ll have to steal that idea next year on our display!

We have a movie, but the internet connection is not great here, and I’m struggling trying to get it uploaded – if it ever does, it will show up at the bottom of this post!

Do you hate Mondays?

Lourdes Grotto

The waves were still high, so we decided to see a couple of things we’ve never seen on Aruba. We drove south to San Nicolas in search of the Lourdes Grotto. It’s a religious shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It’s in the hills above San Nicolas. It’s all decorated in lights this time of year for Christmas, so we’ll definitely have to take a drive back in the evening sometime.

The lighthouseClose by, there is what looks like a magnificent church. It turns out to be an artificial house constructed to be a “lighthouse” as one of the locals told us. She insisted we MUST come back at night in order to see it. She said it was most beautiful.

We took a drive over to the east coast to watch the kite surfers get pounded by the surf. We have a short movie showing one guy taking a face plant into the ocean.

Rogers beachRoger’s Beach is a small not very busy beach, just north of Baby Beach. The snorkeling is never very good there, but it’s a long sandy beach, just right for sun tanning.

Sunset December 9In the evening, we took a drive up to the California Lighthouse to check out the sunset. Pam loves the palm trees silhouetted against the evening sky. Palm TreeThe sunset was really golden this evening. Usually it’s got a red, red glow, but today it was golden!