Aruba was definitely a city. Hotels and businesses ran from miles creating much more of an urban atmosphere than we had expected.
Wanting to fit in some good, off shore snorkeling, we decided to take a tour package on a catamaran sail boat.
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Aruba was definitely a city. Hotels and businesses ran from miles creating much more of an urban atmosphere than we had expected. Wanting to fit in some good, off shore snorkeling, we decided to take a tour package on a catamaran sail boat. |
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Exiting the gangway we came face to face with three drug-sniffing dogs inspecting each passenger as he or she exited and a number of officers looking us over. While it was interesting to watch, we found it intriguing that the officers were concerned about what people would bring off the ship to their island rather than what people might purchase on their island and take on to the ship! |
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About every 10th passenger, the dog would get a hit and the official would make the dog sniff any packages that the passenger had. We saw a few detained, but for what we didn't know. Most of them were quickly let go. We saw one person throw down a piece of bacon. When the official saw the dog eat the bacon, he quickly wrestled his own dog to the ground and dug the bacon out of the dog's mouth. Apparently, the dogs are trained not to accept food from people in case it is poisoned. We thought that the dogs would be back when we arrived back at the ship, but there was not a sign of any one. We guessed that they were only worried about contraband coming onto the island. |
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| After a short walk down the pier we were loaded on to a catamaran along with twenty other people. The captain began the trip along the shore using the motor to push us against the wind. | |||||
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| The entire 45 minute trip we never lost site of the shoreline. It was amazing to see all of the hotels and timeshares that packed the shoreline. The beaches had white sand and seemed perfectly clean. Aruba was much bigger than we realized. | ||||||
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| It wasn't long before we found a comfortable spot on the side of the catamaran to watch the shoreline and enjoy the ride. |
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Once anchored in the cove and equipped with fins and masks, we all went into the water to snorkel. The snorkeling was great. We saw the black and yellow stripped fish featured on Carnival commercials, large schools of fish that would swim all around us, and long, spotted gray and blue fish that almost looked like snakes. The rocks were lined with sea life as well.
While the kids enjoyed snorkeling for about thirty minutes, they went back on board after getting tired, and Greg and Susan continued alone for a little longer. After about an hour in the ocean, it was back on board for the trip back to the ship. |
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| With the wind blowing in the right direction now, the sails were hoisted and we set sail for an exciting trip back. This time we set on the front trampoline area and rode the waves as the boat made its way through the rocky sea. The storm clouds had rolled in and the sea was getting rough enough that most people moved off.
The next thing we knew, Preston was air born and flying over Greg. Greg grabbed Preston's leg as Greg became airborn as well. Luckily another passenger grabbed onto Greg to keep both of them from flying off the boat. Apparently the sail boat had hit a big wave and became airborn. After all four of us stopped a moment to recap what had happened, we soon started to laugh. A second later, the ship crew came out to make sure that we were all okay. It seemed that every one inside the boat got a good view of us flying into the air and they were all clapping after they found out that we were okay. |
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After dropping us off at the pier, the captain was taking his boat out again to pick up another bunch of passengers. |
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| Back on the ship, we managed to get dressed and eat a bite before doing some island shopping with the kids. |
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The town is definitely set up to accommodate cruise passengers. Blocks and blocks of island shopping were available to Susan and the kids.
Brooklyn was excited to get her hair braided. She had seen it on several of the other islands, but wanted to wait until our last island to have it done. It took almost an hour to do the sides and top of her hair. She LOVED it!! |
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As we got ready to set sail, the last sail boat tour came back just in time. Of course, a few of them mooned the ship as they passed by.
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There was a sun setting in the view finder, but we don't know where it went in the picture??? |
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The Carnival wing is Carnival's signature in ship design. It's amazing how large it actually is. The bottom of the wing starts on the 13th floor and continues upward at least another 8 stories. Again, this is a fascination with Greg. Susan thinks it's just because this is where the topless sunbathing takes place. |
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| As Preston and Brooklyn continue swimming into the night, they realize they have the entire pool as everyone else is tired of swimming. Susan and Greg enjoy the jacuzzi off to the side as the kids swim in the salt water pool. |
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And of course, another towel animal from Jeanell. This string ray reminded us of the Triumph cruise in 2000 as we got to swim with the sting rays on Grand Caymen island.
Tomorrow would be our last day at sea for a "Fun Day at Sea".
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