Day 78: Aruba

Good grief, we're getting lazy. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that we're exhausted. I think that we walk more than we realize when we set out each day just to get some exercise. That, plus climbing hills and climbing stairs and staying up late for a couple nights left me nearly falling asleep over dinner last night. We did not make it to the production show Boogie Shoes, although after I returned to the cabin, G did listen to some live music. But here's the kicker: we slept until nearly 10am today. I slept for 12 hours!
I snuck out of the cabin first this morning to have breakfast outside on the back Terrace Deck near our room. It was bright and sunny and hot. By the time G made it out of the cabin and joined me, a familiar black cloud loomed overhead. Within minutes it started to rain. Even when it stopped periodically through out the day, it remained windy.
Not the best beach day.
I was SO disappointed. This was our last visit to Aruba his season, and I was anxious to return to the gorgeous white sand of Eagle Beach. But, with 12 more beach days remaining, I have no room to complain. Well, maybe just a little room.
The kicker is that, like Bonaire, Aruba is a semi-arid island. It's not supposed to rain here. In 2000, I took a 14-day cruise from Fort Lauderdale, around the Caribbean to Caracas, Venezuela. It rained for twelve days, never stopping until we reached Aruba. There it was hot, dry and sunny. As it's supposed to be. Today was an anomaly.
I took advantage of everyone being off the ship to sit on the Terrace Deck until raindrops chased me inside. I then walked on Deck 7 and finally spent most of the rest of the afternoon at the spa, using the steam room and sauna. I can happily report that I feel refreshed and re-energized tonight, which is good. We still have 22 more days to go!
G did get off to take a short walk and find free Internet and we stayed in touch with our 2-way radios. They have certainly proved invaluable.
By sailaway, it had cleared a bit (naturally). We were delayed almost 30 minutes leaving. Six passengers and one crew member were not on the ship at the requested time (4:30pm). Two by two we saw people walk down the dock and board the ship, accompanied by booing and verbal abuse from those on the ship's balconies. But finally we saw the port agent being given a passport, which we knew meant someone was missing the ship. It turned out to be the crew member. This is a BIG deal; absent a darn good excuse, he'll be flying himself back to Fort Lauderdale to collect his belongings from the ship when it returns there on Friday and then flying home (which sounded, from his name, like Eastern Europe) at his own expense to find new employment.
Photos: the P&O Azura, and identical ship to this one, was docked behind us today. Here's a good view of the crew pool on Deck 8 (on this ship, they call it the concrete beach).