We were excited to get back to Aruba for the first time since January. Even better, we awoke to see that we were the only ship in port today and, therefore, got the first berth.
The day looked bright and sunny, and so we knew our original plan of spending the day on Eagle Beach would stand. We particularly enjoyed breakfast in the dining room today; we were seated next to a couple of about our ages who were uncannily similar to us...early retired, no kids, no pets, a window of opportunity to travel. They live in South Carolina, though, and while their aim is to spend half the year cruising, they do their time in more frequent, but shorter stints. That just doesn't make sense for us, living in the middle of the country. Plus, we really don't enjoy the travel and packing part of cruising very much, so these longer trips are better for us. Still, although we meet several older passengers who spend 1/3 to 1/2 the year on ships, we seldom meet people of about our same age.
We returned to our cabin to pack for our beach day. For the place we like to go- Eagle Beach- we have to be self-contained with drinks, food, tarp and toys. We have protein bars for just these kinds of days, but today G brought some fruit loops too...just something to tide us over until dinner.
We walked to the Arubus terminal right down the street from the cruise ship pier and there was a #10 bus already waiting. Unlike on most of the Eastern Caribbean islands, Arubus adheres to a schedule. However, we were shocked to learn that the bus fare has increased from $1.50pp each way to $2.30pp just since January! This created a bit of an issue. G had brought six- US$1 bills and a $20 bill. We used five of the $1 bills to get to the beach and needed to break the $20 to get back. As we rode the short (10minutes or so) to Eagle Beach, I said I thought we could easily walk back to the ship. It wasn't the $4.60...it was trying to find a place on that empty stretch of beach to get change. We decided to see how we felt after a few hours on the beach.
And what a beach day it was. Sunny, only slightly breezy, and the water was gentle and 85 degrees. Gorgeous. We spent half the time in the water and half lying in the shade of a palapa. It was hot but not unbearably so, and after almost 5 hours we decided we needed to get some exercise today and walked back to the ship. It was probably just under 3 miles; it took exactly one hour and we didn't dawdle but did have to stop a couple of times for traffic.
Next time we'll take two $5 bills and be good to go.
When we returned to the ship, G went right out to a hot tub and I (of course) rinsed things out and then rested until it was time to get showered and dressed for the evening. Tonight's drink in Skywalkers was the Breeza Marina and the signature hors doerve herbed goat cheese, homemade wheat crackers and bruschetta. Winners, all of them, and it's my favorite night of the cruise. It was particularly nice because we weren't sailing until 7pm, and so sat on the land side of Skywalkers, looking at the island.
We were surprised by the amount of change around the port area. Several warehouse buildings had been torn down, other small vendor stands moved, and what looks like a railroad track is going in right by the cruise ship pier, crossing the main street in Orangestaad and going...somewhere, we don't know where. We cannot figure this out at all. We'll be back several more times this winter; maybe we'll see it completed.
Or not. This is the Caribbean, after all. Unfinished buildings and projects are everywhere.
After such hearty hors doerves in Skywalkers, we had just a salad and an entree in the dining room, and then went up to the Promenade Deck to watch sailaway after dark, which is always particularly beautiful. Then we made a last minute decision to go to the Princess Theater for the 7:15pm performance of the production show, What a Swell Party, featuring the music of Cole Porter. This show is not a favorite- we're at least a generation too young to fully appreciate his music, and so I don't think we even saw it last winter. Well, we were impressed by the gorgeous set and costumes, and the performances of the singers and dancers, if not the music. The two male dancers from Brazil were so cute; one of them waved at us at the very end (we always sit in the front row) and the other stuck his hand under the curtain as it was going down and waved. Getting to know the performers makes the shows even more entertaining for us, and motivates us to see them over and over again.
We then returned to the dining room for coffee and dessert. G looked at me and said, "Can you believe that this is our life?" And it is...at least for a few months.
And it's a good one!
Photos 1 to 3: our views three directions from where we sat on Eagle Beach
Photo 4: still using that same picnic tarp from Home Depot!
Photo 5: it looks like the palapas were rebuilt and rethatched this year
Photo 6: One Happy Island- two happy us