On Sunday morning in Puerto Rico, we moved Galt to the fuel dock to fill up for the trip to Aruba. Our crew hand had shown up on Saturday so we were one step closer to getting on the move. As we moved Galt, Bill noticed the TACH (which measures the RPMs) was not registering. The TACH information runs through the alternator and as you might recall, Captain Crazy changed the perfectly good alternator without permission last week and had obviously not connected the wires for the RPM. We had a quick discussion and we both felt that Bill has such a good feel for Galt and Larry the Lehman that he could hit the RPMs pretty close just by feel. The next hurdle was the ball valve on fuel tank one broke so we could not easily fill that tank with fuel. After another meeting, we decided the fuel in tank one would have been “security” fuel so we filled the other three tanks knowing that 300 gallons would be more than enough fuel to make it to Aruba and beyond. After fueling, we headed out to sea. Having chosen the perfect weather window, we followed in the wake of Tropical Storm Bret who sucked all the energy out of the Caribbean. We had perfect wind and waves almost the entire trip. Halfway through day one, Bill set up a sleep spot on the deck for us which was great for catching a nap and for me to sleep in the fresh air. I tend to get claustrophobic down in the cabin when all the portholes are closed so being on deck all night was a blessing. We gave our young crewman the 2am to 5am watch which allowed Bill and me to get at least a little sleep each night. The main issue we had was boredom which was a blessing! Boredom equals no boat emergencies! In fact, halfway through the trip, the TACH started working suddenly so even the gremlins took time off! On day three at 4:30am, we pulled into Aruba and tied up to the immigration check-in dock thinking we would get some sleep until 9am. We were met at the dock by security who informed us we had to check in at 6am and leave the dock at that time. So much for sleep! By the time we checked in and moved over to the marina, we were not sure how we were still functioning. Exhausted, but very proud of ourselves for making the long trip, we grabbed a quick nap and relaxed the rest of the day. In Aruba, we are staying at the Renaissance Resort and Marina. Our marina slip costs around $35.00 a day. A room at the resort costs between $300-$500 a day. So, one of the many perks of boat life is living the resort lifestyle without the resort price tag. We have full access to all the resort amenities including two pools, two casinos and a private island! There is a small mall adjacent to the marina with a Dunkin Donuts, Haagen Daas ice cream place, several restaurants and a store. Everything we need is within walking distance! On Friday afternoon, we rented a car for the weekend so we could explore Aruba. As we drove toward our first destination, we noticed that Aruba is very different from the other islands in the Caribbean. In Aruba, the wind is constantly blowing…which should be a good thing in a hot, arid yet strangely humid environment. However, I have never been anyplace where I am standing in a wonderful wind and still sweating! As we drove around the island, we discussed how Aruba is very “un-island like”. There are beautiful beaches next to a huge refinery on one side and a phosphate mine on the other. There are no distinct neighborhoods. There are houses and businesses scattered everywhere without any organization. We have decided that Aruba is an island in search of an identity. On one hand, you have the tourist/cruise area which is your usual cruise port with shops and fancy hotels. Then, you have the industrial area, the home furnishings and building materials area followed by a conglomeration of deserted buildings. There are at least three deserted movie theaters! Among all this chaos, you have the usual smattering of American fast food restaurants. The next identity crisis involves their language. Aruba is a Dutch island. Since we arrived, Bill has been stuck in Spanish-mode even though they are Dutch. However, many of them are from Colombia, Venezuela and other Spanish countries so his Spanish was working. On the second day, Bill made a concerted effort to not speak Spanish. He learned that the locals say, “Danki” for thank you which is a mixture of Dutch, German and the island language. As he approached the checkout counter at the store, he proudly said, “Danki” to which the customer service rep responded, “De Nada!” which is Spanish! When we asked about the mixture of languages, the locals seemed confused by our question. One server said, “No, Spanish is de nada….we say de naaaada….so it’s not Spanish”. We gave up trying to understand at that point! So, Aruba markets itself as “The Happy Island”. Bill thinks the “happy” is a cover story for “we have no idea who we are so we’ll just say we are happy and move on”. So, each day we are here, we meet a new personality for the island which confuses us even more….so we’ll just say we are happy! As for our initial adventures, we spent Friday night at one of the casinos and Bill had some luck at the craps table and I doubled my $10.00 bet at the roulette table so we had a good time. We set out Saturday morning to visit Arikok National Park which had caves, tons of cacti and some beautiful coastline. We visited the ruins of an old gold mine and took a quick swim in the ocean which was lovely. To continue the hodge-podge-i-ality of the island, we went to the restaurant on the beach called Big Mama’s Place. When we sat down, we noticed the entire restaurant was themed after The Flintstones including replicas of Dino and Fred’s car. The waitstaff all wore dresses like Wilma. It was very confusing. We finished our day with a trip to Super Foods to pick up some groceries. We have never experienced anything like Super Foods. First, the door to enter and exit is a huge revolving door. Everyone enters and exits, pushing their grocery carts along with them through the revolving door….you can imagine how well that works. Then, there were so many people in the store that I decided to stand with our cart because I was so overwhelmed. The entire island of Aruba only has 100,000 people. Evidently, they all shop on Saturdays. It was a nightmare! Sunday was nature day. We started with a visit to the Butterfly Farm, followed by the bird sanctuary and then the animal sanctuary which had rescue animals such monkeys, ostriches, goats, sheep, bunnies, snakes and a lot of birds. During our trek, we decided to take the “beach” road to get to the oldest chapel on the island. The road was a definite road less traveled in a rental car but we finally made it. We thought we would finish the night with a trip to another casino. When we walked into the casino, we were immediately met with hundreds of old people playing bingo. They were scattered throughout the casino and had bingo cards spread out all over the blackjack tables, the bar and even the slot machines! We made our way to the customer service desk and the woman explained that “4:30 to 6:30 everyday is bingo time”. Nowhere in anything we had read about the casino mentioned the bingo takeover! We decided to grab some food so we went to the restaurant to ask the cost of the buffet and were told we needed to go to the hotel reception for that information. We made our way to the bar to get a drink and were told by the bartender that he could not serve us if we were not staying at the hotel because it was all inclusive. By this time, we were so frustrated we left and headed down the street to another casino that had told Bill they had a craps table. Nope. No craps table. Deciding destiny was telling us not to gamble this day, we went to dinner at a Peruvian restaurant and had some delicious fish. Overall, our time on Aruba has been interesting and we are enjoying our stay. This week, we will continue exploring and we will check out our private island as well! Have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July and remember, when in doubt....be happy! More Pics on the Pictures Tab
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
|