We finished out our time in Aruba with a little more site seeing, a few boat adjustments and a lot of pool time. On Monday, we decided to go snorkeling and evidently every tourist on the island decided Monday was a good day to snorkel as well. Despite the crowds, we had a nice snorkel with a visit from a young turtle and a few schools of fish. We also discovered the island’s pet cemetery. Hundreds of pet graves sat along side the ocean with homemade markers of all kinds. I have yet to see a human cemetery on the island but the dogs and cats are set! Another odd discovery was the cruise ship, Free Winds. Since we arrived in Aruba, the ship has been tied up in the harbor. Curiosity finally got me and I googled it to see what story it had to tell. The answer turned out to be very interesting! Free Winds is a cruise ship that is currently owned by the Church of Scientology. They market it as a fundraising venue but for any of you who have watched Leah Rimini’s expose’ on Scientology, you will recognize it as one of the recuperation ships. Basically (according to Leah and others), people who are wanting to leave the Church are taken out on ships for months at a time for “reprogramming” and are only taken back to land once they agree to stay in the Church. Whether that is true or not, I found it fascinating that the Church actually does have such a ship available! I think the most ironic part of the story is that the ship was put on lock down a few years ago for a measles outbreak onboard the ship. Hmmmm, perhaps a vaccination would help!
We came across another oddity in Aruba this week. The island has many roundabouts. I am usually a fan of roundabouts on islands because they generally work well to keep traffic moving. Leave it up to Aruba to find a way to screw up the actual purpose of a roundabout. If you have not encountered a roundabout in your lifetime, roundabouts are designed so that a car entering the roundabout yields until the area is clear and then proceeds about the circle until it is ready to exit the circle and continue on its’ way. Cars move from the outer lanes to the inner lanes and back again based on the design of the roundabout and which exit they need. Not in Aruba. Aruba has put up dividers between the lanes in the roundabout. So, if you enter the roundabout in the incorrect lane, you have no choice except to exit from that lane, drive down the street, make a U turn and then enter the circle and try again. The dividers defeat the entire purpose of a roundabout! Our last day in Aruba, we went to visit the resort’s private island. I am pretty sure the resort got a steal on their island because it sat just at the end of the runway at the airport. Aside from the roar of planes, the island had a beautiful beach (adults only side so that was a plus) with crystal clear water for swimming. Our overpriced drinks were covered by Bill’s successful blackjack adventures the night before so we figured the drinks were “free”. We have enjoyed our time on Aruba but it is time to move on to our next port of call….Cartagena, Colombia. Neither of us are looking forward to the trip as it will involve several days of limited sleep again but once we arrive, we will be calling Cartagena home for quite a while. Fingers crossed that all goes smoothly and that the next blog will be from South America!
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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