Blogs from Eagle Beach, Aruba, Central America Caribbean

Sadly, today is the day to deliver Tom and Amy to Queen Beatrix airport for their long journey home. It is recommended that one arrives 3 hours in advance. We have usually not gone so early, but, then again, we have the special traveler id and can bypass the long immigration line. It is a long process, as one goes through security twice, then deliver checked bags to the conveyor belt, then clear US customs and immigration here, then wait in the departure lounges. There are restaurants at that end too, although we try to eat our last lunch in the waiting area before US C&I so we can eat our final cheese and tomato sandwiches and fruit, etc. So, now that I’m writing at 8 pm, I can say that THANK GOODNESS we dropped them ... read more

We seemed to have avoided the rains all day. Will we be so lucky tomorrow? At 8:30 or so we found the water at Tres Trapi to be excellent, AT LAST! and within 50’ of the entrance was HUNGRY TURTLE! He was chowing down on the delicate/tender turtle grass, and was not phased by us at all. We went off looking for more, and when we returned he was still there! So, we fulfilled our promise to show Tom and Amy turtles (well, one). AND we found a flying gurnard as we were coming back in – pale in the deeper water, and it didn’t stick around long enough to take a photo – so here is one from previous times just to remind some of you what it looks like. Also a cow fish, a ... read more

After eating our own breakfasts in our rooms, we headed out for the Arikok National Park. Of course, on the way we saw the crazy airplane parked in someone’s backyard – in the center of the island. Supposed to eventually be a restaurant? It’s about 50’ off the ground, accessible by an open staircase. We managed to avoid scraping the bottom of the car on all those crazy draining ditches across the road. The blues and turquoises were magnificent against the beige of the sand and the white of the surf. We hiked down to the Boca Prins waters. Actually there was significantly less surf still on this wild side of the island. We went into the further cave first – the “clean cave,” so called because there are 2 types of bats living in the ... read more

It’s Sunday the 18th, but yesterday was a travel day – long and tiring but happily all according to plan. As many of you know, this is the time for friends from church, Tom & Amy Fadeley, to finally come with us! They had won the bid for this event at the fundraiser for our church almost 3 years ago. We are here at last. We left home at 3:15 am for the American Airlines flight at 6:13. Tom and Amy had arrived even earlier for their flight to Newark. We went to Miami, where we had a very very long walk and barely time to stop in the bathroom and buy one very expensive Caesar Salad to add to our brought-from-home Peanut butter/banana muffins. We arrived perhaps 30 mins before Tom & Amy so David ... read more

Another lovely day, less cloudy perhaps than some others, and more windy. High 80s? But our car said 96. We did not try for an early morning turtle safari, and arrived at Arashi (the most northern beach) around 9:15. The current was strong so I didn’t go out any further than the elkhorn corals. Now that the white buoy has been added, it helps us know which way to aim, at least. Uh oh – there’s a turtle! So off goes Aquaman, leaving me behind. I just hung around the corals, occasionally looking up to see that David had gone all the way to the buoy. He admitted it was a good swim back to me but his video is magnificent – that turtle was one laid back dude. After showering, we were off to try ... read more