Blogs from Eagle Beach, Aruba, Central America Caribbean - page 2

Thursday already!? We tried the Tres Tapis (3 steps) entry to hunt for turtles today, and we can see why this is gaining in popularity since they installed a few palapas and signage – the swim out to the seagrass is not as far as from the entrance at Boca Catalina. We were out there with about 6 other people at 8 am and found 6 turtles before coming into the shallower water and cruising around the sandy areas. We were lucky to see yet another flying gurnard (we’ve called them Bandtailed sea robins too, but think the flying gurnard might be more accurate). Also proof that these sweet little trunkfish are carnivores – nibbling on all sorts of fish heads and skeletons (fisherman tossing back the heads?) Having skipped breakfast for our early start, we ... read more

Monday already? Time to hit the ocean to see turtles before the Jolly Roger type boats arrive. When we arrived at Boca Catalina at 8:15, there was just one local bouncing gently in the sandy entrance – Edwin – we recognized him for many visits and chatted briefly. Just 3 turtles this time before we headed into shallower waters. We spent another 1.5 hours in watery bliss meeting old friends and taking photos for you. Still hunting for the elusive octopus but found 2 more eels, which are always fun, and a lovely large Blue-spotted Cornetfish. David spied a peacock flounder scooting across the bottom, adapting his colors accordingly. After downloading lots of snorkeling suggestions to a family from New York, we headed off to Linda’s for the absolutely best Dutch pancakes and made pigs of ... read more

Well, we are here! Up at 3 am Saturday of course but it was amazingly clear sailing all the way: from making every green light in Streetsboro to sailing thru the convoluted paperwork for Covid testing – it turned out that all those papers we printed out – just in case – all ended up only needing the big green check mark. Some people just showed it on their phones. The flights were fine, and we spoiled ourselves by splitting a crab omelette at OBrycki’s at the airport in B’mo. We were sitting on the wrong side of the plane to take photos of Aruba as we arrived, but we could see the water was just as miraculously blue and turquoise as ever We got our Carvenience car just fine, and ended up here at La ... read more

Travels with John Steinbeck Probably the ‘best’ book Joan and I read on our recent 6-week voyage from Los Angeles to Miami was Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck. This nonfiction book was originally published in 1962. Steinbeck was disenchanted with the rampant consumerism and blatant selfishness that was destroying communities throughout the country. He was disillusioned by the rush to buy and have more and more ‘things’! The book is a beautifully written travelogue of the road trip in 1960 in which Steinbeck set out with his French Poodle called Charley in a homemade recreational vehicle that he named Rocinante after Don Quixote’s horse, to rediscover America. He commenced his travel from Sag Harbor, New York, driving north through the smaller New England states and spent some considerable time in Maine, ... read more