October 4th, last full day

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Our last this and that ☹ As all good things come to an end (all bad things do too, of course!)

We said goodbye to our Turtles on the N.W. side of the island. We were the first car there, followed by 2 other middle-aged women we chatted to afterwards (I think they were a little concerned for us because we had stayed out there so long!). The visibility was not as good as before the storm, but we spotted 6 turtles. The challenge was that normally we can swim about 20’ apart, and see a good 12’ feet right and left. But today we could only see virtually what was under or in front of our vision.

The MOST super find was a FAMILY of flying gurnards - the little one was only about 3” long, compared to the adults of about 12” – no photos due to the low light and sand.

Another fun thing was that David came up from snorkeling to find himself face to face with a Booby! At least that’s what I think it is.

We came out after about 1-3/ hours and chatted with the ladies mentioned above – they are very well traveled, and have been to Aruba many times – they house sit for some Americans who live here. But they hadn’t tried Linda’s Pancakes - and we steered them to that place.

So, our last visit to Linda’s to say goodbye to our friends Maryjane and Sandra.

Before stopping home we determined to finally find the entrance to the steps that climb the hill--the Hooiberg. It’s right in our backyard after all. It has steps all the way up - 600+. Maryjane said she did it over the weekend – 3 hours! We also finally found the waterpark – also not far away.

A little birding but the humming birds weren’t cooperative. But we walked all the way thru the Spanish Lagoon park all the way to the bridge. This place is very shallow now, but Nelson told us that originally seafaring ships could come all the way in – guess they were Spanish! Then gold was discovered, the mines were worked, and so many trees were felled for the buildings that soil washed down from the hills and the lagoon filled.

We sure could recommend this lovely little place to anyone.

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