Blogs from Aruba, Central America Caribbean - page 5

Good Sunday After refreshing sleep, we were up at 7 and had no problem getting to church by 9:45 – except that when we got there the doors were locked ☹ Still just meeting virtually? The only good thing was that we were able to practice our Spanish with a security guard. So we quickly returned to the hotel for a quick change into swim suits and light lunch and went snorkeling at Arashi – the beach furthest up the northwestern coast, near the California Lighthouse. There is now a buoy marking the reef, a great improvement over trying to guess. It’s a fairly long swim out, though, and we found many lovely fish and corals to look at before there, plus I was detecting a current that I didn’t fancy fighting to come back, so ... read more

So the big question is: will the Red Cross be satisfied with David's rash when we go to donate platelets on Thursday?? Today was a full day. 4 hours in the water. No wonder I'm feeling rather floaty. Just 23 turtles off the Boca Catalina entrance, and then we swap toward the hotels to see if we could find that frogfish. No, but we saw a southern stingray and a bandtailed sea robin (or flying gunard - we can't tell which is which), and a pair of porcupine fish and 3 miniature flounders. After pancakes at Linda's we had only about an hour at home before going to Arashi at 2. The lock on our door was being fixed, so we were lucky to get in and showered to be at Francis and Nelson's home for ... read more

Dear friends and family,It's really been fascinating how much quickly these days are whizzing by when compared to at home, which seem so full. It is dark (sun goes down around 6:30) and hot on the lanai, with stars shining, and more Peruvian pan pipes playing. The wind has picked up, but not much. It got to about 94 today.Basically we awoke bright and eager for adventure - so took a short walk on the beach. Had interesting chat with American couple just retired who own a home nearby in Aruba, and have been coming for years. they had owned with Blue Green but sold all but one week, so that they can still come out every day and sit on Eagle Beach. they had decorated their pallappa hut with flags from all the states they ... read more

Dear ones, the days are flying by even faster than they do at home. Why is that? I'm sitting out on the sunny lanai (yes, hot at 6 pm in almost direct sun), with the loop from the Peruvian restaurant across the street paying Titanic on pan pipes. We did our early morning snorkel at Boca C, with very flat sea, but unfortunately the biting things are still there, so we moved closer in after just 4 turtles. No bitings in shallower water. I got some closeups of sargeant majors who seem to be saying "did you bring any food for us? and the French Angel fish came over too. Note the 3 cowfish photos - the same fish, 2 different colors!! The photo of Mr. Bluehead is for Megan. 2 hours of lovely relaxed snorkeling ... read more

Actually it's Wednesday morning, and we have discovered that the wifi is ok out here on the balcony/lanai, so we are here looking out from the 3rd floor studio to a totally no-breeze day The banaquits in the coconut tree opposite MAY come to get my little offering of muesli. We'll see. Yesterday we decided to give the turtles a break, esp with David's bites being very itchy and "angry." Mine are hardly noticeable by comparison. Instead we kept on real clothes and visited the bird sanctuary and nearby lagoons. The usual waders but no hoped-for roseate spoonbills. then we drove over to the usual snorkeling places and found the waves crashing high at Boca! No one was in the water, but we did see a new "Octopus boat" in the water. It is A ROUND ... read more