Day 5 - Aruba

We've all heard The Beach Boys' song that goes "...Aruba, Jamaica, ooo I wanna take ya...," but when you're in the bright blue Caribbean water and snorkeling off the Aruban coast, the lyrics take on a whole new meaning.

But do you know where Aruba actually is?? Because we didn't.

We knew it was in the Caribbean, but it's actually only 17 miles off the coast of South America's Venezuela and is actually part of the Netherlands. So we were pretty far from home -- and that's sometimes a very cool feeling -- to know that we're in the Caribbean, between Venezuela and Aruba. So cool.

When we pulled into port, we climbed aboard an open-air party bus -- complete with reggae music and a bus driver that honked the bus' horn to the song's beat. ...And the same bus driver that drove around the round-a-bout twice before he said "oops! wrong way... oh well, get your hands up! right! left! right! ..."

We took the party bus to a beach outside town for a snorkeling trip. And by 'outside town' we really mean, just a few miles away -- especially since Aruba is only 21 miles long by 6 miles wide. One side of the country is very beach/resorty, while the other side is very desertesque with cactus throughout.

The snorkeling itself was pretty amazing -- and great for comparison when we've also snorkeled in Hawaii and Alaska. What a privilege!

Compared to Hawaii, it was interesting to see the fish in Aruba not dart away when you dove underwater. Instead, they just kinda stared you in the face, waiting for you to make a move. We also expected the Aruban fish to show-off with bright colors and variety. But they were actually pretty tame; the water itself though was crystal clear -- and very warm 86 degree water.

The ship pulled out of port around 1:00 p.m. , so after our excursion, we didn't have any time to actually walk around town.

Instead, back on the ship, we spent the rest of the day making a "From Panama with Love" poster for our transit through the Canal. Evidently, holding a sign from the ship for the locals to see is a popular activity -- you'll see our design in a couple days... but, turns out painting on a moving cruise liner isn't the easiest thing to do...

Again, we enjoyed dinner in the Bordeaux Dining Room:

Emma

Appetizer: Crab cake

Salad/Soup: Iceberg quarter with hard-boiled egg

Main Course: Pork shoulder with chimmichurri

Dessert: Warm brownie

Ryan

Appetizer: Caesar salad

Salad/Soup: Strawberry smoothie soup

Main Course: Homestyle turkey with dressing

Dessert: Strawberry shortcake

After dinner, we tried to catch a comedian, but the entire Princess Theater was packed with white hair.

We quickly headed out of the Theater and tried watching a crooner in the Universe Lounge -- who I'm fairly certain actually believed he was Sinatra.

So we left that show too, and elected to walk around the ship's Promenade Deck. This was followed by some card games, Uno and a game of checkers -- which Emma still believes I cheat at... but I'm still confused as to how you'd cheat at checkers...

To close out the night, we went to a showing of "Precious." And by 'went to a showing', I of course mean Emma watched while I slept in the chair next to her.

Photos from the Day

Video from the Day

Tomorrow: Cartagena, Colombia