Cruising the Caribbean, Part II
December 6, 2011 - Aruba
15:46
Guh what a day. We got up this morning at 06:30... well, mom and I did. And dressed. Dad took until about 07:00, or thereabouts. We finished breakfast about an hour later.
Walking back to the room, I noticed that the ship clock was an hour ahead of my watch. Turned out it wasn't 07:45, it was 08:45. And our excusion was scheduled to leave then. So the moment we got back to the room, I called the excursions desk and asked them to hold the bus for 5 minutes or so, so that we could get down there. While I was on the phone, the bus left.
Dad, when he found out, got all upset and growled at me, for deciding I wanted to grab my camera's scuba case. (*sigh*) Mom and I got chivvied out the door (me sans camera case, she sans sunscreen), and down to the terminal. Whereupon we were told the bus had waited for us for 15 minutes (which was pure bullshit), and offered another tour. This, we felt, was unacceptable, and, with some trouble, got them to show us where the taxi stand was. Something I thought they should have offered us as an option to begin with, rather than try to foist some other crap bus tour on us instead...
The fare to get where we wanted ended up being some $20 US. So all in all, to replace the one snorkeling trip we'd had with this one, we had to pay an extra $80. Ugh.
Then, to top off the morning, the guy that met us, hurried us to the pier, actuslly making us run. And (poor thing) mom managed to find the one truly uneven spot in the pavement to faceplant. Scraped her hand open, and it bled like crazy.
But we did catch the boat, and mama was taken below decks into the cabin to have her hand looked at.
The crew was amusing, too, with their nonstop antics and jokes. I don't rmember the half of them,now, but that doesn't matter. In retrospect, maybe I should have taken video... I had my camera with me, if not the case...
Ah well.
Eventually, everyone was outfitted with mask, fins, and snorkel, and crammed into a flotation device. In the process, I was nicknamed cinderella by the incorrigble rogue of a second mate, and deemed pretty but not too smart by the same rogue for not knowing by osmosis that he'd now given me a pair of MENS fins in a size 4-5, and that those were the same as the ladies 7 I'd asked for... when the only label on the fins was the numerical size.
He got smacked with a fin for that one.
Ass.
Not a bad guy, just... a little too... hmmm, flippant for me to truly like him.
The captain (a Danish lady with lots of tattoos and piercings, and a very short, almost buzzed, hairstyle), and the first mate (a Venezuelan guy with a slightly dry sense of humor) were great. *snort* Towards the end of the trip, they told a story about this Canadian guy they'd seen come through on a cruise two years ago, built like a brick house, and with a tattoo on his deltoid of a scorpion. And it was pink. So they all teased him mercilessly. "Hey, nice lobster." "Are you from Maine? No? Oh, sorry, I thought it was a lobster." Etc.
But anyway, the first spot they took us was called Boca Catalina, and the main attraction was a spot literally maybe 100' from the beach in 12' of water. Loooooooots of fish and rocks and such to look at. It was pretty great. Made me really wish I'd had my camera case. I found a lot of dinnerplate-sized sea urchins, a lot of pretty fish, and all manner of corals to look at
The second site was only about 200' from the first: the wreck of the Antilla, a German WWII ship, sunk there in 1941. The ship was taken captive,but since the island had no jails, the Germans were left on their boat. After a while, the German captain decided to cut his tether and run. But it was his bad luck that two Dutch destroyers were just arriving to protect the area. They threatened to sink his ship if he didn't turn back. He refused, and instead gave the order to sink his own ship by opening the valves to douse the hot engines with cold seawater. Of course, this meant that they made a nice big boom and the crew had to swim to shore.
Now the wreck sits in about 40' of water, and is growing fire coral. And surrounded by relatively large schools of fish. That wreck would be a lot of fun to dive. Lots of light, lots of fish, and it's fairly open, the way the wreckage is positioned. The ship is on its side, but the upper (starboard) wall is collapsed where the exploding engineroom at the stern of the ship tore the side of the hull open. Many more missed opportunities for photos. And that made me sad.
The wreck is also, unfortunately, leaking oil. I saw a couple of drops float up to the surface and spread instantly into a nice sheen. And THAT made me decide to get out of the water. Ew.
The third site was called 'The Wall' for the natural rock walls that have formed there. Here was nothing to see there, though. Some sand and seagrass.
Lunch was nothing to write home about, and I started cramping halfway through the meal. This meant the trip back, although we made it under sail, rather than using the engine alone, was not entirely pleasant.
But since I got to eat something light and take a painkiller, pretty much the moment we all got done showering, it was bearable. Just.
Dad insisted we go up to the top deck and take a panoramic photo of the place, so we did. I shall have to stitch it together when I get home. There were tentative potential plans to attempt to climb Haystack mountain (the very pyramidal one off to the East), but we are all worn out by the snorkeling and sunburnt due to lack of sunscreen, so we are staying in tonight. The 'rents will explore Curaçao tomorrow, while I dive. WITH camera case, this time!
Now, as it has taken me just over en hour to write that up, it is time (16:53) for me to sit back with a novel for a while.
20:07
Dinner tonight was the most tasty yet, I think. A fruit salad, lobster bisque, and tenderloin chunks on kebabs. Followed by flambéed crêpe suzette with grand marnier caramel, and vanilla icecream on the side. Omg tasty.
(Follow the fake cut to the photos)
15:46
Guh what a day. We got up this morning at 06:30... well, mom and I did. And dressed. Dad took until about 07:00, or thereabouts. We finished breakfast about an hour later.
Walking back to the room, I noticed that the ship clock was an hour ahead of my watch. Turned out it wasn't 07:45, it was 08:45. And our excusion was scheduled to leave then. So the moment we got back to the room, I called the excursions desk and asked them to hold the bus for 5 minutes or so, so that we could get down there. While I was on the phone, the bus left.
Dad, when he found out, got all upset and growled at me, for deciding I wanted to grab my camera's scuba case. (*sigh*) Mom and I got chivvied out the door (me sans camera case, she sans sunscreen), and down to the terminal. Whereupon we were told the bus had waited for us for 15 minutes (which was pure bullshit), and offered another tour. This, we felt, was unacceptable, and, with some trouble, got them to show us where the taxi stand was. Something I thought they should have offered us as an option to begin with, rather than try to foist some other crap bus tour on us instead...
The fare to get where we wanted ended up being some $20 US. So all in all, to replace the one snorkeling trip we'd had with this one, we had to pay an extra $80. Ugh.
Then, to top off the morning, the guy that met us, hurried us to the pier, actuslly making us run. And (poor thing) mom managed to find the one truly uneven spot in the pavement to faceplant. Scraped her hand open, and it bled like crazy.
But we did catch the boat, and mama was taken below decks into the cabin to have her hand looked at.
The crew was amusing, too, with their nonstop antics and jokes. I don't rmember the half of them,now, but that doesn't matter. In retrospect, maybe I should have taken video... I had my camera with me, if not the case...
Ah well.
Eventually, everyone was outfitted with mask, fins, and snorkel, and crammed into a flotation device. In the process, I was nicknamed cinderella by the incorrigble rogue of a second mate, and deemed pretty but not too smart by the same rogue for not knowing by osmosis that he'd now given me a pair of MENS fins in a size 4-5, and that those were the same as the ladies 7 I'd asked for... when the only label on the fins was the numerical size.
He got smacked with a fin for that one.
Ass.
Not a bad guy, just... a little too... hmmm, flippant for me to truly like him.
The captain (a Danish lady with lots of tattoos and piercings, and a very short, almost buzzed, hairstyle), and the first mate (a Venezuelan guy with a slightly dry sense of humor) were great. *snort* Towards the end of the trip, they told a story about this Canadian guy they'd seen come through on a cruise two years ago, built like a brick house, and with a tattoo on his deltoid of a scorpion. And it was pink. So they all teased him mercilessly. "Hey, nice lobster." "Are you from Maine? No? Oh, sorry, I thought it was a lobster." Etc.
But anyway, the first spot they took us was called Boca Catalina, and the main attraction was a spot literally maybe 100' from the beach in 12' of water. Loooooooots of fish and rocks and such to look at. It was pretty great. Made me really wish I'd had my camera case. I found a lot of dinnerplate-sized sea urchins, a lot of pretty fish, and all manner of corals to look at
The second site was only about 200' from the first: the wreck of the Antilla, a German WWII ship, sunk there in 1941. The ship was taken captive,but since the island had no jails, the Germans were left on their boat. After a while, the German captain decided to cut his tether and run. But it was his bad luck that two Dutch destroyers were just arriving to protect the area. They threatened to sink his ship if he didn't turn back. He refused, and instead gave the order to sink his own ship by opening the valves to douse the hot engines with cold seawater. Of course, this meant that they made a nice big boom and the crew had to swim to shore.
Now the wreck sits in about 40' of water, and is growing fire coral. And surrounded by relatively large schools of fish. That wreck would be a lot of fun to dive. Lots of light, lots of fish, and it's fairly open, the way the wreckage is positioned. The ship is on its side, but the upper (starboard) wall is collapsed where the exploding engineroom at the stern of the ship tore the side of the hull open. Many more missed opportunities for photos. And that made me sad.
The wreck is also, unfortunately, leaking oil. I saw a couple of drops float up to the surface and spread instantly into a nice sheen. And THAT made me decide to get out of the water. Ew.
The third site was called 'The Wall' for the natural rock walls that have formed there. Here was nothing to see there, though. Some sand and seagrass.
Lunch was nothing to write home about, and I started cramping halfway through the meal. This meant the trip back, although we made it under sail, rather than using the engine alone, was not entirely pleasant.
But since I got to eat something light and take a painkiller, pretty much the moment we all got done showering, it was bearable. Just.
Dad insisted we go up to the top deck and take a panoramic photo of the place, so we did. I shall have to stitch it together when I get home. There were tentative potential plans to attempt to climb Haystack mountain (the very pyramidal one off to the East), but we are all worn out by the snorkeling and sunburnt due to lack of sunscreen, so we are staying in tonight. The 'rents will explore Curaçao tomorrow, while I dive. WITH camera case, this time!
Now, as it has taken me just over en hour to write that up, it is time (16:53) for me to sit back with a novel for a while.
20:07
Dinner tonight was the most tasty yet, I think. A fruit salad, lobster bisque, and tenderloin chunks on kebabs. Followed by flambéed crêpe suzette with grand marnier caramel, and vanilla icecream on the side. Omg tasty.
(Follow the fake cut to the photos)