I'm leaving Aruba today. The trip was so short and with the hurricane, it feels even shorter since I couldn't do much on Saturday. I hope I can return. I had a great time, the people were friendly, I feel like I've made some friends here.
Yesterday I rented a car and went diving. I was hoping to follow the dive shop car but I missed them so I ended up having to find my own way down to Baby Beach. It was an adventure to say the least. The signage is not very good here. They are few and have many circles. Sometimes the sign doesn't correspond to the available outlets in the circle and of course I chose the wrong one. On my way down, I was almost at Downtown but I made a wrong turn and went back north and ended up on Eagle Beach. Eventually after about an hour I found my way to the shop on Baby Beach. The shop's name is Jads. The owner is Jean Pierre or JP for short. Jairo, my dive master, was originally from Bonaire. I did two one-on-one shore dives with him. Our first dive was at Rocky Beach. We took a 10min drive and parked the car at his friend's house. We walked to the back where there is an area you can walk into the water. The waves were a bit rough so it was difficult swimming out but the water was serene once we finally made it down. The visibility was not very great... about 15-20 feet. There was not much to see -- coral, pipefish, christmas tree worms in different colors, parrot fish, some kind of blue fish, black tang, etc. I was still glad I got to dive during my vacation. We went back to the shop and relaxed for a bit before our second dive. I was a bit hesitant to go out again because there wasn't much to see but I'm glad I did. The waves at Baby Beach were rougher so it was even more difficult to swim out. The waves were pretty high and I was having a difficult time keeping my head above water. Despite the current, the visability was better, the coral a little more colorful and more fish to see. I even saw a baby sting ray! When I first got down, the current was strong, so I could see the shrub-like things, floating left and right. It was pretty amuzing because I knew I must look like that too. We followed the fiber optic cable lines back to shore and used the current to float inland. When we came up, there were a whole line of people waiting on the shore. Jairo joked and said that they were looking for me. The funny thing was that they really were. A woman in the watchtower saw 2 snorkelers go down so she called 911, the coast guard, and the fire department. There were also 2 news reporters. I might end up in the paper! Haha. There were even going to send out a helicopter but the dive shop called it off. I wish that heli could have bring me out so I didn't have to take in so much water trying to swim out.
The first photo is an image of Fitz Roy (the mountain the back). The 8 hour hike was definitely worth the sprained ankle, blood, sweat and tears (slight exaggeration). There are two beautiful milky blue glacier lakes in front of Fitz Roy and the panoramic view was incredible. Joe, he was on my tour, works for Patagonia. His t-shirt with the Patagonia logo is based on the silhouette of Fitz Roy. Notice the similarity?
People were all getting sunburned. We were constantly reapplying sunscreen. The lake here wasn't as beautiful as the one at Fitz Roy but the towers were more impressive. We sat and admired them for almost an hour before heading back down. Getting down the rock scramble was tricky. Bring hiking poles. They would probably help.
People were all getting sunburned. We were constantly reapplying sunscreen. The lake here wasn't as beautiful as the one at Fitz Roy but the towers were more impressive. We sat and admired them for almost an hour before heading back down. Getting down the rock scramble was tricky. Bring hiking poles. They would probably help.
