Well, we did it! We got Tattood in Aruba. But it's not the kind of tattoo you would think. Last night we took a water taxi to a party boat named "Tattoo". Dinner was served on the 3rd level of the boat in the moonlight. Dancing followed on the lower level. The evening was made complete at the end of the evening by swinging from a rope and dropping into the ocean and taking a thrilling waterslide ride which dropped into the ocean. The excitement was heightend as people were shouting that a shark was spotted. It turned out that it was a large mantaray and not a shark afterall. Quite a memorable evening!
Today was a beautiful sunny day. The day was spent just enjoying our last full day on the island. Tonight we had our final long moonlit walk by the ocean. Tomorrow we fly to Phoenix.
Signed forlornly,
Kathy and Dennis
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Touring the Island December 4th
After writing our last blog we went for long moonlit walk on the boardwalk right beside the ocean. What a wonderful evening for a walk. It was still very warm and humid. There was music playing from the pubs along the way. Lights on the ocean from the boats in the area looked like small towns.
Yesterday we rented a car again and drove to WEB (the water desalination and electricity plant). The tour was very interesting. We thought that we were not going to be able to tour it initially because they needed ID (Kathy hadn't brought hers). After standing in the line for a while we asked one of the employees if we could still take the tour without ID. Apparently we were in the line to pay the utility bills. You need ID to pay your bill but not needed to take the tour. Weird! We decided we didn't want to pay anyone's bill so we went next door to the proper place for the tour. The guide explained that they use fuel from the oil refinery in boilers to heat up the sea water. The steam produced turns the turbines which produces electricity. After spinning the turbine the steam goes to the water plant where it is distilled. 60% of the water is returned to the ocean with the extra salt taken out in the distallation process making that water very salty. The 40% of pure water is then run through a limestone rock filter (brought from US) to add necessary minerals. Previously they had run the water through coral rock for the mineral content but environmental regulations put a halt to that process. They use ultraviolet light to
kill any bacteria left. It is sent off to the island for use from there. They are in the process of changing to reverse osmosis to produce water.
After the tour we drove to Baby Beach which is right beside the oil refinery. It is a beautiful beach where we snorkled again and saw more awesome tropical fish. Kathy saw a bright yellow eel type creature for the first time.
We then checked out some interesting large rock formations. We climbed through the rocks to the top and had a wonderful view of the area. We took pictures of wild native green parrakeets which were plentiful in this area.
After dropping off the rental car we returned back to the condo where we barbequed chicken which was a great ending to a wonderful day.
We are nearing the end of our time in Aruba with only two days left. We will be sorry to have to leave.
That's it for now.
Kathy and Dennis
Yesterday we rented a car again and drove to WEB (the water desalination and electricity plant). The tour was very interesting. We thought that we were not going to be able to tour it initially because they needed ID (Kathy hadn't brought hers). After standing in the line for a while we asked one of the employees if we could still take the tour without ID. Apparently we were in the line to pay the utility bills. You need ID to pay your bill but not needed to take the tour. Weird! We decided we didn't want to pay anyone's bill so we went next door to the proper place for the tour. The guide explained that they use fuel from the oil refinery in boilers to heat up the sea water. The steam produced turns the turbines which produces electricity. After spinning the turbine the steam goes to the water plant where it is distilled. 60% of the water is returned to the ocean with the extra salt taken out in the distallation process making that water very salty. The 40% of pure water is then run through a limestone rock filter (brought from US) to add necessary minerals. Previously they had run the water through coral rock for the mineral content but environmental regulations put a halt to that process. They use ultraviolet light to
kill any bacteria left. It is sent off to the island for use from there. They are in the process of changing to reverse osmosis to produce water.
After the tour we drove to Baby Beach which is right beside the oil refinery. It is a beautiful beach where we snorkled again and saw more awesome tropical fish. Kathy saw a bright yellow eel type creature for the first time.
We then checked out some interesting large rock formations. We climbed through the rocks to the top and had a wonderful view of the area. We took pictures of wild native green parrakeets which were plentiful in this area.
After dropping off the rental car we returned back to the condo where we barbequed chicken which was a great ending to a wonderful day.
We are nearing the end of our time in Aruba with only two days left. We will be sorry to have to leave.
That's it for now.
Kathy and Dennis
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Week 3 in Aruba
After the second week in Aruba, we rented a car for a few days. We moved to a quaint Dutch motel for two nights. They supplied a wonderful dutch style contenental breakfast each morning at an open air restaurant where the birds watched diligently for a chance to share our breakfast. Our room was supplied with a king size bed and we had a table and two chairs outside the room which overlooked the motel restaurant, beautiful grounds and the Carribean sea.
We took our rental car around the south end of the island and toured some caves in the military artillery area. This freaked us out a little but later we found out they put up a flag and posted an armed guard when they are using it for military practice.
We saw wild donkeys and goats on our travels. There was a neat chapel built into caves on two sides of the road in one area. The caves we toured were awesome. A government tour guide showed us indian paintings and stallactites and stallagmites and different types of bats and cave crabs inside the caves.
We are now at our third timeshare property (Divi Village). The grounds are beautiful here, tropical folliage surrounded by a golf course. There are three pool areas to use, one has a swim up bar and infinity pool.
This week we went on a boat to an all inclusive private island where we snorkled with tons of colorful fish, dark blue parrot fish and rainbow fish and lots of other fish. There was a really fun waterslide park on the island that we went on. We had lunch and dinner on the island, the restaraunt was in the Carribean ocean which was very cool. We could feed the fish from our table.
We went on a catamaran sailing adventure as well this week. We snorkeled and went snuba - ing at three sites, one over a WWII German war ship wreckage which was very exciting. We swam with a lot more different types of fish here as well.
Yesterday we toured the Aloe Vera factory. Aruba is one of the largest exporters of Aloe. All their packaging and harvesting is done by hand.
Signing out from Aruba for now.
Dream Weavers out.
We took our rental car around the south end of the island and toured some caves in the military artillery area. This freaked us out a little but later we found out they put up a flag and posted an armed guard when they are using it for military practice.
We saw wild donkeys and goats on our travels. There was a neat chapel built into caves on two sides of the road in one area. The caves we toured were awesome. A government tour guide showed us indian paintings and stallactites and stallagmites and different types of bats and cave crabs inside the caves.
We are now at our third timeshare property (Divi Village). The grounds are beautiful here, tropical folliage surrounded by a golf course. There are three pool areas to use, one has a swim up bar and infinity pool.
This week we went on a boat to an all inclusive private island where we snorkled with tons of colorful fish, dark blue parrot fish and rainbow fish and lots of other fish. There was a really fun waterslide park on the island that we went on. We had lunch and dinner on the island, the restaraunt was in the Carribean ocean which was very cool. We could feed the fish from our table.
We went on a catamaran sailing adventure as well this week. We snorkeled and went snuba - ing at three sites, one over a WWII German war ship wreckage which was very exciting. We swam with a lot more different types of fish here as well.
Yesterday we toured the Aloe Vera factory. Aruba is one of the largest exporters of Aloe. All their packaging and harvesting is done by hand.
Signing out from Aruba for now.
Dream Weavers out.
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