Panama Cruise, Day 4: Aruba

As the Sun Princess arrived in Aruba this morning I was already covered in sun screen lotion and ready for a day or exploration. The dock had several tourist-trap gift shops, which of course I visited to buy my usual postcards. I had booked a snorkeling excursion with a local firm called Pelican Tours and was eager to start the journey. The catamaran boat followed the Aruba coastline for 40 minutes where we reached our first of two snorkel locations. The first was at a sunken ship, which had become a perfect coral reef. It was originally a Nazi ship, sent by Hitler to stop Dutch fuel trade with the Allied forces in the war.

The morning sunshine brightened the warm Caribbean waters, which made it perfect for snorkeling. The sunken ship location was very cool, I swam through thousands of fish who did not seem bothered by my presence at all.

After an hour or so, we proceeded to a second snorkel spot, closer to the coast in more shallow waters. The coral here was quite beautiful, and had many different varieties of colorful fish, large and small. Highlights included an octopus and an eel. I only wish I had an underwater camera. Just before we left this snorkel spot, a large old wooden sail boat quietly glided by which at first glance looked like something from 100 years ago. Although I knew better my first thought was PIRATES (after all, I was in the Caribbean!).

We sailed to the coast of Palm Beach, a popular beach strip with many hotels. We had lunch at the end of a pier in an awesome BBQ restaurant with a grass hut roof. After lunch, we walked along the beach area and enjoyed the rest of the day in Aruba.

Photos below: images of the Aruba coast as we sailed away...

Later that evening, back on the ship I found myself at the Topsider Bar, located on the top deck of the ship. I sat at the bar in the warm sun and enjoyed a “bucket of beers’, where five bottles are the same price as four bottles. With such a deal, how could I pass an opportunity to save money AND quench my thirst?

Tomorrow (Monday) we set sail for the Panama Canal…it will be another full day at sea before we arrive, but who’s counting time? Not me.

-Rick Rockhill
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