I was extremely disappointed to find that Kokomo did not exist, but Aruba? Definitely the next best thing.
It was also a fitting end to this particularly cruise. Last port of the Panama Relocation, one of the other crew members who is staying the long haul with me looked at me, shrugged, took a sip of her Aruba Arriba (don’t ask what was in it, just know that I didn’t dare finish mine) and said,
Well, only three more cruises left…we can do that…that’s nothing…we’ll just, ignore the fact that one of them is four months long!
The day was overcast, because every so often even paradise has to get a little rain (otherwise how would it stay green!) but rain in Aruba is the complete opposite from rain on the west coast. This isn’t cold rain, this is rain you want to stand out in, turn your face to the sky and spin ‘round and ‘round in. It was warm, just cool enough to be refreshing, but still warm, and it made curly-que ringlets in my now almost ridiculously-long hair (I don’t trust the spa to cut it, so it’s been left to its own devices since June…I figure I’ll be doing a good impression of Rapunzel by the time May finally rolls around).
It was decidedly surreal to walk into the cruise ship terminal, in this wonderful tropical rain, and see Christmas trees. It’s very easy to forget that it’s December when you’re in ports like this, and often times the decorations look oddly out-of-sync with the rest of the environment. But there it was, towering in the middle of the terminal, surrounded by little hanging stars, and there were giant Christmas stockings hanging from all the lampposts in town, and giant nativity set on the lawn of one of the resorts. Next to a Christmas tree that was decorated with giant tropical flowers..
Nope, not kidding…big red tropical flowers.
But once we got to De Palm Island, there wasn’t a Christmas reference to be seen. Stepping off the catamaran that serves as a ferry between the island and the mainland, you walked directly into everything you would expect Aruba to be. Pure white sand, pure blue water and everything from a free bar to free snorkel gear. Me of course, took about five minutes to shed my outer wear (I don’t remember the last time I actually had to change into my swimsuit, why waste time? Just wear it under your clothes! ), tossed my things in a locker and dived straight into the ocean. By the time my fellow crew members even made it in up to their knees I was already submerged up to my neck…
Geeze, are you crazy woman! It’s freezing!
Is not, you’re just a coward!
No, I’m not, you’re just Canadian, you’re used to the damn cold!
About the only time I pulled myself out of the water was when it started raining again. Since I was snorkeling at the time, I honestly didn’t notice at first. You can’t really hear the rain under the water, and because the rain was so warm, you honestly don’t feel it at first – and even then it doesn’t really drive you out of the water, it’s more a case of “oh, it’s raining, I guess I’ll go in now”. So for about twenty minutes I shed my snorkeling gear and laid on a beach chair under a thatched roof and read my book.
The snorkeling was amazing. While they don’t have a lot of colourful coral around here, the aquatic life is amazing. Not only are the fish huge, but they’re crazy bright colours, mostly blue, but also rainbow, black, yellow and even a few that are so white that they’re nearly transparent. This is the first time I really put my underwater camera through it’s paces, and I’m so happy it passed the test.
Alongside the snorkeling and the sheltered coves and the wooden deck that doubled as both dining room and dance floor, there was also a very small waterpark. At first, it didn’t look like much of anything, and most of us were willing to give it a miss in order to spend more time in the waves…but eventually the lure of an even half-decent waterslide proved too much for most of us, and small though they were they were actually a lot of fun. Until of course, I got set up for a picture that features me standing in the middle of what amounts to a massive waterfall…but I was already soaked so it didn’t really matter all that much…
In short…not a half bad way to spend a December afternoon..
As I have always said. Pink sands…. how can you go wrong. Thank you for being there.
The bag lady thanks you too.
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