Christmas 2008 - In the Panama Canal travel blog

Sonia, This One is for You...a Panorama View of what we saw...

Approaching Oranjestad, Aruba

Colorful Tour Bus

The Historic Old Windmill

California Lighthouse (quite far away, and through a bus window)

The Aloe Field

Cutting the Aloe

The famous Casibari Rocks

That's Me, I made it to the Top

The Views from the Top

Rocks & Cacti, Can't Believe How Arid it Is

Always a Souvenir Shop Nearby

Another Look at the Cavernous Rocks

One Use for Cactus, Build a Fence

One of the Island Goats

The North Shore

It's Really Beautiful Here

A Baby Natural Bridge is Forming

A nap in the shade of a rock, oblivious to the tourists.

A look at the arid soil by the beautiful sea

The tourists build these little rock piles

Volcanic Rock Area

Lonely Cactus by the Sea

Another Natural Bridge Forms

Smelting Works Ruins at Bushiribana

Pool Deck Readied for the Tropical Pool Party

The Monkey Hangs out in our Room


The slight rocking motion of the ship contributed to a great night’s sleep. We didn’t have to get up early as we weren’t arriving in Aruba until 11 a.m. So, we had a light breakfast and watched from the Observation Deck as the Captain and local pilot maneuvered this behemoth vessel into the Harbor at Oranjestad, the capital of Aruba. Oranjestad means the Orange City named in honor of the Dutch Ruling family of the House of Orange.

We had booked a tour for 1:30 so we had plenty of time to go ashore and walk around the immediate vicinity of the pier. If we had any question about what the primary industry is here, the answer hit us squarely in the face the moment we set foot on terra firma in port….it’s tourism, and because of the thriving tourist business, Aruba enjoys a very high standard of living. Shops are scrunched together and line both sides of a couple of streets and alleys clustered around the port area. Everything from T-shirts and beachwear to expensive designer-name brand goods are available here. Jewelry stores are abundant and Diamonds International is an icon endorsed by the cruise lines. This must be the place to buy jewelry; however, Joe didn’t buy me any diamonds but, we did get some water and diet cokes and returned to the ship for a light lunch…….some shoppers we are. In addition to shopping, Aruba is famous for beautiful beaches, snorkeling, wind surfing, and fishing.

Then it was time for our tour. We assembled and joined our fellow tourists for our air-conditioned bus ride around the tiny island. Aruba is the smallest of the ABC’s (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao), situated about 12 degrees north of the equator and less than 20 miles north of Venezuela. The coast is tropical; but, the interior is amazingly arid with widespread fields of cacti. Annual rainfall is 16 inches so the climate is very dry and sunny with cooling breezes. There are trees on the island called divi-divi trees and they lean away from the trade winds, a bit like the northward leaning of trees in Oklahoma.

Our tour route took us west and north along the coast where we saw the beautiful white sand beaches of Eagle Beach and Palm Beach. High-rise elegant hotels provide accommodations for the tourist. We passed Aruba’s “oude molen” (the old windmill), a symbol of the Dutch on the island. It was built and used in the Netherlands nearly 200 years ago, dismantled and shipped to Aruba, and erected in its new tropical home here in 1960. California Lighthouse is perched on the sand dunes on the northwest tip and was erected when a ship ran aground here. We stopped at a local Aloe factory to view the growing farm and the production and harvest facilities for the aloe plant. There wasn’t much activity going on at the factory so close to Christmas but these tours always throw in a little commercialism and we found ourselves in the aloe store; so now we have overpriced aloe lotion and creams to bring home. Oh well, it’s just not any old aloe, it’s Aruba Aloe. We drove through a quaint little village called Noord; every village has a church, a school, and a cemetery. Then, we came to the Casibari Rocks and we were able to climb the rock formations for a nice panoramic view of the surrounding area. The climb was also our exercise for the day as it was a little challenging to navigate over the rocks, through the caverns and tunnels, with no handrails to finally get to the top.... and then we discovered the winds responsible for the divi-divi trees leaning, wow does it ever blow up here!

Gold played a role in Aruba’s history and our next leg of the journey traversed Frenchman’s Pass to the Gold Smelter Ruins at Bushiribana. We saw an ostrich farm and some goats on the way. The last stop was on the north coast at the Natural Bridge, which is no more because it fell several years ago. But, there is a smaller bridge developing and it was a really pretty area to get out and walk around and admire the ocean views and the volcanic rock. Many ship wrecks are off the coasts of Aruba but we weren’t able to see any because the water level was high. Our return trip to the ship brought us through the village of Santa Cruz, with its church, school, and cemetery. The driver told us you can see Venezuela to the south on a clear day. The traffic in downtown was very heavy, last minute Christmas shopping, but we finally got back to the ship.

We had dinner on board and the dining room was really quiet because we’re in Aruba until 10 p.m. and many people stayed ashore very late, especially the young people like to party in Aruba. There was no evening show tonight but there was plenty to do. For the party crowd, there was a pub crawl; ice carving demonstration at the pool, and the Pool Party kept the Lido deck buzzing. The pool area was transformed into a tropical paradise featuring music, dancing, games, food, food, food, and drinks in twinkling glasses.

We had a wonderful day and we’re looking forward to our day tomorrow in Curacao.

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