My husband is a very smart man.  Our plan was to stay in Aruba, merely for the sake of waiting for a weather window.  We arrived late on Tuesday the 24th, and it looked as if a weather window was opening the following Monday.  We ventured in to town on Tessa’s birthday, but the next day it was so windy we just stayed on the boat.  It’s very pretty here, and the anchorage we are at, near the airport, has great holding and on shore is a great bar/restaurant called New Havana with good, reasonably priced food and a Happy Hour.  Tristan and Tessa had a great time playing with the local kids on the beach one night.  Of course Tristan loves this anchorage.  All the incoming planes have to fly low over our boat.  He has his Janes Guide to Aircraft and can now name them all almost from their sound.  We rented a four wheel drive Jeep and did some off road exploring.  Later, sitting on the beach, Dan says, “You know, this is a major vacation destination.  Why are we leaving here so fast?”

Good question.  After thinking about it, and overcoming my ego which said, “You need to get going.”  (and)” Cruisers don’t spend time in Aruba.” I next had to overcome my fear of missing a weather window and possibly being stuck here for awhile.  Was that so bad?  We later ran in to Denali Rose who had been here a month.  The French boat, Josie, had been here 3 months.  Another boat we later met, PR2 had been here 3 months.  The boat anchored behind us had been here 3 months.  They all LOVED IT!!!  And so did we.  Sitting in a lounge chair, on the white sand at Eagle Beach, I agreed with Dan.  Let’s stay. 

The next day we were out again.  We traded the Jeep in for a cheaper car, and headed out to see the Caves.  The landscape of Aruba is so diverse.  On the west side you have the beautiful white beaches.  On the east you have the crashing waves.  The west coast has the towns and the people.  The south side has the refinery.  Aruba at one time was a major oil supplier.  The north side has snorkeling, and the west has the most desolate, desert area, with hills, moonscapes and caves.  It’s like another world. 

Our Jeep came in handy the first day as we drove the western coastline. Literally you are less than 100 feet from the water most of the time.  The next day we toured the caves, and saw the Arawak drawings.  You really need to see the caves.  One is very unique.  As you start in, it’s low and  pitch black.  After about 50 feet, the cave opens up, with sunlight streaming in from two holes nearly 30 feet about you.  You can imagine the Arawaks using this space as a meeting center.  It was beautiful.  We ended the day again on the white sands of Eagle Beach.

Really we can’t say enough good things about Aruba.  The people are wonderful, the beaches beautiful.  The anchorage has great holding.  It would be even better if the wind would die down, but you can’t have everything. The grocery store prices here are about the same as in Curacao, but you have a much larger selection to choose from.  The bus system is MUCH better than Curacao.  The bus here will take you anywhere you need to go.  The check in at Barcadero was painless (no tire marks on our boat).  I really don’t know why more people don’t stay longer, but we know why the ones who are here stay! 

  California Lighthouse

   East side

  Eagle Beach

  Natural Bridge

  Peace Labyrinth on top of the hill next to the Church

  Power of the waves

  Spirit Rocks

 Tessa and Tristan on top of the hill building their own Spirit Rocks

  Grotto depicting Virgin Mary appearing at Lourdes

  Cave

 Tessa celebrated her 9th birthday today!  It started out a little rocky.  We all did a quick walk downtown, and I was going to make her birthday cake when we got back to the boat.  I already had the mix and frosting, but no decorations.  After walking around for awhile, I started to not feel well.   The grocery store is not close in town, and it was too far to walk so I started looking for a backup plan of an icecream cake.  We checked at Baskin Robbins but no luck.  I was going to have to make the cake.  Tessa, knowing I wasn’t feeling well, said she didn’t need a cake.  That was sweet of her, but no one in my family has a birthday without a cake.  Tessa joked she could just have a donut from Dunkin’ Donuts, (there are about 3 Dunkin’ Donuts in Aruba!).  That gave me an idea.  I bought a half dozen Dunkin Donuts.  Back at the boat, I assembled them into something resembling a multilevel cake, complete with whipped cream decorations.  I put 9 candles on top and it was perfect.  She loved it.  While I assembled the cake, Dan and Tristan decorated her room and the boat with Happy Birthday streamers and balloons.  That made her very happy.  I had bought her birthday gifts back at Christmas time and they had been hidden.  It took me awhile to find a few of them.  She also had a few from Grandma and Grandpa.  We spent the rest of the afternoon, playing games and having fun. Later, the guy from the French boat Josie came over to see if we had any charts on Colombia.  Dan gave him what information we had.  We found out he was sailing with his wife and 3 kids.  I told him it was Tessa’s birthday.  He went back to his boat and brought back his wife, 5 month old son, 2 year old son and 5 year old daughter Noel.   They brought a present for Tessa, a DVD, and some hair bows.  What  a nice surprise!  Noel stayed on our boat for awile and played with Tessa.   They had a great time.  Come to find out, they know  our friends on Toucan.  They met them in Curacao.  Unfortunately for us, they will be leaving for Cartegna before we do, but we should catch up to them there.

  Aruba passage

We left early Monday morning and headed to Santa Cruz, on the north coast of Curacao.  We anchored here to shave twenty miles off  the normal sixty plus mile trip.  The anchorage was exposed, and when we anchored around noon, some northern swells were giving us a bit of a rolly anchorage, but not too bad.  At seven pm, right after the sun went down, the guy from the dive shop on shore came out to us and told us we’d better move.  They just got the call on the radio that bad northern swells were coming tonight and where we were wasn’t safe. If the Coast Guard saw us there, they’d make us leave.  He told us to come on further in the narrow inlet (lined by high cliffs) and anchor in the middle.  We had rejected this spot when we first came in as the holding was supposed to be dead, loose coral mixed with sand, a mixture our anchor doesn’t like, and the spot we were currently at was all sand.  Dan and I decided we’d better follow his advice as it was already pretty windy and a little lumpy where we were.  Tristan and I had the anchor hauled in record time, and in the twilight, we entered straight into the narrow inlet and dropped the anchor, hoping for a catch the first time.  Luck was with us and we were set, in the dark.  It was a little nerve wracking.  If we dragged here, we would head right into one of the rocky walls.  At least we were getting a break from the wind.  We had a restless night as we woke up to check our position every so often. 

   Santa Cruz

 This morning at six thirty we hauled anchor and set sail west for Aruba.  In the beginning the wind was light, about ten to twelve knots, and northern swells.  The swells built, not enough to be scary, but short enough to make you sick if you went inside the boat.  I guess we don’t have our sea legs yet.  The only one who seemed fine was Tessa, but she can handle just about everything.  The wind stayed pretty light until we got to Aruba and then they kicked up to twenty five knots.  We checked into the immigration/customs at Barcadera.  It was interesting tying up to the dock with twenty knot winds pushing you off.  The guidebook said not to expect any help at the dock, but a nice guy from one of the Colombian fishing boats watched us come in, and gave us some much needed help with our lines.  That was an unexpected surprise.  Dan handed him a cold Polar.  At first he said that wasn’t necessary, but we insisted.  Check in was quick, and with our Colombian friends help again, we got off the dock and headed to the anchorage near the airport.  Tomorrow is Tessa’s birthday so we will go into town and explore and celebrate.  Tonight, it’s early to bed!

  Tristan cutting his own hair.