American Travel Journal: Oranjestad, Aruba

Monday, August 27, 2012

Oranjestad, Aruba

Our final port of call on our July 2012 cruise was Oranjestad, Aruba. We chose to go snorkeling in the morning and then to wander around Oranjestad in the afternoon. Our snorkeling adventure began with a walk along the pier to the Fiesta, a 62' catamaran operated by Red Sail Sports. Our two snorkeling locations were Catalina Bay and the scuttled Antilla warship. The visibility at Catalina Bay was good, but it was so poor at the wreckage that the Antilla was not visible without diving.

Sailing past our ship

School of fish in Catalina Bay

Other dive and snorkeling vessels

Another fish in Catalina Bay

Catalina Bay shoreline

Still more fish and coral

During our return to Oranjestad, we stopped to assist a young man who had fallen off of a personal watercraft. The craft was drifting away faster than he was swimming. Once the crew got him on board, they realized that he wasn't completely sober and the crew would not approach his jet ski until he gave his key to one of them. The crew member jumped in and brought the man's craft around about the time the authorities arrived to escort him back to the beach. This activity took about an hour and left us will little time to explore the town. We did have time to walk a few blocks into town and east of our dock. After asking several locals, I managed to find the Aruba Aloe store in the Renaissance Mall. As the temperature was in the 80s, we also found the Lecca Lecca Italian Gelateria by asking some of the retailers where to find some good ice cream.