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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.

View looking west on Havenstraat 
View looking east on Havenstraat
Kong Hing Supermarket
Northeast entrance to Renaissance Mall
Renaissance Water Taxi Dock
Lecca Lecca Italian Gelateria
Weststraat 13
Interior of Lecca Lecca
Shops adjacent to the cruise terminal
Oranjestad from the ship
Renaissance Hotel and Mall
Renaissance Lagoon
Queen Beatrix International Airport (AUA)
9000 foot runway 11/29
Mount Hooiberg (elev 541 ft)
At sea
Sunset

The official tourist website for Aruba is at http://www.aruba.com.

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