Aruba One Happy Island

 It was hard to tell who felt worse aboot not spending more time in Aruba. Our Guides or us.  Our ship docked at 1:00 and we had to be back by 5:30. To make the short time go by even quicker our ship did not set its clocks to Aruba time, which was either one hour ahead or one hour behind the ships time, depending on who you ask.

Aruba has wonderful coral beaches, and rocky north coast. The island is dry, organ pipe cactus thrive in its soils, donkeys roam free.  Modern 4 star hotels line part of the beach, and  local restrictions limit how high the hotels can go.  The entire beach is public. The King & Queen of the Netherlands drop in for the occasional stay. Residents tax dollars pay for education through collage, health care,  and  inter structure like roads and water desalination.

Why these little countries that we have visited are not more like amerika with  massive consumer capitalism, corporate welfare, six loaded guns for every man woman and child, and a giant military that spills blood so we can  keep the endless war for profit going….Well I just do not know what is wrong with them.

California Lighthouse

 

Our whirlwind tour of the island took us to , California Lighthouse on the North coast of Aruba. The lighthouse is named after the steamship California that sank just off the coast a 100 years or so ago. The lighthouse reminds me of Pigeon Point light on the California coast.
We also rode a little boat with plastic windows in the hull. Back and forth we went over German  ship wreck from the 1940’s

The wreck is home for scores of tropical sea life, and a favorite with  snorkelers who we could see bobbing on the surface.

Our guides got us back to our ship with a ½ hour to spare, and either a  1 hour late or  1 hour early, according to island time.

We boarded Island Princess for the last time this journey and watched the sun set from our balcony as our captain charted  a course for Florida.

Sunset Aruba

All night we sailed across the Caribbean, and this morning according to the map on the flat screen tvee we are right smack dab in the middle of the Caribbean sea.

 The sea is slight, and the most amazing color of blue. The  ships wake sends frothy white water out to mix with the blue. No land or other ships around just the occasional aquatic plant floats by

We will pass between Cuba and Haiti, then north to Florida on Sunday.