About three weeks ago Jeanne and I and some friends took a brief break to this tropical island, a mere 18 miles off the Venezuela (S.A) coast.
Short on time?… just view the twelve images, and CLICK ON for higher resolution.
Greeted by these MONSTERS at the resort, whom we quickly grew fond of, the iguanas proved friendly, interesting, and to be all over the place.
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The “Occidental Grand Aruba Resort” featured, among many other amenities, its swim-up pool bar.
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Steps away was the beachfront with thatched-roof covered lounges, and tiki bar. I see a pattern here!
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The soft, sandy beach proved to be a pleasure to walk along, and the leeward shore of the southern Caribbean Sea beckoned as a calm, iridescent water playground.
Above, the California Lighthouse was visible from the beach, looking picturesque enough for me to include it as a photo-op visit for the following day.
But what the short cab ride brought me to was anything but picturesque. In fact, this day, scaffolding was being erected for a long-term restoration project of the admittedly neglected beacon built in 1915 and named for a steamer wrecked off the point 24 years earlier. Note: there was no scaffolding in the previous day’s image!
With camera in hand, my obvious dis-satisfaction apparently proved humorous to the (mockingly) waving workmen, as I hastily retreated to my cab. On the way back, I did manage to get a glimpse (not the kind the Beach Boys were likely implying in their ode to Kokomo,) of the arid, primitive north-east shore of Aruba, seen in the featured image on top of this post.
To ease the disappointment of the lighthouse fiasco, we caught this pretty view of the setting sun behind the beach front tiki hut, back at our resort. (Click for closer look)
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The night-life in this tropical oasis stretches among the numerous resorts, offering great food, tropical drinks, and soft warm breezes on what would normally be a cold December night back home.
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Aruba is located a little less than 2000 miles (3200 km) south of New Jersey, as seen at the lower left in this Google Maps image.
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Thanks for viewing, and comments are always welcome. M 🙂
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Awesome!
Did you get there by plane or was this in conjunction with a cruise?
We’ve only been to one Carribean Island – Grand Cayman. The thing is, unlike our visits to Hawaii, we were pretty much bored. We’re not much into partying, drinking, or frolicking in the ocean (or, as I like to refer to it, the biggest toilet ever). That leaves very little to do other than sight-see, and at least for Grand Cayman, that can be done in a little over one day.
Anyway, nice photos and thanks for the look-see.
We flew – only 4 overnights, and I usually try to break-away for some local site-seeing – hence the lighthouse. Originally planned 2 years ago, this was the first time Jeanne flew after sustaining a head injury just prior, at that time. Thankfully she has overcome most of her issues, and these flights were fine – like passing the test! 🙂 🙂
Good to hear.
We’re still skeptical about the Carribean. We might do one other cruise, but the one last year did not awaken any desire to individually visit any of the islands we made port on.
We’ll see.
That sunset in the hut with silhouettes is a great shot. Wes
Thanks. I though of you while there, – glancing up late one of those nights and seeing Orion and Canis Major high above – and Canapus for the first time, below Sirius. This was about the furthest south we’ve ever been. M 🙂
You spend the summer at the shore then you go to another beach in the winter. Nice pictures.
Lots of snow here in the mountains and more coming. Dick
From: mvschulze To: dm724candelmo@yahoo.com Sent: Friday, December 18, 2015 2:51 PM Subject: [New post] ARUBA… We’ll get there fast, than we’ll take it slow… #yiv3676623761 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv3676623761 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv3676623761 a.yiv3676623761primaryactionlink:link, #yiv3676623761 a.yiv3676623761primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv3676623761 a.yiv3676623761primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv3676623761 a.yiv3676623761primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv3676623761 WordPress.com | mvschulze posted: “About three weeks ago Jeanne and I and some friends took a brief break to this tropical island, a mere 18 miles off the Venezuela (S.A) coast. Short on time?… just view the twelve images, and CLICK ON for higher resolution.Greeted by these MONSTERS” | |
You need to thank us for the great skiing conditions, as half or your snow should have come to the east coast. That’s GOT to be true because we’ve had NO snow yet this year! M 🙂
Those are the lives of the rich & famous…aren’t they M.? Great shots!
HR: That’s why I scrach my head and can’t fathom how we got there! M 🙂
Hmm, warm sandy beaches and tiki bars. I could live with that!