Aruba

January 22, 2013

We went ashore in Aruba for about an hour.  The old people were tired, but we got the Bro a T-shirt.

On this cruise we visited the A and the B of the ABCs – Aruba and Bonaire.  We were in Curacao last year – our second and almost third visits (regular readers of this blog will remember we were on a plague ship, full of folks infested with the norovirus, that got within an hour of Willemstad and turned around, sailing back to Fort Lauderdale).

We were last in Aruba in October, 2010.  There is a T-Rex on top of one of the souvenir stands, but the poor fellow doesn't look like he's had a fresh coat of paint in the last 27 months, baked thin by the Caribbean sun.  This time we photographed a relative of Rex’s, a lizard named “Lizza” – she looks like a sickly relative of Godzilla, and has been reduced to selling fruit drinks.

I did stop and talk to Ludmilla, a tour guide from the Rodina who was waiting with a sign printed in Cyrillic, offering to guide others from Russia, through her new homeland.  After we walked out past a couple dozen souvenir stands, I said if she’s still there when we get back we will hire her for a tour, but she was gavarooing to a couple from back home and leading them to her vehicle and a trip around the island.  Oh well.

The “Vision of the Seas” is going next to the Western Caribbean, to Cozumel, Belize and ports around Central America.  Cozumel is one of our favorite places, and Belize is a stop on our list to visit.  Maybe another time.  And “Vision” is doing a repositioning cruise in April, going to the Baltic Sea, via France and England, eventually reaching St. Petersburg.  That would be a fun sailing, indeed.  Then she’ll go into dry dock for a refit, and when she sails again, she will go through the Panama Canal.  Another itinerary for our bucket list!

Well, this may be the last blog for this cruise.  Check back tomorrow just in case.  For now – TTFN!