Aruba

Aruba - Oct. 25, 2006 Wednesday

The bar pier where we boarded the boat.	The wreck of a German ship from WWII with coral and plant life.	Aruba has changed dramatically over the last years. It has nearly all new construction in the port area. Lots of new condos, timeshares, and hotels are being built on the beautiful beaches. The sand is golden and fine. Aruba is primarily a coral reef with an extinct volcano. They get little in the way of rainfall so they use desalinazation plants for water. It is a desert island complete with palm trees and cactus. So much cactus that they have an aloe plant.
Coral	A very happy Will	We went on a glass bottom boat tour. The tour was from a pier out among the high rise hotels. We visited 3 spots during the 1.5 hours - the wreck of a ship which was covered with coral, barnacles, and around which fish swam; a shallow reef with different types of coral - primarily brain coral; and another shallow reef with sea fans and different coral. It was fun, but the pictures are lousy : ( It was hot and humid. Returned to the ship a bit early after a little shopping.
The coral reef which is the base of the island. Thatched roofs cover picnic tables in the background.	3 hotels with their beaches and the dock from which we sailed.	Aruba might be good place to spend a week and do sea related things - swimming, snorkling, etc. The shops are primarily high end or tourist. Everything is expensive as it is brought into the island. Perhaps we should have tried to get to the old dutch part of town (we did see one windmill) to get a more balanced perspective.

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Rights to all pictures and text reserved by Robin Berry and Will Ringer Oct 2006.