Aruba Part I

As mentioned the other day, we had a nice sail to Aruba on Sunday (see GPS track in the link). After a good sleep in the marina, we got up and worked all day Monday, and Tuesday morning, getting the boat cleaned up and ready for our guests who arrived on Tuesday afternoon. We took advantage of the access to water at the marina to give Tahina a thorough washing. She was covered in dirt from the desert-like environment of Bonaire. And, lots of salt as we hadn't had rain since we left Grenada and had three salty passages to get to Aruba. She was gleaming like new by the afternoon.

In the afternoon on Monday, I climbed the mast to investigate putting a new anchor light on Tahina. But, after looking closer I decided we needed to order the same anchor light we had before and have it shipped here. It would be the easiest way to get it installed. While up the mast, I took some photos of the really nice little port with the marina. In the series of photos I took below you can see the hotel, mall, restaurants, bars, shops, and cruiseship dock (complete with just one cruise ship in port).

In the afternoon we took laundry downtown to be done for us. We discovered there was a movie theater, a Taco Bell, Subway, Haggendaaz, and other reminders of home here. Not only that, but Avatar was showing. So, Monday night we went to watch the movie at last! We loved the movie! We also treated ourselves to Taco Bell. And, you won't believe it, but it tasted really good here. They must have Aruba or Venezuela influences because it was really tasty with a much different spice compared to the US.

On Tuesday morning, we continued the cleaning on the boat. Karen went to the grocery stores to do a big provisioning project, and I went to get the laundry later. Karen had me a bit worried when she was nearly an hour late, but thankfully our neighbor in the marina (s/v Lucid - an American owner who's been down here for two years) offered to check on her and managed to pick her up and bring her to the marina with her huge load. We were ready to leave at noon and checked out of the marina. But, the marina dockmaster suggested we just stay until our guests arrived - no charge.

We took a bus to the airport and Andy and Aliza arrived pretty much on time with all their luggage - including a load of stuff we had ordered and a bunch of our mail. First thing after we got back, we left the dock and went to a nearby anchorage for the night (next to the airport). Andy, while wallowing in the wonderful warmth of Aruba, was kind enough to pull out our goodies from his luggage. It was like Christmas! New spare parts! Hardrives for backups! Engine filters! Wow!

More photos to share - here are photos from our excursions from Bonaire to Aruba. Including photos from our brief stop at Curacao. We traveled there on the same day as "A Small Nest" with the family from Belgium. We had their kids over cupcakes and ice cream and to play Wii on Saturday afternoon. You can also see some of the ships we had close encounters with during our passages. And, there's a shot of Captain Frank washing Tahina in there as well: