Aruba

We arrived in Aruba early on the 14th. It was an absolutely stunning morning. Nice bright blue sky...a little breeze to keep you from feeling too hot.

We had a quick breakfast as we all had excursions today. Paige and I were going horseback riding and the guys were going on an "ATV Mania" ride. So a little something for everyone.

Paige and I arrived at Rancho Notorious in great spirits and highly anticipating a fun morning. They split us up into levels of riding experience...so I was thinking they would split the group and do a ride to your experience level. NOT. They did that to pair you up with your horse. LOL That's okay too. I rode a youngster named El Capitan. He was a black Paso Fino cross. Came to find out that he was just 4 years old and that this was his first year on the trail riding job. He was not very patient when it came to being mounted - or even standing still for that matter.

He was very keen to go off down the trail...and was very soft in his aides...which was really nice. We matched each other well.

Part way through the ride, I realized that my cinch was loose, so one of the guides tightened it up WHILE WE WERE MOVING. Never had that done before. LOL

Paige's mount, Star, was a lighter twin to my Angel here at home. A very nice girl but with some attitude quirks that we both found very funny.

We rode for about an hour and got to the rest point which was at the beach. The guides then asked who would like to lope slowly down the beach. Well, I was all for it. Paige hesitated a bit but then decided she would join in the fun. So off we went. We were told to keep the horses in single file...but that didn't happen.

When we got back to the ranch, they had pictures of us all individually on the horses - taken during the ride. They are a great keepsake.

I was not allowed to take my camera on the ride as I didn't have a shoulder strap...and we weren't allowed to use our bags to carry things...so you will have to wait for pictures from Paige.

We got back to the boat around noon. We decided to take a quick shower and head to the pool for lunch. Then try to find the boys as we figured they would be back by then. When I opened the door to my stateroom, the first thing I saw was a HUGE BOUQUET OF RED ROSES. I was stunned. They were from Doyle. I cried.


Doyle got back and told me all about his quad ride. He said it wasn't really what he expected as they did alot of the driving on the roads. But he said the scenery was spectacular. He got some great shots.




After everyone was cleaned up, we headed into town to go to the beach. We were all starving so we first looked for someplace to eat and found GILLIGANS. It was a cute little beachside bar and grill.




We also came across this sign - ala MASH - pointing it's way to other cities and the distance from Aruba to that point.


We all wanted to find another snorkeling or dive excursion but they were all out on the water by the time we got there. We then settled down on the beach to soak up some more rays.

Doyle and I headed back to town before Barry and Paige as we still had some souvenier shopping to do. We ended up at the outdoor mall - painted this pretty pink color. All the shops opened onto the decks. It was really neat. We managed to find everything we were looking for.


The funniest part of this day was while I was paying for some t-shirts, the sale's lady asked me if I was latino. I said nope...Canadian. She said "you must have some latino in you because of your coloring". Again I said I wasn't. She just laughed.

Doyle and I stopped in at a little restaurant and bar called Iguana Joe's before heading back to the ship. It had a balcony overlooking the street and the water beyond. Paradise!!



When we got back to the ship, Doyle stopped in at the Concierge's desk in hopes that our luggage had arrived. But no such luck. We were told that both airlines were now considering it a complete loss. I was devastated. And of course, it was our 2nd formal dinner that night...and I had so looked forward to wearing my long red silk dress and having really nice pictures taken on the boat.

I ended up wearing a dress that the concierge found for me. It was a really nice dinner - steak and lobster. We were so tired from our long day that we didn't do much after dinner. Doyle and I stayed in the Martini Bar for half hour or so and then headed to bed.