ARUBA

DAY 4
Today was adventure day!  We purchased a day trip to De Palm Island. We weren’t really pressed for time so we were able to have breakfast at the buffet and then get ready to catch the bus that would take us to the island.
After a little bit of confusion and an unnecessary cab ride (DOH!), we were on the bus. The ride was maybe 30 minutes or less, then we were getting our wrist bands and next we were on the shuttle boat to the island. 


We scoped everything out first, purchased a locker for the day and then signed up to do our Sea Trek Underwater Helmet Walk. Our wait for that was a little over an hour so we found some lounge chairs and chilled. The island was still serving breakfast but we were hungry and unfortunately we weren’t allowed  to partake in any adult beverages until after our Sea Trek.  The wrist bands gave us away.
Time for our adventure.  We had a group of 19 so they split us in half, 9 and 10.  We were in the first group to go down.  I listened carefully to the instructions and made my husband go first.  I’ll admit that my heart was racing just a bit, especially as I was slowly going down the ladder into the water.  But once I got down there – AMAZING!  The “tour guides” have food in a bottle that they would squeeze and the fish would come up to you…well, actually the food.  There was a sunken bus and a couple of airplanes down there.  You walk along a boardwalk (for lack of better phrasing) and there is a rail for you to hold on to the entire time as well.  There is an area to sit down and pretend you are having an underwater bottle of wine.  Lots of photos are taken by the guides.  At one point, my husband was holding a “sea creature” in his hands that the guide had placed there.  So I held out my hands to hold it too.  It was very strange looking; super tiny body, long stick-like legs that looked like the ends or toenails were painted purple.  It didn’t feel weird or anything and it wasn’t until we got back on shore that my husband told me it was a Sea Spider.  GROSS!  Glad I didn’t know that at the time or I might have peed myself not wanted to hold it.

Overall that was probably one of the coolest things I’ve done to date.  It was even better than sky diving, in my opinion.  Part of me wanted to do it again since I would know what to expect.  But the frugal person in me did NOT want to spend the money again.
The rest of the day we just lounged around on the island, had some lunch and consumed our fair share of cocktails.  I don’t even want to guess how many calories I took in that day.

   

We made it back to the resort just in time for another beautiful sunset.  Afterward we showered and went to the casino.  We were there maybe 30 minutes playing the penny slots (big spenders, huh?) but we won $46 on a penny slot machine so we cashed out and went to dinner!  Tonight there was an amazing full moon as well.

  

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