Leaving Aruba

Yes, today we will be leaving Aruba, however, that doesn't mean we are finished with our cruise adventure. I still have a few more photos to share with you from the cruise.We would have left Aruba yesterday except after I had finished writing the post, I was adding the last line when I hit something on the keyboard and erased it completely. Needless to say I was "pi.... (wait a minute, I can't say that!), ... I was very angry. Therefore I refused to re-write the post yesterday. I sure showed them didn't I.

Now to some administrative business before I continue. I want to congratulate my cousin, C.P., for passing her drivers license test. She said in California when you reach a "certain" age, you had to pass all the test you took when you first received your license as a teenager. They couldn't have that law here in Florida, as the DMV would be doing nothing but re-tests. The second issue she raised was the need to know what the "Wool Growers Dip" is all about. Well, the Wool Growers was (is) a Basque restaurant in Bakersfield that served this dip. It is a spinach dip with shrimp and is served in a bread bowl. So, for the Super Bowl gathering, I baked a round loaf of bread and made the dip. It's served with the bread chunks removed from the bread an vegetables. I think that is all the administrative issues, so let's leave Aruba.

When we returned from our guided tour, I was standing on the balcony looking into the town of Oranjestad, when I realized I had failed to take any photos of the town. Although Aruba is not as "colorful" as the other Dutch island, Curacao, it still has some very pretty buildings. I did manage to take some very interesting photos, I think, so I'm going to share them with you.

This photo shows the area where we disembarked. Although it is really quite ordinary, the real significance of it is it gives the viewer a very good idea of the flatness of Aruba. All of the other island photos I've shared with you during my posting of our cruise, showed islands with hilly terrain. As you can see from this photo, you can say "Where the hills" (that was a little play on the old Wendy's commercial).

The ornate pink building is a "mall", or market. I just thought the architecture was really unique and the color just enhances that uniqueness.

This is a pretty little marina that was just off the port bow of our ship. We were docked parallel to the palm trees. The building with the red roof is a resort, casino complex. You'll see the significance in the next few photos.

We left Aruba just after dark so I again attempted to get some photos of the lights. The slow shutter speed of my camera is again obvious, but I think it makes the photos somewhat "artsy".

This is a small inter-island cruise ship all lit up. This inter-island cruise line just has small ships that travel between the smaller islands. This ship was probably about half the size of the Emerald Princess.

As we slipped past the marina, the resort, casino was all lit up and was very pretty. I just think it makes a great composition.

Looking back at the dock we pulled away from. I have to say it was with a little sadness as I watch us head out to sea. I knew our next port of call would be Ft Lauderdale and our cruise would be over. However, I was looking forward to the next two days being at sea.

Now that we have left Aruba, and our cruise is coming to an end, in my next post I will share the last of our cruise photos. But until then, Happy Valentine's Day! I threw that in just in case I don't post tomorrow.