Aruba

Penny and I are FOB (fresh off the boat) and posing for this picture for Karen.  It was a very warm day here and the weather was just gorgeous.  To the right is a picture of the ship from afar.  If we got too close to the ship, the only thing I could take a picture of was either the front, middle, or back.  That's how big The Adventure of the Seas was.  And when we were docked next to the other ships, you could see the passengers on the other ships looking up to our ship.  Neat!

The excursions that the ship had to offer were not of any interest to any of us so we ended up taking a taxi driven by Damascus and he took us all over the island.  To the left is one of the macaws that can be found at the Hilton.  To the right, I shot this pic of Penny and Karen.  We were just walking around the Hilton because the scenery was just gorgeous there.

I couldn't help but take a shot of this very picturesque lighthouse (the only one on the island).  And believe it or not, here is the power line for it.  I came across it as I was walking the rough volcanic terrain surround the lighthouse.  Aruba is a gorgeous island with a very arid but breezy climate.  It is also like two separate islands mashed together because you can snorkel on one side but the other is shark infested. 

There is an area on Aruba filled with natural rock formations from a time when the island was under water.  To the left is a picture of a formation called "The Fish."  To the right, Penny is acting as if she were in the Titanic movie.  Geez....  (BTW, we are high atop one of the rock formations overlooking the island.)

Next Damascus took us to the natural bridge.  This is just spectacular.  And here is Karen standing in front of it.  (I myself prefer to be the photographer than to be in the pictures if you haven't noticed already.)

And of course Penny had to pose in front of the bridge.  Aruba is truly gorgeous.  Needless to say, I could spend hours taking pictures.  To the right is a picture of one of the shark infested areas in Aruba.

The photographs of the surf were just amazing.  Seeing the power of the waves crashing against this volcanic rock was just spectacular and to feel the cool mist on my face was wonderful.  To the right is a miniature of a house of how things were in Aruba during the 1960's.  And as Damascus pointed out, things really have not changed much since then.