TravelwithMitsugirly: Aruba Day 13

Aruba 2021

Day 13: Sunday, August 8

Arts and beach hopping...

We got to sleep in today...until 7am if you call that sleeping in. #rollseyes We hung out by the pool and swam a little as we waited to pass a few hours away until breakfast.

Shortly after I got in...Kendra calls and you know how that goes. Hours of talking...to the point that my phone actually overheated. LOL

I guess that meant it was time to head in and the hubby made breakfast. Sakari's nose was working and she smelled her way to the eggs with cheese in the middle, bacon and toast hitting the table.

So today I was looking for something different to do than only beaches. I needed to throw something else in there to mix it up a little before we head to the beach. I thought maybe today would be a good day to head to San Nicolas and explore the artwork like we did last time we were here. I was sure there had to be new things painted and since Sakari is an artist...this would be right up her alley.

I packed our things for the day and we headed out the door but...

...it was a little wet outside. Wait, when did this happen? Ok, well they say it only rains in Aruba a few days out of the year and I guess when you stay 15 days you have a bigger chance at catching one of those days. But would it stay? I honestly didn't think so. It was still pretty light outside and the clouds weren't too dark so I had confidence that it would be gone in a matter of time and if it didn't, we would still go and have fun no matter what. I mean we can play in the rain right? It would cool us down.

As those thoughts crossed my mind...the rain started to pour more. But, the good thing was that our rental car was getting washed. It was pretty dusty and I was wondering where I was going to be able to wash it before we took it back (I'm not even sure if they expect you to do this) but now I didn't have to worry about it.

So I did have a lot to pack in the car and I figured we could at least wait it out for a little bit. We stood on the front porch and I noticed we weren't the only one waiting it out:

Then the sun came out, my car was just washed, and all was ready to go...

Those roundabouts are sometimes really pretty.

When you see this bridge, you know you are on the other side and getting close.

Last time we were here we parked at the police station and walked around. But I looked online and found that they had a Visitors Center. It said that you could go there and they can give you a map of the walking tour to all the arts. I knew exactly what the center looked like from online...which was very brightly painted. It was super easy to find.

However, when we arrived, they were closed. I kinda forgot that it was Sunday. Oops. That's what happens when you've been here for awhile and keeping track is not really on your agenda. Well, there was a map online but we really didn't use it and just took off on our own.

So I guess I will just show you around. Some are definitely new (at least I don't remember them) and others I did remember.

Now I do have to say that I was a little disappointed that this particular painting was no longer. I had really hoped that it was still "good". You stand here and it looks like you are in a box. Well, no more. :(

<---- 2021

2017 ---->

So last time we came here we stopped at KFC for ice cream. Sakari said she wanted to make this "our thing" so off to KFC we went. It's always a great thing to cool off in the a/c.

I did want to mention (because I think I forgot to mention it yesterday) that as of yesterday (Saturday) Aruba has started to enforce wearing masks again while inside. I guess the numbers had went up and they were getting nervous enough to say that's it, time to enforce the masks again. So, we did bring our masks with us from the car.

Our walking tour was over and we had circled back around to our car. We had a good time walking around and seeing all the paintings. Now there was one that we had searched all over for... this iguana. It wasn't a painting, it was a sculpture attached to a building. We could not find it anywhere and we even doubled up some of the areas trying to find it. We were so sad.

This is what we were looking for:

So I had asked my Aruban friend if the beach we went to last time (that looked as if it was still being built) was open and she said yes. So, I wanted to try it out. I wasn't really sure how much of a beach going into the water it would be because the last time we were there you couldn't really get into the water because of all the stones and rocks in it. I thought just maybe they had cleared those out or something for the patron's to get in to cool off somehow. I remember it was really a nice beach. on land. with palapa's. So, we were going to give it a shot and see if the place was better and people there.

This place is called Cura Cabay Beach.

We pulled up and there wasn't any cars in the parking lot. We didn't see anyone on the beautiful beach. But there was a concession stand and they looked to be open. But, where were all the people???

I don't know, it was pretty, but I just wasn't feeling it. No people being there was just weird I guess. We decided to move on and not stay.

Along the way to our next beach (which we had no idea what it was going to be), we ran across this Aruba sign and I had to have a picture of course. I told Sakari to jump out so I could get a picture and it was like I told her to go jump in a pool of sharks...although I'm sure she would willingly do that.

So we decided to hang out at Surfside beach for awhile. We had been here before and after passing by here on our way to the submarine, we knew we really wanted to come back here to watch the planes come in. We grabbed all our gear (chairs and cooler) and headed for the beach. Now there's no shade here at all, so be aware of this if you ever decide to come on your own and NOT go to one of the beach clubs. Sakari came prepared with her knew swim shirt. This beach is beautiful for sure.

Now this was the area that they usually have the water toys. Today they would not be there and I was sorta kinda sad about it. I knew that Sakari would enjoy it and she was too little last time we were here and I thought this would be a fun day for her. I guess they must only pull them out when a ship is in port. They were definitely out when we were coming in on the plane...and there was a ship in port that day.

We were watching the planes come in and man they were coming in every couple of minutes and I guess I didn't really realize there was this much traffic in Aruba. Sakari and I decided to walk down to the end of the beach to get better shots.

Sakari seemed to be having fun and taking video's of the plane coming in and landing. It's not a Maho Beach in St Maarten, but I guess it's sorta close... you just don't get blasted with the sand.

We headed back to our chairs after awhile. The hubby was wading in the water and cooling off and I was ready for some lunch.

We only seen 1 Southwest plane come in and tons of United and American flights. Man they were just every 15 minutes or so. We did see some private planes come in, and a few Spirit and Jet Blue. Here's a video I took.

We did a little "wading" in the water, watching all the little fish around our feet, but there really wasn't much swimming here. It's pretty swallow where we were and only a small section you could actually go out into the water where there wasn't any seaweed grass.

After awhile, we decided to head out and find another beach.

We ended up back at the beach beside the cruise ships (Bushiri Beach). I wanted to see if there might be anything around there to snorkel at...but there wasn't. There wasn't anyone around the area but a few people and families fishing.

We decided to walk all the way out to the rocks at the shoreline.

If you want to find out the history of this place (it used to be an all inclusive hotel) then click below and it will take you to my page on Bushiri:

Now this lady had it made...she put her hammock under the divi divi trees in the shade and living the life.

We ended up strolling way down this beach area and found an area with a lot of rocks. Of course we immediately started looking for sea glass. There doesn't seem to be a lot here but I did hear that you can find pleanty of it on the other side the island (the wild side). We had decided that we weren't going to go over on that side of the island this time around. Well, I was planning on renting a buggy for the day and exploring that side, but I was just unsure about it and I just couldn't pick a day and secure it. I just don't know why.

So it was time to head back to the car and move on to another place.

We ended up at Eagle Beach. It's a beautiful beach with white powdery sand, but no shade unless you rent an umbrella off one of the vendors.

Whew, it was hot out.

There were so many fish

Several of the beaches have turtle nesting area's closed off. There was a few post on the Aruba fb group saying "turtles are hatching on _____ beach" but we never went to see it.

Turtle Facts:

*Females always come back to the same beach to lay eggs

*They lay 6-8 different nests

*1 out of 1000 will survive to adulthood

*1 out of 50 babies make it

*Lay 50 eggs

*Lay eggs every 2-4 years

There were a lot of dogs on the beach playing in the water and not a care in the world. There was a family beside us with a dog and he did not like for his kid to go into the water without him. He would swim all the way out to where he was at each time. It was so cute.

We stayed here for the rest of the day and then headed home.

After arriving at home, we did a little bit of swimming, showered, then made dinner which consisted of Brats, chips and Corn on the Cob. I don't know what happened to that picture and can only assume that we were so hungry that I just forgot.

After dinner I was like "Wanna go one more time, some place new, and see if we can come out ahead money wise?" Yep, we were going to the casino again for a little bit.

We decided this time we would go to the Ritz Carlton.