Aruba Honey moon!!

“Slasher and I are getting married in April and going to Aruba for a week the next weekend. The package is all inclusive, meals, house brand drinks, non motorized sports, whirlpools, it goes on and on.

Has any one been there before? We're staying at LaCabana and they have lots to do there. What is a good fun activity to do away from the hotel? We'll do an island tour bus cruise obviously. Any suggestions?”

“Sex in the jungle? ;-)”

“wow, congrats!!! Have a blast. My friend went there and I have seen pics - looks like a beautiful place. I am sure you will have no problem finding ways to amuse yourselves.
:o)”

“Sex on the beach? ;-)”

“Find another swinging couple and switch spouses. Either that or go snorkleing.”

“Hello all,

We're back from Aruba!!! What a time we had! Honeymooning!!! Anybody wanna go some where fun, this is the place!

We left for Boston on Friday night, and stayed the Hilltop Sheraton. A very nice hotel, with all the amenities. Taco bell nearby was our choice for dinner, just had to have some tacos. We returned and set a wake up call for 3 AM!! We had to be at the airport at 4 AM to clear security and customs. They shuttled us to the airport and watched my truck for the week. We flew on an Omni airlines DC-10. One of the airline attendants was an Ed Harris look-a-like, you know, the guy on the movie "The Rock". A comforting feeling to fly with such a big guy. Take off was awesome, the sheer power of those 3 jet engines propelling us up into the air. We had a window seat and were able to check out the coastline. Most of the 4 1/2 hour trip was uneventful. We napped and eagerly awaited the landing in Aruba. As we neared the island, we watched out the window as we came directly into the airport, right on schedule. No circling or waiting, we were the only ones coming in. 11:30 AM and we are on the ground. We are headed to customs, security and baggage ( feeling very much like we are being herded like cattle - a very comforting feeling, actually, as we were all going the same way), on the way to our bus, which took us right to the front door of our hotel.

We stayed at the LaCabana. You can check it out at www.lacabana.com . It is a first class hotel, over 800 rooms, all suites with complete kitchens and dishes and all that. We were not going to need the kitchen at all. We ate out the entire honeymoon. Didn't cook or wash any dishes the whole time there. We checked out the hotel, with it's 3 pools, and walked the beach and basically checked it out. Went swimming before our room was ready for check-in! When we did get to our room, the first thing we did was unpack. No living out of suitcases. We were a bit sleep deprived, but the excitement was building! We headed down to the guest desk where we got our honeymoon package, t-shirts and champagne, as well as dinner vouchers, and a braclet, which we would have to show to get our meals and drinks as part of the all inclusive package. We had nothing but fun ahead!!

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we head to the casino, where they have a room ready for orientation. They tell us of the customs, recommend sun block, warn us of the driving, explain the laid back attitude of the island, etc... Then they have a bunch of tourist vendors speak (with a timer to stop them after 5 minutes) about their cruises, safaris, and snorkle trips, party buses, and bars and casinos, as well as restaurants. For the time of the seminar, special rates are in effect, as well as the easy ability to sign up for them. Then they hold a raffle drawing. I win the first thing, a water bottle. Eventually Jeannette wins an all day island safari!!! We had already decided that we wanted a sailboat snorkle trip, a land safari and a snuba trip. Snuba is where you use a divers regulator and they hook it to a 20 foot hose to a tank on the water's surface. No certification required. The rest of the day is spent swimming and eating and walking the beach. In Maine, you eat lobster, in Aruba, you eat steak, and let me tell you, they can cook steak!!

Monday is shopping day!!! Siblings and parents and children get shirts and gifts etc.... It is so hot that we buy a light weight sun dress for Jeannette. The heat bothered her more than me. I had a silk shirt for such hot days. Downtown was beautiful, well landscaped, iguanas everywhere, common as frogs around here. We get back to the hotel and can't wait to swim, very refreshing. Then, what was to become the normal mid day nap under a thatch roof at the beach or near the pool. One pool had a swim up bar and an amusement park quality water slide, the other two had waterfalls and all had nice landscaping.

Dinner was to be something special. Real nice steak, and a young gentleman who was a real smooth singer. He got us all involved, then some island dancers came up and demonstrated some native dances. Could they shake it!! Then came limbo time. They came into the audience and drew them up for the dance. One fellow was dressed up in a white suit and couldn't do it so they brought him back to his seat and picked some one else. Guess who? That's right, me!!! (Bob) I did the limbo!!! Jeannette got a picture since we just happened to run out film as I got up there. Later they singer teaches us all the meringuate and sings while he dances with a single lady. What a very romantic night.

Typically every day meant swimming laps in the morning (in preparation of snorkling) feeding the birds, checking out the iguanas, then going to breakfast. Then off to our adventure de jour. Then back to the hotel and a walk on the beach and around the gardens.Tuesday was a snorkle and snuba trip at DePalm Island. We can't wait to hit the water, and when we do (SNUBA style), it is very much like National Geographic with all the fish we are swimming with. We see so many fish species we can not name them all. And coral species, huge brain corals. Then we chow on a bar-b-que and go snorkling again. I start to feed the fish and they are teaming. Amazing! We are little children right now, we are having so much fun.

Wednesday, we rent a jet ski and go all over the beach area. What fun. It's a low key day. Snoozing, swimming, and another dinner show. The same group is shaking it again. What a great memory they provide at dinner. Basically a recharge day.

Thursday is Safari day over the island. We get in a jeep with a family that lives on the island and get a real special tour as they know all the sights. There are about 15 landrovers in the caravan. It's a desert island and dusty. Some of our clothes were never to come clean again. We check out the light house, the first church on the island, the desert landscape, the beaches, the landmark natural bridges, where the waves have pounded on the seawall and bored right through. Then we check out the caves with indian drawings on them. The day finishes off at DePalm island and we snorkle some more there. Absolutely memorable. We have our worst day in the sun as we change colors some what.

Friday, we are sailing with the Jolly Pirates www.jollypirates.com As we leave the dock, we ride in the hammock out over the front bow. Nice ride.Three snorkling adventures await us. 2 reefs and a scuttled WWII German sub tender. We have never seen so many fish and so many different ones. I even find some squid. The ship was very interesting, but the water is very rough and we don life jackets for snorkling. At the second reef they break out the rope swing, which has a trapeze attachment. 8 people go off it, then I do. I am in perfect position and kick my feet up and dive into the water. Huge applause, but I don't hear it, I'm under water. Jeannette even goes off it a couple times. Then the boat hands go off it. They are good !!! Flips and upside down stuff. One of them has the bar girl climb on his back and he does a flip with her on his back. Then later, he does the same with another very light female passenger!! Awesome!!

Dinner tonite has yet another dance show and we are able to have our pictures taken with the dancers for our memory album.

All good things come to an end, and this one ended way too soon. We had so much fun that we never saw 10PM. Even with the mid day naps. We expended all our energy having fun. Way too much fun. Saturday morning we head to the airport and leave 1 hour late due to an indicator light. We get free movies for our trouble. Very nice. Then we get into Logan Airport. That is the only down side of the whole trip. Customs were done in Aruba. All they had to do was give us our luggage. They took an hour and a half. In Aruba, a third world country with a laid back attitude, it took less than 15 minutes. We did get home at 11 PM. Sunday we recuperate, do laundry, and groceries. Back to the real world.”

“What a 'trip report'!”

“Man, no thermarest? No pocket rocket? What a boring trip :)

Congrats!”

“ok the honeymoons over... get to work slave boy.”