Lost at Sea in Aruba

Stepping off the airplane in Aruba was a real shock to the system. Having left JFK in 55 degree weather with a hoodie and long pants, I immediately broke a sweat when the 95, dry air blasted me in the face. Immigration and customs were fast and simple, and Mark and I were at the car rental and on our way to Coral Reef Beach to meet our hosts Peter and Julie.

Our beach apartment was clean and comfortable, giving off an old, dark wood colonial/pirate vibe with flowing white linens. The small group of rooms each have a private bath, a view of the ocean, a shared kitchen with icemaker. It's a little off the beaten path, but Aruba is so small, you can reach any part of the island in 30 minutes. Coral Reef is also located next door to the famous Flying Fishbone, and the not-as-famous, but equally if not more romantic Old Man and the Sea.

On arrival, Peter hopped in our car with us and gave us a quick tour of the island. He pointed out all the local eateries, beaches, grocery stores, and took us to the highest peak in the National Park for a view if the entire island. I highly recommend staying here (special thanks to fellow All You Can Jetter for pointing it out to us). All the Coral Reef trusted dive shops were booked when we arrived, and Julie called around to find us an opening for Saturday/Sunday dives at the Dutch run Fly and Dive.

We were on a crowded boat, with around 14 divers and 2 dive masters. The current was strong and the swells were fierce as we headed to the Jane C wreck. I had to face into the wind and keep my eyes on the water at all times to keep from yacking all over the deck. One poor girl honked the entire boat ride. I thought it would be wise to be the first person off the boat, but I was wrong. I was desperately holding onto the rope behind the boat while all 13 other divers (some learning for the first time) very slowly entered the water. The strong current and 6' waves jerked my body around like a rag doll on a rope. Our tanks were banging together as we got whipped around.

Quickly after our decent, Mark was having a few problems clearing his ears. I signaled to our dive master, but he didn't wait for us. He told us to "follow the big blue flippers." After Mark's ears were cleared, we happened upon a group of divers, all of them wearing blue fins. After we swam with then along a reef for 10 minutes, the dive master signaled a safety stop. Confused, we ascended with the group, and saw a dive boat, but it wasn't ours. The annoyed new dive crew helped us aboard and drove us to our boat and kicked us back in the water. It was a long boat ride to our boat, and we passed groups of our lost divers bobbing in the ocean. They kicked us off their boat and we swam to our boat.

Our dive boat spent the next 45 minutes picking up strays scattered around Aruba. The last pickup was our dive master, with only 3 of his original group of 8 divers. I wonder when he noticed he lost 5 divers and if he was worried down there, because he sure didn't look worried getting back on the boat. He didn't lead the 2nd dive.

When we got back, Mark and I headed to the beautiful Baby Beach for a swim. We made it back home in time to sit on the lawn chairs and watch the sunset and have Bellinis before we headed to Old Man and the Sea for dinner. After some fresh caught red snapper and nearly falling asleep in our seats, we slept inside, and turned on the AC.  I was in no mood to roll the bed outside and battle mosquitoes.

The next morning, my whole neck and shoulder was in shooting pain.  Getting jerked around on a rope the day before had given me whiplash!  I did not feel like diving again, but Mark convinced me to go along and tough it out.  We only had 7 on the boat this time, and the swells weren't nearly as bad.  The first dive, we had to swim against the current, but we did finally get to see the Jane-C wreck.  The ship acted as an artificial reef, with beautiful new coral formations.  The second dive was along a coral wall.  The coral was mostly oranges and browns, and we didn't see too many fish.  We did come across a beautiful huge school of blue-colored fish that swarmed around us.

When we surfaced, it was like the film "Open Water".  There were large swells and no boat in site.  After bobbing in the water, trying to stay together as a group for 10 minutes, Mark took the signal balloon (thank goodness we just bought them before this trip).  I inflated it manually, since it appears to be made for a dry suit valve attachment.  After bobbing in the water for another 10 minutes, the boat captain saw the balloon and came to pick us up.  Exhausting.  I'm surprised the dive master didn't have any kind of signaling device.  I'm not sure how long we would have been floating out there if we didn't.

We had dinner at the Flying Fishbone our last night.  After dinner, we chatted a little with Peter, then we met 2 more All You Can Jetters who arrived at Coral Reef that night.  Guy from Boston and Charles from Austen had been traveling all month, mostly to international destinations.  They were shooting video clips with the iPhone and were planning on constructing a documentary.  If you're reading, we'd love to see it!

The last morning, we did some quick snorkeling at a beach near by, packed up our stuff, and headed to the airport.  We would be at home Sunday night to feed the cats and swap our shorts and sundresses for jackets and sweaters for our flight to Buffalo first thing Monday morning.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]