ARUBA MEGAPOST #3: 12/31

Yay Aruba!

Aruba Post #1

Aruba Post #2


Wednesday, December 31st, 2014

We had another big excursion on New Year's Eve Morning.  We chartered a private sailboat for the morning and went snorkeling.  There was rum punch and fancy cheeses and curried chicken salad.  And with all that, plus amazing blue-green water, sunshine and family...well let's just say it was a BLAST.

On the "Tranquilo"

Ready to snorkel!

Snorkeling...it was awesome that Laura and Craig had a waterproof
camera

Also, that was the day that most of us got slightly to very sunburned, despite the fact that we were layering on the sunscreen. Aruba sun is no joke. But we recovered well, thanks to the famous Aruba Aloe Burn Relief that was purchased the next day.

After we docked, we walked to the I (HEART) ARUBA sign because I wanted to get a picture.  What we ended up experiencing was just a taste of the craziness that New Years Eve is on the strange island that is Aruba.

As we were walking, we noticed that there were a TON of people milling around ON the main street and then we saw people bringing a long red rope thing down the middle of the street.  What was it, you ask?  A blocks-long string of FIRECRACKERS.  That is a thing in Aruba.  They set off long strings of firecrackers and watch them explode.  All the businesses do it in some way for their employees.  We happened to catch, what I can only assume, was the biggest one that happened on the island.  It was CRAZY.

SO LOUD
SO MUCH SMOKE
SO MANY PEOPLE

After cleaning up, we drove across the island for the best dinner of the trip (in my opinion).  It was a place called The Flying Fishbone.  The tables were right on the water, in the sand, and we were there for the sunset.  The food was AMAZINGLY AMAZING.  The drinks were divine.  We even ordered dessert so we could stay longer.  It was fantastic.

The Flying Fishbone

Feet in the sand
DELICIOUS food and drinks, including Baked Alaska for dessert!

The sun setting on 2014

After dinner, our plan was to go back up to the lighthouse for fireworks.  A few different locals told us that is the best place to be, because people are setting off fireworks all over the island.  Our boat captain told us that Arubans spend more money on fireworks on average than any other nation in the world. 

So we started the short drive up to the lighthouse, but noticed lots of cars coming back the other direction.  It wasn't a good sign.  Not too far up the curving road, were two thugs (or that is how we describe them) turning people away.  They had blocked the road off and weren't letting anyone up there.  They weren't police or any other official-looking people.  They looked like thugs and we weren't going to mess with them.  So we decided to go back down towards one of the popular beaches in the middle of the island.  We were right by the water and had a great view of the fireworks that were put on by the hotels on the strip.

FIREWORKS

Chris and I haven't seen fireworks in person in 5 years.  It was pretty awesome.  Starting at exactly midnight, they were set off in multiple locations all over the island.


IMG 2999 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

They went on for about 40 minutes.  It was a great end to another amazing day/year.