My mom said AAAAHHHHH, WOOOOUUUWWWW, YEEAAHHHH when I arrived on the 3rd of October on Aruba and surprised her at her Birthday party. And yes, she was very happy. A lot of (old) friends were there as well so this was the perfect arrival. The first week on Aruba I actually didn’t do that much except writing letters for the insurance and trying to get a new passport, which at the end didn’t work out. But I have an emergency passport now which is valid for one year. I actually call it a gay passport as the cover is pink!
And the rest of the month I was island-hopping, diving, sightseeing and visiting old friends.
If you like wrecks (ships and planes), go diving on Aruba, or as the local license plates state: One Happy Island. And many of the wrecks are still intact. The most famous one, and actually one of the top dive wrecks in the Caribbean, is the Antilla. This 135 meter German freighter was sunk by its captain when the Dutch tried to confiscate it at the start of the Second World War. The crew was sent to prison on Bonaire for the next 5 years (that’s a real punishment, I guess!). After the war the captain bought the prison because he liked it that much (!) and made a hotel out of it, the Flamingo Beach Hotel, which still exists! The Antilla lies on his side and the masts point out into the blue. Amazing ship with a lot of colorful corals and fish around. Water temperature of 28 degrees Celsius wasn’t bad either.
The Dutch owned diving center I dove with (S.E. Aruba Fly ‘n Dive --> recommendable) got an old Air Aruba plane (Trupial) which they sunk. Why do I mention this plane? Because I flew in this plane as a passenger when we lived on Aruba (1986-1989)!! And actually my dad was on the first Air Aruba flight to Bonaire with this plane when it almost crashed on the airport of Bonaire. Funny to see it on the sea floor now.
The second week I went to Saba, The Unspoiled Queen as the local license plates state. This island is the smallest of the Dutch Caribbean, only 5 square miles! Every meter on this island is going up or down, almost no straight strip exists. Luckily the airstrip is straight, but very short!! It is the shortest (or one of the shortest) in the world. When you fly to Saba, you almost hit the island before the plane takes a sharp left turn, falls down to the airstrip and the pilot has to break like an idiot. Amazing and funny.
Saba is great for diving and hiking. Underwater you will find huge pinnacles, hot springs, Caribbean black tip sharks, huge barrel sponges, colorful reef and a very calm sea. On the island you can walk through the unspoiled rainforest past beautiful wild orchids and palm trees to the highest point of the Kingdom of the Netherlands: the top of Mount Scenery, which is 872,95 meters above sea level. And underwater and on the island, everything is well maintained and signposted. I can really recommend this island, it’s worth a visit. Before I forget, one of the dive briefings was quite unique as it was in the dialect from Limburg. Both the dive guide and my buddy were from Limburg.
On my way to Saba and on the way back I visited St. Maarten (The Friendly Island) for a couple of hours and St. Eustatius for 10 minutes during a stopover. The island of St. Eustatius is split in two by the airstrip. And it’s funny to fly in this area, every 5 to 10 minutes you will see another island. They are so close. As St. Maarten is a “tax free heaven”, I bought a new digital camera and an underwater housing as my old camera was in the stolen backpack. I pretended to be living on the island and working for a diving centre and I think I got a good price after negotiating for an hour. After that I had to hurry to get on the plane!! St. Maarten is partly Dutch and partly French. Before you know you have crossed the border, because there’s no real border, just a signpost saying “Welcome to the French side”. St. Maarten has a lot of bays, some of them with beautiful beaches. And if you are desperate for a good meal, head for the French capital Marigot. As it was very quiet on the island (no cruise ships around) I ended up in the casino next to some loud Americans.
Back on Aruba for the weekend I took my parents out to the beach for their Birthday present: parasailing. I think my mom was a little bit nervous when I told her first but at the end they both loved it. Just check the pictures and judge yourself! I also tested my new underwater camera and the first pictures were not that bad. Thanks Hendrike for posing!!
The next week I joined my parents to Curacao as my dad has to be there 3 days a week for business and my mom joins him once in a while. And believe it or not, I worked for an hour or 2 on Curacao as a SAP consultant. At my dad’s office they will start using SAP soon and the users had a lot of questions so I gave them a quick overview of what to expect. I only feel sorry for them as the line with the HQ in the Netherlands is soooo slow. But 2 hours of work was more then enough for me, ha, ha!!
I did 2 dives with Marco, a colleague of my dad and speeded on a water scooter along the coast. The coral was very colorful and we saw a lot of X-mas trees. And we had dinner at Fort Nassau, a restaurant nestled within an authentic 18th century fort with a commanding view of Curacao and especially it’s two famous bridges, one high enough for cruise ships to pass through and the floating bridge. The capital of Curacao, Willemstad, is very colorful as a lot the front street houses are old style Dutch merchant houses painted very brightly.
Back on Aruba (again) I visited some old school mates, neighbors and we had a BBQ at my parents place. It was nice to see all of you again, especially when your B-day or your son’s B-day is also August 27. And yes, Regina, there was a picture were your eyes were not closed!
After some more diving to the Jane Sea, YS 11, Debbie II and the Antilla again, I had seen enough wrecks for the moment. Thanks Otte, for being my buddy.
Bye, bye, Aruba, hope to see you again one day! And before I forget, Liesje, your scrimps are the BEST!!
Final stop before heading back to the Netherlands was Bonaire, Divers Paradise. But I had been diving so much he last 2 months, so I was a little bit tired of diving and only did one dive on Bonaire. Now I will have to come back one day, because Bonaire is a real Divers Paradise. And so relaxed and quiet. Thanks family van Silfhout for taking care of me. Next to the diving Bonaire is famous for its flamingo’s, salt planes and slave huts.
SUMMARISING: Aruba: good wreck diving, beautiful beaches but to many high rise hotels and Americans Bonaire: great diving and very relaxed island Curacao: nice diving but like a big city with a lot of crime Saba: great diving and hiking St. Maarten: beautiful bays but a lot of cruise ships St. Eustatius: I will tell you next time!!
