Exploring the island – Hiked up to the top of the hill to see what the sheer cliff looked like…
Exploring the island – One of them was refusing to be silly…
Exploring the island – Boca Prins
A collapsed rock has created an artificial inlet. Which has formed its own beach there. What is the remarkable is the difference in the color of the water in the shallow side versus the deep ocean side. I was able to get one angle where it seemed like the rock was preventing two different colored waters from mixing with each other!!
Exploring the island – Arikok National Park
5 mile run in the 15th country got me beat.
Made the mistake of not listening to Sharmila and finish off my run early. 5 miles of run in the sand with direct sunlight in the face quickly dehydrated me. And that is when I realized my second mistake. I was not carrying water.
The one good thing about the divi divi trees is that they might be small, but they have flat tops. Had to stop for a couple of times on my way back under the shade to catch my breath.
Speaking of mistakes, I had not put on any sunscreen either. Got burnt pretty bad.
On the positive side, that was the 15th country that I have run a full run in…
Exploring the island – Sunset from the lighthouse
After freshening up in the hotel, we went back to the lighthouse for a very nice restaurant there – Faro Blanco (the white lighthouse) for a couple of cocktails… and watch the sunset. It was beautiful, although there were still some clouds right above the horizon.
This picture was taken with a DSLR and I focused straight onto the sun to purposely make everything else darker.
Exploring the island – Aruba in one picture
Exploring the island – Mini Natural Bridge
This was going to be our last spot for the day. Originally there was a huge natural bridge – basically water flowing underneath what looks like a humongous bridge – but was really a big natural rock. That used to be one of the greatest draw for tourists. Till 2005, when it crashed.
However, next to it, there is another small bridge – and when I say small, I mean about 50-70 yards (pretty big in an absolute scale). If you notice the water carefully, you will see one ugly side of civilization meeting nature – there are flotsams from beach goers who were careless about throwing their stuff in the water.