Alto Vista Chapel

We rode our little bikes 6 km against the wind which today is gusting at about 25 knots to the Northwest end of the island to see the Alta Vista Chapel. Lovely and serene. Very picturesque.

They have a labyrinth behind the church. Walking the labyrinth is meant to be a time of meditation and reflection. We walked it and all I could think about was the similarity to way they make the line ups at the airport. You walk a mile going back and forth when a straight line is a distance of about 10 meters.

And what's with this guy. He has a chain link fence, a hedge of cactus, which for me, that alone would stop anyone or anything from getting through, and then a line of rocks, I guess just in case you thought you could drive your car through the cactus and the chain link. He also has a sign on his gate stating that the property is protected by security alarms. Just what the heck is he hiding in there?

Nice decoration. Hang your beer cans on your tree. Why not?

Nice rocks, eh?

No more geology lessons. But if anyone can tell me what kind of rocks these are, I'll buy you a Balashi.

We went to see the rocks today

Quartz Diorite. Or Tonalite. Or Hooibergite.
Since we have now been here for a week, we are running out of things to do. We took the bikes today and cycled the 8.8 km to see the famous rocks at Casibari. Very unique rock formations. These huge boulders pop up out of the ground over an area of about a half square kilometer in the center of the island.

They have become a tourist attraction and they have even mounted steps on the largest of them. It is also said to have been a religious site for the Arawoks.

I have checked quite a few websites in an effort to confirm that these types of rocks, referred to as hooibergites by the locals, only do exist in Canada, Iceland and Aruba as claimed in the Aruba tourist information provided at the Arikok National Park. I wasn't able to find anything at all to verify this and as I said I have not found any reference in any geology sites to Hooibergite as a type of rock. A Hooiberg is actually a Dutch word for haystack which is the name of the mountain nearby. All my research so far indicates these rocks may actually be quartz diorite.
Enough geology and back to the creatures. I got a pretty snap of the popular Aruban Whiptail Lizard or Kododo. Aren't they pretty?

Tomorrow we'll take the bikes to visit a church on the other side of the island. Or should we go and see the Ayo rock formations...
I think we're both ready to set sail again. Our next destination is Colombia but our weather window isn't till Monday. We have a few more days to spend in Aruba.

Arikok National Park, part 2

The Fontein Caves are a terrace of coral limestone pushed up from the ocean floor about 85 million years ago. Inside the Fontein Caves you can walk about 150 meters before you have to start crawling. They go in as far as 500 meters but it becomes very narrow and you would have to belly crawl. This is also where the bats and land crabs live. I was happy to go in only as long as I could stand upright. I guess I'm not much of a spelunker.

Water still seeps through the limestone forming stalactites and stalagmites.

Can you see the land crab in there. The park ranger who gave us a tour of the cave pointed it out to us. I think it is just a plastic crab they put in there for the tourists. He seemed to know exactly where to find it.

Drawings by the Arawok Indians about 1000 years old.

Karen and Richard at Boca Prins.

The beach at Boca Prins. Beautiful and isolated, but not made for swimming because of the strong undertow.

We had a fun and exhausting day exploring the island with Karen and Richard. It's nice to spend time with another couple who also like to get out and about.

San Nicolas and Arikok National Park

Charlie's Bar in San Nicolas has been operating since 1942 with it's main clientele being the workers at the Lagos oil refinery. Charlie's is now being run by the third generation. It has built a reputation for its eclectic decor and has become somewhat of a pilgrimage for tourists.

Charlie's is decorated by collections of just about everything imaginable. Food was good and maybe a little overpriced but the beer was cold and it was good to sit after our 12 km hike in the Arikok National Park.

Hmmm. Interesting graffiti on a building in San Nicolas. It looks like a mullah and underneath it says in Spanish "it is possible"

Arikok National Park.

Our day trip with Karen and Richard started with a 4 hour hike through the Arikok Natinal Park. We started by climbing the highest peak, Sero Jamanota, which is 617 feet. This provided us with a great view of the island. In Arikok, there are several old mine shafts from the gold mining days.

Can you see the two troupials on the cactus. This is the national bird of Venezuela. Troupials are beautiful orange and black birds and are part of the Oriole family. These two are in the Candle Cactus (steno cereus griseus).
I never realized how many different types of cactus there are. I love the Internet to look up information and wanted to use the proper names for the cactus in the photos I posted. I came across a great website; www.cactiguide.com. Check it out! You'll be amazed.

Commonly known as Turks Cap, this is the Melocactus macracantthos. Very cool plant. When in bloom the top is covered in red flowers and it resembles a Turkish fez. The Turks and Caicos island were named after the cactus amd you can see it depicted on their flag.

This is a flower on the well known Prickley Pear cactus.

Nope, not a cactus. This is an aloe plant in bloom.

Lizard on a fence surrounding a mine shaft hole. He has a yellow throat that he blows out. But I didn't get a photo. What type of lizard is this ... Give me a minute. Gotta check in Wiki...

This photo is borrowed from the Internet. It took me a while, but I finally found this guy. He is called Anolis Lineatus, or is more commonly known as a striped anole. I couldn't find any information on the purpose of the throat. The only thing I can think of is that it looks like a leaf and maybe they use it to disguise themselves from their predators.
After our climb we headed down to the coast to the Fontein Caves. These are a natural formation dating back some 85 million years. Inside we see drawings from the Amerindians.

A Day Stranded on Segwun

We had a small crisis on Saturday. Squirt got a puncture. Yes, our dear little Squirt now has a patch on the front port tube.

We were both sitting in the cockpit reading and relaxing before dinner on Friday when we saw our neighbor having a problem getting his dinghy motor started. Our neighbors here are two young guys living aboard s/v Buena Onda. They are working here for the season and that's about all we know about them. When we saw him stranded, Jens jumped into Squirt and went to help him out. The motor wouldn't start so Jens gave him a tow to the Fisherman's dock. One of the boats had their motor lifted and whilst Jens was keeping his eye on it, he ended up banging into and caused a puncture.
I was still aboard Segwun, and saw him rushing back before too much air escaped. What a sad sight to see our little dinghy damaged and deflating. We quickly lifted the motor off and then took Squirt up onto the fore deck. Luckily we had a repair kit which is to be used for 'minor' repairs. A minor repair is a hole which is less than a half inch. Ours was about 1 inch and was right up against the side edge. We were doubtful the patching kit would work, but we went ahead diligently following the instructions. Once the patch was on, we had to let it cure for 24 hours. That was the most difficult part for Jens. After beating himself up for a couple of hours for being so stupid to have this accident he then couldn't stand the wait to see if the repair was going to be successful.

Saturday, we had a lazy day on the boat. I made some banana bread and a big pot of spaghetti sauce. And Jens counted down the hours to when we could inflate Squirt again. At 5 pm on the dot, Jens started inflating. It was a lovely sight to see the patch holding and to have Squirt back in the water. Yippee! We may have to have a professional repair job done, but it looks like it will get us to Panama at least. We celebrated with a nice spicy spaghetti dinner, fresh baked rolls and a bottle of red wine.
I am now doing a bit of research to see if I can make fabric chaps for Squirt. It will not necessarily protect her from punctures, but it will give some protection from sun and abrasions. Good to have a project to look forward to.

My name is Evelyn Rasmussen, and I'm an Internet junkie

Ok. I can't hide it any longer. Jens is on to me. Living together 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it is impossible to keep secrets and even more impossible to hide our bad habits and vices.
I didn't realize it before, because having a full time job meant that you were always on the internet, available by cell phone and just generally 'plugged in'. Since we started cruising, we had to give up our beloved cell phones because what we would have spent on roaming costs would have been enough money to buy a small country! We could have had wifi via satellite service on the boat, but that too was beyond our budget.
During the past five months we have had intermittent wifi and OMG sometimes even NO WIFI!!! Jens laughs when the first thing I do when we are getting ready to find a place to anchor is to pull out my iPad and check for internet connections. I have actually suggested anchoring spots based on the signal strength of free wifi. No wifi, let's keep going!
There is nothing more frustrating than a weak signal. In Curaçao, we had wifi from the boat but it was such a weak signal, you had to hold the iPad up and in a certain direction to get anything. So, we made several trips in Squirt to the Fisherman's wharf where the signal strength was good.
On arrival to Aruba, of course one of the first things I did was check for wifi. Lucky for me, there was a strong signal and for a reasonable weekly fee, I have access to all the Internet browsing I can use. Jens is now complaining that I am spending too much time with my iPad. :(
Yes, I love the Internet. I love being able to look things up, plan trips, book tickets, talk to family and friends whenever I want to, and sometimes just browse. I admit, I am an Internet junkie!
So, what are Jens' bad habits and secret vices. Well, you'll have to stay tuned to hear about those. For now, I have to get back to Facebook, Skype, Hotmail, Gmail, and my new discovery, Messenger for iPad.

Hooibergite, Tonalite, Lighthouses and Fishermen

Since we are anchored just off shore, we dinghy into the beach each day to go ashore. Where to leave Squirt while we are off sightseeing and exploring? There is a Fisherman's dock amidst the hotels and we asked permission to tie Squirt up there. So for a small fee of $20 a month, we have a convenient place to leave our dinghy. The nice thing is the dock has 24 hour security and the security guard has agreed to let us leave our bikes just in front of the guard hut.

You see how small their fishing boats are! They head out to sea and come back with a boat full of fresh fish. I am still amazed at how they manage in the waves and the wind!

We took the bikes ashore today and cycled to the northwest end of the island. There we find the California Light house which is a very popular destination for the tour buses. We took a quick snap, and then headed down to the sand dunes, which I thought were far more interesting.

The sand dunes were gorgeous. Soft white sand, plants clinging to the soil growing like small bonsai trees due to the wind and lack of water. Little lizards scurrying by and a few small birds taking shade under the bushes. No one anywhere near by, just the sound of the sea and the wind.

What are those strange looking rock formations on the beach, you say? Well, that's called tonalite.

Time for a geology lesson...

As taken from the Aruba tourist information booklet:

"around 85 million years ago, new volcanic activity underneath the island formed different types of batholiths, which refers to the rocks being formed under the surface of the earth as lava solidifies. The most abundant types of batholiths are Tonalite and Hooibergite. (note: I looked up Hooibergite on Wiki but could not find any mention of it). During millions of years the Aruba lava formation eroded away and slowly these batholiths were exposed."

And it goes on to say, although we haven't seen them yet but I hope to and will post pictures when I can; "Hooibergite is found in the middle of the island. Interestingly enough, the only other places on earth where Hooibergite surfaced are Canada and Iceland.". Well, I'll be darned. I didn't know we had Hooibergite in Canada! And I guess that means they aren't so 'abundant' if they're only found in three places in the world.
Anyhow, it was a great day and nice to get back to the boat for a refreshing swim and a cold beer.

Gloria

The Columbian Naval Ship "Gloria" at port in Aruba.

The Colombian sailors welcomed everyone on board with a salute and proudly took us around on a tour of the ship. Gloria is steel hulled boat and has a lot of wood finishings and brass fittings and trim. They use manual power to raise the sails...no wimpy electric winches for these boys!

They of course spoke Spanish but one sailor spoke some Portuguese so Jens was able to converse with him. He was a little surprised to hear that Jens and I would be sailing to Colombia on our own. I guess when you are used to such a big ship, traveling in anything smaller seems a little risky.

Jens on the bridge. Or should I say Captain Jens on the bridge.