Day 3 - Monday - Beach day Arikok Park and Rental Swap Out

Happy Monday ya'll!!!

I am happy to report that until I went to write this post, I had no idea what day of the week it was. I believe that is amazing!! Yippee...I am feeling so relaxed-most of the time.

Soooooo...this morning started with another amazing breakfast! The Renaissance Aruba (Marina) has a phenomenal breakfast buffet!! It is delicious and has so many great options!

Today I had oatmeal and fruit!! Yummy!!! 

 Here is a photo of the buffet!! Crazy huge, right?!?!?!

 Here is a picture of the sweets and yogurt section!!!  

 After my delicious breakfast I took the boat over to the private island.  I got to my spot and it was empty...yippee!!!!! Except for this guy...I shared the area with him (or her) HA!

 Another picture...such a cutie, no??? 

 Here is my view...it should look a lot like yesterday's! I don't like change...I ran for my empty spot on the end!!

 Little selfie!?!?! 

Today I noticed another few visitors in the water. My hammock is on top of a large rock formation... apparently fish like swimming around these rocks and I did not notice.  Just laying there today I saw this guy come around...he is in camo!!!  Can you see him?!?!

Sideways shot...see him swimming sideways to eat algae off the rocks...  

And then this red guy came by...

See him better in this on?? 

Here is camo again... 

       And a few iguanas...  

I had to make a run to the airport to swap out my rental car around 3PM. So I left the island around 2PM and went back to my room to eat my leftover pizza for lunch and head to swap the car.  After I got the new rental;  I decided to run through the Arikok National Park to check it out. I went to the caves and did a quick look around and then headed back home. Here are the pictures...

 Another... 

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 And another... 

 Ont the way out I encountered these wild goats...soooo beautiful!!! I love to see nature as God intended...free and roaming the beautiful landscape!! 

I do not have a lot of detail about the park since it was not a very good experience for me.  I was not going to put this in but I really want to show my entire experience and not only the good ones.

 So my new rental car is a little Chevy spark. It is a compact little car. You can rent a big four wheeler jeeps here to drive through this park as well. I was driving through in my little spark.  I stopped at the visitor center to pay my entrance fee to the park. It is $11 for a non-resident to drive through the park. I look at that as a donation to the park it's self… Great price for this experience. I came out to drive into the park and up Behind me came a group of people  in two separate jeeps.

 The first jeep had a guy and a woman and three  kids around 10 or 11. The second jeep had three guys  probably around mid 30s.  They were traveling together because I saw them purchase all of their tickets into the park together. They had to stop in the restroom so I pulled into the park before them. They all came behind me and apparently I was going way too slow for them. You cannot pass in a national park and it has speed bumps every half kilometer to keep you from going over 5 miles an hour.  We had to drive for about 3 miles through this park and winding roads ( again speed bumps every half kilometer ). We got to a section where you turn right to go to the caves. I started to turn and then pulled off to the side a little so that the impatient man and his jeeps could go around me. The first car with the woman and the guy in the kids went past me no problem… The second jeep flew past me and m we got to a section where you turn right to go to the caves. I started to turn and then pulled off to the side a little so that the impatient man and his jeeps could go around me. The first car with the woman and the guy in the kids went past me no problem… The second jeep flew past me and  and laid tire into my car! We are on a dirt road! My entire car filled up with rocks and dirt and smoke from the dirty road! The guys in the backseat of the jeep turned around laughing. 

 I was so ticked off that I follow them to the caves. I couldn't believe that this family that have these little kids with him did this.   The guys got out of the jeep and seem shocked that I followed them to the parking lot for the caves. I followed the family in as they tried to hurry away and  said " that was really nice (Sarcastically)"  and they flipped me off. In front of their children! I was so angry I didn't wanna say anything I regretted  it so I just said " you need to grow up"  and I got back in my car and left the caves. 

 Please know that it took every bone  in my body not to kick or key their rental jeep! I was so ticked off! But I'm not going to give him the power to ruin my vacation… It's just sad that there's so many a-  holes out there! And you really don't notice it until you're all by yourself… Because the families can really overpower you here. Ugh!!

 So then I came back to my hotel and walked to subway and got dinner and ate my sub in my room. Then it was off to the casino - put $20 in and walked away with another hundred dollar profit! I guess there's an upside to everything! 

I hope you all had a wonderful Monday!!!! Tomorrow morning is my half day Jeep tour...I'll have fun pictures from that!!!

Day 2 - Sunday - First Full Day in Aruba

Day two in Aruba started off pretty amazing! I got up and had a great breakfast at the hotel and then went down to wait for the water taxi to take me to the private island. Here is the cool little stop under the hotel where you wait for the taxi…

 And here I am on the boat with the other people headed over to the private island.  This island is free and included when you stay at the Renaissance Aruba. 

 Here is the first person I met when I got off the boat.  They really do have flamingos on what they call flamingo island. I feel bad for the flamingos because people just chase them around and want to get selfie's all day.  They really are beautiful creatures!  

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 Here is me in my spot for the morning. I found a great spot off by myself to leave peacefully and a hammock.  Hammocks here in Aruba are great because there's always a breeze and your hammock just gently sways you to sleep!  

Here is my awesome spot!!!   

Here is another picture of the flamingos… See the people constantly following them around. I guess they are well cared for though. 

Flamingo island also has iguanas… Cute and big iguanas  everywhere!   

One more... 

The second half of my day I had the Afternoon Delight cruise booked with DePalm Tours.   The tour company picked me up on this big bus to take me to the pier to get on the catamaran.    

Here is the boat that we took for the catamaran tour. It was me and about 30 other people… Everybody was really fun! 

  Here is me taking a selfie while I snorkeled! It was so much fun there were so many fish! I have a video later to take you snorkling with me!     

Here is a picture I took of the boat while I was snorkeling next to it.

Click  HERE  if you want to snorkel with me!!! 

 After snorkeling we all got back on the bus to ride back to our hotel. On the way we saw this… Someone had way too much to drink and swerved off the road. They missed a bunch of bushes but they hit a fire hydrant. It's a really bad day for somebody but thank goodness no pedestrian was hit!

I got back to my room, showered and headed out for dinner. One of the guys that drove the bus today recommended this restaurant so I thought I would try it out.  He actually recommended the pizza and the pasta… So I started with the pizza tonight. I got the meat lovers and it was phenomenal. I ate half and  brought half back to my room for dinner tomorrow night! If you're in the area you should  check out Casa Tua!!

 On the walk back from the restaurant to my hotel I saw this beautiful lite Christmas tree. Even though  there's no snow it's still Christmas here in Aruba! 

I got back to my room after dinner and they left me chocolate!  Could the night get any better?

Here is a close-up… Yum chocolate! And to answer my last question; yes, the night got better… Look why… 

 Here's why! I decided since I won last night I would take $20 and play in my same slot machine. I put my 20 bucks in and lost. Once I got to my last $2.50 I won! As you see I won and I cashed out! I'm running while I'm ahead again! 

  Well guys… It's off to bed now but I promise to bring you along on the adventures tomorrow! Tomorrow is an early breakfast and then off to the private island to my hammock - hopefully! Fingers crossed it will be empty. I'm going to spend the morning there and then go swap out my rental cars in the afternoon. I had two free days with national that I needed to use so tomorrow I will switch to Hertz.  Hopefully they will give me a car that I don't have to worry if it's going to run or not. I also plan on making a complaint to National because the car they gave me was ridiculously crappy! 

 No excursions or tours planned for tomorrow. Just a nice day of chill and relax! 

 I really really hope you guys are having an amazing week as well.  

 Everyone ready for Christmas? Ever won at the casino? Ever won the lottery?