We woke up with enough time to get a hurried breakfast
buffet upstairs before we had to get to the meeting point to disembark for our
Aruban excursion. We were going to De Palm Island where we would also do a “Seatrek”
which was an underwater dive with an air helmet. The boat docked at 7am and our excursion
started at 9:30. We were lined up where we were put on a bus and driven to a
ferry to De Palm Island. The bus ride
was maybe 20 minutes and the ferry ride was 5 minutes across to the island. We
were given a short explanation of the surroundings. There was a water park and
a snorkeling area as well as a restaurant and snack bar. Also there were several other things you
could do for extra money. Since we were
doing the Seatrek we didn’t really get to go too far before we had to go to the
shop for our briefing so we basically visited the gift shop quickly then got
something to drink quickly first.
In the briefing they explained how the dive would go. That
we would climb down a ladder and had to adjust to the pressure as we did. That
we would be on a walkway and we had to keep our hand on a rail at all times. We
also were told to stay upright or the helmet would fill with water. So no
looking down. They did 2 briefings one in English and one in Spanish. We took
the English one. We then found we were in the second group which would start in
half an hour so we really just went quickly to drop our stuff in a locker
before we went back to the diving area to watch the first group go and see what
the process was like. I will admit I was a bit nervous about it. I am not a
swimmer. I know this didn’t involve swimming but I really haven’t been
underwater before. When the first group finished most people looked really
happy about it though so it was encouraging.
Daniela and I were first in the group to go down because we
were there the earliest. They start you down the ladder and then put the helmet
on your shoulders and you go into the water. The helmet weighs 75 pounds to
help keep you underwater. It also pushes through 3 times more oxygen than you
would typically get. They wanted us to
stop every two rungs on the ladder until we adjusted to the pressure then
continue on. The depth of the dive was 25 feet or so. They have sunk a few vehicles to create reefs
for the sea life to live in. There is a bus, 2 planes and hybrid submarine (a
boat with a deep bottom with glass windows in it). They feed the fish while
they are down there so they swarm around you.
Some of the fish nibbled at the divers. Especially at Daniela a few
times (she is so sweet!). Obviously they
can only point at things underwater but they take you around and show you stuff
and they take your picture with underwater cameras. I have an underwater camera
but they wouldn’t let me use it. It was an incredible experience. I obviously
have done nothing like it before and I would greatly recommend it. After the walk around you climb back up the
ladder and you are done.
After the dive we went over to relax and just a few minutes
into that a couple of salsa dance instructors came and performed a quick class
on salsa and meringue dancing. We participated in the show and I tried my best
to do the steps. I learned a lot but I
am having a hard time processing it all.
After the salsa lessons we ate lunch at the buffet
restaurant. I had rice and vegetables with fried fish sticks and Daniela had
salad and potatoes and rice and barbeque chicken. By the time we finished lunch there was time
enough to gather our stuff and get dressed again then we had to take the ferry
back across to the main island then a bus back to downtown. There we got off in
the shopping region and wandered around for a while and stopped off and had a
quick Balashi beer at The Paddock right near the water. The waiter there was
very friendly and we put a signed dollar up on their wall before we left. We
did a little more walking around town then headed to the ship.
After we boarded we relaxed for a while then went to dinner
where this time our table was not only us and met 2 couples from Colombia who
were very nice. I had a potato and chorizo soup for starter followed by a linguini with eggplants and
Daniela had a shrimp appetizer and grilled salmon for the main. We both had
strawberry cheesecake for dessert.
After dinner we headed up to the 11th deck and
visited the carnival party and danced for a while before I turned in for the
night being exhausted. Daniela followed a little bit later.
The pictures from day 4 are here.
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