So I forgot to tell you about our wedding crashers!! About 2/3 of the way through the reception, Ryan saw these four people dancing and he said "I have no idea who those people are, I think they might be wedding crashers. Do you know them?" I looked over and sure enough, neither of us knew them. Now I've been to some really big weddings where there were numerous people the bride and groom had never met but that wasn't the case at ours. There were a few people on my side Ryan had never met and a few people on his side I had never met - but no one was invited that neither of us knew. So then one of the groomsmen went and started messing with them. It turns out it was the lady's 50th birthday and her husband wanted to take her to Cobalt and was disappointed to find out it was closed for a private event. Pretty gutsy to just join the party though, LOL. If i see them in any of our reception pictures I will definitely point them out :)
Sunday 12/9
On Sunday, we flew directly from Orlando to Aruba on an Airtran flight. The flight was ok but there were no movies or food which was surprising for a 3hr flight plus it was an international flight. Oh well, we still got there pretty quickly. On the flight, Ryan used the in-flight internet to book us a rental car because he found out the cab to the hotel was going to be $30. We didn't really do much in the way of researching Aruba before we came so we are pretty much just making it up as we go along. When we got out of the airport we headed over to where the rental car shuttles pick up and we were waiting a very long time for ours. Finally another driver called them for us and they came and got us. I guess the internet reservation went through but they didn't actually have a car for us...so they gave us a beat up Scion XB that looks like it has been in quite a few fender benders.
After we got checked in we realized we hadn't eaten anything all day and we were starving so we went to the little sportsbar on property and ate some dinner. It was a little expensive but not bad and it sure hit the spot for two starving people. Here's our first sunset in Aruba
Monday 12/10
Monday might have been the laziest day we've had in months. We slept in super late and got breakfast around 11am from the hotel. Two bagel and egg sandwiches for $26...yikes! So after we got ready we went down the street to "Super Food" and got some breakfast, lunch and snacks (and of course Coca Cola) to keep in the room since we have a full kitchen. When we got back we made ourselves a late lunch and lounged around for most of the afternoon. We went out to the beach and watched the sunset, made reservations for activities throughout the week and then went to the Casino. The casino said they were running a special where if you spent at least 30mins at the slot machines then they would reimburse you for up to $50 in losses the following day. So Ryan burned through $50 and I spent around $35 with anticipation of getting reimbursed the next day. We didn't realize it at the time but we stayed at the casino until all the on-property restaurants were closed and we hadn't really bought any dinner foods. Fortunately, in addition to sandwich stuff we had bought a couple of sausages from the local deli so we cooked those up for a small late night dinner. Here's a little video Ryan took of our room here in Aruba:
Monday might have been the laziest day we've had in months. We slept in super late and got breakfast around 11am from the hotel. Two bagel and egg sandwiches for $26...yikes! So after we got ready we went down the street to "Super Food" and got some breakfast, lunch and snacks (and of course Coca Cola) to keep in the room since we have a full kitchen. When we got back we made ourselves a late lunch and lounged around for most of the afternoon. We went out to the beach and watched the sunset, made reservations for activities throughout the week and then went to the Casino. The casino said they were running a special where if you spent at least 30mins at the slot machines then they would reimburse you for up to $50 in losses the following day. So Ryan burned through $50 and I spent around $35 with anticipation of getting reimbursed the next day. We didn't realize it at the time but we stayed at the casino until all the on-property restaurants were closed and we hadn't really bought any dinner foods. Fortunately, in addition to sandwich stuff we had bought a couple of sausages from the local deli so we cooked those up for a small late night dinner. Here's a little video Ryan took of our room here in Aruba:
Tuesday 12/11
We slept in again on accident - I think we were still recovering from the wedding week craziness. It's so nice to not even have a clock or a watch or anything else to pay attention to. After we finally got up we had some cereal for breakfast and lounged about for a while. We made ourselves sandwiches for early small lunch and then headed over to the beach for our snorkeling trip we had booked. It was a pretty good deal - it cost $35 per person (plus tip) but we went out on a small trimaran with only about 25 people and were out for around 3 hours. We sailed most of the way out instead of motoring which was nice and then we stopped at a little snorkel spot. There were lots of little fish which must be really used to the tour boats because as soon as we got in the water they were swarming around us looking for food. There weren't very many reefs or anything and just the little fish so after 45ish mins we headed to the next spot. At the second spot there was an old German freighter that had sunk (supposedly the captain purposely sank the ship to avoid its capture). It was only about 15 - 20 feet below the surface so we could see it clearly and the ship was 400 feet long! It was pretty neat to see all the port holes, anchor chains and etc. There was also some pretty neat coral growing on it. Ryan said he saw a HUGE fish near the anchor chain but I missed it.
We slept in again on accident - I think we were still recovering from the wedding week craziness. It's so nice to not even have a clock or a watch or anything else to pay attention to. After we finally got up we had some cereal for breakfast and lounged about for a while. We made ourselves sandwiches for early small lunch and then headed over to the beach for our snorkeling trip we had booked. It was a pretty good deal - it cost $35 per person (plus tip) but we went out on a small trimaran with only about 25 people and were out for around 3 hours. We sailed most of the way out instead of motoring which was nice and then we stopped at a little snorkel spot. There were lots of little fish which must be really used to the tour boats because as soon as we got in the water they were swarming around us looking for food. There weren't very many reefs or anything and just the little fish so after 45ish mins we headed to the next spot. At the second spot there was an old German freighter that had sunk (supposedly the captain purposely sank the ship to avoid its capture). It was only about 15 - 20 feet below the surface so we could see it clearly and the ship was 400 feet long! It was pretty neat to see all the port holes, anchor chains and etc. There was also some pretty neat coral growing on it. Ryan said he saw a HUGE fish near the anchor chain but I missed it.
After we got back we went over to the nearby oceanfront fish restaurant to confirm our reservation but they apparently lost it so we made new reservations for Wednesday instead. With no dinner plans, we showered and went over to the shopping/tourist district. We found a little balcony restaurant and ate dinner there. It was pretty pricey for what you got but it wasn't bad.
Wednesday 12/12
Wednesday might have been the laziest day yet! We slept in until around 9am and then after an hour of lounging Ryan went back to bed, lol. We didn't leave the apartment until around 2pm and then we just went and checked out a lighthouse and got some more groceries. Here's some pictures of the lighthouse and scenery as we drove around:
Wednesday 12/12
Wednesday might have been the laziest day yet! We slept in until around 9am and then after an hour of lounging Ryan went back to bed, lol. We didn't leave the apartment until around 2pm and then we just went and checked out a lighthouse and got some more groceries. Here's some pictures of the lighthouse and scenery as we drove around:
We went back and had a snack, lounged some more and eventually went to our sunset oceanfront dinner. Unfortunately it was too cloudy to really see the sunset but the weather was nice and the view was nice. We sat right in the surf while we had a beer and then moved to table in the sand for our actual dinner. Ryan and I got a giant shrimp cocktail for an appetizer and then we got two entrees but shared them both: I got the Chilean Sea Bass and he got Scallops with a saffron risotto. In the end, I think the risotto was the best - I really LOVE risotto.
A neat view of one of the "pirate" ships coming back in to shore
It's a little dark but here's where you sit while you wait for them to prepare your dinner table and watch the sunset
Here's the view from our actual dinner table, you just move a little farther back so the waiters don't get wet
Here's Ryan eating his giant shrimp
When we were at the grocery store earlier that day, I saw they had giant chocolate letters so I got a big chocolate "M" for our pillows, LOL.
I actually wrote these posts while we were still on the honeymoon but Ryan forgot to bring the cord to the camera so we couldn't get the pictures off. Anyways they are finally off and hopefully I'll be back on schedule for blogging.
