Solar Eclipse : A pictorial review of the Exotic Southern Caribbean

[Walt fan]

Enjoying every minute and loving the pictures.

 

Your dinner looks amazing. I love red wine from the Chile region. I wish more people took the time to venture out and enjoy the locals, food, shopping, etc. Many people don't go past the port area shopping and they miss so much.

[scubacruiserx2]

Enjoying every minute and loving the pictures.

 

Your dinner looks amazing. I love red wine from the Chile region. I wish more people took the time to venture out and enjoy the locals, food, shopping, etc. Many people don't go past the port area shopping and they miss so much.

 

Thank you , we did enjoy it , perhaps a bit too much since we were stuffed like turkeys on Thanksgiving ! We do agree with your philosophy and try to set off on our on a lot , or go with a local guide as we did on the 2nd day .

When we went from Santiago to Valparaiso in Chile we used a ship's trip from the airport to the port . On the bus we past by the Veramonte Vineyards

and stopped at some tourist spot selling stuff instead . I do wish that we would have stopped at the vineyards instead !

[scubacruiserx2]

Let's eat meat !!

First plate = Chicken , chorizo , filet and pork ribs . The spectators were broccoli and smashed red potatoes .

Second plate = More of the same + beef short ribs .

Near the end of the second plate the larger room was receiving some larger groups .

And in our cubby - dessert of course

The bill was about $100 we we felt was worth it . We would recommend this place with 1 recommendation . We would order the meat rare instead of the usual medium rare . The wait for the taxi .

We had taken a plate for our lovely cabin attendant with the hope of persuading the boarding personnel to consider her appetite . Hopefully , as we told them , it found a good home .

[scubacruiserx2]

Pat, I love your booking! We will have great next door neighbors! Also, I'm looking forward to having great dive buddies! I'm excited! :D Where will we be diving?

 

We are excited too ! We would consider all of the ABC's for diving but we have already seen the islands . Do you and Barry want a lot island time in lieu of dive time ? In Bonaire we would like to think about a boat dive this time to save time and wear and tear on the knees .

[MicCanberra]

We wish that you and Rosie could join us !! :) :D

Likewise, although I do not dive (doctor's orders), I am sure we would enjoy the experience (swimming and snorkelling) anyway and cruising with friends (even if we haven't met yet) always makes a cruise that much better.:D

[scubacruiserx2]

Likewise, although I do not dive (doctor's orders), I am sure we would enjoy the experience (swimming and snorkelling) anyway and cruising with friends (even if we haven't met yet) always makes a cruise that much better.:D

 

That's for sure ! There were some snorkelers from the ship when we dove in St. Lucia and we had a great time together .

And some of our most awe inspiring dives were with a snorkel ( no scuba allowed ) with Tyler and some scuba friends .

A whale shark

 

Whale shark video :

 

 

 

A Manta ray

 

Manta ray video :

[CruiserRob]

Was the whale shark as big as it looks in the video?:eek:

 

Robert

[scubacruiserx2]

Was the whale shark as big as it looks in the video?:eek:

 

Robert

 

Yes , it was about 10 m ( 30 ') long !

Here's a whale shark/human scale .

And here's a smaller 6 m ( 19 ') one feeding .

Video :

[MicCanberra]

How wonderful, would love to swim with a whale shark one day.

[scubacruiserx2]

How wonderful, would love to swim with a whale shark one day.

 

We loved it , a great experience ! :) :D

[scubacruiserx2]

The Celebrity Today for our second day in Aruba

We met our guide for the day Esther who was born on the island and lived here all of her life

We began our tour downtown near where we had dinner the night before . Esther told us about the blue horses that we would be seeing .

http://www.aruba.com/our-island/paardenbaai-aruba-0

 

[upwarduk]

I really cannot remember seeing the blue horse!

 

 

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[scubacruiserx2]

I really cannot remember seeing the blue horse!

 

 

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I think they are a fairly new addition .

[upwarduk]

OK, so Senior Moment hasn't completely taken hold - yet! [emoji85]

 

 

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[scubacruiserx2]

OK, so Senior Moment hasn't completely taken hold - yet! [emoji85]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

Thank heavens , we may need your help identifying some of these places !

[scubacruiserx2]

One of our first stops was at the Seaport Village Marina

It had an excellent view of the Eclipse

The next place I think was Palm Beach

At the far end

[MicCanberra]

While you guys are worried about whether you can or can't remember blue horses, I am worried that you drink that much that you see blue horses, it is supposed to be pink elephants. :p

[scubacruiserx2]

While you guys are worried about whether you can or can't remember blue horses, I am worried that you drink that much that you see blue horses, it is supposed to be pink elephants. :p

 

 

Care for another drink sir ?

[benjaminhuf]

Great pix! Many thanks. ++

[scubacruiserx2]

Great pix! Many thanks. ++

 

Many thanks Benjamin we're glad that you enjoy them ! :cool:

[MicCanberra]

Care for another drink sir ?

Yes please, I will drink until that elephant goes grey again.:p

[Hatteras51]

You are in my favorite port, Aruba. We vacation there every February. The beach in the pictures that you just posted are of Eagle Beach. I can see my resort in the background of one of the pictures. Palm Beach is more congested. I'm glad that you enjoyed El Gaucho. We haven't eaten there in a long time.

[perfect match]

I am happy for all of you.:D

 

We wish that you and Rosie could join us !! :) :D

 

Mic, Barry and I wish you and Rosie could join us, too! :cool: We do understand, though, what a long trip that would be for you. That long trip is why we haven't made it down your way yet, even though that trip is really high on my bucket list.

[perfect match]

Yes please, I will drink until that elephant goes grey again.:p

 

 

Mic, will you please be sure to let me know when that happens? :eek: ;p

[perfect match]

We are excited too ! We would consider all of the ABC's for diving but we have already seen the islands . Do you and Barry want a lot island time in lieu of dive time ? In Bonaire we would like to think about a boat dive this time to save time and wear and tear on the knees .

 

I completely agree with you about wanting to do a boat dive in Bonaire! I had already emailed 2 dive shops in Bonaire before you mentioned booking this cruise, one of them being VIP. Both shops replied, saying they do beach dives. I have been having nightmares about me and dive entries over ironshore ever since! :eek: I haven't replied to either shop yet because I have been trying to decide if I am willing to deal with the shore entries there. :confused: We go to Vegas at the end of this month, so I've got cruise planning mostly on the back burner until we get home from that trip.

 

As for island time, that is secondary to dive time for me. I figure I can tour any island I want after I get too old to dive safely! :eek: Barry may go off on his own while we are diving if there is something he wants to do. He doesn't usually come along with me on dives because he would rather spend his time exploring the port than sitting on a dive boat waiting for me to surface.

 

I would consider snorkeling as an option if we decide that too many days of diving in a row would be more than we want to take on. I know that both of you have a lot of good, old fashioned common sense which carries over into your diving. That is a big part of why I'm so excited to have you as dive buddies.

 

If you don't want to turn this review thread into a planning thread, I did start a roll call for the Koningsdam cruise. So far I'm the only one there. Most of the HAL roll calls seem pretty quiet. Either that, or you have my email. I don't want to get this thread too far off topic on you.