Aruba: Shipwreck and Parasailing
We're in for a special treat on Thursday the 18th.
This includes a boat ride around the island. This is not your ordinary boat, however. As the passengers descend into the hull, the entire bottom of the ship is transparent, meaning you can wave at Nemo and his friends as they swim past you, along with the one million or so scuba divers around the island.
For maximum effect, you obviously need clear water, which Aruba has like the North Pole has ice. Gliding through the water, you can see the fish up close and personal, like in a huge aquarium. Of course, the fishies barely compare to the highlight of the trip, the shipwreck known as the Antilla.
The Antilla was a ship that supplied the German submarines during World War II. Aruba, of course, was a part of the greater Netherlands, not an ally of Nazi Germany. The ship itself that was anchored off the coast of Aruba was asked to surrender to a contingent of Dutch marines in 1940, the year when hostilities were declared between both countries. Not one to easily give in to the enemy, the German captain decided to scuttle the ship and blew it up before surrendering himself and his crew. The result is a new home for various life forms around Aruba and a treasure to see for divers or tourists like myself. Before the boat tour, I had only known shipwrecks from the movies.
There was only one thing I hadn't counted on: when you're sitting in the hull of the ship, things move differently, meaning you get more seasick. I won't deny we all get a little woozy ourselves.
We save the best for Friday, when I would finally go parasailing for the first time. Parasailing is the activity where the person is towed behind a boat while attached to a parachute, also known as a parasail. The boat then drives off, carrying the parasailer into the air. The parasailer has little or no control over the parachute and can fly up to 500 or 600 feet high.
I had always watched people up in the air, now it would finally be my turn…and Liebi's and Sarah-Ann's.
The boat takes us out to the deeper end of the ocean, where I volunteer to go first. I am strapped to the harness, the rope gradually lifts me into the air, and before you know it I am floating at over 150 meters above the crystal blue Caribbean.
The result is hard to describe, but I'll try anyway.
It's one thing when you look at things from a plane, quite another when you don't have the window to protect you, let alone a floor beneath your feet. Here you are, sailing in the air, with nothing to hear but the wind and the glittering water that seems like miles under you. It is a rare moment of tranquility I will never forget.
That is not to say the flight did not have its weird moments. Remember, you have no control over where you're going and even less over which way the wind blows. It would not be common for you to suddenly dip twenty or thirty feet in the air, up or down. Did I already mention how you had no control over which way you were going? It hardly matters, because watching Aruba, the ships, the water, and the beaches from up there, would more than compensate for any inconveniences.
When it is Liebi's turn, Bash immediately voices his veto, battering me with his little fists and legs when he is handed over to me. How dare his Mom go up there in the sky and leave him in the boat? Nobody had consulted him about his Mom deciding to have fun without him. High Treason indeed.
We go to the beach one more time in the afternoon for an encore, but that is it for Aruba.
Money and time well spent, I'd say. It was certainly one of the better beach vacations we've had.
This includes a boat ride around the island. This is not your ordinary boat, however. As the passengers descend into the hull, the entire bottom of the ship is transparent, meaning you can wave at Nemo and his friends as they swim past you, along with the one million or so scuba divers around the island.
For maximum effect, you obviously need clear water, which Aruba has like the North Pole has ice. Gliding through the water, you can see the fish up close and personal, like in a huge aquarium. Of course, the fishies barely compare to the highlight of the trip, the shipwreck known as the Antilla.
The Antilla was a ship that supplied the German submarines during World War II. Aruba, of course, was a part of the greater Netherlands, not an ally of Nazi Germany. The ship itself that was anchored off the coast of Aruba was asked to surrender to a contingent of Dutch marines in 1940, the year when hostilities were declared between both countries. Not one to easily give in to the enemy, the German captain decided to scuttle the ship and blew it up before surrendering himself and his crew. The result is a new home for various life forms around Aruba and a treasure to see for divers or tourists like myself. Before the boat tour, I had only known shipwrecks from the movies.
There was only one thing I hadn't counted on: when you're sitting in the hull of the ship, things move differently, meaning you get more seasick. I won't deny we all get a little woozy ourselves.
We save the best for Friday, when I would finally go parasailing for the first time. Parasailing is the activity where the person is towed behind a boat while attached to a parachute, also known as a parasail. The boat then drives off, carrying the parasailer into the air. The parasailer has little or no control over the parachute and can fly up to 500 or 600 feet high.
I had always watched people up in the air, now it would finally be my turn…and Liebi's and Sarah-Ann's.
The boat takes us out to the deeper end of the ocean, where I volunteer to go first. I am strapped to the harness, the rope gradually lifts me into the air, and before you know it I am floating at over 150 meters above the crystal blue Caribbean.
The result is hard to describe, but I'll try anyway.
It's one thing when you look at things from a plane, quite another when you don't have the window to protect you, let alone a floor beneath your feet. Here you are, sailing in the air, with nothing to hear but the wind and the glittering water that seems like miles under you. It is a rare moment of tranquility I will never forget.
That is not to say the flight did not have its weird moments. Remember, you have no control over where you're going and even less over which way the wind blows. It would not be common for you to suddenly dip twenty or thirty feet in the air, up or down. Did I already mention how you had no control over which way you were going? It hardly matters, because watching Aruba, the ships, the water, and the beaches from up there, would more than compensate for any inconveniences.
When it is Liebi's turn, Bash immediately voices his veto, battering me with his little fists and legs when he is handed over to me. How dare his Mom go up there in the sky and leave him in the boat? Nobody had consulted him about his Mom deciding to have fun without him. High Treason indeed.
We go to the beach one more time in the afternoon for an encore, but that is it for Aruba.
Money and time well spent, I'd say. It was certainly one of the better beach vacations we've had.
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