Oranjestad, Aruba

Our final port of call yesterday was Oranjestad, capital of the island of Aruba.  Aruba lies only 17 miles north of the Venezuelan coast, and together with its neighbours Curaçao and Bonaire, make up a group of islands known collectively as the Leeward Antilles.

Aruba is one of four countries that make up the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the other three being the Netherlands itself, the aforementioned Curaçao, and Sint Maarten - a small island country further north in the Lesser Antilles. Aruba's Dutch heritage is evident on arrival in Oranjestad, as several of the buildings in the city centre feature ornate Dutch colonial style architecture.  Dutch is also widely spoken, along with English and the local language, Papiamento.

Despite the Dutch influences, Oranjestad still has a distinctly Caribbean atmosphere, and this is particularly evident from the main street with its many themed cafes, bars and shops. Before the ship berthed, we also noticed the coastline around the capital was lined with beach resorts, hotels and villas, all taking advantage of the silver sandy beaches that surround many parts of the island.

We decided to go ashore independently as the ship berths at a dedicated cruise line terminal which is only metres from the city centre.  As we were only there for six hours, we felt the time would be best spent exploring the city centre and seafront at our own leisurely pace. The temperature was also nudging 31 degrees, so we didn't feel like wandering too far. After doing some sightseeing and taking a few photographs we parked at an outdoor cafe for a few cocktails in the afternoon sun, before returning to the ship in the late afternoon.  Darkness fell quickly that evening, and by 1900hrs, we had set sail on the final leg of the voyage towards Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

We are currently in the middle of the Caribbean Sea heading north. Our route will take us between the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) before skirting the west of the Bahamas.  Whilst still warm, the weather has turned unpleasant with heavy rain, occasional thunderstorms and moderate seas. There is one final day at sea tomorrow before we leave the ship on Tuesday morning.  We have taken advantage of a simple and reasonably priced shore excursion on arrival in Fort Lauderdale, where we will be taken to one of Miami's largest malls for a few hours, before being transported to the airport for the overnight flight home.  Whilst it's not the most exciting of venues, it beats spending over nine hours in Miami airport.

This is also our final blog post for the holiday, as the journey is almost over, and our internet access package (100 mins for $55) is about to expire!   We may post an addendum later in the week with some photographs of Fort Lauderdale and Miami.  But in the meantime, thanks for following and we hope you have enjoyed reading our travelblog.

Bye for now, Andrew & Christine  J