Finally, a complete eco-tour
After the failure that was our first excursion into Aruba’s natural wonders, we debated about what to do. We’d been looking forward to that tour more than anything, and we felt like we were cheated out of the experience we wanted. We didn’t really want to spend more money on another tour (we’d already spent enough money on this vacation), but we really wanted to see more of the undeveloped part of Aruba. So, we eventually decided to book another one with a more reputable company (thanks to Courtney for recommending them). They had jeeps that actually worked (and were surprisingly comfortable, though Jen did have to hold the door closed up front since it didn’t latch). And we were glad to have the jeeps, since the terrain was pretty rough.
We drove the jeeps up a hill to see the view of the coastline.
Our tour took us back the the Natural Bridge. It was pretty much the same as our first visit there.
We then went to another place nearby to explore a cave at the coast. Here’s Jen climbing down.
We walked along some rocks toward our cave destination.
Eventually, we came upon a cave with a pool of water, protected from the ocean by some rocks. Our guide Eduardo (next to me) told us to jump in. Many thought he was joking (it was about 10 feet down), but Jen and I were ready to go. Here I go.
Then it was Jen’s turn to jump. She went for the cannonball approach.
It was a very nice pool in a cave. We explored it for a while before climbing out to continue our tour.
We then went to the Bushiribana Gold Mill Ruins, where the Dutch used to process the gold before shipping it back to The Netherlands.
We saw the Ayo Rock Formation, but did not go up to it. It gets really hot in the middle of the day as it is made of volcanic rock (like much of Aruba).
We also visited Fontein Cave in Arikok National Park, which was inland a bit.
Fontein Cave contained lots of cave drawings from the Arawak Indians.
This is what you look like in a dark cave when someone takes your picture with a flashlight.
We then drove on to Baby Beach again, which was actually supposed to be part of this tour (unlike our previous one). While most of Baby Beach was very shallow, a small part of it was deep enough to snorkel (snorkel gear was provided on this tour). Jen tried snorkeling again at Baby Beach, and didn’t get seasick. Hurray!
There were lots of fish there. Some of them were quite large.
This visit to Baby Beach was much more enjoyable than the first.
We then dried off and headed back to the ABC Tours facility where they provided lunch. They have a little restaurant on site which served the lunch that was included in the tour. It was quite good.
The tour was great. I’d highly recommend ABC Tours to anyone. We wish we’d decided to go with them originally. Our guides were great, the sites were good, the lunch was good, and most importantly, the jeep never broke down.
