Teresa and I have been back from our honeymoon for about a week now and I wanted to let you all know how everything went. We had an incredible time.
Day 1
The 1st day we got to Aruba around 3 or 4 pm and we pretty much just relaxed. We got our rental car and checked into our hotel stress free. We then decided we wanted to get a bite to eat and so we took a drive around our hotel. We found this place called Smokey Joes - It was awesome. For an appetizer we ordered shark bites. Teresa had Mahi-Mahi and I had ribs cooked 4 different ways - ribs were their signature dish. Both of us were in heaven. That night we stopped at a couple of places on the beach and just explored and relaxed.
Day 2
The next day we decided to explore the island, we had a map and we were confident we could get to all the sites we wanted to see. 1st we stopped at the mall and shopping center located downtown and we just shopped for 2-3 hours. We then started off on our trek. Although we had a map, the sites were poorly marked and the roads were awful. Roads that looked prominent on the map were really just dirt roads. So we were kind of lost a lot of the time. One of the sites on the map was a lighthouse and when we got there it looked like a pole with a bird cage on it. But when we got to the lighthouse we explored a little bit. Just behind the lighthouse was a cliff side where the water broke against the rocks. It was really cool. We hiked the cliff side on the sharp rocks and we saw little tide pools and some pretty remarkable rock formations. We then set off to find caves. We got to the cave with a little bit of trouble but not much. We made it right before the park closed. Teresa and I got our flashlights and we were off. The cave was really fun. We went down into the cave and it was really dark so we turned on our flashlights. As we went deeper into the cave we saw a couple of bats and Teresa got all excited - I was scared of course. We took lots of pics. As we went even deeper into the cave there was one area that had hundreds of bats and when we shined our lights on them they went crazy. Teresa then convinced me to turn off our flashlights and we did so - bats began to fly all around us and we could feel them flying close by our bodies - I couldn't take it so I rushed and turned on my flashlight and the bats scattered. Teresa was a little disappointed one of the bats didn't land on her and I was disappointed I listened to her and turned off my flashlight. That night we went to a restaurant called Texas de Brazil. They had a buffet set up for your appetizer meals and then they came around with all kinds of cooked meat on skewers and they offered you as much as you wanted. It was incredible. That night there was a huge storm and it rained and thundered all night long. They ended up having 10 inches of rain that night and their yearly avg was 17inches.
Day 3
We woke up on the third day and went to our rental jeep. It was flooded from the night before. The place we rented it from was kind of ghetto and we did not have a back window. So we drained the jeep and decided we weren't going to let it bother us - even though our butts were probably going to be soaked. We then set up a snorkeling cruise on a catamaran. It was really cool. we went to 2 separate locations: a coral reef and a ship wreck. We saw all kinds of fish including a blow fish, barracuda and an eel. We then went to a little market place set up outside of our hotel, I guess they have one set up once a week.
Day 4
On the fourth day we went on a submarine that went 150 ft deep. It was definitely different from anything we had ever done. We went passed reefs, ship wrecks and we actually touched down on the sand at 150 ft deep. This was our last night so we had to go to Smokey Joes again for dinner. We ordered the same exact food and on our second visit and once again we were in heaven.
Last day in Aruba
On our last day in Aruba we did some more exploring. We saw the more popular lighthouse and it was what we expected the first one to be like. We then followed a tour bus and went to a couple of old Church sites. We then realized we were gonna run out of gas so we started looking for a gas station - we didn't find one till we got back around our hotel. There were still a couple of sites we wanted to see but they were clear across the island (The island is pretty small actually) and after our first experience we were doubting if it would be worth it. We went anyway. The one site we really wanted to see was a land bridge that actually wasn't a bridge anymore - I guess it fell down. On our way we ended up on a dirt road and it went down a steep hill that was very rocky. Teresa didn't think we should go down but we had a jeep and so I new we could make it. We were off. About half the way down the extremely bumpy ride we reached a small stream that we both knew we couldn't cross and we had to stop. We got out and looked around and then we looked back at where we needed to go back up and we both got a little worried. We eventually made it back up the hill with very little trouble but time was running out and we had to get back to the hotel to get our stuff and return out rental car. We finally got back to the hotel and we went and got our stuff and checked out only to find that we had a flat tire from our offroading exploration. It had a little air so we went to a gas station and filled it up and it stayed filled till we got to the car return place.
We then flew to Florida and had a reception there. Everything was so fun. The wedding was wonderful, the honeymoon was awesome and our receptions were incredibly fun. We are so grateful for all our family and friends that made these experiences not only possibly but made them experiences that we will never forget!
Day 1
The 1st day we got to Aruba around 3 or 4 pm and we pretty much just relaxed. We got our rental car and checked into our hotel stress free. We then decided we wanted to get a bite to eat and so we took a drive around our hotel. We found this place called Smokey Joes - It was awesome. For an appetizer we ordered shark bites. Teresa had Mahi-Mahi and I had ribs cooked 4 different ways - ribs were their signature dish. Both of us were in heaven. That night we stopped at a couple of places on the beach and just explored and relaxed.
Day 2
The next day we decided to explore the island, we had a map and we were confident we could get to all the sites we wanted to see. 1st we stopped at the mall and shopping center located downtown and we just shopped for 2-3 hours. We then started off on our trek. Although we had a map, the sites were poorly marked and the roads were awful. Roads that looked prominent on the map were really just dirt roads. So we were kind of lost a lot of the time. One of the sites on the map was a lighthouse and when we got there it looked like a pole with a bird cage on it. But when we got to the lighthouse we explored a little bit. Just behind the lighthouse was a cliff side where the water broke against the rocks. It was really cool. We hiked the cliff side on the sharp rocks and we saw little tide pools and some pretty remarkable rock formations. We then set off to find caves. We got to the cave with a little bit of trouble but not much. We made it right before the park closed. Teresa and I got our flashlights and we were off. The cave was really fun. We went down into the cave and it was really dark so we turned on our flashlights. As we went deeper into the cave we saw a couple of bats and Teresa got all excited - I was scared of course. We took lots of pics. As we went even deeper into the cave there was one area that had hundreds of bats and when we shined our lights on them they went crazy. Teresa then convinced me to turn off our flashlights and we did so - bats began to fly all around us and we could feel them flying close by our bodies - I couldn't take it so I rushed and turned on my flashlight and the bats scattered. Teresa was a little disappointed one of the bats didn't land on her and I was disappointed I listened to her and turned off my flashlight. That night we went to a restaurant called Texas de Brazil. They had a buffet set up for your appetizer meals and then they came around with all kinds of cooked meat on skewers and they offered you as much as you wanted. It was incredible. That night there was a huge storm and it rained and thundered all night long. They ended up having 10 inches of rain that night and their yearly avg was 17inches.
Day 3
We woke up on the third day and went to our rental jeep. It was flooded from the night before. The place we rented it from was kind of ghetto and we did not have a back window. So we drained the jeep and decided we weren't going to let it bother us - even though our butts were probably going to be soaked. We then set up a snorkeling cruise on a catamaran. It was really cool. we went to 2 separate locations: a coral reef and a ship wreck. We saw all kinds of fish including a blow fish, barracuda and an eel. We then went to a little market place set up outside of our hotel, I guess they have one set up once a week.
Day 4
On the fourth day we went on a submarine that went 150 ft deep. It was definitely different from anything we had ever done. We went passed reefs, ship wrecks and we actually touched down on the sand at 150 ft deep. This was our last night so we had to go to Smokey Joes again for dinner. We ordered the same exact food and on our second visit and once again we were in heaven.
Last day in Aruba
On our last day in Aruba we did some more exploring. We saw the more popular lighthouse and it was what we expected the first one to be like. We then followed a tour bus and went to a couple of old Church sites. We then realized we were gonna run out of gas so we started looking for a gas station - we didn't find one till we got back around our hotel. There were still a couple of sites we wanted to see but they were clear across the island (The island is pretty small actually) and after our first experience we were doubting if it would be worth it. We went anyway. The one site we really wanted to see was a land bridge that actually wasn't a bridge anymore - I guess it fell down. On our way we ended up on a dirt road and it went down a steep hill that was very rocky. Teresa didn't think we should go down but we had a jeep and so I new we could make it. We were off. About half the way down the extremely bumpy ride we reached a small stream that we both knew we couldn't cross and we had to stop. We got out and looked around and then we looked back at where we needed to go back up and we both got a little worried. We eventually made it back up the hill with very little trouble but time was running out and we had to get back to the hotel to get our stuff and return out rental car. We finally got back to the hotel and we went and got our stuff and checked out only to find that we had a flat tire from our offroading exploration. It had a little air so we went to a gas station and filled it up and it stayed filled till we got to the car return place.
We then flew to Florida and had a reception there. Everything was so fun. The wedding was wonderful, the honeymoon was awesome and our receptions were incredibly fun. We are so grateful for all our family and friends that made these experiences not only possibly but made them experiences that we will never forget!
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