Aruba Day 5/6 - SeaBob Making Us Into Mermaids

Future Mermaids

After the back to back days of horseback riding, UTV tours, and Gretchen drinking too much wine our 5th day dawned with a headache and much needed rest day.  We spent the day at the beach again and loved every second of it.  Lots of water, advil and a hamburger under the hut and by noon I was good as new. 

The most exciting thing that happened on our beach day was when Lainey fed this evil pigeon.  You know how birds have those black ice type eyes and they seem to see right through you?  This pigeon was lurking around most of the day and Lainey thought if she fed him, maybe he would finally go away.  Rookie mistake....although trying to scare him away with a 'turkey call' was a very good try.

The beach days allow us time to shower early and do some exploring.  For us, that means basically driving around until we are lost.  Thankfully the island is relatively small and there is not ghetto or bad areas so getting lost is ok with us.  We think we ended up on the 'other side' of the island (where the sharks are, if you are following along) and we found a beautiful deserted beach.  Well, deserted until a local showed up and...well I will leave that part out but suffice it to say Lainey is still deeply troubled by it all.  (Don't worry Mom, it was nothing that bad, she may or may not have seen a naked Aruban...but don't tell her I told you.)

Lainey before The Incident

So we woke up on Friday morning ready to do some snorkeling.  Like you, when I think I am going on a Carribean snorkel trip, I assume a catamaran takes us someplace in the ocean, we swim around a bit, we get back on the catamaran, drink some rum punch, do a conga line dance around the boat, drink some more rum punch, dance, more rum punch...sorry...I got distracted by the thought of rum punch.


To prepare for what I thought was going to happen (see above paragraph), I found a pharmacy and bought some Dutch Dramamine.  Ever since giving birth to my girls, I get sea sick just watching a boat.  Those of you who followed my blog for our Iceland trip, may remember my successful whale watching tour.  I took Dramamine for that and I have been a firm believer ever since. I bought some at the pharmacy and hoped for the best.  Little did I know what kind of 'tour' we were signed up for.

Since I did zero research into this 'snorkeling' tour, I was shocked when we were picked up and taken to a beach...no boat, no ride out to the ocean and, you guessed it, no rum punch.  Drunk Gretchen was a wee bit disappointed, Lainey was ecstatic she didn't have to put up with me again (though she secretly loves it).



To explain, we were apparently signed up for what is called a SeaBob.  By definition, a SeaBob is a 'luxury seatoy for over and under water fun'.  Sounds simple enough, right?  And I would agree unless you were totally thinking you were going to be given a mask and a snorkel and drop off like kids in a pool to swim around (and then drink rum punch).  Instead, we are taken to a beach and in front of us are these mini SeaDo looking things.

We are thinking this is going to be last image of us before they find our bodies on the bottom of the Sea

We were genuinely afraid.  The guide's instructions didn't really help nor did the fact that we had to wear shorty wet suits (the worst!).  Why did we need wet suits?  Snorkeling is done ON TOP of the water, wet suits are for going UNDER the water???  What the hell is going on here?  I need some rum punch if I am going to get through this.

The instructions increased our panic...we were told how to increase speed, how to go under water, how to come up, how to slow down, how deep we could go, etc.  Not knowing the speeds he was showing (15, 30 and 45) were in km and not mph, we thought he had to be insane if the slowest speed was 15 mph.  We really didn't understand and I wish we had a picture of our faces as the guy was explaining it, I know we had to look shell shocked.  I repeatedly whispered to Lainey, 'Where's the boat? I had no idea this is what we were doing...." already making excuses in case she drowned while we are in the middle of the ocean. 

We had no choice but to give it a go.  I have learned that once the initial panic sets in, if I give myself some time to digest what is happening and think it through I can usually calm down.  I also always give a once over to the other people on the tour with us, my self talk then goes to, "If she can do this, I can certainly do it..."  In this case, the other two people on the tour were from Lexington, KY (originally from Columbus!).  The lady hadn't been snorkeling or anything since she was 13.  I snorkel all the time.  She also was putting wax 'stoppers' in her ears and repeatedly told us the story of how she can't get water in her ears and how her husband dunked her when they first met and she had water stuck in her ears for 2 weeks.  Lainey's reply, "I would have dumped him.." (that's MY girl) as the dude was standing right there, still apologizing to his wife for dunking her 6 years ago.  Of course, she couldn't hear him, she had wax in her ears. 

So, after digesting it all and thinking it through (and sizing up the others), I felt pretty confident that Lainey and I would be okay.  We set out to practice maneuvering in the protected bay area.  We realized that not only was it easy, it was super fun.  I can honestly say the absolute most fun I have ever had in the water.  The SeaBob propels you on top of and under the water, as you hold your breath.  It can go as deep as 9 feet but has a depth meter on it and will automatically shut down at 9 feet, in order to protect your ears.  I made it as deep as about 7 feet, tried like crazy to equalize but could only get one ear cleared,  so I wouldn't (couldn't) go any deeper.  Lainey commented that she 'felt like a mermaid' and that is exactly right.  We ended up going out to a shipwreck that was about a half mile off shore.  Like dolphins, we would alternate under water, on top of water, racing and looking for sea life on the way out.  We saw several turtles and a lot of tropical fish.  The shipwreck itself was pretty cool too, it was huge.  Our guide took his SeaBob all the way in and through the shipwreck. It is amazing how long he could hold his breath and how he could equalize with such ease.  I know it gets better with experience so next time (and there will be a next time!), I will try again. 

By the end of the 90 minutes, we were tired.  It takes a certain amount of upper body strength to continually go into the water and holding your breath repeatedly also makes you tired.  The ride back to the shore was mostly on top of the water, just like a SeaDo we would use around here. 

Pirate Ship of Snorkelers (they had rum punch)

Me - wondering if the pirate ship will pick me up

Mermaid

Manatee

Dynamic Duo at it again

The guide loved this when Lainey hugged me.  Family and moms are really important to them

We loved this activity, it was both of our favorite and we are happy to be ending our stay on such a high note.  We not only survived, we thrived (ha ha).

 Off to the hotel for some pool time and then out for shopping and one last dinner.  We met our first native Aruban working at a jewelry store.  We were able to ask her some questions about the island culture and she was super nice (of course) and informative.  We mainly asked why Aruba is called "One Happy Island"  and everyone is so friendly and nice.  She she said that, culturally, they don't believe in bringing any of the negative aspects of their lives out in public.  Lainey, half joking, asked if they go home and 'yell at each other'?  She laughed and said they don't. She said they, of course, have bad days but it all passes and something good will then come along.  She has never been off the island but speaks five languages (English, Dutch, Papiamento, French and Spanish).  Her and Lainey figured out they are birthday twins and with a high five and a lot of smiles and laughs, we were on our way. 

We ended our night at a Carribean restaurant.  I finally got my rum punch..