Austin's Travel Adventures July 20th, 2002 Aruba, Netherlands

Seems like another beautiful day here. The climate and terrain is very much like what you would find in Arizona. Dry, hot, but not humid, no grass, plenty of catcus and gecko's everywhere. Some small as 1 inch, others as long as 3 to 4 feet around the pool. They act like your pet dog.

We are heading up to the Northwest corner of the island to check out the beaches up there and maybe find a better spot for collecting. We packed up and headed out after a late breakfast. The drive was stunning, the water and the view cannot be described. We ended up in a spot called the California Lighthouse on top of an elevated piece of land at the end of the island that overlooks the whole island. One side is the Atlantic Ocean where the waves are crashing ashore, and on the other the Carribean Sea, calm and gentle. We found our own private beach and would make this the spot, at least for a few hours.

Austin stayed on shore with Sharon while I went out to the deeps. Not to far out again, the reef was completley dead, except for a few corals every now and then. The fish were not even around today. Seems there are plenty of yellow wrasses, but very few tangs. The blue tangs that are around are at least 12 inches in length. Even the dwaft angel that is very common in the Carribean, I have not seen one yet. So I collected 2 feather dusters, a brain coral, 2 little anemones. But no clown fish, not found here in this part of the world.

I am a bit dismayed about the sea life here. Maybe this means I need to plan a South Pacific trip in December......

After a few hours, we headed over to the holding area and Austin helped me put the stash away. All is ok inside the cage. This holding area is right off shore, about 35 yards out into the water. We marked the spot with large rocks on the beach in the shape of an arrow. Austin and I decided to stay out a bit. We happen to be in the right spot at the right time again. Caught 2 small 4 eye butterflies, a small tang and a small moray eel. Austin caught another small lobster, about 2 inches long. The larger one that is in the cage will soon become dinner for Austin sometime this week. Austin enjoys this one spot. Not deep, but very calm. I tried to get him to come in but he had the CATCHING BUG and wanted to stay out longer. Finally at 3:00PM, I convinced him LET'S GO and we came back in. While we were out in the water Sharon decided Headed directly to the pool where I snoozed while Sharon and Austin went swimming and played pass in the pool.

We headed to Tony Roma's for dinner. Had some wonderful messy baby back ribs and salad. I swear you feel like your in the United States. After dinner we all went walking around the Wyndham Hotel. Austin played video games in the arcade. So ends another day.

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July 19th, 2002   July 21st, 2002