Our next stop was at the port near Caracas. None of us had been to South America before, so we all decided to take a day trip into the city. When we left the ship, the bus started up into the hills. About an hour later, we were in Caracas for our city tour. We were astounded when we got off the bus. It was at least 10-15 degrees cooler than at the ship, and much less humid! After the heat in Grenada, it was refreshing and wonderful. The trip into Caracas was packed with sightseeing opportunities, including a tour of the capitol building, the cathedral, and a glass blowing shop. It was a packed day, and we all left Caracas with a desire to return to see the city in more depth.
We sailed on towards Aruba. This Dutch island has become more popular in the last decade. It is fairly flat, and very arid. Quite a change from the rain forest parks on Guadeloupe and Grenada. The wind blows constantly, resulting in the famous bent trees around the island. Our group had lots of shore excursion choices here. We couldn't all decide on one thing, so we split up. I went with one of the other women on a mini-submarine ride, something I had always wanted to do. The rest of the group divided into either a circle island tour or just shopping and lounging on the beach.
We rode a small boat to get to the submarine. As expected, it was small and cramped, but there were plenty of windows to see the undersea world. We dove as deep as 150 feet. Being an avid snorkeler, I had seen many of the brilliant fish and coral while in the water. It was weird to see them without getting wet. The submarine even took us near a small plane that had supposedly crashed in the ocean. We couldn't help but wonder if it had been a drug runner! (An active imagination never hurt anyone.)
After a week packed with sightseeing, our last day was at sea as we headed north for the home port of San Juan. We were all exhausted from our "relaxing" vacation. It was a great way to end our trip, and spent the day doing all sorts of rejuvenating activities. We sat by the pool and read, sampled the hot tub, and pampered ourselves in the spa with massages and facials. Much of our discussion focused on how much we wished we had gone on a ten-day cruise! Seven days just wasn't long enough to unwind from our busy lives, but we were all too busy to be gone any longer. What a problem to have!
We docked in the early morning in San Juan, and had almost the whole day left for fun since we were on a late afternoon flight. We checked our bags to Atlanta before we left the ship, and went off on one last tour for the week. We visited old town San Juan, and spent time looking for Steven Segal, who was "supposedly" in the old town area filming a movie. After seeing the city of San Juan, we ended our trip by stopping at a resort that had a casino. It was fun gambling (I had to brush up on my Spanish numbers to keep up with the roulette wheel), and enjoying the resort before the bus picked us up for the airport.
Our cruise vacation was over. We had eaten and drank our way around the Caribbean. We had seen some amazingly beautiful sites, and had some tall tales to spin to our families. (Just how long was that hike on Guadeloupe, and just how hot was it in Grenada??) Our families were glad to see us, having learned what it was like to be "on their own" for a whole week. The idea of a cruise worked out perfect for our group. Although I think our happy group could have had a good time on any ship, the Fascination turned out to be as fascinating as we had hoped!
