We’ve got our day all mapped out and are waiting bright and early for Gian to escort us off the ship.  It’s not very busy today, so we end up walking right out without even a line.  Go figure.  Once again, there are 2 other ships in port with us today, the Aida and HAL ships again, which makes it even more important for us to get off right away and book it directly out to the little Avis kiosk.  On the way we have to virtually outrun this guy behind us who is bound and determined to beat us.  People.  We manage to outrun (and outlast) him and are very pleasantly surprised that the Avis booth is open because we’ve read reviews that have said ships have arrived and no one is on duty, even if a car has been reserved.  Unfortunately, though, we are 30 minutes early for our reservation, and our car isn’t there yet.  But the sweet agent says she can switch cars around for us so we don’t have to wait so long. 

After our experience yesterday, we totally check out this car (which is basically “rent a wreck”) and make sure all the dents and loose fenders are marked on the sheet, then its out onto the street and up to Hato Caves, our first planned stop.  These are supposed to be spectacular caves with a 45 minute tour, and while we know there are ship tours here, we are hoping to be early enough to be ahead of them.  While we are the first people there, unfortunately, we won’t be ahead of the tours as they tell us they have 5 tours coming in at 9 (poop) – but they promise we will be at the front of the first tour so we will actually get the best experience with no one in front of us.  Everyone is so nice and sweet and organized, and reassuring.  Everyone tells us we’ll be taken care of – which makes us feel confident this is the right move.

As the tours pour in, our guide takes us up to the front of the entrance and tells us to wait there for her while she gets the ship tour.  Ends up we are in with a mixed French and German (and 2 lonely English speakers) HAL tour, which is fine with us.  Entering into the 240 meter long cave, Angelica, our guide, gives us an explanation of the stalagmites and stalactites that have formed inside the caves. She explains the ponds of water that pool on the top of the caves, then seep down into the limestone to drip into ‘mites and ‘tites after thousands of years.  It is beautiful and eerie down here, as we walk a little narrow path deeper and deeper into the cave system.

The caves are 4000 years old and were found about 250 years ago when slaves entered in here for shelter.  The ceilings of one of the chambers is stained black from the fires they lit to keep warm.  Before the slaves though, the indigenous tribes found the caves as evidenced by historical references (I think).  At any rate, they are old and amazing, and each chamber provides a different view into the ecosystem of limestone karsts.  After a huge chamber with natural windows (the only place we are allowed to take pictures) we visit the last chamber where there are limestone formations that look like a horse, a woman reclining and most amazing of all, a Madonna stalagmite!  It really did look exactly like a carved Madonna statue.  Amazing!

Now it is time to reverse our course, and walk back out past all the other tours to the exit, where we get to see the bats who live in the caves, all curled up on the ceiling waiting to come out at sunset.  Cool!  As we line up at the gate to wait to be released back into the open air, we chat with one of the guides there who give us suggestions on where to go and what to see on the rest of our island tour (always love local suggestions – they normally turn out to be the best).  Once we’re out, we walk through the cactus and acacia tree scrub on what is called the “Indian path” taking pictures of the interesting rock formations, the cactus growing through (literally through) a tree and a wooden sign then in the parking lot, a huge iguana wandering aimlessly around.

Back in our “wreck” we head north (or west really) to the Shete Boka park (where the guide told us to go instead of the Christoffel National Park which she said was closing anyway) where we find buses! Darn it!  None of our ship tours came here, but obviously the other ship tours did.  Bummer.  But, talking to the park admission lady, she gives us a map and tells us there are too many people here right now so we should drive out to Boka Pistol, what she says is the most beautiful part of the park, then double back to the Natural Bridge before returning to the parking lot for the cave, when all the buses are gone.  Thank you! Seriously, people are so nice on these islands, we love it!

Following her instructions we make our way through the parking lot turning right onto this little dirt track of a road (thank God we have a “rent a wreck” today!) that leads through the scrub brush and sandy hills, up and down blind ridges and finally into the parking lot for Boka Pistol where a tour jeep with about 8 people has just unloaded.  Fortunately they don’t stay long, and we have the place virtually to ourselves to marvel at the beauty and the natural force of the ocean water hitting the craggy rocks in a little cove and blowing waves thirty, forty, fifty feet in the air.  All around the cove are hoodoos of every shape and size, stretched out as far as the eye can see on the flat plain of the rocks that stretch back to the peak of Mt. Christoffel. 

A perfect place for our lunchtime picnic!  Sitting out on the wooden viewing platform, our backs to the sun, a stiff breeze keeping us cool, we enjoy our sliced meats and cheese we brought from the ship in our cool Bud Light cooler (thank you Sherwin and Joel!).  Couldn’t have picked a better place if we tried.  After a family with 2 little kids leaves, we are all alone with the sun, the sea and spray.  Lovely.

After taking pictures with our cooler to show the guys, we do our back track across the dirt trails, past gorgeous cactus reaching up to the sky, through the parking lot which has indeed emptied out, and on to the other end of the park for the natural bridge.  There are only a few people here as well, as we walk down the trail to the viewing point, past a dry ravine where people have used rocks to spell out thoughts, greetings and profess love.  The bridge is not as pronounced as the original Aruba bridge, but it still makes for a gorgeous site against the blue waters.  There is a trail that leads closer to the bridge, but we’re good with the viewpoint we have, deciding we’re ready to head on our way. 

We even skip the main parking lot and cave, figuring it can’t be any better than the caves we’ve already visited on this trip. We go further west to the other side of the island and the beach where the cave guide told us there were sea turtles, but alas, its late in the morning on a Sunday and the place is packed. We can’t even get near enough to it to see the beach and there is no where to park, so we abort that side trip and decide to head back into town and do the rest of our exploring on our feet.