20220908 Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas ABC cruise - Day 6 of 8 - Oranjestad, Aruba - drunk butterflies, but the internet still sucks

Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas ABC cruise - Day 6 of 8

Oranjestad, Aruba

The internet woes continue and the internet guru on the ship says that it is what it is.  Wow.  Yet, that doesn't prevent RCCL from selling "the fastest internet at sea" at premium pricing.  I will be having a detailed conversation with Royal upon our return home. I fought for two hours to get photos to load.

 

We docked bright and early in Oranjestad, Aruba's capital city.

Our excursion this morning left early at 8:45AM.  It was a combo experience with a visit to a butterfly farm, the remains of Aruba's natural bridge, and some free time at Eagle Beach.

The Butterfly farm is a conservation program that breeds butterflies and supports the butterfly ecosystem.  There were tons of butterflies flitting about.  It was very cool to walk around as they flew all around us.

In nature, the butterflies are attracted to fermenting fruit, so the farm has plenty for them to enjoy.  They actually get a liile tipsy and that figures into the mating process.  I guess it helps the ugly butterflies.

We saw catepillars as well as recently emerged butterflies.

And, here are some random photos of the other amazing butterflies that were all around us.

After the farm, we made an unscheduled stop at a neat rock formation.  We also got a peak inside a small cave where indigenous people created cave markings hundreds of years ago.

We then arrived at what remains of Aruba's famed natural bridge.  Unfortunately, it collapsed several years ago, leaving only the smaller "son of a bridge".

All around the area, folks have created small rock towers.  It is very interesting to look at.

I made this beauty

When the waves crashed in, this blowhole fired mist way up in the air

Our final stop was Eagle Beach were we just did a little swimming.  We tried snorkeling but there was nothing to see.

After getting back to the ship, we went into town to do a little shopping to support the local economy.  We spotted these two walking around the sidewalks.

We won another trivia tonight with our partners. Then, we had dinner in the main dining room tonight.  So far, we haven't been too impressed with the food on this cruise.  It's not bad, but it's also not great.  Arlona had the Steak Diane tonight and had to remove about 20% of it as she couldn't chew through it.  Tomorrow is lobster night so we're hoping it is better.

This guy was waiting for us in our room tonight.

So today was another good day. It was a long battle but I finally got the photos to load.  I]m going to try updating yesterday's blog now.  We shall see...

Next up are two sea days.  We plan on relaxing and winning some trivia. :-)