Aruba: Kayak and Snorkel Tour and Madame Janette

We had a kayak tour booked for an early morning pick up around 8:30am. We decided to go grab breakfast at Eduardo's beach shack again for a healthy morning booster...and I had to have the acai bowl again. Too delicious, and you feel good about eating it after too. Win win!

Nothing like a delicious acai bowl to kick start a day on vacation :)

We were picked up from our hotel and taken to the beginning of our kayak tour in Savaneta. We opted for the kayak tour to Mangel Halto Reef through the Spanish Lagoon. Erica and Betty kayaked in tandem while Eunice and I kayaked in singles as they ran our of tandem kayaks. It was not easy kayaking for 30-45mins straight in a single kayak! Of course I barely paid attention to the kayak instructions because I have kayaked many times before, and ended up flipping over when I caught a wave! I panicked again just thinking about how I am going to be able to flip my kayak back over AND pull myself back up on the kayak. As I had struggled to try to flip my kayak over, one of the guides told me the water was really shallow there and I can just stand up. I felt pretty embarrassed when I realized that I was panicking for no reason, as it made it much easier to flip the kayak over and get back on when I had the leverage of standing up and kicking off the ground. The kayak was not easy, nor was it very difficult, but it was definitely a good workout. The water could not be more clear, and it was so nice and peaceful to kayak along the coast. There were small caves along the coast and the water was more calm and shallow near the coast, but once you venture off a little too far away from the coast, the water was noticeably more choppier. We tried to stay as close to the coast as possible. 

Just before I flipped over...

In the water I go.... :(

Battle wounds from kayaking - Cut my ankle up when I fell off...

We arrived at the Mangel Halto beach where we took a break and picked up our snorkel gear. Once we arrived, we noticed the beautiful coastal mangroves surrounding the beach. The water here was much more calm than that of the water we kayaked through. The group was rather large so we were split into 2 groups for snorkeling at the reef. We were the second group, so we had some time to check out the area while the first group swam out into the reef (it was quite far out!).

One of our guides, Danny was nice enough to show us where the beach was it was so shallow! It was very rocky so you definitely needed water shoes to be able to walk around the beach. I was the only one who had water shoes so I walked all the way out and the water was still only a few inches deep.

It took the first tour group a while to return (I guess because the reef is quite far out) so we had a lot of time just to hang around. Danny gave me his set of snorkel gear and I swam around the mangroves while waiting for our snorkel tour to start.

Mangrove forests

Our parked kayaks

Cute baby carrying his boogie board

The water is so shallow at the Mangel Halto beach - perfect for little kids

Look how far you can go and the water only hits your ankles

Floating around in 5 inch deep water lol

My sis's tat

So many little fish

The swim out to the reef was not easy! The water was very choppy and we were warned that there are many corals that we should be careful not to brush against. This was challenging as the water was pushing you around and the water was relatively shallow so it was a challenge dodging some marine life. This was honestly the best snorkeling experience ever. The reef was so abundant of sea life. There were so many different kinds of fish and corals. Pictures really can't do it justice. There were fish of every color and it was absolutely beautiful... 

Betty and I held hands throughout the snorkel tour - it helped because we stabled each other in the choppy waters

Look at the reef!

LOL I look ridiculous here but hey, I'm holding a starfish. It was so ticklish! 

My eyes look ridiculous here lol

Kayaking back - all we could think about was our lunch! Cheeseburgers!!!

We were definitely ready for lunch after a morning and afternoon workout of kayaking, swimming, and snorkeling! We were driven to have Balashi Bier Gardens where we enjoyed local beers and lunch. We were so hungry that everything tasted delicious, but the food really was just mediocre at best. After lunch, we were driven back to our hotel around 3pm. We still had the rest of the afternoon to enjoy. We decided to hang out poolside again in the adult pool at our hotel. I took a nice nap and woke up when it got so windy that my umbrella fell over! One thing to note is that Aruba is very windy!

Enjoying lunch at Balashi Bier Gardens

Hanging out with iguanas poolside at the hotel

Hello there

Iguana party

A cool little guy with crazy colors

We met a cool guy at the pool and he had wanted to meet up with us that night. The good thing about Aruba is that most guys don't give off a creepy vibe. We had dinner plans at Madame Janette near Eagle Beach that evening - it was one of the most popular restaurants on TripAdvisor and rightfully so. It was definitely one of the best meals we had in Aruba. Most restaurants we went to up to this point was not necessarily operating at full capacity. Madame Janette however was pretty much completely full - and this was a Tuesday night! We realized quickly that this was where the party was at! Haha

Steak salad - was so tasty

Betty's chicken cutlet pasta

My sea bass and salad entree - so good and guilt free

Group shot at Madame Janette's

We took a cab back to the hotel after dinner and ended up bumping into the taxi driver who picked us up from the airport. Seriously, what a small island!! LOL. We contemplated whether we wanted to go out to Moomba that night, but everyone pretty much passed out in bed as soon as we got back. #grannies