Ryan and I absolutely love to go snorkeling and try to get a trip in whenever we are in an area that is known for their coral reefs, shipwrecks, or tropical fish. Aruba has ALL THREE so we definitely could not pass up the chance to partner with Sailaway Tour on their four hour morning snorkeling trip. We arrived at MooMba Beach at the base of Hadicurari Pier around 9AM for our 9:30AM tour and were immediately greeted by one of the tour guides who took us to the tender that would lead us to Lady Black, the 33 meter ship that would be our home for the day (which was very spacious, family-friendly, and much less crowded than the other tours we passed by on our journey!).
The ship was beautiful, with nets suspended over the water to lounge on, a large cushioned sunning deck, an open bar, and (OUR FAVORITE PART) their famous rope swing. The captain, Tito, pointed out all of the sites along the Palm Beach Coast - exquisite sandy beaches and the famous California Lighthouse to name a few - while we sailed to our first stop on the northwestern tip of Aruba, Boca Catalina.
The water was rather shallow (maybe six or so feet deep) at Boca Catalina so we were able to see a ton of coral and colorful fish. They let us jump from the top of the ship with all of our gear on ... and you all know how Ryan loves to jump off high things into the water HAHA ... so we were both super thrilled. While we snorkeled Tito let us know some of the history of the area. We admired the coral patches, French angelfish, Barracudas and schools of French grunt.
Next, we headed to the SS Antilla shipwreck, a German freighter from the WWII era. When the ship got caught in Dutch waters the Germans began to scuttle Antilla, and the crew set fire to several parts of the ship leading it to sink. Antilla is one of the Caribbean’s largest shipwrecks and is now home to beautiful coral, tube sponges and a ton of fish species including blue tang. The water was pretty choppy and about seventy feet deep here but that definitely didn’t stop us from exploring the entirety of the wreck. Ryan dove as deep as he could to touch the ship and even tried to swim through one of the windows! Of course I tried to follow and probably got only about ten feet down before my ears started popping like crazy! You’d think he was born a fish the way he is so comfortable in the water! (Head over to the @tourwifetourlife Instagram page to see some pretty cool videos from our dive!)
Our last stop was Malmok Beach. It was here that we were FINALLY able to use the rope swing since it wasn’t too shallow or too deep and the waters were perfectly calm and a crystal clear, bright blue hue. One of the first mates on the boat, Juan Carlos, volunteered to carry me on his back as he grabbed the rope swing and launched us both into a full back flip (You can also check out this video at the @tourwifetourlife Instagram page! I have to admit it was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done! We all spent some time jumping and flipping off the swing and relaxing in the sun before Tito announced that lunch was ready!
The food was absolutely delicious! We had rice and vegetables, fresh fish, chicken and a cucumber and tomato salad. Shortly after, as we lounged on the nets and soaked in the sun, we were served a delicious coconut dessert and some fresh fruit kabobs.
I truly cannot describe what an amazing time we had. Not only were all of the sites that we visited breathtaking, but also the crew made us feel so welcome and really made sure we had a wonderful time. They even played some Twiddle on the boat and got everyone dancing!!!! You really have to visit Aruba so that you can find out for yourselves - PLUS you can use the code ALEXANDRA20 when booking to get 20% off your excursion! I promise you will have an amazing experience with Sailaway Tour!
xoxo. Alexandra
This post is sponsored by Sailaway Tour.
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