Charlie’s in Panorama

Still messing about with that panorama function on the new camera. I arrived in Aruba at 1:40 and at Charlie’s Bar at 1:57. Good timing. I took out the little Sony digital device and snapped a pan before the imbibing commenced. That’s my friend and bartender, Cor, in the center of the photo. You have to click on the photo to open it in another window that will show you the entire span.

Things got a little blurry in the middle. Not the fault of the camera. That was me trying to take the picture and tilt the glass at the same time. Either way, came out quite nice. I’ll be shooting lots of these panoramas in Aruba over the next several weeks. I want to document some locations. Many things have changed on the island since I started coming here about 16 years ago. It’s nice to have a record of what was.

Bon dia.

Published in: on November 4, 2010 at 9:37 am  Comments (1)  
Tags: , , , , , , ,

New Meets Old in Aruba

I went for an early morning bike ride. Usually I roll around the northwest part of the island. This time I went south, parking at the entrance to the former Lago Colony then rode east around the edge of the island. Doubling back, I came across the entrance to the old Aruba Golf Club. In the background tower the new windmills. Take a look:

The photo above gives you an idea just how big those windmills are. At the same time, the Aruba Golf Club is looking rather sad. Time marches on is the old cliche.

Bon dia and Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Published in: on November 26, 2009 at 3:37 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Druif Beach, Aruba

Druif Beach is a swath of sand located near the Tamarijn Resort in Aruba. It’s not the largest beach on the island, but it certainly is quite nice. Here’s a photo, looking north west.

beach_tamThere’s plenty of room there to stretch out and soak up the sun. This season there were few crowds here. It was slightly crowded a few Sunday afternoons, but nothing to complain about. Of course the adjacent Caribbean is balmy and inviting, one more reason Aruba is such a popular vacation destination.

Bon dia from Aruba.

Published in: on March 13, 2009 at 11:14 am  Leave a Comment  
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

One Happy Pickup!

Aruba’s slogan is “One Happy Island,” and it fits. Living here, like living anywhere else, requires a pickup truck for reasons I explained in an earlier post. Well, after years of fooling around with the idea, I finally sent my pickup from the United States to Aruba. I’m one happy pickup driver now that is has arrived and is rolling around the island. I put together this video, just for fun, showing various island sights as well as my favorite ride, a Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD, diesel, 4WD. Take a look.

There you have it, bouncing around the island for work and play. Getting work done around the house will be much easier. I can put an entire pallet of concrete blocks, or of bagged cement, or of lumber in the back. This will save me the delivery charges. Plus, I have enough room to take my wife and three other people on a tour of Aruba. Believe it or not, at the low speeds here in Aruba, this truck gets better than 20 miles to the gallon. That’s quite good considering the power, weight, and capability of the vehicle.

Of course, here’s the bad news. This morning, a damn fool RAN a stop sign and CRASHED into the back of my truck. It doesn’t look so bad from the outside, but underneath, there is a world of damage. So disregard the above mentioned kind thoughts. If you’re so STUPID to IGNORE a STOP SIGN, be glad you’re alive and be glad the guy you hit in the aforementioned truck is one mellow dude. Yeah, he’s happy he and his wife are not hurt. But he sure is pissed off that you smashed his truck to the tune of more than $15,000 worth of damage and counting, (not to mention more than three months getting it fixed here in Aruba) all because you were a DAMN FOOL and disregarded a stop sign. Have a nice day.

Hey, drive your own road and do it safely.

Published in: on November 26, 2008 at 9:22 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,