Aruba

Our first port of call: Aruba! Statistics: at the dock at 7am, temperature about 80 degrees, no breeze, beautiful turquoise blue water, white sandy beaches......what we called paradise!
We were escorted into port by pilot boats. The pilot boat carries a pilot who takes command of the ship and directs it into the dock. We were awake and on our balcony to watch the transfer of the pilot. Luckily they entered the boat from our side (port side).
Our first look at land....6:30am. The sun was just starting to rise, much later than at home.
The houses and businesses in the area are very colorful. We took this picture from our balcony. It gave us a good perspective of how high above the water we were on the ship.
These birds kept us entertained as we were coming into and out of Aruba. They kept diving towards the water......
getting closer......
splash down! Not sure what they were finding to eat but they entertained us!
Lizards were everywhere and they didn't seem to be too bothered by people. They scurried away when they thought we were too close, but otherwise posed nicely.
One of the many tropical flowers. All of them were colorful; hibiscus were the most prevalent and colorful.