November 4th – Aruba

While Curacao's busy capital Willemstad had a lively feel to it yesterday, Aruba's capital Oranjestad felt utterly soporific on a boiling Sunday at the start of their holiday season. Fortunately, (seeing as all the shops were shut), we weren't after the duty free shopping that the place is famous, because we were going snorkelling.

We caught one of the local buses to the north of the island, passing lots of large resorts along the way, to the undeveloped white sands of Malmok beach. We set up camp under the shade of a straw shelter, and ventured into the warm waters. It was a little rough (because of Hurricane Sandy) but the sealife on view was wonderful – loads of colourful fish of all shapes and sizes.

A really enjoyable day that proved you don't have to spend lots of money to enjoy yourself and that Aruba doesn't all have to be about shopping and upscale resorts.