Boca Prins

We could not resist stopping at the Boca Prins sand dunes. After climbing the dunes, we had a beautiful view down to the ocean where the vegetation changed yet again. 

My husband at the top of the dune provides a sense of how large they are.

Plants with leaves that reminded me of Florida seagrapes (Cocoloba uvifera) outlined the crests of the dunes.

Seagrape and other green vegetation along the Rooi Tambu near Dos Playa.

A bit further down the road, a left turn marked the way to the Boca Prins Beach. As this road looked a bit rough, we opted to park and walk to the nearby stairway down to the beach.

Steps down to Boca Prins beach.

What a beautiful cove!  The limestone cliffs on either side made for a secluded white sand beach with a beautiful view of whitecaps rolling in against the teal blue sea.

View from cave-like overhang at Boca Prins Beach.

The sandstone on one side was undercut to form a shaded hollow with a log bench. Someone had made a fire pit in this area. 

Interestingly, what we thought was more ground cover up above appeared to be the top of a tree embedded into the side of the cliff. Are the trees literally holding up parts of the dune?

This cutaway view shows the seagrape tree trunk that supports all the leaves on top.

While the east coast beaches of Aruba are for the most part too rough for swimming, they are truly beautiful and wild.

Fontein Cave

Once all the people cleared out of the packed Fontein Cave, we were able to enjoy its beauty. The smooth region of ceiling in the entry area was covered by white scratched graffiti.

There is a little trail lined by small rocks that you can follow past the columns into the depths of the cave. 

We were fascinated by the beautiful colors inside. 

Apparently the green color comes from cyanobacteria, which thrive in dimly lit, moist environments. 

We all stopped to take photos of this buffalo shaped rock formation.

At the end of the figure 8 trail, there was another room that was fenced off. We tried to peer through the fence thinking it might be the area with the red Arawak cave art that we had read about.

As we were about to exit the cave, we finally noticed a geometric design painted with red paint. Sadly, it was so covered with later day scratched graffiti that we had not noticed it earlier.

Red Arikok artwork mostly obscured by overlying graffiti.

The paint was carbon dated to A.D. 1000, and most likely represent Early Ceramic period work. Evidently, there are better preserved areas of art elsewhere in the cave,  but we did not really look at the ceiling until we were almost out of the cave.

As we left Fontein Cave, we passed a set of ruined buildings that we had seen from the View Point.

We noticed a hand painted For Sale sign.

This was once the plantation house of a Swedish mining engineer Paulus Prinz. He grew coconuts and fruit trees at Prins Plantation, but things fell into disrepair after the coconut palms died of disease.

Quadirikiri Cave

A dramatic set of large rock formations can be seen while driving down to Quadirikiri cave.

 

There is a set of pretty steep steps leading up to the entrance of this cave.

The cave is nearly 500 feet long, and features an antechamber from which you can see another chamber lit up with sunlight. 

There was a pillar lying on its side that reminded me of a huge bone. The ranger inside the cave told us that it had been pushed over in an act of vandalism. What a shame.

It takes so many years for this slowly dripping, mineral-laden water to form stalagtites that stretch downward to meet the stalagmites forming at the bottom.

Drips of water quivering at the end of tiny stalagtites.

Past this chamber, there was another chamber, again with sunlight entering through a hole in the ceiling. These caves reminded us of cenotes that we had snorkeled through at Xcaret near Cancun, except that there was no water.

The ranger showed us a formation that was shaped like an Indian head. When he asked if we saw the head, I had initially seen a face formed by different colors on the wall behind.

As we were talking to him, we saw two bats fly across the chamber, probably exiting from a small dark hole in the back, which was gated off.

The bats that live in these caves exit at night through the holes in the ceiling of the chamber. Although most websites list the southern long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris curasoae) as living in this cave, it comprises less than 1% of the Quadirikiri bats. According to this study, the most common bat caught in Quadirikiri cave was the insect-eating ghost-faced bat (Mormoops megalophylla), with Miller's long-tongued bat (Glossophaga longirostris) coming in a distant second. Both long-nosed and long-tongued bats feed on cactus nectar, serving to pollinate forests of tall columnar cactus. 

Outside the cave, we enjoyed climbing up to the top of a rock lookout with great views.

As I was coming down, I spotted a bright aqua-blue lizard. This is the male cododo/kododo or Aruban whiptail lizard (Cnemidophorus arubensis).

Other brown lizards with a similar shape could be seen, sporting a row of bright aqua-blue spots. It turns out that these are the females.

 

Vader Piet Wind Farm

This area is named after Pieter Lampe, who was known as Vader (Father) Piet, who had a farm in the area. Now it houses a row of ten windmills that can be seen for miles away. 

These windmills generate 15% of Aruba's electrical demand.

While we were driving out, we saw workers dangling high above the ground.

One of the doors at the base of the windmill was open, and you can see a ladder extending upwards.   

Kamini's Kitchen

When we exited the park, we found ourselves back at the Red Anchor. Kamini's Kitchen is another local flavors restaurant, which had been closed when we were exploring south Aruba.

So we decided to stop here for lunch.  The fish and chips were good, but not as good as O'Niel's. The Trini style curry shrimp was very flavorful, but a bit too salty.  I wished I had stuck with the rice, as the bami noodles, a $4 upgrade, was both tasteless and failed to absorb the curry sauce.

We had originally planned to drive up to Daimari Beach after lunch to hike to Conchi (Turtle Pond) pool, which is only accessible otherwise using a 4x4 jeep. From the Park entrance, it would be a 7-mile round trip hike, but according to All Trails, if you park near Daimari Beach outside the park, it is only a 2.5 mile round trip. 

To our surprise, the navigator indicated that it would take us 2 h to drive to Daimari from Kamini's. As we were feeling quite satisfied with our cave explorations, we decided to return to Serene for a few hours of kayaking, snorkeling and relaxation before getting ready for our dinner reservation at Madame Jeanette.  

Madame Janette

Our friends had received two tips from people that knew Aruba well.  Rent a 4x4 and make reservations to eat at Madame Janette. Both excellent tips. Although we did not follow both of them, next time we would rent a jeep for at least part of the trip.

The restaurant Madame Janette is named after the very same Madame Jeanette chili pepper featured in the Hot Delight hot sauces: Papaya for the milder version and Madame for the hotter version. This is a South American cultivar of Capsicum chinense (Scoville heat scale of 125K-325K), with a bright yellow color and citrusy-tropical flavor. 

It turns out that Madame Janette is quite close to Aqua Windies, a dive shop that rents out flippers for just $9 per day (24 h). As we did not need to rent masks and snorkels, we were happy to be able to rent just the flippers in preparation for our big snorkeling day. 

 

So we got to Madame Janette a bit early as Aqua Windies closes at 5 pm. We relaxed in the courtyard with colorful benches and another "We ❤️ Aruba" photo-op.

The walls and courtyard were adorned with paintings and sculptural artwork.

We were seated in a lovely, open air patio, with fantastic service, amazing drinks and truly delicious food. While we had read that the servings were large and considered sharing entrées (for a $12 fee that includes a second serving of the side dish), I am glad we ended up ordering our own plates as mine was so delicious I ate it all up!

We started our meal with drinks, and discovered the best tasting sipping rum I have had. Through trial and error, we concluded that the aged Papiamento Rum should be enjoyed neat as even brief contact with a large single ice cube that was removed once delivered significantly reduced enjoyment of this rum. 

I greatly enjoyed my mangojito, although my husband wished he had ordered the Painkiller instead of the Beast of Bourbon. 

And our friend liked her lychee martini.

The complimentary rolls were warm, buttery and soft. They were served with a red pepper butter and a flavorful, but mild chili-garlic oil.

For entrées, I was torn between the sea bass and the almond crusted grouper. This latter dish has been a patron favorite for the past 26 years, and features a huge grouper filet crusted in sliced almonds. I got a taste, and the creamed spinach that it is served with was exceptional and I almost considered ordering an extra side.

But I am really glad I ordered "MJ's Asian Soy Honey glazed Sea Bass Fillet."  This delectable tender, flaky fish was served over wasabi mashed potatoes with soy sauce vegetables, all drizzled with a ginger beurre blanc. It was a large portion and absolutely delicious, but somehow relatively light as there was more fish than mashed potatoes. 

My husband was intrigued by the Creamy Lobster Raviolis, which actually was an appetizer feature two huge ravioli.  However, they allowed him to order it as an entrée with five large ravioli. These ravioli were stuffed with rock lobster, spinach, mushrooms, onions, basil, fresh Parmesan and ricotta cheeses. The Lobster Cognac sauce was rich and amazing, and the whole concoction was garnished with pine nuts, aged balsamic de Modena vinegar and Parmigiano Reggiano.  I asked for more than one taste, it was so good. But it was very rich and he thought he would have felt better that night if he had eaten just 2 instead of 5 ravioli! 

The desserts were huge as well. Two of us ordered Janette's Coconut Cake. It was the house-made Pineapple Marmalade layer that sold me. And it was truly delicious served with strawberry ice cream. We both enjoyed the leftovers at breakfast later that week.

 My husband got the swiss chocolate souffle with an unusual pumpkin seed gelato. These were good but not outstanding, but our friend reported that the Tres Leches cake was delicious.

Overall, this was an impeccable dining experience, and I highly recommend a special evening out at Madame Janette.