For the AquaVentures group, we used WhatsApp so everyone could stay in touch while we were vacationing together. They started using it at the beginning of January, and once we actually arrived it got pretty active! The divers would share pictures and videos from underwater. This morning I was surprised when Noel, our group leader, posted a photo of a Dutch Naval cruiser on patrol just off the coast where we’re staying.
Since yoga had been so good yesterday, I figured, why not do it again this morning? This time I even got there early. It was the same instructor and another 30‑minute class, but it felt totally different from the previous day—and again, it was a really good 30‑minute yoga flow. After class I went to breakfast and spent the rest of the morning finishing my book. It was pretty funny because I was so absorbed in my reading in the World Market (the breakfast buffet area) that one of the wait staff had to speak to me three times before I finally looked up.
For dinner that evening, the plan was for all of us to eat together at Scampi’s, a restaurant right on the water in downtown Punda, and then go to Punda Vibes, a weekly celebration. Jim and I decided to lay low in the room for the early afternoon, staying out of the sun and resting up for dinner.
We headed downtown early to be sure we could catch the bus and make it to our 5 p.m. dinner reservation. Once we got there, we decided to wander a bit farther from the main downtown area and crossed the waterway. The neighborhood on the other side was more industrial and a little sketchy, but it was still amazingly colorful.
Jim shot this panorama of a building with all the colors, really cool!
As we walked back across the waterway toward the ocean, we ran into some of our group who were heading into town. We all made our way to the waterfront together. The ambiance at Scampi’s was lovely, and it was so much fun to hang out with everyone. I had a beautiful grilled shrimp dinner, and everything about the setting felt just right.
But with such a big group, it took forever for everyone to get their food, settle the checks, and finally pay. We never ended up seeing any of Punda Vibes because everyone was anxious about making it to the bus stop in time for the last bus at 8 p.m. We basically had to run to the stop, and once we got there, no one was quite sure which bus we were supposed to take. A bus finally pulled up, but the driver told us it wasn’t the right one and that we needed to wait for the next. When the next bus arrived, its sign showed a different destination, but after a few minutes the display changed to our route—and it turned out to be our bus after all.