Indeed it is
Sorry - things started getting busy and then everything went crazy. Did you manage to take your trip?
Nice Pics!
Exploring the rugged side of the island is probably my favorite thing I've done in Aruba. I have done it 3x now. I've done it once on an ATV with my wife on the back and 2x on an ATV by myself. It's so much better with one person on the ATV, the weight distribution is just so different and better. I feel like I'm pretty experienced going to the natural pool on that path and I can fly my way there on that rugged terrain. And you are right about the jeeps - that looks like such an awful experience, going all slow bouncing around looking like you will get whiplash. My wife rented a UTV one time I was on the ATV and she liked that a lot more than an ATV because it was more "car" like and she felt safer. Me though, I'd always do an ATV.
I've never seen the Natural Pool that crowded in all the 4 times I've been there. I have been there before when a tour comes, it gets crowded for like 15 minutes, but then they all roll out and it's back to normal. A couple of times I've been there we were the only ones there. Based on your comment I'm guessing you rented the UTV on your own versus going with a tour?
I ended up going to St. Thomas and got back this past Monday. I went to work Tuesday then Tuesday night got an email that if you were out of the CONUS in the past 14 days you can't go on site for 14 days. So now I'm at home...
St. Thomas was cool. Way different than anywhere I've been just due to the terrain. It is super hilly. At first I did not really like it, but once I got used to it and started using the lower gear settings in the automatic car to climb hills, it got better. It still has stuff not recovered from Irma and I'm guessing some buildings will just never be repaired. It's also a shame how run down parts of it are because it could look so much nicer One of the best beaches there, Sapphire beach, when you drive down to get to it, there are these 2 run down tennis courts that just look so crappy. But I mean that is kind of how many of these Caribbean islands are in parts, just not usually right near some of the nicer parts.
The one thing that I really disliked about St. Thomas are the cruisers. They make places so much more crowded than I like places. The only good thing is that it lasts for like 5 hours so before and after it's the way I like it. But when we went to Magen's Bay, it felt like I was in a crowded beach in the states. I'm more used to going to non-resort beaches on islands and seeing just a couple people close by.
We took a day trip to St. John and that was a really awesome experience. You can take your car there on a barge so we got to the barge at like 8:27am, then the barge left at 8:30am and we were driving around St. Thomas by 9am. The beaches there are noticeably nicer than St. Thomas and they are way less crowded. If I went back I'd probably split my time between both islands 50/50.