Yesterday I had a new very informative experience during the walk to Conchi (Natural Pool) and Daimiri (Bay).
I often walk in the afternoon, because I have little trouble with sun and heat and the time in the afternoon often suits me better. Yesterday I started my hike at a quarter to three. The planned route was 7.5km long with a maximum height of 98m. A route along sand dunes, the Natural Pool and two bays, Boca Keto and Daimari. This route has less impressive rock formations. It turned out that there were many slopes in the route, which made it more tiring than I expected.
At the Natural Pool it was quite busy with tourists. The water was calm, partly due to the changed wind direction of these days. Apart from that I didn't meet anyone on my route.
The learning experience came towards the end. I was only 300m from the connection to the path back to the car, but got completely stuck in the dense vegetation. There was no path to be found where the path should have been.
Believing that it would beonly a small blockage of plants that had overgrown the path, I made an attempt to continue, but that turned out to be in vain. Dense vegetation including tall Bringamosa plants (nettle plant) and Wabi made the passage impossible. After trying an alternative route through a small dry riverbed, where I got stuck again on dense vegetation, I decided to turn around and walk back. This made my route 11.5 km long and that took 3 hours in total.
And therein lies the learning experience. If you are going to hike in the afternoon and you have not done the route before, plan enough time to walk the route twice if necessary if it turns out that you cannot continue close to the end point. I do have a flashlight with me, but I didn't feel like being on the road after sunset. So I increased my pace. I warned my wife via Whatsapp that I would be home later. Through the live tracking function of my hiking app she could see where I was at any time, so once I got home after six, she was waiting for me outside the apartment with a glass of water. And that was exactly what I needed because my own water supply was all gone.
So take unforeseen circumstances into account, especially for afternoon walks and an unfamiliar route.
The track of my hike; at a certain point I couldn't continue and I had to go back
Buggies are not allowed in this area
Confusing; this is not a Divi divi
The Watakeli full with blossom
The Lantana has small grapes; poisonous!!
The landscape
I am nearing the dunes; very special
An unexpected landscape, dunes in Aruba
Dunes in Aruba
The vegetation tries to keep the sand in place
Rocks in the dunes
Boca Keto
You cannot see Curacao; apparently there is a lot of rain over Curaçao
Conchi, the Natural Pool, full with tourists
Conchi
This car didn't make it
A Kadaster measuring point near Daimiri
No recognisable identification on the measuring point
Daimiri
Also here I walk through a big rooi (dry river bed)
A flatter part of the roi; soon I couldn't go any further
