Aruba.

Aruba

Dutch Caribbean

‘One Happy Island’

So, after a long three years we recently managed to finally leave these cold and rainy shores behind us for a few days to grab a very much needed holiday in the Caribbean island of Aruba!

Neither of us had been to the Caribbean before so it really was quite an adventure. We weren’t quite sure how it would work out (there is a reason we go to Vegas all the time and it’s not just the gambling) but it was just wonderful.

Aruba markets itself as ‘One Happy Island’ and within a day or two of arriving we could see why. Everyone is just so friendly. Whilst it took us both a couple of days to get onto ‘Island Time’ we quickly adjusted and had the most relaxing week we have had in years. It was perfect.

The weather was a little cloudy, but that was ok… I still got a bit of a tan (now slightly less pasty)… and the wind… well, it is windy… very windy. But that was ok to as it made the wonderful 31 degree temp (every day,…31) comfortable.

Whilst the main purpose of our trip was to try and put the last 2 years or so behind us, I did of course take a few photos whilst there. I mainly used my trusty little Fuji x100t but I also took my Yashica Mat 124G as well and ran a couple of rolls of Portra 160 through it. Hadn’t actually used the camera before so it was a bit of a baptism of fire but the images worked out better that I could of hoped (love that medium format film look).

Massive thanks must go to the Tui flight crew who were awesome there and back (they get a lot of grief but for us they were wonderful), the staff at the Tamarijn Aruba Resort, the bar staff at the Bugaloe beach bar for making a mean Mai Tai and to the folks on holiday from Joes Place in New Jersey for making our time around the pool so amusing!

Will we be back?

Absolutely.

The next few shots were taken on my Yashica Mat 124G. I’d never used a TLR camera before and had no idea how accurate the metering system etc. was so with that in mind, really pleased with these!

And back to boring digital……

Images © John Colson.