Armed Invasion

Friday 13th August – Sunday 16th August
We spent Edi’s last vacation day’s visiting the island, sunbathing, swimming, working out at the gym and just enjoying everything Aruba had to offer. After we dropped Edi off at the airport we left the harbor and sailed around the island to snorkel off shore. The sea breeze was so nice we decided to stay overnight on our anchorage.
Blissfully enjoying a peaceful sleep I was startled suddenly by blinding light, it streamed through the bedroom portholes, I thought the aliens had landed, I screamed, “Bob”, and he jumped up disorientated and confused. The blinding light continued to focus on us as I grabbed the sheets to cover myself and Bob jumped out of bed and ran up on deck. By now I could hear the low rumble of boat engines. My next rather more rational, but none less scary thought was “Pirates”. Then I heard voices, “OH God” they’re going to rob and murder us, I thought! My mind raced back to the books I had read on piracy on the high seas. The light had now moved away from the bedroom and I could see the boat alongside us. Peering through the porthole I could make out about five men aboard, they were armed! At this point I almost fainted, I could hear voices, they were talking to Bob. It took a while for my eyes to adjust from the blinding light, and my little brain to control the panic and decide upon the best course of action. The conversation on deck continued, but I couldn’t work out what was being said, then I heard the boat engines rev up and take off, leaving us bouncing around in their wake. Bob came back to the bedroom to announce “Coast Guard”. I looked at the clock it said 2:30am. “What the hell”! I yelled. “It’s 2:30 in the bloody morning”! I was not amused; they had scared the living daylights out of me.
“They were just checking on what we’re doing out here, we’re anchored about a mile off shore, it probably does look suspicious”. Bob said shrugging his shoulders, as if it was no big deal. But I was furious, I couldn’t see why they couldn’t have checked on us during daylight, or at least a civilized hour, and I was still fuming about them shining that spotlight through our bedroom window.
Apparently the Coast Guard around Aruba is very strict, and especially vigilant about keeping drugs off the island. Thankfully Julie and Danni had slept through the visit, I think they would have been scared to death too had they seen five armed men alongside in the middle of the night.