Category Archives: Aruba

Visits to the island of Aruba

If it’s Tuesday, it must be Baby Beach

Southern Coast of ArubaYesterday we had explored the north side of the island, with the California Lighthouse. Today, (Tuesday) we took in the South End of the island, with the small town of San Nicolas which has an oil refinery. San Nicolas refineryI was under the impression the refinery had stopped producing in 1985, but it sure looked busy!

South coast wavesThe south coast sure takes a beating from the waves, and because of the volcanic nature of the island, the waves sculpt the earth with the constant pounding. There are rock formations, created that are almost works of art! There are a number of “bridges” around where the ocean has worn away the lower sections. One for which Aruba is/was famous for has collapsed.

GeckoMolting geckoThe undulating topography of Aruba is in stark contrast to the flatness of the Caymans. One could even say there is a mountain on this island! There are a number of cliffs where the views down into the crashing surf are quite amazing.

After chasing geckos and looking for places to shoot the surf, we took a dip in Baby Beach.

Baby BeachLotsa fish - Blue tangs etcIt’s a very busy beach, the most crowded I’ve ever seen down here! And it’s little wonder – there is a naturally protected bay, with beautiful white sand that is quite shallow. It is sandy for quite a while. As you get closer to where the ocean enters the bay, suddenly TONS of fish fill your space!

Needlefish? Maybe...The ocean rushes into the bay at the point, and comes over some very shallow areas. Stoplight parrot fishThe fish just sort of hang around the rushing water, and drift with the waves. The bad thing, is that the speed of the water stirs up the sand, and it creates a “haze” in the water that makes it tough to get a good clear shot.

We did see some cool fish – trumpetfish, houndfish, stoplight parrotfish, tons of stuff. We Fisheven saw a little trunkfish, but he took off before I could get his pic. There were a couple of houndfish, and either a needlefish or a ballyhoo.

My water baby...I’d read quite a bit about Baby beach, and people complained it was too crowded, too this or too that – take it from me – what Baby beach is, is a place to go for a cool swim, to see some cool fish, and to be with people. If you’re looking for a quiet place to get away, then this is not the beach to be!

Cool trumpetfishWe made our way back downtown and had dinner in an ultra cool restaurant called the Buccanneer. It’s made to resemble a sunken galleon in one dining room, with aquariums lining the walls. There are all sorts of cool memorabilia along the walls, too.

Buccaneer RestaurantThe other dining room is dominated by 7500 gallon tank with 3 large sea turtles! I want to swim with one of those suckers! They also had a couple of barracuda closed off from the main inhabitants of the big tank.

Definitely a nice finish to the day!

Monday in Aruba

Mall panorama, Oranjestaad, Aruba. We took it easy on Monday, taking a look around Oranjestaad, the main city on Aruba. It’s quite a neat little town, with lots of different architectural styles. The mall kind of looks like a wedding cake, done up in raspberry sherbet, with lots of levels, and layers, with little figurines and creatures everywhere!

Click on the panorama, and see a larger version of the picture – there is quite a bit of detail in it.

Iguana JoesWe had lunch at Iguana Joes, a kind of open air restaurant/bar that is very popular in these warmer climates. The food was pretty good. But it was more fun to sit on the second level and watch the traffic go by… tons of De Palm Tour buses, seemingly one for every ten people on the island!

But there are lots of horns going off, and people running yellow lights, and pretending not to see pedestrians walk across the street. There are already eighteen dead in traffic accidents here, with a population of barely 100,000, so you can imagine how poor the drivers are!

The Second poolWe checked out the local Harley dealer – only 165 a day to rent one. Gotta say, the new flat black paint job on the Harleys look terrible. The kid’s sized Harley on a rocker were cute as heck tho!

Reception and pool 1 at CPVWe stopped off at the local market and picked up some things to make for dinner. Then we came home for a swim and had dinner at Coco Locos instead!

Pete at the hot tubThere are two pools here, and two hot tubs. Each hot tub is in a Romanesque pergola, surrounded by statues like Venus on the half shell, Neptune with his trident and cherubs. It`s a very attractive complex.

Note the cruelty of my wife – dumping me on my butt in the pool…

Swimming 1

Swimming 2

Swimming 3

 

Sunday in Aruba

Aruba panoramaToday – Sunday – we spent some time in the water, and some time doing a little exploring. We headed north to the California Lighthouse, but stopped for a swim at Malmok beach. The water was good and clear today, and we saw a number of fish we had not seen in the Caymans.

The California LighthouseThe water seems a tad cooler to me, than last year in the Caymans – not that it is difficult to get in or anything – it’s still warm enough to walk right in, but I do think it’s cooler. Some of the fish seem bigger too. The ubiquitous Sergeant Major seems to be fatter here! French AngelfishMaybe more tourists feed them! hah

After about 90 minutes in the water, we headed to the California Lighthouse for a beer and a rest. The view from here is pretty good. Aruba is not as flat as the Caymans, but it’s not like it has towering peaks, either!

Caribbean reef squidAfter our rest, we headed back into the ocean at Arashi beach. It was a little rocky getting in, but man, was it worth it! We saw some Carribbean reef squid – very cool looking beasties that travel in schools of 20 or more. Big eyes and kinda alien looking. Gold spotted eelWe also saw what we initially thought was a sea snake of some sort, but turned out to be a type of eel.

French AngelfishThe coolest thing tho, was seeing some French Angelfish! In the Caymans, we bought a photo by a local favorite diver/photographer of the French Angelfish, but we never actually saw it in the water. TrumpetfishHere in Aruba, we’ve seen at least a half dozen already.

For dinner, we headed to the Amazonia Churrascaria (steakhouse). It was quite an experience. There are no All of usmenus – they start you off with a big salad bar, and some pumpkin soup. Then they give you a little wooden peg, painted red and green. Put the green side up, and you’re going to get meat! They bring around meat, meat and more meat skewered on swords – if you want some, he cuts you off some. There was steak, and porterhouse, and filet, beef roasts, pork roasts, chicken, sausages, lamb…. you name it, it was there! Quite an experience!

Pete in the water at Arashi BeachThen we came home and lounged in the swimming pool and hot tub for a while. We ended the evening listening to some karaoke in the pool bar. It was lots of fun, with some real talent there… Simon Cowell better get his butt down to Aruba!

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hey guys – thanks for the comments! We have some pics of the complex and we’ll get them online in tomorrow’s post for sure.

Aruba – One Happy Island!

We struck out for Aruba by driving across the border to Seattle and picking up a flight to JFK in New York, then on to Aruba. Peter and Pam were just a bit anxious to get going, so we got to the Seattle airport by 430, for our 11 pm flight! The flights were both long, but the second one was one of the worst flights I’ve experienced. Why some parents feel they can let their children scream and yell and misbehave so badly is beyond me.

CocosWe arrived in Aruba to find they’d just had a brief rain shower! Not a great omen! The people here are supposed to be the friendliest in the Caribbean, but they aren’t! The ladies in the car rental were rude and obnoxious. I’d suggest you don’t rent from Alamo, unless you like attitude, no smiling, and slow service.

We drove from the airport to our timeshare with no incidents – we didn’t get lost once! The architecture here is interesting, with a wide range of tastes. We’ll get some photos up of some of the strange and unusual in a few days, as we explore more by foot. It’s a larger timeshare than the one we had on the Caymans. The complex has two swimming pools, and two hot tubs, so it’s spread out over about twice as much area as the Cayman timeshare.

The timeshare itself is roomy and spacious. It has a slightly musty smell, which is a little off-putting. But this is a common problem here in Aruba, and the Caribbean in general. We’ve brought our Timmy Ho’s coffee with us, as we usually do! I’m sitting by the pool, using my wireless laptop to connect to the web and upload this update. I have to admit tho, there are TONS of mosquitoes here – we’re going to have to get some OFF right away, or Pam will be swollen and red in no time!

Pete in Coco LocosWe had a Balashi (Aruba’s locally brewed beer) or 5 in Coco Locos, the pool bar. Peter made friends with staff, quite quickly, as you can see from the pic! It restored our faith in the island’s motto – One Happy Island. Very friendly ladies for sure!

M in the occeanI wanted a quick dip in the ocean, but the ocean was not clear and I couldn’t see a thing! Note the pic of  my hand – kinda blurry huh!? Not what you expect in the Caribbean, so hopefully it was because of the rain shower stirring it up. The beach was very nice of course, with the fine white sand the Caribbean is famous for…

Not clearWe had dinner at the Sawasdee Thai restaurant. It was not good. The food was average at best, and a far cry from “Thai” food. It was basically Chinese food with spices, and poorly spiced at that. That’s a shame, because my favourite Thai restaurant in Vancouver is of course, the Sawasdee, and my fave on the Caymans was called the Sawasdee too!

Piet's BarI’m not sure what we’ll get up to today (Sunday) since Pam and Peter are still in bed, but I’m sure we’ll get some beach time, and I’d like to wander around Oranjestad and get a feel for the place and a couple pics of the architecture so you can get a sense of where we are.