With turkey day and jingling bells just around the corner and fall bestowing its icy chill, a visit to the warm, tropical Caribbean seemed to be just what the doctor ordered. Mother-daughter trip to the rescue! My mom and I haven’t had a vacation like this since I was married, which we’ll just say has been more than a few years. The island was beautiful and offered a much needed, relaxing break from reality.
Aruba is a small, tropical island in the Caribbean just north of Venezuela. It is warm and humid, which is great for the skin and lungs, but a bit of a shock to the senses for someone coming from a climate with cold, dry air that more closely resembles Siberia than the tropics. Luckily, I adapted quickly and enjoyed a healthy complexion and happy breathing for the week.
The beaches in Aruba are stunningly beautiful. The fine white sand turns the deep blue Caribbean waters into a bright turquoise ring with crystal clear waters that do nothing to hide the sea floor. The sun is hot and the water is just cool enough to take the edge off of the heat. The shores on the west are sandy, calm, and inviting. The shores of the east threaten harsh waves and rocky shores, reminding you that the ocean is not always kind.
All of Aruba’s best beaches are along the western shores. There are a few on the eastern shore, but they come with a lot of wind and harsh waves. It’s not a place for swimming, with one notable exception that I’ll leave for later. The western shores have calm water and gently sloping sands making it perfect for swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving. Not surprisingly, all of the resorts are along the western shores, many of which are right on the beach. The east is open spaces, dirt roads, and natural vegetation.
“Hello family!” That’s how we’d start the day when we’d visit our new friend, Jeff, for a delicious (and very reasonably priced) breakfast at the Mimosa restaurant near Palm Beach. The people in Aruba have that welcoming hospitality thing down. They are very gracious hosts. We even ran into Jeff around the beach and were greeted with a big smile and a continuation of the previous conversation we had with him. The resort staff and tour guides did not disappoint us, either. They all went out of their way to make us feel welcome. It was like visiting loving family that wanted nothing more than to make us feel at home.
One of our other favorite spots to eat was at the Bugaloe on Palm Beach. The Bugaloe is a bar & grill restaurant on a pier with outdoor dining, music (live music on the weekend) and an overall fun, relaxed atmosphere. If you visit, you have to try the Grouper Ceviche or the Steak & Cheese Wraps. You won’t be disappointed. The Bugaloe is not the only restaurant on a pier along the beaches, but it was definitely our favorite. It even had a little gelato place, called Gelatissimo if you want a sweet treat to cool you off.
There are a number of tours and cruises that you can take in Aruba, both in the ocean or on land. Ocean tours include snorkeling, scuba diving, Snuba, helmet walks, dinner cruises, deep sea fishing, parasailing, windsurfing, kayaking, water-skiing, jet-skiing, and more. The off-road tours include horse-back riding, jeep safaris, atv/utv tours, and range rover tours. We opted for a morning snorkeling tour and all-day, coast-to-coast land tour.
I have been snorkeling before, once on the Great Barrier Reef, and a few times in Hawaii. This was a different experience than either of those areas. The first difference was the crew on the catamaran. They were such an energetic and welcoming crew that you felt like you were at a friend’s party rather than on a tour. It had an open bar with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options, upbeat dance-worthy music, and crew members focused only on making sure you were having a great time. On top of that, the snorkeling was a completely different environment than I had been in and even included a shipwreck.
The shipwreck was the German ship Antilla that was sunk by its crew during WWII to avoid turning it over to Dutch marines. It was the deepest area that we explored. I actually have a fear of open water and I have to fight that fear being triggered when I’m in the ocean. I do it anyway, hoping one day I’m over that fear. The shipwreck definitely was pushing my limits, but it was so awesome to explore that my tension soon faded into awe of the incredible scene that was beneath me. The corals and tube sponges grew on every angle, reclaiming the ship to nature. Schools of fish swam all around, searching for food as they darted in and out of the openings and holes in the timber. It was mesmerizing.
The next two stops were near the shore at Boca Catalina and Arashi beach areas. There was a wider variety of brightly colored fish here, or at least you noticed the colors more because they are closer to the surface and the sunlight illuminates their brilliant hues. We found a tunnel-like gap between some of the shore’s lava boulders and, fortunately, the waters were calm enough for us to swim through. If you go snorkeling, these are the areas you should look for. There were so many fish in so many varieties that I didn’t see anywhere else on the trip. We even saw some huge rainbow parrot fish on the other side of the tunnel. We found one brain coral that was by far the biggest I’ve ever seen. It was easily 5 ft in diameter and almost as tall. There were plenty of fish swimming all around. At one point, we had stopped to watch a fish digging in the sand when, all of a sudden, we were surrounded by a school of small fish. They were so close we couldn’t move without kicking them. A few even nibbled at my mom’s fingers. It was great.
The lunch on this tour was fantastic. I don’t think we had a bad meal the entire time we were on the island. After lunch we enjoyed a boat ride back to the pier. The scenery is just amazing. If you’ve never been to the Caribbean, you need to go. It’s just as beautiful as you see in the movies, but just like TV can’t compare with the big screen, movies can’t compare with experiencing it for yourself.
Our coast-to-coast tour was a bit of a contrast to the snorkeling tour. We lovingly nick-named it the Indiana Jones tour because it reminded us of the Disneyland ride. These tours let you explore the eastern side of the island, which is definitely the road less traveled. It’s a dusty, dirt-road adventure that takes you to see some of the sites and natural wonders of the island.
We began on the north side of the island at the California Lighthouse. We then traveled down the eastern shore along the rocky cliffs with strong, large waves crashing against them creating huge fans of ocean spray. Most of the ocean is a deep blue with the occasional sandy area bringing out the familiar turquoise color that lines the western shores. The vegetation is not the palm tree-lined beaches that you see on the postcards. The island is naturally a very dry environment and the native plants are tall cacti and thorny brushes. We drove by the ruins of an old mill and down to the natural bridge ruins. The large natural bridge collapsed in 2005 due to erosion from the constant beating of the waves. There’s a smaller bridge next to these ruins that is still intact. One of our guides told us that they called the fallen bridge the “mother bridge” and asked us what we thought they called the smaller one. Son of a bridge. Apparently dad jokes are universal!
We ate lunch at Du Palm, one of the two private islands in Aruba. They have a young flock of flamingos that were recently brought to the island, as well as many lizards and crabs wandering about. There are many different types of birds flying and chirping all around, as well. The food again did not disappoint, and we soon were off again to our next destination.
The next stop was the Natural Pool, the one place on the east coast that you can swim safely. To get there, we had to take a long drive through their national park on a long, bumpy dirt road that solidified the Indiana Jones nickname. The road took us up to a summit that gave you a 360-degree view of the island. You could see the entire island. North shore, south shore, east and west were all visible. It was stunning. We arrived at the Natural Pool in one piece. The Natural Pool is a little sheltered area surrounded by lava rock. The rocks shield it from the currents and crashing waves, which still send spray up and over the wall. The pool is full of life. The rocks surrounding it look like they are moving because of the crabs walking all over them. When you look in the water with a snorkel, you get the surprise of fish swimming all around you. The water here is not as crystal clear as on the western shores because it is constantly being churned up. However, there is a high concentration of colorful fish to see.
Our tour ended at the south end of the island at Baby Beach. This is another sheltered swimming area that is ideal if you have small children. It’s calm and even at 20+ feet out, the water was still waist-deep. There is a deeper area by the rocks that is a good snorkeling spot, but most of the man-made lagoon is shallow and lined with fine, white sand.
If you’re looking for a place to relax on the beach, scuba dive or snorkel around shipwrecks and sunken planes, or enjoy a resort-style vacation with plenty of high-end shopping, Aruba is a great choice. It is designed to cater to tourists and provide them with all the entertainment their little hearts desire. If you are looking to explore a unique, remote culture, this is not your area. This Dutch island is like an extension of the United States as far as the culture goes. The pre-Columbian culture and native language are now lost. English is now widely spoken, as well as Dutch. They do still have their own language, Papiamento, which is mostly a mixture of Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and English. The US dollar is sometimes accepted over their native currency, the Aruban florin, as I found out when I tried to get some coins from our resort and was informed they only use the US dollar and I’d have to try some of the shops. Hotel names alone were all too familiar, as there were many that were owned by US companies. This isn’t necessarily a negative. It can actually be a way to begin traveling abroad without experiencing a complete culture shock or having to learn a foreign language. The island also provides a very desirable relaxing getaway that may be just what you need.
One other consideration is that Aruba is not a cheap destination. Airfare and lodging can be pretty pricey. You can still find deals that make it more affordable, but they are getting harder to come by. We were lucky with our resort. It was under renovation, so we were able to get an incredible deal and it ended up not being an inconvenience to us at all. In a couple of months, however, the price at that resort will more than triple. Despite the price tag, I still think it’s worth a visit. I will be finding a way to get back there for a scuba diving trip.
How do you escape the cold?