Anniversary Cruise! Aruba

Aruba – One Happy Island!

Aruba. Yes, please!
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

As the ship docked in Oranjestad, I slathered on the sunblock in happy anticipation of a quiet and restful time under a palapa at Druif Beach.

The wind was blowing a gale today, and the sunshine was bright. Aruba is busier, noisier, more industrial at first blush than Bonaire. The ship docks right in town, as opposed to miles away from where you want to be. Turn right from the dock, and you're downtown. Turn left towards the resorts, and you walk quite a distance past an unphotogenic industrial zone, then there's an abandoned resort (which one hopes is now being refurbished). But keep walking, because...

Oh, yeah!
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

Then...then...the most incredible white-sand beaches and aqua water and coral reefs, right there. Stunning. Gorgeous. And hot. Very hot. Thank goodness for that gale.

Druif Beach, Aruba
It was a national holiday, so the beach
was "crowded."
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

We walked in the sand in the "low rise" section past the Divi Dutch Village, the Divi Tamarijn, and Divi Village [and there are two more Divi resorts in Aruba. The Divi Village is where we stayed last time we were in Aruba. Thanks again, Dave!] to Druif Beach. I felt so grateful and blessed and overwhelmed to be there. It felt like home. Welcoming. Calm. Familiar. And delightful! [The "high rise" section is at Palm Beach, a bit farther north. As I said in my previous Aruba post, we preferred the quietness and slower pace of the low rise area.]

Nice place!
Photo by Chris.
All rights reserved.

We pulled some lounge chairs under said palapa, went swimming in that incredible, amazing, surprisingly cool  and wonderfully salty water. The sun kissed us. We wandered lazily up to the Divi Aruba [leaving only the Divi Phoenix unvisited this time!] and ordered pina coladas at the beach bar.

[Special side note to Divi Resorts:  Say, how about a free stay at one of your resorts for all this free advertising?]

The scenery in the background is so gorgeous,
you don't even notice the folks in front, eh?
At the Divi Aruba. Photo by the other Chris.
All rights are reserved anyway.

Oops. The Divi Aruba is an all-inclusive, and there's no cash register or credit card machine at the bar. So, I had to go to the reception desk to pay for a couple of libations. When I got back to our table, I found that a guest at the hotel had ordered a second round for us. I guess he thought it was bogus that I'd had to run around from here to there to here just to get something to drink, but I didn't feel that way at all. Which is not to say I wasn't grateful for the beverage. Quite the opposite! Thank you, Chris from Long Island in the news business. We chatted with Chris and his wife for a while, relaxing by the beach and enjoying our brief time there. So, Chris from Long Island, thank you again for your thoughtfulness. You and your wife are lovely folks, and we're very glad to have met you.

This table is reserved for you.
Notice the crowd on the beach.
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

The Divi Aruba is a beautiful, quiet resort. It would be fantastic to stay there for, say, a week. At least a week. Leaving Aruba again was such a sad, sad experience. But I'm so grateful to have had an opportunity to visit again, though not for long enough. Part of the cruise experience is to spend a little time here and there, with the idea of finding places you want to visit for longer periods of time. I already knew I wanted to go back to Aruba, so it was a bonus to find it on the itinerary.

This is what I'm talking about.
Photo by Harry. All rights reserved.

The Sanctuary hot tub felt really good after a day at the beach, and here's what I had for dinner: Seafood appetizer, tomato soup, endive salad, lobster tail, and passion fruit souffle. YUM.

Still there. Love this shot.
Photo by Chris.
All rights reserved.

The show tonight was a musical, “Piano Man.” We caught a little karaoke in the lounge, too, and the singers were pretty good, actually.

And now we have begun the sail back to our port of departure, San Juan, Puerto Rico, where more adventure awaits us!

Just a reminder:  To take full advantage of information provided for you in my blog, be sure to click on the links!

These are everywhere. Don't feed them.
It only encourages them.
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

Me, by me. 'Cause you can't get enough background shots
of the beaches here!
All rights reserved.

Souvenir shops at the waterfront.
Oranjestad, Aruba
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

Higher end souvenir shops. Oh, the crowds!
Photo by Chris.
All rights reserved.

Aruba! It Must Be Tuesday?

 I think it's Tuesday. Who cares what day it is when you're on vacation, right?

Aruba = beautiful beaches
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

Yesterday, I was swimming about in the clear, clean, deliciously salty, and perfectly refreshing – yet warm – water off the sparkling – no, dazzling – palm-lined, white-sand beach, watching the aqua waves rolling gently onto the shore. And I had an epiphany, my friends. Yes, I know...another one:  That is why people come back to Aruba year after year, never going on vacation anywhere else. The beach and the water and the weather (hot and muggy, but the breeze makes it all okay, and you get used to it really fast). That's it. You want to fall in love with Aruba? Get in the water.

I actually spoke with some folks at the Ocean View (the beach-side watering hole) who have come to Aruba for 2 weeks a year for 17 consecutive years. They have not been to any other vacation spots in all that time. They are from Boston. [We met lots of nice people from Boston, as it happens.]

At dinner, we decided to try the Pirate's Nest restaurant. Surprisingly, the service was terrible, and the food was worse. My husband sent his meal back to the kitchen for the first time EVER. To their credit, they comped us both entrees and threw in dessert. It's a gorgeous setting, right on the beach, palm trees, open air – but we will not go back. We had been sitting at our table for two hours before we got our food. We would have just left, but it was late. We were hungry. Up until that experience, it was a perfect day. [This restaurant was highly recommended and has good reviews. Maybe it was just one of those things. But when you're on vacation, you don't give a place a second chance if the first time was a disaster. If you've eaten there and had a wonderful experience, please leave a comment. I don't want to be unfair to the place.]

Natural Bridge
See the tiny person on top?
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

Today, I went to the beach for a while as my husband ordered up a little Suzuki 4WD rental car from a cut-rate, independent place. More on that later. And off we went to explore the island! We drove up to California Lighthouse, and then we went 4-wheeling down the wild, eastern side of the island in hopes of finding the natural bridge and other sights.

Stacked rocks...
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

There were stacked rocks everywhere. Someone said it has something to do with prayer, but to whom and for what, who knows? Nobody could enlighten us. Or they chose not to, whichever.

The Wild Side
Photo by Chris.
All rights reserved.

The “other side” of the island reminds me of the Northern California coast, with waves crashing and foaming on the rocky shore. Except that the Northern California coast is relatively lush, whereas this one is absolute desert, with tall cactus and no trees. Perhaps when California falls into the ocean, that's what the coast will look like. Not that I believe that's going to happen.

The exhaust pipe came loose on the car, so, after some initial hesitation and blame casting, the agency came and replaced it (the car) when we got back to home base. My husband enjoyed the 4-wheeling. He generally has a hard time “slowing down” on vacation due to the high-stress nature of his work. He might get to a place of relaxation by the end of the week.

Look closely...
Photo by Chris.
All rights reserved.

He's very taken with the lizards, though, and is taking pictures of them. They're everywhere here at the Village, along with cooing doves and colorful finches. The tree branches are decorated with them.

Tonight, we went to Oranjestad for dinner at El Gaucho, another highly recommended eatery. It's an Argentinian steakhouse. As bad as the food and service were last night, that's how opposite tonight was. The service was very attentive, and the food was plentiful and delicious. The gigantic steak was like butter. The salad, the baked potato, the ears of corn...everything was supersized. When I say the food was plentiful, I mean we (both of us!) could only eat about half of our portions, and we took the considerable leftovers back to our place for future reference. So far, I wouldn't say anything here is a great bargain, but it would have cost as much or more back home.

There was a mariachi band going from table to table, and they sang for us. My husband asked if they knew Eric Clapton's “Wonderful Tonight,” and they played and sang it so beautifully. Oh, my. I couldn't help myself. The emotion was overwhelming, and I cried happy tears. It was so romantic! I was wearing a flounced skirt and a dressy tanktop and strappy heels and big earrings (all black and red), and I felt like a princess.

As we walked hand-in-hand down the sidewalk in the cool of the evening after that wonderful meal, I couldn't imagine a more magical “date.” Thank you, Harry.

Downtown. Cute, eh?
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

Town had a very Caribbean feel to it, and it reminded me so much of Puerto Rico and St. Thomas. Not in specifics, but in ambiance. You can definitely see the Dutch influence, too, which makes it “it's own” place.

The island depends on tourism for its livelihood, and the people work very hard. We drove through some neighborhoods today to see the houses, which are, for the most part (at least from what we saw today), neat and tidy, with wild colors. Some are fenced and gated, others are not. I was reminded very much of our neighborhood in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, many years ago. It was the same type of construction, but with a Dutch flavor.

An excellent day!