Loving Aruba

eagle-beach-sundown My husband is a very smart man. Our plan was to stay in Aruba, merely for the sake of waiting for a weather window. We arrived late on Tuesday the 24th, and it looked as if a weather window was opening the following Monday. We ventured in to town on Tessa’s birthday, but the next day it was so windy we just stayed on the boat. It’s very pretty here, and the anchorage we are at, near the airport, has great holding and on shore is a great bar/restaurant called New Havana with good, reasonably priced food and a Happy Hour. Tristan and Tessa had a great time playing with the local kids on the beach one night. Of course Tristan loves this anchorage. All the incoming planes have to fly low over our boat. He has his Janes Guide to Aircraft and can now name them all almost from their sound. We rented a four wheel drive Jeep and did some off road exploring. Later, sitting on the beach, Dan says, “You know, this is a major vacation destination. Why are we leaving here so fast?”

Good question. After thinking about it, and overcoming my ego which said, “You need to get going.” (and)” Cruisers don’t spend time in Aruba.” I next had to overcome my fear of missing a weather window and possibly being stuck here for awhile. Was that so bad? We later ran in to Denali Rose who had been here a month. The French boat, Josie, had been here 3 months. Another boat we later met, PR2 had been here 3 months. The boat anchored behind us had been here 3 months. They all LOVED IT!!! And so did we. Sitting in a lounge chair, on the white sand at Eagle Beach, I agreed with Dan. Let’s stay.

The next day we were out again. We traded the Jeep in for a cheaper car, and headed out to see the Caves. The landscape of Aruba is so diverse. On the west side you have the beautiful white beaches. On the east you have the crashing waves. The west coast has the towns and the people. The south side has the refinery. Aruba at one time was a major oil supplier. The north side has snorkeling, and the west has the most desolate, desert area, with hills, moonscapes and caves. It’s like another world.

Our Jeep came in handy the first day as we drove the western coastline. Literally you are less than 100 feet from the water most of the time. The next day we toured the caves, and saw the Arawak drawings. You really need to see the caves. One is very unique. As you start in, it’s low and pitch black. After about 50 feet, the cave opens up, with sunlight streaming in from two holes nearly 30 feet about you. You can imagine the Arawaks using this space as a meeting center. It was beautiful. We ended the day again on the white sands of Eagle Beach.

Really we can’t say enough good things about Aruba. The people are wonderful, the beaches beautiful. The anchorage has great holding. It would be even better if the wind would die down, but you can’t have everything. The grocery store prices here are about the same as in Curacao, but you have a much larger selection to choose from. The bus system is MUCH better than Curacao. The bus here will take you anywhere you need to go. The check in at Barcadero was painless (no tire marks on our boat). I really don’t know why more people don’t stay longer, but we know why the ones who are here stay!

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