My wife and I just returned from our 4th trip to Aruba, and (as usual) it was INCREDIBLE! This was the first year, however, that we discovered this wonderful forum and all the valuable information. We both love to read about everyone's trips so we thought we'd return the favor.

We visited the island from July 25th to August 3rd and stayed at the Costa Linda resort. Our family owns a timeshare there and we absolutely LOVE Eagle Beach!

Let me start by saying that we usually spend our days in Aruba just relaxing on the beach under a tiki hut with a good book and trying to sample all of the tropical concoctions during happy hour. Aside from 2 mornings of activities, this is exactly what we did again this time.

Unfortunately, we found out that it does actually rain in Aruba (rarely). We saw the first rain in our 4 trips to the island. It happened on two consecutive days, but each time it "sprinkled" for about 15 minutes and was beautiful both before and after. We can definitely live with that.

Rundown on events:

Friday we arrived early in the afternoon just in time to spend a couple hours on the beach before watching the sun set and having dinner at Iguana Joe's (always fun).

Saturday we went grocery shopping and then spent the rest of the day on the beach. We grilled salmon on the beach for dinner.

Sunday was another full day on the beach before heading out to a great place for steak lovers like me, Texas de Brazil. They did not disappoint.

Monday we went on the Jolly Pirates snorkling trip which we first tried last year and thought it was great. The crew is very friendly and there is always plenty of room on the ship whether you want to be in the shade or sun. We made three stops for snorkling, one for the rope swing, and had a very decent lunch of bbq chicken and ribs. Using some of the great reviews on this website, we decided to try Marina Pirata for dinner and it was excellent. I had the best Mahi Mahi that I've ever tasted. And the atmosphere of eating over the water during sunset...unbelievable.

Tuesday was more subdued with the day spent on the beach and pizza for dinner on the beach at sunset.

Wednesday all day at the beach and then to the Flying Fishbone for dinner. We really enjoy eating with the sand between our toes and the food is consistantly fabulous. We snapped the picture that I used for our profile just before sunset here.

We have to thank Arubalisa for all the info on Kini Kini for ATV tours. We took your advice and had an incredible time Thursday going on the half day tour. It was probably the coolest thing we have ever done in Aruba. Definitely don't wear anything nice, because you will get dirty. But the guides were great, ATV's were top notch, and the sites visited were breathtaking. Definitely something we will do again.

Friday and Saturday (our last two days) were again spent on the beach before going to dinner. Friday we visited our absolute favorite restaurant in Aruba, Madame Janette. There's just something about eating under the stars there with the lights on all the trees twinkling and live music being played. Not to mention the incredible food. The Argentine tenderloin melts in your mouth! Saturday we tried another new (for us) restaurant, Sunset Grille, after hearing more reviews on this website. The atmosphere here at sunset was amazing and the food was very good, but our favorite part of the meal was the chocolate coconut crusted souffle. You have to order it when you order your entree's, but it is well worth the wait!

That's just about it...Sunday we had breakfast sulking about having to go home.

We had an incredible time and can't wait to go back again.

Thanks again to all of you who post all of these wonderful ideas and activities to try. We have even more that we can't wait to try next time!