This is a message I posted on the Aruba BB Forum about our trip in Nov.
I can relate.

We just returned from our 6th trip to Aruba.
We enjoy the island very much and have another trip planned in April 2005
BUT, here is a word of CAUTION.
DO NOT LEAVE VALUABLES UNATTENDED.
Our rented Jeep wrangler hardtop was broken into and they stole my $700.00 USD dive camera. The thieves smashed the passenger side window, grabbed some beach stuff and my Reef Master 35mm camera with strobe light and hard watertight case. (The strobe light is unique in that I had to repair the attachment from the handle to the strobe light with two small 1/16th diam. pins). The bill for the window repair was $695.00. We did not take the extra insurance, but the guys from Top Drive said the insurance has a $500 deductible to cover accidents only, not thief or vandalism.
The police were very busy and took more than 2 hours to meet with me about the report. It took 2 return trips to San Nicholas to get the hand typed report. (You know Americans they are very impatient when it comes to waiting for someone).
We think we saw the thieves. We were parked at the south end of the island parking area for Seroe Colorado lighthouse (a lighted beacon on a metal structure). It was raining when we got there at noon on Tuesday Nov 23. We ate a picnic lunch, which we had bought from Subway, in the Jeep while we waited for the rain to stop. While we ate a beat-up white car (perhaps a 4 door Toyota corolla, not sure) backs down to the lower parking area where we were. The occupants “looked out of place” as they are 2 young men in their late teens. One was dark skinned with dreadlocks the other was white with very short hair, loud music playing, widows open in the rain. Including the upper paved area and the lower (very rough un-paved) area there were many places they could have parked, except they backed down right next to us.
When they realized that we were in the jeep, they left. We watched them drive off out of sight. We finished our lunch took some photos of the surf and the prison and then drove to the upper paved parking area where some tourist had arrived in a minivan. We felt secure to leave a locked jeep while we explored the nearby cliffs. We only lost sight of the parking area for about 15 min. (there is a small natural bridge down over the cliffs). When we returned to the parking area the family with the minivan said there car had been ransacked and we had a broken window.
They had not locked their minivan which they only left for 5 min. The glove box had been emptied onto the floor and their diaper bag had been dumped on the ground. Nothing missing. Nothing broken, they were lucky.
The inside of our Jeep was covered with glass. Glove box manual and rental receipt emptied to the floor ice water from the cooler dumped on the floor. Beach bag was missing, as was the dive camera. We had placed it on the floor with a towel over it (not really hidden). More tourists came as we were trying to clean glass from the seats. We told them of our misfortune and warned them. They then asked if the beach bag they had found down the road belonged to us. YES, we went to the area and walked thru the thorn bushes and found our shoes, socks, sunglasses and bag for the camera that we were using at the cliffs. Everything was recovered except the dive camera.
The police took forever to meet with me.
The guys from Top Drive asked what we wanted to do.
We said we wanted another 4x4 with air conditioning and glass. They gave us an upgrade to a 6 passenger Suzuki 4x4.
They said bill would be available later in the week.
They were fast and courteous… But later handed us a repair bill for $695.00. We hope the American express will cover the cost of the repair.
We enjoyed the rest of our vacation:
We stayed at LaCabana thru GWV vacations.
Wed. We had a good time with Sherman, Henry and Cee at Aruba Kayak Adventures with lunch at DePalm Island (open bar).
Thursday we went on the Jolly pirate had fun with Nick who was a great host and they served a good lunch (with open bar). Nick got the whole boatload of people to sing Happy birthday to me.
Friday, I had a good scuba dive with Fly and Dive. 1 tank dive, shore approach, to a reef called “hole in the wall”.
Saturday, we went on an AVT tour with Marvin at Aruba Four Wheelin’t. We had a good ATV with plenty of pep. Marvin gave us a good adventure with safety a priority.
Sunday we got home in VT by 10 pm (charter flight with GWV to Hartford CT).
We had very nice dinners at Marina Pirata, Madam Jeanette’s, The French Steakhouse.
It rained almost every day we were there but it did not bother us much.
Tuesday night it rained hard and there were some streets closed Wednesday morning near the Mill Resort because of flooding.
We hiked Mount Hoiberg on Wednesday at sunrise (too cloudy) and on Friday (again cloudy). There are 561 concrete stairs to the top (beats 45 minutes on the stair stepper)
Darrel and Cheryl Lasell