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| My Aruba Story Share your trip reports and special Aruba experiences. |
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04-11-2011, 01:42 PM
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#1 (permalink) |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 18
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Club Arias: 4/1 to 4/6, 2011
Wow...where to begin. BEWARE, this is long and I broke it up into a few posts to get more pics in as I havent uploaded to Shutterfly style site yet
First thanks again to the recommendations. Any absolutely amazing time. When we touched down, we got to the Budget rental car place and got this little Hyundai. I tell you what, we went everywhere in that thing...from Savaneta to natural bridge, from baby to Palm Beach and back...you really dont need anything more unless you think you can drive to the natural bridge   As soon as we picked up the rental car we were headed to Club Arias (in Savaneta) and were ready to make a right turn on 1a and the road was shut down. So needless to say we figured our way around quite quickly. As basically everyone who has been there knows, it is really easy to get around the main roads, but the side roads have very few signs. No issues for us with a map and after cruising up 4A towards 1a i saw the cut through to Frenchman's pass that got us even closer to Savaneta...Bottom line just trust your instincts. reached Club Arias and checked in. Let me tell you all something about that place - it is top notch...breakfast made per your order each day with a fabulous chef (Gabriel). The B&B is tucked away behind feaux rock formations and has three pools there. It is paradise indeed. Anyone who wants to get away from the hi rises and settle in with some good breakfasts and dinner (if you want it) on Monday, Wed and Fridays, do yourself a favor and try the place. It is so nice, chill and great.   View of Club Arias pool Friday dinner was at Marandi. I had the Marandi Classic (Grouper) and it may be the best fish Ive ever eaten at a resty. We like the place so much we went back the last night of our vacation - tried all new stuff - and it was still amazing. Our favorite resty on the island for dinner and I highly recommend it...  Saturday was our 6th anniversary and we opened it up with a trip to the Natural Pool with Madi. Let me tell you was it an experience. Is she hard to get a hold of, sometimes, but if you stay on her and she has room it is quite amazing. My favorite part was actually Boca Flight - the private beach just around the corner from the Pool area. Literally there was 8 of us on the beach with no one else in sight. Truly amazing. As we headed back from Boca Flight we almost flipped in the jeep, as it was literally sideways. But we all breathed and helped make sure it stayed up right (albeit on its left side..)  Then we did some exploring of our own to the Natural Bridge area. We stopped well before the "crowded" area and walked on the rocks and cliffs overlooking the water...breathtaking. Oddly enough there is a ton of crap there...from a pair of glasses to a ball of foam on top of the cliffs. the ocean is amazing though...  Moving to a 2nd post to continue as Ive uploaded max # of attachments and dont have the pics on Shutterfly yet... Last edited by ddoan24; 04-11-2011 at 02:13 PM. |
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04-11-2011, 01:50 PM
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#2 (permalink) |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 18
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More from the area towards the natural bridge:
 Just around the corner from that was one of the wish rock gardens. So cool, we stumbled upon this and I really wanted to see it...amazing...so cool and tons of rocks just stacked on one another...  my rocks... So that night we went to flying fishbone for our 6th anny. Def a cool atmosphere, and they had the flowers ready for my wife when we got there. Meal was good, not great but fun nonetheless...  After dinner we agreed to meet Madi and some others from the jeep trip at the Freewinds cruise ship for a concert...Amazingly classic was the fact it is a Scientology cruise ship. Not that there is anything wrong with it, just random for us not being scientologists and the fact it was our anniversary and we were on a cruise ship. Super nice people and just made it super random and memorable when we found out it was a scientologist cruise ship   Madi!!! Arubalisa likes this.
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04-11-2011, 02:12 PM
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#3 (permalink) |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 18
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One thing I forgot - before we hit the Natural bridge we went to a little place for lunch, Cafe capri...had iguana tongue...it was like a tough piece of steak - good though!
 bad pic but you get the idea! Sunday was pretty fun too...although a warning with the Gold Mine horse ranch. They picked us up and it was a great experience for my wife...for me not so much. Apparently the saddle they gave me was too short...now I have ridden horses a long time but it has been some yrs since i did - word to the wise - if you do the horseback, know they are in communication and they could have brought me a new one. When we were done I literally had burns on both upper sides of my rear. They are just now healing. You do sign a waiver, but i didnt expect negligence on their end. They basically said they saw the saddle was too short, then backtracked essentially saying I was already injured and lying - this is after I didnt ask for a refund initially on my ride only (later I did after I threw away two pair of shorts that were ruined)...Unbelieveable. I wa sable to bear the pain but man it hurt and until Thursday the 8th still did to the point I could barely sit). Regardless a good company, and we ate the core of the coconut and drank from them too...really cool.  Just know if it doesnt feel right, say something and they can fix it... Once I got cleaned up we headed towards baby beach and found this little restaurant called Costa Riba...Camini and her husband run it...so freaking good...she is going to change it to Camini's Place soon, but she is reall sweet and the food is really good. Had some Trinidad shark and some good ribs..  front of resty  Camini and us That evening we did the Sunset cruise...even with my butt pretty damaged it was really fun. Drinks were flowing well and the cruise was only 2 hrs. Went to Pinchos after that...Atmosphere again cool, but food was just Ok in my opinion. Id like to give it another shot, but i thought it was just ok...  Even after all this, Monday was the day I was pumped about - Skydiving!!! Arubalisa likes this.
Last edited by ddoan24; 04-11-2011 at 09:31 PM. |
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04-11-2011, 02:47 PM
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#4 (permalink) |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 18
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So with a bum behind and all i was raring to go Monday with my 10am skydiving experience. My god was it amazing. used Skydive Aruba and the guys are first class. Even got the video
- never nervous at all, when the chute opened I was more startled than anything as I hadnt thought about it at all  here are some pics:  view over Aruba  about to pull the chute  flying the parachute  back to the earth - giggling like a school girl  Signing the van ceiling once you jump Once safely back to the earth we made our way to Charlie's and had some solid gumbo, meatballs and a killer shrimp quesadilla Monday night we kicked it at Club Arias for pasta night and just relaxed. Tuesday was our last day  and we decided to beach hop starting at Palm Beach with some snorkeling and worked our way down. Then back to Marandi for a last meal on the island...all in all the island is A++. The wind makes the sun bearable and the locals were great. Worst part was the injury from horseback but Ill survive. We will definitely be returning, although Im not sure when - more vacations to go on! Thanks again, Ill be visiting the forum now and then to relive it and hope to meet again on our next go around... Last edited by ddoan24; 04-11-2011 at 02:53 PM. |
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04-11-2011, 03:14 PM
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#5 (permalink) | ||||||
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Moderator
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Thanks for sharing such a thorough review.
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An accumulation of "stuff" from all over the Caribbean.  Quote:
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 We are always looking for new spots. 
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Aruba Bound! ~ Blogging to Aruba ~ Hoosier Kitties ~ Our-Cruises ~ Pictures of Aruba  |
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04-11-2011, 03:31 PM
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#6 (permalink) |
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Aruba since 1979
Moderator 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: renaissance island, eagle beach, amsterdam manor/passions beach bar, Hung Paradis, alto vista chapel, madam janettes, big porch at B55
Posts: 13,257
Images: 80
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thanks for the questions lisa
thanks for the great report and posting the thumbnails :-)
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Please, I'll have a Grande' decaf Mocha Latte' with a shot of liquid tranquilizer. |
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04-11-2011, 03:51 PM
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#7 (permalink) | |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 18
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Quote:
Sidenote: One thing I forgot to mention, over by the Reinassance is a store called Moopa Moopa. Look up the artwork online. It comes from the Moopa Moopa tree in the amazon and they boil the leaves and stretch it with their mouths...we bought a kick azz piece or art...its an ancient custom and really cool. It isnt paint and the colors arent suppse to wear out - I will post some pics of the art later today... Ive got a few more of Club Arias - but not a ton. Booked direct through Arias and his manager Tracey. Baby Beach is the closest - 10 minutes tops , just have to go through downtown San nicholas. But all in all it was like 20 minutes from Palm Beach and 10 or so from Duchi (sp?) beach and such...it was perfect for us... We sailed on Red Sail's sunset cruise. Only about 25 people on there and it can hold up to 80. The last day we were right up by the Terra Del Sol golf course. We parked right at the top of the area and setup shop under a little tree...The Jolly Pirates and another boat was out there...We snorkled a little bit but not a ton - although saw a ton of fish, really just drank Polar and Balashi and chilled out ; we also snorkled along Baby beach but not the main area...didnt see a ton - I have a couple photos of that area but they are on the other computer...
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04-12-2011, 08:29 AM
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#10 (permalink) |
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Aruba since 1979
Moderator
Join Date: May 2007
Location: renaissance island, eagle beach, amsterdam manor/passions beach bar, Hung Paradis, alto vista chapel, madam janettes, big porch at B55
Posts: 13,257
Images: 80
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few questions....
was it really iguana tongue? how was it cooked? was the back part of the saddle (cantle) covered by your bum? that part of the saddle is never supposed to be sat on. i cannot imagine your discomfort. being a "large woman", i have difficulty getting a good fit for my bottom. in your case, i bet the guide or the person that seated you did so incorrectly and you were probably too far back and riding too long legged. a "bum" bum in no fun :-( paul and i have gone by the "freewinds" many many times and have always commented that is the perfect size ship (for our liking). what the inside upscale? from what i understand that ship is used for "scientology learning/seminars" and there is a name for it, i just cannot remember.
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Please, I'll have a Grande' decaf Mocha Latte' with a shot of liquid tranquilizer. |
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