Folks this is a very LONG trip report, there is a link to our pictures at the bottom of the report.

My Aruba vacation trip report 8/30 – 9/3
I know it was way to short but due to work commitments and kids schools starting we could not take more time off, but we still had a great time in what we had.
This was our FIRST time to Aruba and we were celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary on Thursday August 30, what a way to celebrate your day by going to Aruba!!!!

First I would like to thank every single one of you on this board; I cannot and will not name names as I do not want to miss anybody so “all of you” Thank you. Without your posts, suggestions, help, opinions, guidance this would not have been half as good a vacation for us.

Thursday 8/30 – Uneventful flight from Hartford to Aruba via San Juan. Being Thursday the flight was not full and everything was on time, we reached Aruba about 10 minutes ahead of time. Customs was a breeze and got a taxi straight to the hotel. Wow!!! The first impression of this hotel is something to behold all with its open air lobby. We were the first people in line and check in took all of 5 minutes. Off we go to our room on 6th floor, change and straight to beach. Enjoyed a nice drink while on beach and then went back to the hotel to shower and change for the dinner at Passion’s. We were promptly seated; we had Diana waiting for our table. What a difference one person can make to your dinner/evening, she was absolutely the best we had on this trip and probably ever. We were not really impressed with our dinners but just having her wait on us and the time we had talking with her made this our best evening possible.
After dinner we went back to our hotel, changed and went back to the beach for a walk towards the Holiday Inn to check out the Moomba’s Bar, had one drink each and called it a night.

Friday 8/31 – This was our day we went on the Jolly Pirate snorkel trip, we snorkeled at Malmok, Antilla and Boca Catalina. Malmok was nice with some coral and lots of fish. We spent a good 30 minutes there and had a good time in the water. Next stop was the famous shipwreck Antilla, this was a waste as the water was very choppy and visibility was non existent, we could barely make out the ship below, still we did enjoy our time in the water. Last stop was the Boca Catalina, same as Malmok very little coral but lots of fish. This is the spot where they get the food delivered, the choices were grilled chicken on a skewer and barbeque ribs. Food was good not great nor did we expect it to be. It was just good. After the lunch was done they opened up the rope swing and Javier (one of the crew) did the customary jump with one volunteer on his back, it was fun to watch him do the somersault. The rest was total craziness as the lines were formed and almost everyone onboard had a go at the swing. DH did not attempt any as he has a torn ACL on his left knee and did not want to risk anything; I made up for it by doing it a few extra times. Once we started our return trip back the crew started games onboard and what better contestant’s then two couple’s one wearing Yankees hat and the other wearing the Red Sox hat. Need I say more we were disappointed that we were already back at Moomba’s, time flew and we all had a blast?
BTW – there was open bar the whole trip and it was good rump punch they serve, ask DH if anyone wants to know, he probably drank at least half a gallon of it.
Rest of the afternoon was spent just R/R at the beach.
Dinner tonight was kept simple and as we did not want to go far we just walked across to Tomato Charlie’s, good pizza, and good dinner.
Walked on the beach and sat there until 11:00PM and then retired for the night.

Saturday 9/1 – Today we were doing the horse riding with Rancho Del Campo, we were picked up from our hotel at 8:15AM and by the time the driver picked up other people (a couple of high school grad girls) and made it to the ranch it was past 9:00AM. Did the customary paperwork, intro speech and the dos and don’t of the riding. We were all ready to go, DH was the only one who had any riding experience but because of the bum knee and the brace he was wearing he just said he knows a little riding and was still given the best horse (that was nice, as seen from the pictures). It was interesting riding to the Natural Pool and back. Here are a few not so good things about this trip, our guide Alex was more into “hitting” on one of these younger girls then about our trip. As if this was not enough this girls’ horse had a mind of its own and did not want to ride together and would end up deviating from the path every few minutes, not to worry the guide said as he was there and the horses all know their way back to the ranch if they get lost, whoa a lot of comfort for this kid (she was all of 18). Needless to say she was scared the whole trip and you could see the relief on her face when we saw the ranch entrance on our return. We met with the Rancho Diamari group at the Natural Pool and saw that there were 10+ riders and 2 guides in this group compared to ours where there were 4 riders and one guide. DH started talking with one of the riders from the other ranch, she was from Netherlands and said she rode horses there on a regular basis and was highly disappointed by the trip as it was plain walk trip and there was no galloping or cantering. On seeing our horses she commented that our horses were a lot better looking and cared for compared to her group’s horses. We do not know much about these things so no comment but this was an opinion that we heard. As for the trip DH did tell the manager at the ranch that he was not at all satisfied with the trip.
After the trip they brought us back to our hotels, we changed and went downtown to do some shopping and lunch. We ate at Iguana Joe, DH had the Iguana punch and I had the Pina Colada, for lunch we ordered a Jerk chicken sandwich to share. We loved the food and drink. Some shopping for folks back home. Back at the hotel showered and changed and then went to Piet’s pier bar to enjoy the sunset and some happy hour time. Hung around there until dinner time, we had reservations at Gianni’s today. We were promptly seated and now the fun began. We were at Piet’s pier bar for almost an hour and DH had about 3 drinks already, here comes Pedro our “USED Car Sales Man” he was more trying to make us order that we did not want to then to make us feel comfortable. DH did not want to have any more drinks but on my insistence he ordered a Mojito and I ordered my regular Pina Colada. Then he insisted we order an appetizer, so I obliged and after this DH would having nothing from him and let him know when he tried the same for dessert. Our dining experience was not so good but the food – No Complains, it was very good.
Back to our nightly stroll by the beach, but tonight is a little different – FELIX is on the way. The wind had picked up and the surf was up too. We had our walk and stayed on the beach for 30-45 minutes and called it a night.

Sunday 9/2 – Woke up late today, we had our couples massage in an outside cabana at the Holiday Inn today at 11:30, ha ha so much for outside. Anyway first things first, DH needs a Cappuccino and Shoko Market downstairs was voted OFF on the first day, but while shopping downtown he had like what they made at “Taste of Belgium”. But alas!! It was Sunday and everything in the mall is closed except for Piazza’s deli, he tried a cup from there and threw it away after a sip. Next I remembered Amici’s and we drove there, oops forgot we had booked a Jeep for one day today which the Royal Car Rental dropped the vehicle in the AM. Amici’s was a good cup of cappuccino – thank god I will be able to deal with him today. After Amici’s we went back to hotel to find out there was no power but still changed and walked to the Holiday Inn. We had an OK massage in the couples room and by the time we were done power had returned. After massage we decided to go eat and we went for a quick afternoon snack at the Salt-n-Pepper. From here on there was not much to do as the beaches were all closed so we decided to take a trip to the Lighthouse, an afternoon well spent. Back in the hotel by 3:00PM to change for our dinner at the Flying Fishbone (we rented the car for this reason). Now our evening gets very interesting, first finding the FFB was no problems (thanks to all on this forum). We were seated in the first row of tables in the water. Due to the storm the water level was above ankles and that surprised me. As if this was not enough the water taxi (that is what we were told by staff) kept going back and forth every 10 minutes, and you guessed it RIGHT, every time it passed is either direction the waves hit us and splashed on us from under the chairs also. We still enjoyed every single moment as this was different also. Now about the dinner, our waitress was Roxanne, we ordered a garden salad to share not sure if we would like it or not, it was very good so we decided to order another one. Our second order of salad came with our dinner plates – go figure. Food was excellent – the BEST we had while in Aruba, but Roxanne was kind of indifferent towards us as she went out of her way to have conversation with the couple next to us on the left (she was waiting on their table) and also towards the couple on our right (not her table). She took picture for both of these couple by walking out in the water and other diff angles, when DH asked her to take our picture she remarked by saying each good picture would cost us $10 and if she fell in the water and ruined the camera she would not be held responsible. Another instance, I did not like the Pina Colada that I had ordered and it is quite evident from my pictures and DH ordered a Mojito, we were never asked for another drink nor was I asked why I not drank any from my drink. Be warned – once the sun sets and it starts getting dark there was a lot of mosquitoes and FFB provides with a bug spray but needless to say Roxanne was busy with other things and we never got any, but I would take my own next time. OK enough bitching/whining, next time WE WILL go to FFB but will tell them bluntly no if Roxanne was waiting on our table.
This is what I mean when I say how much a wait person can make or break your dining experience, where at Passion’s Diana was superb and the food was not so great here the food was great but Roxanne left a bad taste in our mouths.

Conclusion – I had asked some questions before the trip about water quality, we were HIGHLY disappointed in the water quality, Palm Beach once you go in the water approx 10-12 feet there is nothing but sea weed on the bottom, now on Eagle Beach we went to see the water by Passion and Bucuti, water by Passion was OK not good but better then Palm Beach and at Bucuti it was slightly better than Passion. So overall my experience and opinion of water quality was rather disappointing. As shown by one DH’s picture at Baby Beach, this was crystal clear water and that too it was on Monday the after the storm had passed. I am not sure if we will go to Aruba in the next 5 years at least but am not saying will never go there back again. In my opinion Aruba is not at all like any other Caribbean island as it very well established and I agree with a lot of long time visitors who have been going here for a very long time to call it your second home this is not the same place it was back when you came here for the first time.

Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/priyavrat.patel/Aruba2007?authkey=v1YzCLhyEpI

Pinik