I just returned with my wife from a fantastic week long trip to Aruba. Here is our trip report from our great week.
On monday we landed in Aruba it took us quite awhile to get through customs in Aruba. The line was very long and they should have had more than three lanes open to help speed up the process. Once we got through and got our luggage we hopped in a waiting cab and off to the Holiday Inn we went. We had no wait checking into our room and we had a fantastic ocean front view on the 7th floor. The view was incredible. We immediately got changed into our swimsuits and went down to the beach for a swim. The water was very warm and felt great. After our swim we got changed and went to dinner at the Buccaneer. The Buccaneer was a fantastic restaurant and not very crowded which was great. My wife and I had the catch of the day which was barracuda and it was fantastic. We had the lobster bisque soup which I highly, highly recommend. We had homemade white sangria to drink and it was great. The owner is currently updating all the fishtanks at the tables and they look great. After dinner we returned to our hotel and spent some time at the casino. After that we retired to our room for the night.
Tuesday we spent the entire day relaxing on palm beach. I got up to reserve a palapa hut on the beach and we laid out relaxing and swimming all day. We went tubing and had a blast. We went on the evening sail through Pelican Watersports and it was wonderful. The snacks and drinks were great and the sunset was beautiful. After the sail we had dinner at the Pelican pier on the ocean and it was fantastic. We had the grilled Mahi Mahi and it was fantastic. After dinner we walked the beach from the Holiday Inn south to the Westin. The walk was great and the wind felt nice and cool. After the walk we returned to our room for the night.
Wednesday we were scheduled for our full day jeep tour with Depalm. The bus picked us up right from our hotel on time and took us to the Depalm headquarters. After receiving some instructions we got in our jeeps and drove to the California Lighthouse. I got to drive one of the jeeps which was great because I don't get to do much off-roading here in Michigan. After a stop at the lighthouse we went off road and to the Alto Vista chapel. After the chapel we saw some great sights along the east coast and went to where the natural bridge used to stand. We saw the Bushibiri Gold Ruins and then went to the depalm island pier and traveled to Depalm island. We did Seatrek which was a blast, but there really wasn't all that much to do. The waterpark is geared more towards children and it's very difficult to snorkel here because it's very rocky. I don't think we will be returning to Depalm island next time, but we definately want to go on the Natural Pool Jeep tour next time. After the jeep tour we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We went to the Driftwood for dinner and that was wonderful as well. I had the barracuda and my wife had the wahoo. Both dishes were excellent and after dinner we went to the Crystal Casino around the corner and then back to our hotel for the night.
Thursday we decided to walk to one of the other resorts for breakfast and got stopped out front of the Occidental by three people trying to get us to see a time share. We tried very hard to walk away but they were very persistant. Most people get the hint pretty quickly, but these people were different. Eventually I had to get pretty angry for them to get the picture and leave us alone. I hated to do that, but I had no other options. I really wish they would leave tourists alone and let them enjoy their vacations. They really put a sour mood to the start of our day. After we calmed down we went on the seaworld explorer and saw the Antilla shipwreak and Arashi reef. The tour was pretty cool, but after awhile of rocking back and forth in the waves under the water you are ready to get back to land. We got back to the hotel and relaxed before our night on the Kukoo Kunuku bus. This was a fantastic night and my wife and I had an absolute blast. We had Big Daddy as our leader and Slick Vic was the bus driver. The music was playing all night long and it was definately a night to remember. It's amazing that I can still remember that night to be honest.
We got back to the hotel a little after 12:30 a.m. and crashed.
Friday was kind of difficult. My wife and I were pretty hungover and it took us awhile to really get going. We went downtown and shopped for a little bit and then went back to hotel to relax a little more. We went to dinner that night at Mirandi and the restaurant was absolutly beautiful. We had a table right on the water just after sunset. The fish in the water jump all the time and it's really neat to see. Dinner was very long as they take quite awhile to bring you your food. That was fine as we were not in a hurry. If you are in a hurry, do not eat here because you will need at least 2 hours to dedicate to dinner. After dinner we went to the seaport casino and then back to the hotel and we walked the beach to the north this time from the Holiday Inn to past the Marriott. After this we went back to our room.
Saturday was pretty interesting because the Netherlands was playing in their semi-finals game in the Euro cup and the whole island was buzzing. Unfortunately the Netherlands lost but it was neat to see the island really excited for the soccer team. My wife and I went rented a car today and drove down to Baby Beach. We spent some time snorkeling and swimming here and then went downtown again today and had lunch at Iguana Joe's and did some shopping. We went back to the hotel and swam for a little bit and then went to dinner at Flying Fishbone. That was a great dining experience and we took our shoes off and dined with our feet in the sand. This was a very unique restaurant and definately worth a visit. After dinner we tried our luck at the Radisson's casino and then walked the beach back to our hotel and returned to our room for the night.
Sunday was our final full day and we decided to spend it relaxing on the beach. We laid out under our rented palapa and enjoyed the sun and breeze. For dinner we went to Tony Roma's acrossed the street from our hotel. The dinner was good and after that we decided to visit a few of the other casino's along the high rise district and then went to the Iguana Bar at our hotel for a few drinks and then back to our room for the night.
Monday we got up and started packing to go home. We checked out of our hotel pretty quickly and got the airport and breezed through customs very quickly. It was much faster for us to get through the U.S. Customs then it was for the Aruban Customs. The trip went by way to fast and I am so glad we got to experience Aruba and everything they had to offer. We will definately be returning in a few years as Aruba has become our #1 vacation spot. Thank you Aruba and thank you to everyone on this board for answering all my questions before we left. It really made our trip go by with no problems.
