We arrived on the 14th of Oct, coming in on Continental out of Newark. We are from the Cleveland area and did an early morning connection to Newark. Plane left on time and arrived a few minutes early. We breezed through customs. We stayed 2 nights at the Marriott Resort and then two weeks at the Surf Club. We can’t say enough good things about the Marriot properties here. We had to wait past 4 o’clock for our room and the bell captain sent us to the lobby bar for a free drink. The friendliness of the staff and the rooms are very nice. Because of this, we purchased at the Surf Club last year and moved in on Oct. 16. Check in at the Ocean Club was a little slow because it was not built to register both the Surf Club and Ocean Club. Surf Club is due to open its own registration early in 2006. The beautiful pool is due to open December 15. Wish we could be here to experience it. They filled the lazy river with water this week and the landscaping is moving along nicely. It will be nice when the Surf Club has a larger fitness center, and their own shops etc. It is a little inconvenient to always have to walk over to the shops at Ocean Club. I worry a little that even with the new pool that it will be overcrowded once the building is complete.

Restaurants:
Madame Janette continues to be our favorite restaurant. Went twice. My husband had the almond grouper both times. Huge fillet and excellent with a spinach cream sauce. I had surf and turf the first night and rack of lamb the second. Both superb. With a glass of wine and their crab cake appetizer the first night was $88 US and the second night was $70 US. No room for dessert. The prices amaze us.

Chalet Suisse- First time and what a great experience! Had Chateaubriand (steak for two) and it was fantastic! Service was impeccable. One glass of wine a piece and the dinner bill about $75.

El Gaucho - first time there. We both had the El Gaucho steak. Very nice but the steak wasn't as tender as Chalet Suisse. Of course, different cuts of meat. El Gaucho continues to be very popular and we had to wait even with our reservations.

Papiamento - We always like to go there and sit by the pool. They are very busy this year and service and food was great. I had one of the meals on stone and the hubby, as usual, had grouper.

Ruinas Del Mar - Hyatt. This was a disappointment. We made reservations but there were not many people and reservations would not have been needed. Service was top notch, food only so-so. Very pricey. My husband had sea bass which was fishy and I had chicken stuffed with figs.

Champions at Ocean Club- we always seem to end up there our first night. Good bar food. Not as busy this year since the Yankees and Red Sox not in the World Series.

Pinchos Grill and Bar – what a neat place! Beautiful evening for sitting on one of their wicker couches. We had scallops for appetizer and I had Mixed Grill and the husband had pork tenderloin. Very good. The bill with 3 drinks and the appetizer and entrees was $67.

Flying Fishbone – Since the last time we were there they added more tables on the beach and when arrived at about 7:45 p.m. the place was packed. I guess it was early seating customers there for the sunset. They cleared a table at water’s edge and had a fine dinner. Soup of the day, onion soup. Both of us had that. I have had better, but hey, I’ve never been able to eat it with my toes in the ocean. He had the first catch of the day, wahoo. I had the shrimp blue cheese casserole. So rich and yet so divine! Two glasses of wine a piece, no dessert and bill was about 105. I love the experience!

Blossoms – had the concierge make last minute reservations, couldn’t get in until 9:00. Got there early, but they were so back up, never got in until 9:30 and that was in the Chinese section. We had wanted the tableside cooking. But the food turned out to be very good. We had a spring roll, spicy orange beef and General’s chicken. No cocktail, one diet and water, bill was 51.00 Very nice, just very slow and appearances were of not being organized or being able to handle so many people. The sushi makers were going non stop.


La Vista at Marriott Resort was good for an expensive breakfast on Sunday. We had eaten at Moomba's for the buffet breakfast the Sunday before. Only $10 a person but the food only so-so.

The beach area around the fisherman's pier was very smelly. Everyone blames the currents due to the hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin. I hope that is all it is. The Marriott Resort does a nice job of keeping the beaches clean of seaweed. The Surf Club and Ocean Club not as well. We went down to the Hyatt and their beach was very nice and you didn’t detect the rotting seaweed odor.

Extra: Economy Rental – 3 day Toyota Corolla for 114.

Red Sail Sports – ½ day snorkel trip with deli style lunch. There were only 12 of us. Very nice – 59 dollars per person. We got a 10% discount being Surf Club owners. They sure have a lot of snorkel competitors. The Jolly Pirates looked like they had many people and there were other companies that had a lot of people too. Red Sail did a nice job though. The snorkeling was very good at the three sites, Arashi, Boca Catalina, and the Antilla shipwreck. Even with all the rain and somewhat stormy weather visibility was good.

De Palm Tour – De Palm Island – ½ day. We really enjoyed that. Good snorkeling, pretty beach and a great lunch and open bar. Marriott owners, 40 dollars a person.. It was a highlight of the two weeks.

The local paper yesterday admitted that tourism from the US is down in the 3rd quarter, due to high jet fuel prices and bad publicity from the Natalie Holloway case. I can’t say I can tell a difference from last year.

Ling and Sons grocery was a pleasant surprise. Fairly good prices, clean and very modern.

Leaving today on the Continental 5:30 p.m. flight back to Newark. Back to reality. We will return next year but we may look at coming earlier or later. This is the second year that we have run into rain. (As I write this it is raining and last night it poured) I know, what can we expect, hurricane season and all, but all the hype about how it never rains in Aruba has been debunked. Interestingly enough, taxi drivers and others that work on the south and east side say they haven’t received the rain that the north end has. One taxi driver blamed it on global warming. Maybe so.