General News

Aruba, the island of 90,000 friends you haven’t met yet, is truly an extraordinary experience for travelers, but don’t just take our word. To date in 2009, the island destination and its hotels have received numerous travel awards.

Aruba was recently recognized by TripAdvisor® as a “Top Ten Romantic Destination For Couples.” TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel community, bestowed the honor on Aruba from a recent survey that focused on romantic travel. The survey was conducted amongst more than 1,800 U.S. respondents.

Beyond being a top romantic destination, TripAdvisor® has also named Aruba’s capital, Oranjestad, number ten on the list of “Top 25 Destinations in Latin America/Caribbean” via the 2008 Travelers’ Choice Destinations Awards. Other island recognitions include The Atlanta Journal-Constitution naming Aruba a “Top Ten Destination Wedding Location” and Scuba Diving Magazine’s second place as a top “Wreck Diving Destination” and one of the “Top Twenty Dive Destinations for the Caribbean.”

Additional recent accolades received by Aruba include:

•  Bucuti Beach Resort won TripAdvisor®’s 2009 Travelers Choice Award in the “Best Hotel for Romance” category for the fourth consecutive year; Expedia’s “Insider’s Select Award” for the fourth consecutive year; and a “Golden Apple Award” by Apple Vacations the for the eight consecutive year.

•  Travel + Leisure named the Radisson Aruba Resort & Casino one of the “Top 500 World’s Best Hotels” in January 2009.

•  The Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort & Casino received an AAA Four Diamond Award 2009.

•  Sherman’s Travel listed the Occidental Grand Aruba as one of the “Top 10 All-Inclusive Beach Resorts.”

•  Marriott Aruba Ocean Club received the Interval International Premier Resort Award for providing outstanding vacation experiences to their members. Additionally, the property’s executives and sales team received the Chairman’s Club Award for their significant contributions to new member enrollments with Interval International. The hotel’s Mandara Spa was named to the Platinum List of Celebrated Living magazine in the “Best Spa” category.

•  Aruba’s Airport, Queen Beatrix International was awarded second place in Skytax’ World Airport Awards - Best Airports in the category for Central America and the Caribbean for the second consecutive year.

For more information on travel to Aruba, please visit online at www.ARUBA.com or call 1-800-TO-ARUBA.

Tad and Carla Bohlen, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, exchanged their vows on Bucuti’s 14 acres of pristine, powder white beach. The couple described the location as “the perfect setting for a beach wedding”. The couple enjoyed their dream beach wedding with a fiery red sun setting behind them. The Pirates Nest Restaurant catered a 5 course private dinner on the deserted beach complete with a dedicated steward in tuxedo.

Tad is an engineer, Carla works in an office as a receptionist and the couple met in a karate class.  On February 22, 2008 just a week after Valentine’s Day, they got engaged during a cruise to the Bahamas. The wedding plans ensued and both preferred an intimate and romantic affair.

When asked why they choose Aruba, the newlyweds replied, “We had heard how beautiful Aruba was from many friends. Aruba is the perfect setting for a beach wedding” Mr. and Mrs. Bohlen expressed thanks to Nashette Wouters, Bucuti’s wedding planner and the entire wedding team of the resort. “The Bucuti was exactly what we were looking for our wedding. Nashette did an outstanding job. Our wedding was everything we dreamed it would be. It was beautiful, elegant and perfect.”

Mr. and Mrs. Bohlen celebrated their honeymoon in one of Bucuti’s award winning Tara Beach Suites.

Contact: Nashette Wouters - weddings@bucuti.com

Photos by Victor Winklaar

The northern coast of the island is home to most of Aruba’s natural attractions. The largest of these is the Arikok National Park, which covers 18% of the island and contains several noteworthy sites accessible by a network of hiking trails.

In the deep recesses of rock along the island’s windward coast, shallow cave formations intrigue visitors, who, in seeking to penetrate its damp chambers, are rewarded with mysterious views of rock drawings, the sudden, flapping wings of a nervous bat and nature’s artwork of stalagmites and stalactites.
There visitors will find the bat-filled Quadirikiri, Fontein, and Baranca Sunu or better known as Tunnel of Love. Taking in consideration that those three caves are main attractions of the Island, Post Aruba decided to issue a set of 3 stamps with this theme.
Stamp 175c: The Baranca Sunu Cave or also known as Tunnel of Love, is 300 feet long and is located on the Northern part of the island. In English “Baranca Sunu” means Naked Rock, but the origin of this name cannot be traced. Baranca Sunu has five chambers and in one of them there is a Virgin Mary that is shown in one of the natural rock formations.

The name Tunnel of Love offers more adventure than romance. The entrance of the cave has steep and narrow stairs downwards into the cave. In this tunnel the visitors will have to bend in some of the parts to discover its mysteries and to go through it. The exit is a little more challenging because you have to climb up a small stairs carved in the rocks. The tunnel is closed at the moment to preserve it and to make sure that the resident bat population reestablishes itself. The two bat populations are better known as Long Tongue Fruit Bats and Insect Eaters Bats.
Stamp 200c: Located about 100 meters from Aruba’s natural Fontein is the Fontein Cave situated in an escarpment of a terrace of coral limestone and it has an airy and easily accessible entrance of 3 meters broad and 2 meters high. Inside, the first vestibule is 4 meters high by about 50 meters, so it can be visited by the public.

The Fontein Cave is the most popular of the caves as it is the only one that has the ornamental drawings of Arawak Indians, providing a real sense of island history to this cave. These drawings are located in the flatter part of the ceiling and on the walls. These drawings have a particularly brownish red, reddish brown or more purplish color. It is also believed that in that cave the Arawak Indians celebrated rituals and ceremonies typical for their tribe.

Stamp 225c: The entrance of Quadirikiri Grot (Guadirikiri Cave) is located at the base of a cliff and is famous for its two chambers, illuminated by the sunlight, shining through holes in the roof of the cave which is 98 feet (30m) long. The cave is inhabited by hundreds of harmless bats. For this reason it was decided to have it closed starting at the second room to make sure that the bats could reproduce.
This emission is available at the post offices in Oranjestad, San Nicolas, Santa Cruz and Port of Call starting on April 01, 2009 until March 31, 2010 for all our clients who would like to have this special issue.

These stamps can be ordered as well via email: philatelic@postaruba.com

Top Caribbean Engineering Conference To Be Held At
Renaissance Convention Center Aruba, July 27-29, 2009

Aruba, known for its white-sand beaches, near perfect weather and warm hospitality, is proud to announce that the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) Engineering Conference will be held on the island from July 27-29, 2009.  The conference will take place at the Renaissance Convention Center Aruba and will be co-hosted by Aruba’s water and energy plant WEB Aruba N.V.

This year, the CARILEC commemorates 20 years of service to Caribbean Utilities, and the three-day conference is expected to attract over 300 delegates from a diverse audience of engineering practitioners, academia, industry professionals and vending companies.

The event is attended by engineering professionals from the Regional Utilities, North America and Europe. It also attracts participation from manufacturers, suppliers of equipment and materials and other industry service providers. The conference serves as a forum to facilitate networking, the exchange of ideas and exposure to new developments, technologies and products both through presentations and a trade show.

The CARILEC is an association of electric utilities, suppliers, manufacturers and other stakeholders operating in the electricity industry in the Caribbean. The Association is made up of 33 electric utilities from Bermuda in the north to Guyana in the south, and 62 associate member and three affiliate member companies involved in different aspects of servicing the electric utility business.

For more information and registration please visit  www.carilec.com.

Welcome to Aruba! To date there have been no cases of Influenza A H1/N1 in Aruba. The Department of Public Health of Aruba has taken all the necessary steps to ensure the island’s preparedness and to prevent an occurrence of Influenza A H1/N1 in Aruba.

It has been determined that crew members and at least one passenger on the Ocean Dream, operated by Pullmantur are infected with the A H1N1 virus. Aruba is the turnaround port of the Ocean Dream and passengers embark and disembark the ship in Aruba. Aruba has taken measures to protect the visitors and population on our island, while at the same time taking care of the crew and passenger of the ship that have Influenza A H1/N1 and those who have developed influenza-like symptoms. Passengers with influenza-like symptoms will be tested. All those without symptoms or that test negative will leave the island. Pullmantur has been requested to arrange for their flights to their destination.

Upon arrival of the ship in Aruba, all precautions as per health regulations issued by WHO & PAHO will be applied. A thorough plan of action is planned and will be implemented immediately. All passengers and crew members on the ship will be screened and those infected or show symptoms will receive treatment and remain on board until further notice.

The non-infected (healthy) passengers, that have a confirmed flight for departure today, will remain in the terminal until their flight departure time and will then be transported to the airport for departure. The ship will remain in the port of Aruba until further notice, in order to apply the Sanitation Protocol according to the WHO. As to the passengers that are arriving with flights today to embark on the Ocean Dream, Pullmantur has taken care of the accommodations here in Aruba.

Aruba has done its utmost to extend its care to all the passengers, for the safety of all its visitors and population. Thank you for your cooperation and whatever your destination may be, we wish you a safe flight. To those staying in Aruba, we wish you a pleasant stay.

As a final note, all travelers should follow the hygiene guidelines to help prevent the spread of the virus as directed on the websites of the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. www.who.int and www.cdc.gov/swineflu/
If you think you have symptoms of the Influenza A H1/N1 (fever of 100F/38C, dry cough, sore throat), you should call the Influenza Diagnostic Center at: (297) 5887130 or (297) 5887280

Where You Can Travel Without Worry, and Feel Super-Secure

Given some Caribbean islands’ reputation for violent crime and the high-profile Natalee Holloway case in Aruba, it may seem counterintuitive to include the Dutch ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) on a list of the world’s safest places to travel. But the stats don’t lie: Crime rates on the three islands are low, political unrest is virtually unknown, they’re too far south for hurricanes, and in 2008 the trio ranked lowest in the Caribbean in felonious incidents against visiting yachts. In fact, Aruba was the only place in the region to achieve a perfect score on the yacht crime survey.

To find the world’s ultra-safe places to travel we analyzed piles of data, from U.S. State Department warnings on crime against U.S. citizens abroad and the latest United Nations survey on global crime trends to the Mercer rankings of the world’s safest cities. We also looked at other fear factors: natural disasters, social or political unrest, warfare and terrorism. However, the criteria are too varied to make a definitive ranking credible and to rank the 10 safest countries. Some of our choices were obvious: bucolic New Zealand, neutral Switzerland and squeaky-clean Singapore. As for omissions, the Scandinavian countries and some very small island nations would make a longer list of 20 or 25.

Some of our findings are surprising. Maybe it’s movies like “Gangs of New York” and guilt by association with the ongoing troubles across the border in Ulster, but the Irish have always had a rather gruff reputation. But you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. A recent World Health Organization study named the Emerald Isle the least violent country in Europe. And according to the latest Mercer rankings of the world’s safest urban areas, Dublin is less dangerous than major cities in Japan, Australia or Canada.

The image of the rough, tough Irishman “is a media myth—the Hollywood version,” says retired Irish entrepreneur and diplomat Michael Mullally, who for many years has addressed his country’s persona abroad. “It’s about a realistic an image of the Irishman as the Marlboro Man is of Americans.” Cyprus is another place that bucked its traditional image. The 1950s struggle for independence against the British and the Turkish invasion of 1974 and its contentious aftermath color perceptions of the eastern Mediterranean isle. But with the Orthodox church and the traditional Greek family as the twin pillars of society—and a booming economy since entering the European Union in 2004—the island has evolved into a haven of serenity. Recent moves toward rapprochement between independent Cyprus and Turkish-controlled North Cyprus have also contributed to the overall sense of calm.

Tasoula Manaridis of the Cyprus Tourism Organization feels that several factors contribute to the island being such a safe destination. “Cyprus is a country with very high per capita income, one of the highest in Europe. The poverty is at a very, very low level.” But she also points out that, “We never had a terrorist attack either. When they have troubles in the Middle East, they evacuate people out to Cyprus because it’s the safest destination nearby.”

Our search for the safest places revealed several common denominators. Almost all of them are relatively small in terms of both size and population (New Zealand was the largest in both categories). They are all fairly affluent, if not on a global basis then certainly when compared to other countries in their region. And for the most part they are free and open societies, with democratically elected governments and freedom of the press. Religious and family values also figure into the mix. Many of them have homogenous populations, although the melting pots of Singapore, Switzerland and the Dutch southern Caribbean islands show that isn’t always the case. According to Jacob Gelt Dekker, mastermind behind the award-winning Kura Hulanda restoration project and museum in Curacao, the keys to their own tranquility are employment and education. “Unemployment on Curacao is about 3 percent of the adult work force … These numbers compare very favorably to the rest of the Caribbean, where unemployment of the adult work force is on average 15-25 percent.”

Local unemployment is low because the education is ingrained in the local culture and heavily backed by the government. “Education laws make schooling obligatory up to the age of 18 years, and soon to be extended to 21,” Dekker explains. “We expect crime to be even less in the near future, as the schooling laws come into play.” For a rough comparison, we’ll note the United Nations Office rankings on Drugs & Crime, listing a few of the countries ranked solely on the basis of crime and drugs.

Obviously a country currently involved on a war (Iraq, Afghanistan) is going to be the most dangerous. Many large countries do not fare as well. For instance, Colombia, South Africa and Jamaica almost always rank among the world’s most dangerous. Reading from most dangerous to least, the U.S. is the least safe of the big Western nations. The U.N. study ranks the U.S. at No. 24 in per capita murder, well head of France (No. 40), Britain (No. 46), Germany (No. 49) and Japan (No. 60).
From msnbc.msn.com

This week a representative of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from the US is visiting Aruba to do preparatory work for the upcoming TSA inspection. Aruba is one of the few islands in the Caribbean area that gives pre-clearance service to passengers travelling to the US. This is why Aruba Airport Authority N.V.’s security department has to maintain high levels of security procedures. Every year TSA together with the Department of Civil Aviation performs a rigorous inspection on the procedures, training and general performance of the security officers at Queen Beatrix International Airport. During this pre-inspection visit, the TSA representative, Mr. Allan Hurr said that he was very satisfied with the security level at the airport. Mr. Hurr also discussed a few changes in security procedures that will be implemented shortly at the airport. AAA looks back at a very successful pre-inspection visit and is very happy with the obtained results of recent months. The representative of TSA, Mr. Allan Hurr, together with the representative of the Department of Civil Aviation, Mr. Claudio Quant were present. On behalf of AAA were Mr. Mario Bikker, Managing Director a.i., Mrs. Angeline Flemming, Security Manager and Mr. Eduardo Wix, Head of Security Inspections.

AAA Welcomes Another World Renowned Store

Recently the Lacoste store officially opened its doors at the Queen Beatrix International Airport. Lacoste operates a duty free shop, offering a great assortment of Lacoste fashion articles to our departing passengers using our airport. Lacoste is a world-renowned brand, recognized worldwide for its high quality products for kids, teens and adults. Lacoste offers sporty and casual wear and is a must-visit-store for our departing passengers. The airport is very pleased to have Lacoste as its newest addition to its main shopping area! AAA N.V. congratulates Lacoste with its third store in Aruba and looks forward to a fruitful business relation with this new business partner.

A letter addressed to David Brown, Managing Director, Tierra del Sol Real Estate N.V., told a dramatic story.
Yesterday morning at 6:30 a.m. a Leatherback Sea Turtle of about 800 pounds, was found lost in between Tierra del Sol and the sea at the northern part of the island. After egg-laying the exhausted female Leatherback went in the wrong direction inland, and ended up near the Tierra del Sol Golf Course.
It was a big problem, reports Edith van der Wal, Turtugaruba, president, but the hardworking and dedicated staff of the golf course came to the rescue, fast and efficiently.

Elisio Guerrero, José Rodríguez, Marco Baez and Rukiman, helped the volunteers of Turtugaruba with a fork lift truck and pallet/sheet and with some additional assistance from the fire brigade, they succeeded to lift the Leatherback up, transport it and bring it back to the shoreline, where it crawled into the sea, well and alive.
Turtugaruba is forever grateful for the terrific save, and thanked the maintenance crew, for all they have done.

Mother earth, loves you too!!
Pictured here, the save and rescue operation on the golf course.

In recent years many millions of dollars have been invested in the upgrade of Aruba hotels, airport, cruise & bus terminal, shopping malls, attractions & spas. Designated by the Aruban government for condominiums, Eagle Beach started showing a number of luxury condo complexes. Unlike the majority of developments, Oasis Luxury Condominiums opted for a Mediterranean-style, low-density residence, boasting privacy and intimacy.

Oasis was conceived as a 35-unit sanctuary from the rush, on a sizeable Eagle Beach lot – 8,750 m2, designed for two low-rise buildings, of just five stories each, with a selection of spacious one, two and three bedroom apartments. The push for condo development is a natural progression for the island and it is driven by Aruba’s many repeat visitors. Thirty years ago, Aruba had the insight to introduce the timeshare, vacation ownership concept. In fact when the Aruba Beach Club was built, it was the 8th timeshare resort in the world! Timeshare was in diapers when it landed here and it matured nicely hand in hand with that baby-boomers generation which embraced family travel. While visitors got to come back to ‘their island’ each year, Aruba greatly benefited from the highest rate of visitors return in the Caribbean. As that baby-boomers generation aged, their needs evolved. Today, many of the island’s repeat guests clearly express their intention to purchase a place they can call their own for more than a week or two per year.

A spokesperson developing Oasis Luxury Condominiums at Eagle Beach reports that while the present economic climate is perhaps discouraging towards real estate purchases, in reality, now is a good time to buy, as good as last year and perhaps twice as exciting. Aruba’s real estate market is stable, prices on the island have not dropped which clearly indicates that Aruba’s real estate market was and remains an excellent investment opportunity. Oasis at Eagle Beach offers more than a spectacular view. Some of the amenities include floor to ceiling glass doors and panoramic windows, spacious terraces, marble bathrooms, kitchens nicely finished with great detail, high tech appliances and fully air-conditioned spaces. The hallways and corridors have been especially created to allow sunshine and fresh air, befitting a tropical lifestyle. The fully landscaped free-form swimming pool with water falls and fiber-optic lighting, wraps around a two story club-house, with an elegant port cochere, offering a fully equipped gym and a reception which will provide 24/7 services, including a knowledgeable around-the-clock concierge, and security.

Condo-owners with time on their hands and just modest financial resources, may share a wonderful vacation with their kids, also inviting assorted family members and friends to spend quality time together. The condo may also become a more tangible legacy for children, besides memories of good times had on the island. Naturally, for the still active and involved visitor, high speed DSL global internet and a sophisticated telecommunications network will make it possible to live on the beach, while staying in touch with the world and with business. Playing golf while running an office from the tropics, does that sound attractive? You bet it does.

The developers of Oasis Aruba, F.G. Developers NV, picked a highly reputable and internationally recognized contractor, Deconferca – www.deconferca.com, to translate their vision into reality. Together, they have been making the significant investment, which clearly demonstrates the confidence business visionaries have in this island. Aruba’s investors believe that the island will continue to be successful, and continue its role as “tourism trailblazer” in the Caribbean. With more than 1 million tourist arrivals each year, by cruise ship and by air, with a majority of them from the United States, one happy island is raising the bar on everything including condominiums.

Oasis: Above: Artist’s concept
Below: In construction