ARUBA

We had a beautiful 58 mile downwind sail from Curaçao to Aruba.  Still more dolphins entertaining us at our bow as we were sailing at 7 knots.  Once the dolphins left, we tried to fish but lost 1 lure,  again and had 2 other bights but loss the fish.  Darn, no fresh fish tonight...

Roughly 103,000 people call Aruba home. It is the smallest of the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao).  It’s only 19 miles long and its total area is less than 75 square miles. 

We decided to take a slip at the Renaissance Marina.  They put yachts in transit beside the helicopter pad and boat shuttle to their private island and a small barge they use for transporting food to the private island.  Also, we had a nice view of the many cruise ships.  All in all it wasn’t that bad.  We took advantage of their pool and hot showers.  Talking about cruise ships, the Scientology religious group own a cruise ship name ‘Free Wind’ which was in town while we were there.

THERE WERE ACTUALLY 3 CRUISE SHIPS IN TOWN AT THE SAME TIME

ON THE LEFT YOU CAN SEE OUR ANCHOR.  THIS IS HOW CLOSE THE HELICOPTER WAS TO US

MED MOORED

 Since we stayed at the Renaissance marina, we could use their three pools and go to their private island on their boat shuttle.  There are some very tame flamingos there that they feed and they did cut their wings.  I believe this is done so that the tourists get to see some flamingos without having to find them on their own by leaving the comfort of their hotel.

I found some flamingo feathers on the beach in Bonaire. I didn't have any Styrofoam but found some on the beach.  Then I took an empty bottle of mouth wash to put the Styrofoam in.

FEELING CREATIVE

YOUNG IGUANAS

The Renaissance hotel has basically 2 buildings.  One is by the ocean and the other across the street.  Their boat shuttle goes to both hotels to pick up guests and bring them to their private island, simply named 'Renaissance Island'.  To get to the hotel across the street, the boat goes under a man made tunnel to the shopping area of the hotel, right next to Starbucks. 

ENJOYING RENAISSANCE ISLAND

DRY THRU STARBUCKS AT THE RENAISSANCE HOTEL BRINGING GUESTS TO THE PRIVATE ISLAND

AT THE END OF EACH DAY, WE'D COOL OFF IN THEIR BEAUTIFUL POOL 

HAPPY HOUR TIME

We took a local bus north to Eagle Beach and Palm Beach where there is a strip of low rise hotels and another strip with high rise hotels with lots of beach chairs.  Palm Beach is very beautiful, somewhat less touristy at Eagle Beach.

FOFOTI TREE.  IT CAN ONLY BE FOUND IN ARUBA

ONE OF THE HIGH RISES ON PALM BEACH

PALM BEACH

This contraption is called a "Sunscreen Application System".   Put in some money, get into the.....thing, close your eyes and get a blast of sun tan lotion.  ok ?

Hawksbill turtles lay their eggs on Eagle Beach starting in April and they hatch, I think, around September.  When we were there in early April, only 4 had laid their eggs.  In 2015, there were approximately 35 turtles that laid eggs by the end of the season.

We walked to the Bubali bird sanctuary which has fresh water.  There’s an observatory but no trails.

THERE WERE 10 DUCKLINGS

BANANA QUIT

YET ANOTHER PARROT

Aruba reminds me of America with their numerous shopping strips with loads of known makes such as Prana, Boss, Lacoste, Calvin Klein, ect…There are also numerous cruise ship jewelry stores, expensive hand bags and local markets with goods made from China.  They have the most American fast food restaurants I’ve seen in my travels in the Bahamas and Eastern Caribbean.  There are Chinese restaurants, Seafood & Steak houses, Cuban food , Mexican food…all at a very high touristy price.  There is even a free trolley you can hop on and off that goes thru the shopping district.

We took a local bus south to Baby beach.  On the way, we drove thru the dry towns of Santa Cruz and San Nicolas.  There wasn’t one house with grass since it’s so dry on the island.  They leave their lawns bare with dirt or the nicer ones have tiled front yards. 

VERY DRY CLIMATE

Baby beach is very pretty if you look south.  If you look north, you see the pipes of the Aruba Oil refinery Company; an unpleasant site. 

We're not big beach people so off we went and took a walk south and came across a cemetery which looked quite dilapidated.   I was quite sad about it being so un-kept until…..we realized, it was a pet cemetery.

JUST BEYOND BABY BEACH

PET CEMETERY

RIP. WOOF WOOF

 Along the shore, we came across some wild donkeys.  I really enjoy these docile animals.  They let me pet them until they realized I had no food and off they went or was it because they wanted to mate; sorry no picture.

LOCAL FISHING BY THE PET CEMETERY

Next stop: Cartagena, Columbia where Romancing the Stone was filmed.

INFORMATION FOR CRUISERS:

-   Immigration/customs:  We had to dock our boat at the customs dock in Oranjestad.  They ask that you hail them on VHF16, 30 minutes before our arrival to ask permission to dock.  Immigration and customs came to our boat each in their own cars and made us fill out forms.  Then they both went back to their office to scan our passports.  Once they returned, customs came on board and opened cupboards and looked in our bilge lockers.  They asked us if we had any liquor and we said yes.  We had about 4 liters of liquor and some wine in which all had been opened.  They told us that we were NOT allowed any booze at all.  So our choices were to surrender our booze and in this case they would have put them under lock.  Our other choice was to pay duty.  Lucky for us, they let us go because all our bottles were opened.  To check out, we had to dock again at the customs dock. 

-   The bus system is very good.  It costs $2.50us a trip and goes to the northern and southern tips of Aruba (not the national park or windward side).  There is a bus terminal in downtown Oranjestad behind and to the west of the pink Royal Plaza.

-   There used to be a self serve laundry mat near the Renaissance hotel but it closed in the beginning of April 2016.  You can have your laundry done by the marina for X amount a kilo plus they charge a $10.00us delivery fee.

-   If you take a slip at the Renaissance marina, you get access to their pools (3) and you can take their shuttle boat to their private island.  You can also use their employee hot showers.  They tend to put transients beside their shuttle boat and barge.  The hotel is next to the airport, and when a plane takes off, it’s quite loud.    There’s also a tourist helicopter beside the shuttle boats and it’s also very loud when in use.  Its med mooring and the marina personnel are extremely helpful.  There are many tourists walking on the docks since they do not fence off the marina area.  There is a security guard at night and felt very safe here.

-   There’s a cinema at Palm Beach plaza and at the Renaissance hotel in Oranjestad., call +297 59 29 393 or email turtugaruba@hotmail.com

-   If you want to volunteer in the turtle during the nesting or hatching seasons, call +297 59 29 393 or email turtugaruba@hotmail.com

-   The butterfly farm was built by a man from Montreal.  It costs $15us.

-   The Bubali Bird Sanctuary is free.