This summer we continued our quest for the perfect beach, and I believe that we have discovered a new favorite. Our exploration of the Caribbean Sea has recently taken us to Cozumel and Aruba and both have shown that the beaches, climate, and sea environment make for an awesome vacation.
The kids were very well behaved on the early morning flight to Miami, as well as the continuing leg to Aruba. We arrived on the island just after lunch time which allowed us to spend a good part of the day on Monday, June 21st exploring the Marriott Surf Club where we were staying. The pool area was great with a lazy river, waterslide, and swim up bar (perfect for watching World Cup games).
Following the winding paths wrapped in tropical greenery and iguanas, you arrive at the broad expanse of a tranquil Palm Beach along the Northwest side of the island.
Angel had long been talking about getting the kids up parasailing for their first time while we were in Aruba. There were numerous beach vendors offering all kinds of water sport services like snorkeling tours, tubing, waterskiing, parasailing, wind surfing, scuba diving, and even kite boarding. Unlike most things in Aruba, the cost of these beach activities were reasonable, so we took advantage of the parasailing and riding the banana boat as a family. Both of the kids hopped right in the harnesses without an ounce of fear. We are so proud of our brave little Batemans!
The banana boat ride wasn’t exactly camera-friendly so we didn’t get to capture any pics of the ride, but it was one of the more memorable moments of the trip. We cruised out to the California Lighthouse and back increasing the speed and the turbulence as the ride went on. Just when we were ap
proaching our hotel’s beach, the boat driver stopped and pointed out some dark spots at the bottom of the crystal clear blue waters. Dotting the otherwise white sandy sea floor were dozens of large dark spots calmly resting below us. While we were fixating our eyes on the undulating water surface trying to guess what the curious shapes were, the boat driver plunged beneath the waves and emerged with a huge red starfish like the one pictured here. We all got to hold the creature and Jackson aptly named it Patrick after the starfish on SpongeBob Squarepants. After the brief encounter, we jettisoned the animal back into the water and cruised back to shore.
If you ever travel to Aruba, you’ll quickly find out that the island has perfected the art of catering to American tourists. According to our taxi driver, about 80% of the tourists in Aruba come from the US. Conveniently, US dollars are widely accepted, power outlets are the same as in the states, and American conveniences like WiFi are commonplace. The catch to the convenience is cost – Aruba is one of the more expensive places we have vacationed. While most food and drink is very expensive, you can find nice places with decent value as well. One spot that came highly recommended to us was “Salt & Pepper”, a tapas bar with a nice patio. If you go, bring them a unique set of salt & pepper shakers and you’ll get a carafe of sangria for your troubles.
We also found some great spots to eat on the beach within just a few steps from the hotel. Restaurants in Aruba serve lots of seafood as well as great beef and other meats. Caribbean lobster is definitely a must-try as it is a bit different than Maine lobster. Most specimens are quite a bit larger, however there is no claw meat to supplement the tail.
Another great nighttime experience of our trip was the karaoke at the local hotel sports bar. Jackson and Emily wowed the crowd with renditions of “I Will Survive” and “Born to Be Wild” – check out these pictures and video of our rising stars.
While the miles of off-roading opportunities has us thinking about renting a jeep for a few days, we opted instead to take a guided jeep tour. We loaded in the back of an open air crawler with 4 others for a tour of the island with Curtis. Ironically, Curtis used to live in Moscow which was comical because when he introduced himself to the kids they asked if he was my friend Curtis from Moscow (I had just visited him a week earlier).
The east coast of the island is much more rugged and rocky with larger waves. While this made for some more dramatic scenery, the beaches on the west are much nicer for relaxing. Along the route we visited some of Aruba’s attractions including an old gold mine that provided some good exploring opportunities.
And there was the natural bridge…
… as well as an Ostrich farm where the kids got to feed the birds and sit on them. Jackson even got to ride one of the ostriches!
Aside from a day dad spent scuba diving, the remainder of the trip was spent hanging out by the pool (or beach) and just relaxing. We met some friends from Boston that were a lot of fun, and the entire pool area was charged with the energy of the World Cup when the matches were on. Since Aruba is a Dutch colony, there was a lot of support for Holland as well as the USA.
And of course, all good things must come to an end. After a fun week in this amazing new destination we discovered, it was time to fly home. Once again the kids behaved great from the pre-dawn wake up, through the long layover in Miami and on to Bush Intercontinental in Houston.
Here you can see them passing the time while Emily clutches her new “I Love Aruba” bear, Mr. Huggies. We’ll definitely be back to Aruba, but we may have to scope out some other islands first!
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