When I was going to visit Aruba in August, I thought that it would be like any of the other tropical Caribbean Islands that I had been to before that was hot & humid, dirty beaches, high crime, pesky mosquitoes, and a lot beggars/solicitors everywhere. Besides this, I would have to keep one eye out for Hurricanes as well.
To my surprise, what I found
instead was a Tourist-Friendly Island that was warm with cool breezes (NOT hot
& humid), CLEAN beautiful white beaches, NO crime, NO mosquitoes, and NO
beggars/solicitors. I can close my eyes to Hurricanes as Aruba is NOT in the
Hurricanes Belt. As the people on the other islands has to duck and run for
cover, Aruba is below and out of the path of the summer Hurricanes in the
Caribbean Ocean. American and European tourists that I had met there all say
that they pick Aruba for the Not-So-Hot-Humid weather and the safe haven from
the Hurricanes.
Beside these reasons for
loving Aruba, I enjoy being a tourist and sightseeing around the island. I
enjoyed visiting the historic California Lighthouse, Alta Vista Chapel, and the
Ruins of the Bushiribana Gold Mill. 
I like to think that the lighthouse is
named after my home state of California but it is not. It was named after the
steamship California that was sunk after hitting the treacherous reefs in the
waters nearby. The 1914 lighthouse is now a guardian beacon that warns all the
ships about the reefs there. The 1750 Alta Vista Chapel was the first Roman Catholic
Church built on the island and it was nicknamed the Pilgrims Chapel. I loved
climbing around the stone ruins of the Bushiribana Gold Mill. I pretend that it
is still 1872 and I look out through the old stone windows for the steamships
arriving to pickup the smelted gold.
The tour through the Aruba
Aloe Museum & Factory was very enlightening. I did not realize that there
is so many uses for aloe. Also, the aloe juice from a freshly cut leaf when
ingested will act as a laxative! So you don't want to drink that juice if you
are not close to a toilet. The tour thru the factory allows you to see how they
process the aloe and put it into lotions, cream, and juices.
The fun activities that I
enjoyed participation in were balloon fishing at Manchebo Beach, Baby Turtle
Project, snorkeling the wrecks, Sunset Catamaran Ride, and gambling at the
Casino. The local Fishermen at Manchebo Beach were very friendly and talked
about their big catches. I asked them how they caught their fish as the big
fish are very far away from shore. They said that they used balloon fishing as
a way to get their fishing rig to deep water past the reefs. They showed me how
they did balloon fishing. 
They connect a small lead
weight on their line then attached the leader with the hook. On the hook, they
put cut fish or a whole fish about 5-6 inches long. They inflate a large
balloon about 12 inches in diameter then tie the fishing line to the balloon
such that jerking the fishing line would untie the fishing line from the
balloon. Next they toss the weight with the bait and balloon into the water. 
This next part is obvious. You must fish where the wind blows out to sea and not
toward the inland and Manchebo Beach is perfect for this. As the wind blows the
balloon out to sea, the fishing rig and bait follows. Once the balloon is at
least 100 yards out, the fisherman yanks on the fishing line with the fishing
pole and the balloon is released. The fisherman now waits for the big fish to
get hooked. I was excited as that night he caught several large Groupers and
Snappers about 20+ inches long.
The hatching of the baby sea
turtles was a very special experience for me on Aruba. Many months earlier, the
mother sea turtle came to shore, dug a big hole, laid her eggs in it, covered
it back up, and headed back out to sea. The Aruba authorities fence off where
the nest is located to protect the eggs. 
In late August, the eggs hatch and the
baby sea turtles crawl out of the sand and into the sea. This all happens in
the dark of the early morning. Afterwards, the naturists would carefully
uncover the sand from the nest and count the total eggs (the hatched and
unhatched eggs). I was very lucky to be there to see that during this time, a
late hatching turtle broke its shell and started to sea. It was very exciting.
I would come back again just to sit in the early morning darkness to see the
baby turtles go to sea!
For snorkeling, we went with
Red Sail Sport on the Catamaran Balia with dives at Boca Catalina reef & at
the sunken German Shipwreck Antilla. I was still able to see the Barracuda swim
in front of the ship's bow and the towering smoke stack rising from the deep.
Seeing the quiet sunken ship in the deep cold waters put chills down my back
and made it kind of scary for me. I kept on thinking that Leonardo Dicaprio was
going to arise from the deep asking for my help. At Boca Catalina reef, the snorkeling in the warm waters was great as there were a lot of fish and squid and reef life to see in its shallow clear waters. Afterwards they turned on the music and served wine & food so we ate and danced.
The De Palm's Sunset Catamaran
Cruise was very leisurely and relaxing. We drank cocktails and ate food while
we watched the wind Surfers surf over the water. The view of the Sunset from
the Catamaran was very romantic. Later we went down stairs and danced to the
music. It was a lot of fun. At the end of the cruise, I could not believe that
I was so exhausted when the cruise started out so relaxing! I wonder if it was
the dancing.
For lodging, Aruba has low
rise and high rise hotels. We wanted to stay at the boutique low rise Bucuti
Beach Resort where it is adults only, non-smoking, and listed as one of the
"top ten dream beaches of the world". It is Trip Adviser Traveler's
Choice for Top 10 Most Romantic Resorts in the World and Conde Naste Traveler's
Choice as a Top Resort in the Caribbean but it was not available for us at that
time. We are going to come back next time and stay there!
We decided to stay at a high
rise in the sophisticated Palm Beach area. There we stayed at the 5-star Hyatt
Regency Aruba Resort & Casino. I picked this place for the view of the
ocean & beach from our room, easy access to the beach & Palm Beach
shopping plaza, and of course, their casino. I loved the view from our room and
it just took a couple of minutes to walk to the beach. I loved their beach bar
where I could easily order a Mai Tai for myself and a Pina Colada for my wife
while sunbathing on their beach. 
I am not a big gambler but I was enticed to
try their casino. My wife and I were given a free $10 coupon bet each for any
of the table games. I am not a risky gambler but I noticed that on one of the Roulette Wheel tables that black was always on a roll.
So after two blacks came up, I put my $10 on black with the extra $10 coupon. Black came up again so I collected my $10 bet with my $20 winnings and left.
I went to the craps table since the Black Jack tables were filled. There I placed my $10 bet on the line with my wife's $10 coupon. We waited several rolls and won a couple of times when the number hit. When I had the opportunity to cash out at the crap table, I took the money and headed to the beach from the casino with $60 profit in my pocket. So for me, the casino experience was special.
I had another special
experience happen while we were out dining at Ike's Bistro Restaurant in the
Manchebo Beach Resort & Spa. We met the Sous-Chef there. His name is Ever
De Pena and he is the 26years old Celebrity Chef there. He is Venezuelan-born
and grew up in Aruba. He has been cooking for 11 years. It was our pleasure
that he came out and greeted us at our pool side table. 
He prepared for us
various dishes with beautiful presentation and delicious taste each time! We
had the Grilled Tuna with tomatoes & avocado salad, a Shrimp Pasta
Primavera dish, Calamari Pasta dish, Portobello Mushroom Ravioli dish, and a
delicious Sea Bass dish. For dessert, we had the yummy Chocolate Temptation
which had various chocolates including chocolate ice cream on the dish. I look
forward to eating there again.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time in Aruba. The
comfortable weather, the beautiful sand beaches, the various activities, the
food, the people, the turtles, low crime, and of course no Hurricanes make me
want to come back to Aruba. I can see why Aruba is the most repeat-visited
island of the Caribbean!
