Aruba~One Happy Island
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| Hadicurari Beach |
Aruba, Jamaica, ohh I wanna take you. Unlike the fantasy island of Kokomo created by the Beach Boys, Aruba is real. The pristine beaches beckon visitors deeper into their kaleidoscope of blue water. Our plan, as usual, was to check out the beaches, chill and get to know more about this postcard paradise and see if it could live up to that vibe you feel while listening to that song. Unfortunately we only had 30 days on our tourist visa, the norm for U.S. citizens visiting Aruba.
Our Airbnb was in Noord, strategically positioned in the north center of the island. The pristine sandy beaches like Eagle Beach and Palm Beach were to the west. The rocky, windward “Wild Side” of Aruba was to our east. We were a 20 minute walk to Malmok Beach boardwalk and a 45 minute hike to the rugged coastline of Urirama Beach.
Our neighborhood had a Chinese- owned grocery store located less than a minute walk away. You see this over and over again in various countries with different actors. A family run business where each member has their respective duties to help with the store and keep the family business running smoothly.
You have the children, mainly just bored out of their minds, getting yelled at for sampling the wares. The teenagers, who work but need to be reminded constantly that unless their phone is going to be placed on the shelf for sale, it needs to be put away and replaced with something that will. Then you have the parents who work closely with the older sibling. They run the place, oil the parts that need it and are no nonsense about it. Then you have the elders.
In this particular store, grandma easily warmed to my charm as she chopped my chicken in the deli. I realize what that sounds like but stay with me. We’d laugh at the inability to speak a language neither of us knew but used to not be hungry. Her daughter, I presumed, was the cashier, the head honcho. She on the other hand was a little tougher, almost impenetrable. It wasn’t until almost two weeks in of almost daily shopping and my constant smiling that it finally registered that I wasn’t going anywhere. She was stuck with me. She stopped up-charging items and stopped converting the Florin price to USD before charging me on items already way overpriced. I get that it’s an island and things are usually a bit more but some things I just refused to buy out of principle. During our last week she asked my name while smoking a cigarette outside. I think she was drunk but hey I’ll take it.
Local public transportation was nearby and Ubers worked without a problem. The water from the faucet was clean, as is all the water in Aruba due to the water being desalinated. That's right, the entire island has pure drinking water that's desalinated from the ocean. I tried to book a tour, because that stuff interests me, but it seems like I wasn’t the only nerd looking for an informative way to spend my afternoon. Tours were booked up for months. The tours are free and last 1.5-2 hours. Book here in advance. (https://tours.webaruba.com/ )
Our hosts were a couple who left their jobs in their own different country after they met here in Aruba and decided to give it a go. They bought these properties and slowly have been fixing them up while living in ones that aren’t rented out. They have done an amazing job and we were happy to contribute to the project they started and the dream they have, really good people.
The hospital I tried to convince to drain bursitis in my elbow was clean and efficient as any I’ve been to in the U.S. They charged $150 for a visit to tell me no, I would get sepsis and die.
Beaches (North to South )
Arashi Beach
Arashi is a small beach and the last stop for the public bus, before turning around and making its way back south. There are some free palapas that were always taken by the time we arrived.
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| Arashi Beach view from lighthouse |
Boca Catalina
Boca Catalina had the best snorkeling of any beach we went to. The water was crystal clear. Schools of inquisitive fish swam in between a small group of us out there bobbing up and down in the gentle waves. We followed a sea turtle as he swam along the ocean floor glancing up every once in a while and waving a high five. We bought full face mask snorkels for this trip and have zero regrets.
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Malmok is a more natural reef which always seemed to be stuck in low tide. Malmok was nice to look at on the walk to Boca Catalina but offered nothing else.
Hadicurari Beach
We quickly discovered our local beach, Hadicurari. It was close and we could take a trail winding through a mangrove filled with wildlife. The water was a milky blue that felt therapeutic on your skin after quick dips to cool off. The soft silica sand felt life silk. This was the beach for kite surfing. We spent days just watching lessons, encouraging beginners and waiting for a collision, which never happened.
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Palm Beach
Palm Beach is set in front of a wooden boardwalk that winds through shops, restaurants and resorts. People tired of the pools walked an easy 20 feet to plop into a lounger shaded by a perfectly kept palapa. Waiters scurried with food orders and sweating cocktails like ants. People were packed in tighter than your gym teacher's shorts. Think over sprayed sunscreen from your neighbor in your drink.
But high above it all perched Nos Clubhuis, a pub serving the traditional, coveted Netherlands treasure, the often imitated, never replicated Bitterballen. This delicious appetizer instantly took us back to Amsterdam, sitting in a cafe overlooking the canals and watching the world go by. Only now it was facing a beach, with beautiful water, in warm weather, in Aruba.
Eagle Beach
The resorts continue south along the coastline until the sand becomes wider and the streets move closer to the water. The resorts no longer have beachfront palapas and the area is more readily accessible to the public. When you see the lone twisted tree, growing out of the sand on an unpopulated beach in the quintessential Aruba photo, you're looking at Eagle Beach. The sand is soft, clean and presents itself as an open invitation to the gentle breakers whispering your name, enticing your body to move closer. Being so beautiful it's also quite popular and tourists were all vying for perfect spots to soak in the sun.
There are a few more beaches too far for walking but easily accessible by public transportation or rental car. We chose not to get a rental due mostly to costs, but also because most of what we wanted to see and do was all within our area.
That all changed when my sister and mom came to town. They were on vacation and didn't have time to go to some desalinization plant during their trip to Aruba, so they wanted to soak it all in.
Baby Beach
Baby Beach is located at the southern tip of Aruba in San Nicholas. Baby beach is aptly named. The beach is a calm small bay with shallow water. The waves are calmed by the natural reefs on either side creating a pool-like setting. The problem wasn’t the calm water, it was the amount of people all crammed into this serene looking bay. The place was packed. The overpriced Big Mama’s Grill gladly gave you a watered down cocktail for $12 while blasting music, enticing people flying overhead at 30,000 ft. to stop in for some fish tenders and fries for only $27.
Bachelors Beach
Rounding back up the eastern side you'll find Bachelors beach. This beach is both sandy and rugged. The waves are bigger but the beach itself is gorgeous. Most importantly, there were only two other cars parked there.
Things to do
Lighthouse
Located at the northernmost tip of Aruba, the California Lighthouse is still in use today, as a tourist attraction and a restaurant. Tour packages for transportation here, entrance and a visit to Ashari beach will set you back $60. The entrance to the lighthouse and the seemingly never-ending spiral staircase will only set you back $5. For $5 you get jelly legs and a panoramic view of the entire island.
Hikes
While the beaches are impressive albeit sometimes crowded, Aruba also boasts a wild side. The wind and pounding waves happily greet visitors to this lesser traveled side. There are trails leading everywhere. Eventually you will reach the coast on the wild side. For us, it was Uririma Beach.
There are a few roads nearby which the Yoda would love but only a handful of locals used them. Waves crashed onto the reefs as crabs scurried for cover. Old weather worn shacks provided reprieve from the hot afternoon sun. Old toilets placed in the dirt, garbage washed upon the shore and forgotten dreams of coastal isolated solitude were presented in buildings falling over and filled with old bottles and trash. This was also Aruba. Somehow it added more intrinsic value to the island, showing its past, its ugly side, raw and discarded.
As a light rain passed by, I heard the sound of a bird. It was a Venezuelan Troupial. The bright orange and black bird leapt from cactus to tree limb almost following us back home. The song was strange, and melodic, a deep piping song showing that even on this perceived ugly side of the island, the beauty lies not in what has been created but what simply just is.
Da Palm Island
I reluctantly agreed to go to a private island with pink flamingos with white flowing sheer linens covering private cabanas with personal butlers with three women; my wife, my mom and my sister. Granted, my sister probably would've been cool with me chillin’ back on the beach, but she’s found a partner in crime in my partner in crime. She also said it had an open bar and she would treat us.
Palm Island was actually pretty cool, I'll have to say. We ate, drank, snorkeled and laughed all day long. Nothing, not even the body-drop waterside beat Alisa doing her best flamingo pose in a 80’s Miami Vice outfit in turquoise water. Palm Island is pricey but if you happen to have a very generous sister it is well worth it.
Our short visit to the “One Happy Island” maybe didn’t have the vibe you feel while listening to Kokomo, but it was real, unfiltered and no less beautiful. Airfare costs are about the only thing still reasonable about Aruba. Everything will be more than you budget for, especially gambling at the Ritz, but you’ll never know until you go, Bon Bini!
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