The fun started last year when I saw an Airfare Watchdog deal on Twitter for Aruba flights on US Air for $300. We decided to go for it and book right away. that was such a great price, we knew we could not pass it up. Plus, we had been hearing about Aruba for the past several years from Kristin and Chris as they had gone for a relative's wedding and really enjoyed it. So, we made sure to alert them to this deal and they booked the same flights we did.
Once we started looking at lodging options, it became clear that nothing is cheap in Aruba. We decided to look at condo options and we decided on a condo called Oceania Residences. We booked Boca Catalina condo #254 called Absolute Luxury and felt we got a pretty good deal. I was a bit nervous as we had never booked a condo before, but the rental agency was very responsive and I did not find anything negative about them online. And, in reality, I had nothing at all to worry about. Everything was exactly as represented online and we were very happy with the accommodations.
Kristin's sisters Amanda and Melissa also joined us, as they needed a vacation and the condo could sleep up to 6 people and they ended up finding a great airfare deal on United Airlines for $400 per person.
Our flights out of MSP were a bit delayed as it took us a long time to have the plane deiced. We made up the time in the air and made it to Charlotte, NC with not much time to spare. We grabbed some food, got on the plane and the doors shut. The flight to Aruba was uneventful and we met Melissa and Amanda by the baggage claim area in customs. We split up and took two taxis to the condo, it was a short ride, maybe 15 minutes and cost $22 and then waited around a bit for someone to come and check us in from the rental agency.
Champagne toast on arrival compliments of the rental agency.
We all moved in, freshened up, checked the place out and bit and decided we were all starving. We walked a couple resorts over and had dinner at the restaurant at La Cabana Resort called Islander Grill. It was not our first choice, but there were not a lot of options close by.
my first Balashi Chill; kind of like Corona
After dinner we decided to try walking over to the Super Food grocery store to get some supplies. The waiter said it was open until later, but it was closed when we arrived. And we had lost John and Chris in the process. They ended up going to one convenience store and walking back to the condo. Me and the girls ended up getting a taxi at Super Food (it was the same taxi driver that we had from the airport!) and stopping at another convenience store and going back to the condo. They had returned to the restaurant to find us and then walked back, so we were there first and had to wait for them as they both had the room keys. After all that, we had a few more Balashi Chills and went to bed. It had been a very long day of traveling with lots of excitement.
Thursday morning we were all up rather bright and early. John and I and Kristin and Chris decided to try walking to Super Food again and this time they were open. We stocked up on lots of food and beverages as we planned to eat in for breakfast and lunch at the condo most days.
inside Super Food
condo from beach, our building was on the left
beach looking North
beach looking South
We spent the rest of the day on the beach, learned not to apply sunscreen in the wind outdoors and we grilled our lunch at the condo.
Thursday night, we did the Kuku Kunuku dinner and bar hopping tour. It was a fun tour that took us up by the lighthouse for a champagne toast and then to a bar for a beer and then to a restaurant for dinner with a few more bars after that.
casibari cafe for BBQ dinner
climb stairs to top of rocks
grill
view from the top
neat beer bottle lights
carnival headdresses
We all had a lot of fun on the tour and I would highly recommend it. It was very fun and we went to some places we never would have thought to stop at on our own. Although, I had booked a reduced price on their website and they charged me full price and I am still waiting for the difference to be refunded.
Friday we had the rental car dropped off and we decided to try to tour Balashi Brewery. We found it, but the tours are only at 10:30am on weekdays.
Next, we drove to San Nicholas to go to Charlie's Bar for lunch. The place was interesting with lots of stuff on the walls, but the food was average at best. I'd just have a drink and eat elsewhere.
Charlie's bar
Charlie's bar interior
street in San Nicholas
street in San Nicholas
conch fritters
shrimp were very mushy, not good
After leaving San Nicholas, we went to Baby Beach to relax for the afternoon. The water was very calm and we saw a few fish in the water too. If you want beach chairs, you have to pay to rent them. I think it was $8 per chair.
baby beach
We stopped at a restaurant called B55 for a drink and a snack on our way back from Baby Beach.
super heavy duty menus with wood covers and metal hinges
view out the back of B55
calamari was pretty good
The service at B55 was super slow, but we enjoyed a break on the drive back.
Our not so awesome rental car. It had every warning light on, bald tires, bad shocks, no middle seat cushion, sharp springs in the seat cushion and a possible exhaust system leak. It did not break down though! I don't think the gas gauge was accurate either.
After B55, we made a stop at Super Food for some supplies and we all got ready for dinner out at Barefoot in downtown Oranjestad.
sunset from the patio
fresh fish
on the beach, listening to planes land! so cool!
Barefoot was very good. The service was decent and the food was quite good, though certainly on the expensive side. I suppose you have to pay a premium to dine with your toes in the sand.
Saturday morning we all got up early to climb Mt. Hooiberg. It is all stairs and quite steep in some spots. We met a local couple and their kids and they were fun to talk to and so nice. I guess to get your physical education teaching certification in Aruba, men have to make it to the top in 9 minutes and 30 seconds and women have one minute more. Yikes! They even led us to the entrance of the national park so we could go to the Natural Pool. It would have taken us forever to find it on our own.
you can see the stairs in this picture going up the middle of the mountain
before the climb!
view from the top- hotel zone is off in the distance
642 steps. ouchie! We all made it though!
entrance to national park; a few chickens and cats wandering around.
Mt Hooiberg in the distance
We had to use the four wheel drive on the way to the Natural Pool. It was an adventure of a drive with some terrible roads, or paths in the dirt and rocks. I was afraid we'd get a flat tire, but we did not. The other Melissa was afraid we'd tip over and she got out to walk for a bit. We did not tip and we made it just fine!
this is the road- the good part of the road too!
pretty views
more stairs to get down to the pools though!
After the 4 x 4 adventure we went to the other entrance to the National Park, stopped at the visitor center and stopped at the gold mine site. I skipped that hike, but everyone else went. There were more darn stairs there too.
We finally made it to the restaurant Boca Prins Bar and Restaurant in the park and it was the best meal any of us had ever had. I think we were hangry. (So hungry you get cranky and angry.)
you can kind of see the ocean behind the jeep
It was super windy, so you needed the cement holder to keep things from tipping over.
restaurant exterior
lizard friends cruising around
fresh grilled barracuda, really good! Not strong or fishy.
grilled chicken skewers
cave exterior
before spelunking
road was better in this part of the park
This cave supposedly had bats, I did not go in, but no one saw any bats. Regardless, the sign said sssst! don't wake the bats. What does ssst mean?! We found some sea glass at the overlook across from the restaurant too!
Aruba Aloe plant. I stocked up on their wonderful products!
aloe fields
new natural bridge
old, collapsed natural bridge
gold mill ruins
people stack the rocks for some reason
After our driving adventures for the day we went back to the condo and spent some time in the pool to try and cool off. We were all dusty and dirty from being on dirt roads all day.
Since it was also Valentine's Day John and I went out to dinner together at a restaurant called Gasparito. We took a short taxi ride there and back.
coconut shrimp
combo plate
shrimp and fish
restaurant was in the front of their house basically
Kristin, Chris, Melissa and Amanda took the rental car to the hotel zone to a place called Touchdown's for a drink and had a strange encounter with a crazy waitress that said they did not pay their bill, which they certainly did. Then they got pizza for dinner and brought it back to the condo.
Sunday we enjoyed a day on the beach in front of our condo under a palapa. That morning John and I took the bus to Ling and Sons to get a few more supplies. We grilled burgers for dinner and John and I and Kristin, Chris and Amanda walked over to Glitz casino to play a bit of blackjack. The clientle was certainly very colorful. I don't think anyone won very much either, but we had fun. Melissa was not feeling well so she stayed at the condo and went to sleep early.
Monday we sat by the pool for most of the day and chatted with some people from the neighboring condo. They gave us some great dining recommendations. We had a reservation for dinner at Yemaja, but we arrived very early, so we stopped in at Que Pasa for a drink first.
I'm excited while I wait forever for my drink.
My espresso martini arrived after a very long wait.
fake grass on the ceiling of the bathroom at Que Pasa
Everything at Yemanja is grilled and it smelled wonderful!
excellent drinks
steak
fish
steak
I had fish
four sides came with each entrée
mixed grill on skewers with lots of dipping sauces
steak
All of the food was very, very good and this was probably our best meal and the best service we had on the whole trip. The portions were generous and with the sides everyone certainly had more food than they could eat.
Tuesday, John and I went to Linda's Pancakes for breakfast. We took a taxi there and then walked back to the main road in the hotel zone and took the bus back to the condo. It was very easy to take the bus to get around, but the schedule was erratic sometimes.
exterior
apple and bacon Dutch pancake
bacon and cheese Dutch pancake
Kristin, Chris, Melissa and Amanda had breakfast at the condo and took the bus into town to go shopping. We found them pretty easily in downtown Orenjestad outside of The Paddock restaurant. They had lunch, John and I had a drink, and we all enjoyed watching the cruise ships in port. It was quite busy in town with three large ships in port. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around town and doing some shopping.
downtown Oranjestad
downtown Oranjestad
great sign!
After shopping, we went back to the condo and relaxed in the pool for awhile. I think everyone was pretty overheated from the shopping excursion.
For dinner we took the bus down to the hotel zone for dinner. We decided to try Iguana Cantina for some Mexican fare. The food was OK. The service was OK too.
Cadillac margarita
chicken fajitas
steak and chicken fajitas
iguanas rule!
We stopped at Moomba bar for a nightcap, neat location right on the beach.
Wednesday morning we all tried to sleep in, sat by the pool for a bit, relaxed around the condo, packed up our bags and generally dreaded having to go home to the cold weather.
Here are a few pictures of the condo. I should have taken these when we arrived, rather than when we were leaving! You get the idea though. The condo was very well stocked with dishes, a cooler and other supplies. We had everything we needed, though it would have been nice to have one more beach chair.
nice to have a grill!
great view! The pool was never totally full, very easy to find chairs.
living room
kitchen
bathroom 1, we had 3
end of hallway
second bedroom, its in the back, not the side as we had thought
master bedroom
neighbors seemed to be trapping iguanas
airport iguana
airport bar- should be called I'm not happy because I have to go home bar.
Overall, we had a great trip. The weather was perfect, the island is beautiful, the condo was nice and the beaches were great. I'm not sure I'd stay in the low rise area again. You really need a car to get around for the entire trip if you stay in the low rise area. The beach was very nice, and not very crowded, but it was far away from everything. But it was nice to not have to fight for chairs at the beach or at the pool.
I was not overly impressed by the food or service anywhere we went. The service seemed very slow at most places and the food was average at best. You'd think for the prices charged the quality might be better. Also, we found that reservations are required for most of the more popular restaurants on the island. We never got into a few places as they were full or did not answer the phone. I would definitely recommend making all of your reservations for the week on the first day, especially if you want to eat at specific places.
Everyone made their flights home and the connections. Amanda and Melissa ended up on a different flight home through Miami as their flight was oversold, but they got home at about the same time as originally planned. It was good that they got to the airport early because of this issue. John and I and Kristin and Chris probably did not need the full three hours to get through airport security as the lines were not bad on a Wednesday afternoon.
