I feel so good, I think I'll...

Go to Aruba!

Yup, just booked it. ARUBA, here we come!

Been there, done that. And, I'd definitely do it again! You stayin' in the low rises or the high rises, Kurt?

We toured the entire island when we were there. The middle is much like a desert with lots of rocks and cactus.



The southern part of the island, where the "natural bridge" is located, is like a moonscape with very turbulent water and rough beaches.




So, you end up doing any swimming or snorkeling along the northern coast where all the hotels are located. We stayed at the Costa Linda beach resort.

Just booked the air, Blue. I'm on the 'puter now checking for a place to stay.

We had a USAir $400 voucher for part of the air or we would have booked a package. Had to go USAir direct to use the voucher.

I'll check your place, if you think it was good. Not planning to do the all-inclusive. You agree with that decision? We've been to Aruba once, on a cruise ship stop, on the day of our 25th anniv., so we didn't really get to see much of the island and resorts.

Costa Linda was definitely 4 star (but that was about 10 years ago). Not an all-inclusive and I'd agree with that decision. Just very nice grounds and a wonderful beach. It's in the "low rise" section where the beaches are far less crowded than in the "high rise" section (Hyatt Regency there is excellent). We rented a car and found several nice local restaurants for the evening.

We looked at the Hyatt, but are thinking low rise. But the pool is a big factor and that generally leads you back to the resort side...

Certainly not about to complain about the delima over accomodations!

I'll get some diving in, but probably just two 2-tank morning dives.

Thanks for the insights.

Also been there done that in Aruba, hope you booked The Tamarijn in the low rise area, every room is ocean front.

Norm from what I hear the natural bridge is GONE!! it collapsed.

Kurt make sure you do 4-Wheeling, and the sea-trek, it was great. also they have a boated tour of the California, a ship that was purposely sank, because the Govt wanted the boat for war times.

And if you see Natalie Hollaway, tell her theres people looking for her.

Carlos & Charlies got to get a beverage in there..


http://www.tamarijnaruba.com/index.php

Oh and Kurt, Aruba is not tropical, it is very dessert like, I think they only get an agerage of 6 inches of rain a year. So any palm trees you see are shipped in..The Divi tree runs rampant on the island.

Yes Mr Norm the Natural Bridge is gone
http://www.aruba-travelguide.com/sights/natural_bridge.html

Kurt, I would definately stay all-inclusive, Unless you dont mind paying 7.00 for an american drink..The beer of Aruba, is Balashi..Its NASTY

cravnravn wrote:Yes Mr Norm the Natural Bridge is gone
http://www.aruba-travelguide.com/sights/natural_bridge.html

Wow. Didn't know that. But, as I said, it's been at least 10 years since we were there. They used to actually allow tourists to walk across the bridge. when we were there they had it barricaded to keep you from walking out on it but it still looked stable as shown in my photo.

cravnravn wrote:Yes Mr Norm the Natural Bridge is gone
http://www.aruba-travelguide.com/sights/natural_bridge.html

Kurt, I would definately stay all-inclusive, Unless you dont mind paying 7.00 for an american drink..The beer of Aruba, is Balashi..Its NASTY

True, but the price per night goes from about $300/350 to minimum $500 for all inclusive. That's a whole lotta $7 drinks!

Bottomline, depending on if the deals work out, we'll go either way...

2-3 meals a day, you wish you were all inclusive..We went out to dinner 1 night and it was fairly pricey..I'll see if I can find pictures.

Oh and Kurt, if you stay in the low rise area and want to go into the hig rise district, casinos, or restuarants just jump on their transit buses, 1.00 a person each way..Thats what we did..theres only 1 road in Aruba.And remember the high rise are is totally away from Oranstead

Booked! Amsterdam Manor. Low rise. We got the "special suite" (ground floor) at $250/night. Got my dives booked too.

It's ON! Now I'm starting to get a little pumped for this thing. Week from tomorrow... I am so ready for some R&R.

BlueShoes <---- Green with envy.

BlueShoes1 wrote:BlueShoes <---- Green with envy.

If you take a dive this weekend, I'll post some pics while I'm down there, Blue.

I`ve also been there to Kurt.......You know me,I`m not much into islands,but me and my two buddies had a blast.

We rented one of those all-terrain vehicles and went site seeing.

Seen the famous lighthouse(why its famous I have no idea),the natural bridge(hell it was full of trash).
The Iguanas run rampat there too.I remember one of my drunk buddies trying to catch one bare-handed......yeah right! I t was a good laugh.
He had it cornered at one of the resorts we drinking at,only to have it get away.It would`ve tore the shit out of his arms had he by mistakenly caught it.
Hit one of the Casinos,went to some famous Harley Davidson bar.
beer the I believe was 5$ apiece.I remember one night running out of alcohol around 2 a.m. and taking a taxi somewheres out in the desert to get more and charging us 50$ for a case..........
So you may need that all-inclusive,but hey,we didn`t.
And of course we drank for 6 straight days.
As Blue says,most of the island is nothin but sand and rocks..........Most of the beaches is rough water.
Get off the beaten path and its 3rd world country........I felt so damn sad for some of those people.Living in places that would`ve been condemned and torn down here in the states.........unreal.

One of the funniest moments we had is we took a couple of packages of stink bombs with us.
We were drinkin at Senior Frogs,and of course they couldn`t understand what we were saying,so my buddy pulls out one of those boxes of S.B. and proceeds to break it on the floor and puts the box on the bar.
next thing you know the bartenders there were pouring some type of cleaning liquids down all the drains.

It was fuckin hilarious..........We still laugh our asses of to this day!(yeah I know its one of those"I guess you wouldve had to been there moments")
Got dozens of stories..........

Good times kurt.........I`m sure you`ll enjoy.

Dont listen to Mr Bear..We know that all Islands are 3rd world living..Theres no industry, hence all that gorgeous blue water. No pollutants dumped into the water on a daily basis, by the mega-millions of tons.

I dont know what you and Blue were snorting, but we didnt come across any waves, hell anywhere in the Caribbean Ive been were there any waves, theres a big difference between a "wave" and a breaker, If you want waves go to any island but make sure you stay on the Atlantic side..You can have the waves and the seawood.

I stay on the Caribbean side, gentle breakers and ta-ta's galore.

We were on Aruba on 11/4/2003, our 25th Anniversary. A fairly long stop on the cruise ship.

When there we did the bar-hopping bus ride... it was outstanding! Funny the stuff you'll do when in another part of the world and absolutely no one knows you or will ever see you again! Yep, I was dancing on the bar and... well... nevermind...

The N, NE, E sides of the island had the rough, windy water. Most of the resorts and low-rise hotels are on the SW, W side.

We'll have a great time, no doubt. Looking for more of a low-key, relaxing time with some diving thrown in for good measure. The bride is very content with pool-side/beach-front "chillaxing."

Thats one thing I wont do, make that two..I dont want to cruise, and I highly doubt if I will return to an Island a second time..Even though Nassau has been probably our best place so far..

I agree, John. I generally don't want to go back to a place I've already been. Too many places I haven't been... but less than 24 on an island - as a cruise stop - doesn't count as "having been there" in my book.

Oh I agree Kurt, But, they are offering a 4 day cruise out of Cape Canavaral, cheap, cheap, cheap..And the best part, its only cruising the Bahamas, 2 days in Nassau and 2 in Freeport..Now thats something I could probably do..Just for the amount of lobster I would consume.

Funny the stuff you'll do when in another part of the world and absolutely no one knows you or will ever see you again! Yep, I was dancing on the bar and... well... nevermind...


Ain't that the truth..Unfortunately my daughter has it on video..Some fart stripping to "Im too sexy for my shirt"

cravnravn wrote:Oh I agree Kurt, But, they are offering a 4 day cruise out of Cape Canavaral, cheap, cheap, cheap..And the best part, its only cruising the Bahamas, 2 days in Nassau and 2 in Freeport..Now thats something I could probably do..Just for the amount of lobster I would consume.

We looked at a Miami - Key West - Cozumel - day at sea - Miami cruise, but we've done that twice. No way again. Dirt cheap. Pocket change compared to the Aruba plans, but I only vaca once a year, so I need to make sure its worth my while.

Isnt Kurt due back??

We be here! Got back in town last night. Nice to sleep in my own bed.

Great time, good weather (but overly windy), and rough seas.
The hotel was as nice as we could ave wanted. Got upgraded upon arrival to the Honeymoon Suite! Went from a studio to a 1 bedroom suite! Had our own gr level private patio.

Outstanding food. Best grouper I've ever eaten. Shrimp, lobster, red snapper. Happy hour 2/1 at 5-6 pm and 9-10 pm. Beach was fantastic, had the thatched huts for everyone. Dinner on the beach with the toes in the sand.

Diving was sketchy. Very windy and high currents made the water very choppy. 6-8 ft swells both days of diving. Worried about broken bones when getting back into boat! Had 1 rogue wave blast the boat and filled it 1/4 up w/ water. I wasn't real comfortable with things. Undewater it was ok. Decent reefs, small wreck, reasonable sea life. 30-40' visibility.

But... nothing beats getting away and relaxing. Nothing. Read The Lost Symbol in 2.5 days. Now that's relaxing, to me.

Time to turn to the SB picks page... gotta pay for that trip somehow, you know....