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Contrary to appearances, the waters off of Manchebo and Eagle beach
in Aruba are not radioactive, just in case you're wondering.
We flew non-stop on Jet Blue to Queen Beatrix International Airport in
Aruba (which is off the coast of Venezula in the Carribbean sea) on
Wednesday, March 21st. The flight was just over four and a half
hours and we were on the beach in time for a slightly late lunch.
We stayed at the Manchebo Beach
Resort and Spa, one of the "low rise" beachfront resorts. Every
room was within 50 feet of Machebo beach, with the brilliant turquose
water and white sand that appears to be Caribbean standard issue for
vacation spots. |
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| There are a number of things you should know about Aruba if you're
going to go there. At Arikok National Park, when the rangers say a
standard rental car can make it through "no
problem" they don't count loosing most of the underside of the car as a
problem. In fact, most of the non-beach areas in Aruba... and you want
to visit the non-beach areas... are easily accessible by helicopter.
Otherwise, take a jeep and plan on some jostling. Driving the northern
loop from the Arikok visitor's center (which is on the inland side of the
park), the road is narrow and has rain culverts across the road that are
about five feet deep. Eight, max. Despite crossing them at
"as-slow-as-the-car-could-go"speed, we still bottomed several
times. But it was worth it. The
inland side of the park is a beautiful but strange vista of cacti,
brush, grass, and cliffs, with wild goats and donkeys a frequent sight.
When you reach the coast at Boca Prins, which is on the northeast side of
the island, it's a rugged landscape that
mixes sand, limestone, coral and volcanic rock in wild abandon. |
Above, The northern loop heading into Arikok National Park |
Kate in our trusty Yaris |
Sea Grape and sand dunes above Boca Prins |
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Above, Boca Prins. Below, some of the wildlife we saw; crabs
abounded on the sandy beach, while irridescent green speckled whiptail lizards hid from Crested
Carcara hawks. Wild goats and donkeys wandered inland. |
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| After lunch at the restaurant at Boca Prins, we drove south to the
Fontein cave, the most popular of several small limestone caves along
the coast. Brownish-red pictographs were left by Caquetios Iindians
along with graffiti imprinted by early European settles on the walls and
ceilings. |
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| Friday, Kate did a day at the Manchebo's spa while Dave headed out to
do some scuba diving, the main attraction being one of the many wrecks
along Aruba's coast (which Aruba is famous for). |
The spa consisted of thatch huts overlooking Manchebo beach.
Kate had a body wrap that, based on the price, consisted of
powered gold and platinum mixed with ground semi precious gems,
essense of endangered species and water from the fountain of
youth. Below, Dave dives the "Jane C" in 100 feet of water
with a few other people, led by
JADS dive shop. |
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| That afternoon, we drove northwest to visit the "California
Lighthouse," named after a famous shipwreck of a sailboat with the same
name. Once you leave the hotel area (Manchebo, Eagle and Palm
beach), the coast gets rockier and wilder until you turn the northeast
corner of Aruba; somewhere along there, it turns into the same sharp,
jagged volcanic landscape we saw at Arikok. Below, looking southeast from
the California Lighthouse; below left, Dave in front of the lighthouse,
below right, a view from just north of Arashi beach looking back at the
highrise hotels along Eagle Beach. |
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| The next day, we visited the
Bulbali Bird Sanctuary, a fresh water preserve fed from a nearby
water treatment facility that empties into two inter-connected man-made
lakes, known as the large and small Bubali Bird Ponds. The area has
become a resting and breeding area for more than 80 species of migratory
birds and has a observation tower looking over the marsh. |
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| From the Bird Sanctuary, we headed north to Alta Vista Chapel, the
oldest church on the island, a very picturesque building. Surprisingly,
it seemed to be a working (if small) chapel, but with no clergy, and no
donation box, just a small if colorful altar with burning candles and
fresh flowers around it. Outside, we walked about a half mile downhill
through the rocky, semi-barren desert, where
birds perched on the top of many of the cacti. We finally reached
the north coast of the island, to be greeted with the same incredibly
beautiful rocky beaches we'd seen in Arikok. |
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| The next day, we headed back toward to the north to visit Arashi
beach, a snorkeling spot we had passed on the way to the California
Light House. It seemed like it was going to be a disappointment,
but a few hundred yards off the beach it turned into a snorkeling
paradise, with fish and coral abundant in relatively shallow water.
Dave did a short snorkel off Marmot beach as well, swimming around a
wreck protruding above the waterline. |
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| Our last day in Aruba was a combination of shopping and adventure.
The adventure was taking a submarine trip to 140 feet deep, cruising by
two wrecks in the process, on board the
Atlantis VI. Our trip wasn't very crowded, so everyone sat
along one side of the submarine (so they didn't have to pass by things
twice, once on each side). The total tour was about two hours, but
part of that was taking a boat out to the Sub; the underwater time was
about an hour. |
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| For the evenings, we invariably ate outside (other than the first
night, where we ate in the French Steakhouse at the Manchebo). We
had dinner at Soenchi's, which featured "native Arubian food," twice,
finding it tastefully decorated and quiet, as well as having interesting
and delicious meals. We ate at Madam Janette's once, finding the
food and service excellent, but the noise level a little high. We
ate at the other restaurant at the Manchebo one evening, sitting by the
pool. And we ate at Mirpas in Oranjestad (a Tapas place) our last
night. We did lunch at the Pega Pega, the Manchebo's beachside bar and
cafe, almost every day. Breakfast was normally on our balcony
overlooking the beach. The Manchebo was a nice place to stay, and
was "beachside," unlike most of the low-rises, which were on the other
side of the road along the southern shore from the beach. |
Dinner at Soenchi's |
Dinner at Mirpas |
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Top, the Manchebo from the beach. Left, the view from our
Balcony. Above, Kate relaxes on the beach... an activity we
didn't indulge in anywhere near as much as we planned! |
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| We flew back Tuesday, the 27th. Our only dissapointment for
the trip was that the Boston area had a heat spike and was close to
90... warmer than Aruba! That sort of reduced the "rub it
in" factor when talking with everyone about the vacation. |
