Aruba 2022

Alas, all good things come to an end.  We were up at 6:30 AM and left at 7 for a walk on the southern end of Palm Beach and to secure a palapa on the hotel’s beach. (Even by 7 AM, most of the palapas had already been claimed!)  We then had our last breakfast of this mini vacation. They make the most incredible omelets here! After that, it was out last bit of time in the water and enjoying the beach.  11 AM was check out time, but the hotel was good enough to give us a voucher to continue using the their services until we left for the airport, so we used that voucher to get our daily milkshakes. Just before noon, we set out to return the rental car and start the check-in process at the airport, which we had been warned would take hours. It is indeed quite a heavy procedure, particularly because you do US pre-clearance in Aruba, which is rare among the Caribbean islands. You end up having to go theoufh a full security check twice in the process! The good part about it, how...

We were up at 6:30AM this morning, hoping to squeeze as much out of the day as possible.  By 8, we had finished breakfast and, just after 8:30, we left for some exploration of Oranjestad, the capital of Aruba.  The town was surprisingly quiet, despite a cruise ship being in port, but it was nice to be able to wander round in peace.  They say that the town becomes overrun when 3,000+ cruise ship passengers disembark, and sometimes there are two ships in port simultaneously. Having seen the sights of the capital, we headed back to Eagle Beach (where we walked yesterday) to see the famous fofoti tree on the north end of Eagle.. From there, it was back to the hotel by 10:45 to spend the bulk of the day under a palapa.  A brief shower blew in, but passed in minutes.  Apart from that, it was a beautiful day.   At 3:30, we left to find the Alto Vista Chapel near the eastern shore of the island.  It is one of those iconic spots or Aruba. The cacti forests enro...

The forecast had indicated a 30% chance of showers up to mid-morning.  When we headed to breakfast at 8AM, the odd raindrop was coming down.  By the time we sat down with our omelettes, a downpour the likes we have only rarely seen was happening.  Bearing in mind that Aruba - a desert island - only receives 15-18 inches of rain in an average year, it was an extraordinary weather event.  The resort told us they didn’t even have umbrellas to loan out “because it never rains here.” Worried that the rain would continue throughout the day, we set out at 9:30AM to get our car from the parking lot and drive to the northern end of the island.  There were some interesting moments in that drive, such as the one shown below. The lighthouse at the northern tip of Aruba is quite beautiful, and the area at this northern tip of the island makes for a great hike to the coastline, with boulders and sand dunes enroute. After the northern tip, we did a 2.2km round trip walk on Aru...