Aruba: One Happy Island 2/2014

 Aruba Dive Trip 2014

Pristine white beaches. A reputation of being the island most frequently returned to, year after year, by happy vacationers. Easy to reach by air in the time frame we needed to travel, and surrounded by wrecks renowned for diving. For all these reasons, we made Aruba our dive destination this past February.  Our experience on the island was that of frugal divers and not your typical beach seeking tourists.  We rented a villa off the main hotel strip, opted for renting bikes instead of a car to get around, and sought meals that were inexpensive, choosing instead to spend our money on underwater adventure.

 Mermaid Dive Center, feels like a family run operation, small but professional. They picked us up from our villa both days, in a beat up old passenger van and took us to the shop in time to sign paperwork and size our rental gear.  The second day, I needed a full wet suit for the cold water temperature and was provided this at no extra charge. The divemasters took a personal interest in helping their customers improve their diving skills even on a routine recreational dive.  With temperatures uncharacteristically cold for Aruba, I spent the first day shivering in my skin suit and 3mm shortie, meanwhile blowing through my air in record time. Carlos took me aside and gave me some tips to improve my air consumption.  Although I was greatly improved on day two, I actually credit the full 6mm wet suit rather than any improvement in air management skill.

We did three dives each day. The Antilla on day one was our first wreck dive. We had a long surface interval after that dive, as we came across a couple who had capsized their sailboat and ended up towing them to shore.  Water temperatures were 76 degrees at depth, and by the third dive, on Isla Bonita Reef, (see above picture) I was so cold that I had to surface early. Vercazio, our divemaster, found a cute octopus who was willing to participate in a photo shoot with the group.  Some of us were less willing participants!

As you can see, visibility was not good, 30 foot at best. Although the divemasters noted that temperatures were unnaturally cold, they made no mention of the viz being worse than normal. As all of our dive sites were close to shore, I'm not surprised that it was so bad.

Day two brought a new depth record of 98 feet as we dove the J/C wreck. Penetrating the structure was an exhilarating experience. Wendy, one of the owners, was our divemaster and she made the experience so much fun, making sure we had plenty of photo ops near the prop of the ship.

We completed day two on Plonco Reef and Skalahein Reef, where the corol and wildlife were more plentiful than the deep dive earlier in the day, but visibility and water temps were ongoing struggles.
Read what I learned about dive buddy communication on that last dive here: http://www.thisishowwelivenow.blogspot.com/2014/03/scuba-life-lessons.html


 The hotel strip was good for a photo op, but not much more!

We lucked out with our villa: La Costa Esmerelda Village  which had just opened when we stayed there. If we ever return, my guess is that it will be out of our price range.  The owner had a "manager" who worked next door at an exclusive restaurant.  They met us at the gate of the villa at our agreed upon arrival time and we exchanged pleasantries and a modicum of actual useful information for navigating the island without phone service (we had failed to add international service onto our plan before the trip) or transportation.  The owner's son, a polite young man in his early teens acted as translator to the best of his ability. In truth, once we left the villa and ventured out onto the island, we had no trouble communicating.  The rule seems to be that most islanders speak 4 or 5 languages. 

There were fresh flowers and fruit in the room upon our arrival.

The pool glowed at night.

Can you tell what's wrong with this picture?

 For divers, the location was perfect, we had room in the courtyard by the pool to hang our equipment after rinsing it at the outdoor shower.

Rob and Jon are busy rinsing our gear while I am inside making a frugal yet fantastic meal. Details just ahead!

On previous dive trips, we've struggled to get our gear dry before our return trip home. Being able to hang everything outdoors in the secure courtyard was perfect!  And the grounds were simply gorgeous.  Each morning several groundskeepers/housekeepers made the rounds watering and caring for the extensive foliage surrounding the pools, brick walkways and patios.


There were several supermarkets within walking distance of the villa.  We stocked up on fresh mangoes, the likes of which you will never taste in the states: the smell alone was rich and lush. I spent about ten minutes perusing the aisles looking for the makings of a meal and came up with an old pantry standby that I haven't made for years: Tuna Croquettes.  Hey! Give me bonus points for incorporating seafood while on the island!

Cheat eats!

There's no actual recipe, so you can't go wrong: tuna, some kind of bread or cracker crumb, egg, and additional flavoring ingredients.  I used carrot, red onion and capers, sauteed in copious amounts of butter.  Peasant food, yes, but after a day of diving, we were ravenous and they tasted wonderful!

We didn't eat every meal in the villa.  The first night on Aruba we walked down to The Old Cocuno House

 

 Where we had a lovely outdoor meal, enjoyed our first of several Balashi beers,

 discovered that on Aruba,

 the beers are miniature sized, unless you order the extra large. 

 We enjoyed the many avian visitors

 As well as the classic Arubian food.

 Rob had the Keeshi Yena, pictured above.  It was decadent.  I had the cod fish Grand Ma style, which turned out to be a salty mash of cod and vegetables. Get the Keeshi Yena!

Both the waitress, Jasmine and the manager, Cory, were solicitous.  They even looked up the phone number of Red Sail Sports, the bike rental shop, and let us use the restaurant phone to place a call.

The bikes were integral to the last few days of our trip. We had made arrangements to pick up them up after our first day of diving. A long walk down to the hotel zone and along the beach finally brought us to the rental cabana. We donned our helmets and took off across the island to visit the Harley Davidson store. And we encountered the ferocity of the winds of Aruba.  Didn't seem to matter which direction we rode, it was always into the wind!

After navigating the island on beach bikes for three days, our collective advice to future visitors is this: rent a car! Bike lanes were non-existent; we were lucky to have a shoulder. Many of our routes had us riding on highways and making our way through traffic circles.  We saw very few other cyclists and came to the conclusion that the island is just not well suited to road biking. We toughed it out, even surviving a blow-out on the last day.

Calling Red Sail Sports to come rescue us! They arrived, replaced the tire and had us back on our way within 20 minutes! For a shop that specializes in diving, and para sailing, they did a great job with bike rental for us.

A Scenic overlook we stopped at on our day-long bike trip.

Continuing our ride, we stopped again to hydrate and rest in the shade: three divers out in the desert heat, wondering if the destination we'd chosen was truly worth it!

What's that coming into view?

Worth it!

Not too tired for a photo

 

We ended our bike tour of the island with a late lunch at Reef and Beef, where they really love their chalk boards! 

 

The daily specials were good, we each tried one of what they had remaining from their lunch rush. The Carni Stoba, Chicken Sate and Grouper Creole.  Service was slow.  It almost seemed like everyone was on break or that the restaurant was not actually open.  But, the food was good.  I haven't yet "liked" them on Facebook as requested, though I do admire their chalk board enthusiasm.
They are located in the courtyard adjacent to Aqua Windies Dive Shop, purportedly the biggest on the island.  A sign offers discounts at Beef and Reef to divers, but does not include the daily specials, as they "are already on special" according to the owner, who served us himself. 

All too soon, our short visit to Aruba: One Happy Island, was ending.  We packed our gear, called a taxi and headed to the airport.  We were welcomed by crowds of fellow travelers. Yikes!

The line snaking out of the airport and wrapping around the parking lot

I'm not sure if there is any airport more complicated for it's size than Queen Beatrix International Airport.  Be forewarned: the instructions to arrive early are not a mere suggestion. You will pre-clear US customs when flying to the United States, so that is one explanation for the airport's complexity, but having to remove shoes twice for double security clearance, giving up your luggage and then reclaiming it only to check it once again...these things were unexpected and time consuming.  Arrive early!