Itinerary
We had scheduled a 14-day cruise for our first trip to the Caribbean (Eastern Caribbean). The ship embarked from Ft. Lauderdale. Our first port of call… Aruba!
ARUBA
20 miles long (69 sq mi)
Population 101,500 (entire nation)
Discovered by Amerigo Vespucci in 1499
With its unbeatable beaches and constant sunshine, it should come as no surprise that Aruba is the most visited island in the Dutch Caribbean.
Along with the Netherlands, Curaçao and St Maarten, Aruba is one of four constituent countries which form the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The citizens of all share a single nationality: Dutch. Oranjestad, its capital and largest port, is known for its impressive Dutch Colonial architecture. It has been described as “Holland meets Disney Fantasia”.
Language can be seen as an important part of island culture in Aruba. The official languages are Dutch and – since 2003 – Papiamento. Papiamento is the predominant language in Aruba. A creole language spoken on Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, it incorporates words from other languages including Portuguese, West African languages, Dutch, and Spanish. English is spoken by many; its usage has grown due to tourism.
Local foods are called pan bati (a pancake-like bread or keshi yena (a baked medley of Gouda cheese, spices and meat with heavy brown sauce), unfortunately, neither of which we sampled.
Unlike much of the Caribbean region, Aruba has a dry climate and an arid, cactus-strewn landscape. This climate has helped tourism as visitors to the island can reliably expect warm, sunny weather. At one point, Aruba was the largest producer of aloe-vera (has now switched to petroleum refining). Currently, about three- quarters of the Aruban gross national product is earned through tourism or related activities. Unfortunately, due to climate change, Aruba has been experiencing heavy rain showers, resulting in disappointed tourists. During our day visit, at times, it was raining quite heavily, to the dismay of locals.
The island’s trademark, bent-over divi-divi trees are a natural compass as they only ever point in a south-westerly direction due to the trade winds.
10 Photos
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Thanks Fae!!
Your so great. Thanks for the link!! Chef Randall
Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take ya
Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don’t we go
Jamaica off the Florida Keys
There’s a place called Kokomo
That’s where you wanna go to get away from it all….. remember that song Fae?
This post reminded me of things in my youth. Thanks so much for sharing this Fae.
Chef Randall
Yes I remember the song, Kokomo! Check out the response I gave Johnny with a link to that song.
)))
There’s a flag tree! (See my next post!) Love Aruba. Your photos are awesome. Princess is such fun. Transatlantic scheduled for April on the Ruby. 3 days from being elite….I am sure you already are. What fun posts~
A flag tree? I look forward to it. Ooo, Transatlantic in April on currently the newest Ruby (until Royal in June)! Do you know Princess would not honor your ‘elite’ until the end of your cruise (not mid way). Argh! We have 17 days left for ‘elite’. We have 10-day fall foliage coming up in Sept (Emerald) and 31-day Asia/Africa 2014 (Ocean). We will be 7 days short to be ‘elite’ for Africa. Argh!
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I hear the Beach Boys.
To be honest I’ve never even heard of this Island. The architecture does look Disney-esque! You know, I’ve never been on a cruise…
You mean, you never heard the song ♪ Kokomo ♪ ? How could it be possible?
In May 2011, we took a 12-day Brith Isles cruise and saw the entire UK coastline and the major cities. I loved it, especially Liverpool!
Maybe I should post that someday. So much to say and too little time.
I loved your photos…especially of the trees. It is a shame that it rained on your visit. We went to Florida for ten days last winter and it rained most of the time. At least it was warm.
Hi Karen! Since the other destinations had good weather, it did not bother us. I’m so sorry to here about the rain in Florida when you were visiting. ;(
Fae, thank you for sharing the pictures and taking the time to write. It is magnificent. Love it!
Hi Judy, As always, thank you for the kind comment. Also it is great record keeping when I want to reminisce.
Such a great and informative post!! Aruba is on our short list of places to visit in the next few years.
Kenley
Just Aruba? Aruba is very small. It is best to incorporate other island countries too.
Been to the ABC’s myself quite a bit! Very nice photos.
What does “ABC’s” means?
Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao
OH PLEASE TAKE LOTS OF PIX FOR US!!!
I’m back already… these are the best of ‘lots’ I took!
)))