So here's a sneak peek for this week's episode. I think the next favorite thing that we did was sunset at Boca Catalina Beach. I'm Scott. And I'm Melissa. And we are the Sunshine Travelers. Our passion is travel and sharing our experiences with those who enjoyed as much as we do, or those who want to learn more about travel, or even those who just want to live vicariously through our travel stories. No matter where you fall along that journey, get ready to hear about our first-hand experiences as we visit some of the most interesting and amazing places on Earth. This week we are heading to the stunning island of Aruba. Located just 20 miles north of Venezuela in the southern Caribbean, it's a popular destination for North American travelers who want to soak up the sun and enjoy the sandy beaches and crystal clear waters. While
many visitors prefer to stay at the luxurious resorts, we are more interested in exploring the local culture and cuisine. So pack your bags and join us as we embark on our journey to Aruba.
So Melissa, we've noticed that our listeners have a great interest in the Caribbean region, particular episodes covering Caribbean destinations. So what I think we would recommend is that anyone that is interested in aruba also check out episode 45 because that was the episode where we interviewed a friend of ours that's been there multiple times and she shared some excellent tips that helped us during our trip so anyone that's planning on visiting aruba make sure you give that episode a listen.
Yes, totally agree, because we're not going to cover or recover everything that we talked about there. But there were a lot of tips that really helped us and some things that we enjoyed simply because she had shared that with us.
So who would you say that Aruba, I do understand why people go there in multiple
I do understand why people go there in multiple times, because if you are in the northern part of the United States, Canada, where you just have these bitterly cold winters in Aruba, you are going to enjoy a consistent warm temperature with beautiful, clear, warm water, too. And also where, especially in the hotel area, the water is just like in a bay, right? So it's still and it's warm and people can, you can just go out there, people take their floats or they just enjoy just being in the water. The weather is beautiful. You have resort pools, ocean and pool bar service. I mean, there's plenty of restaurants. It also would be a comfortable place for people who have never been out of the country. So yes, you need a passport to go to Aruba, but most people speak English, easy to use credit cards, very Americanized too. So if you're not very adventurous as far as eating, you'll find a lot of American chain restaurants, American hotel chains as well. So if you are in the cold and you're going to have to fly somewhere to get to a beach destination anyway, parts of Florida are not consistently warm early in the season. So Aruba would be a great choice. But for us, there was more to Aruba, more for us to explore. Yeah, I
Yeah, I agree. We like to go beyond just the standard places that everybody goes. We want to go off the beaten path. And so today we're going to talk about a lot of the off the beaten path places in Aruba.
Yeah. And one other comment I would have about that is since we do live in a beach destination, and so I've made this comment to several people recently, is that when we go somewhere that's a beach destination per se, it's different for us, I think, than it would have been before we moved to the beach. We don't necessarily feel quite the same need to like go to the beach and be there at the beach, just soaking up the sun. So I totally get that, right? Because that is what in the past, if I went to a beach destination, at least the majority of the time, that is what I wanted to do is be in the sand, in the water, you know, soaking up the sun. So I totally, I totally understand that.
And I think that probably helps us to kind of get a better understanding of why people maybe, you know, just go to these resorts and stay at the resort and spend all their time at that one beach, the pool or whatever it is at these resorts. Yeah, because you do have places and we've talked about
places and we've talked about this, for example, in our Cancun episode. If we want to have a vacation where the majority of the time we relax, right? Sometimes when you need a break from, you know, work and it's not, we need to go plan and do all this stuff. That is a place where we would go. And I think a lot of people do that for Aruba. Yeah. And I've got my favorite place there that during that
got my favorite place there that during that trip, we're going to spend most of our time right there on the wall of that infinity pool looking out over the ocean. So I guess I do understand that to some extent. But what we want to try to do is give people a little bit of knowledge so that if they want to go out there and find those off the beaten paths, experiences, restaurants, things like that, they'll know how to do it.
Right. And so there's definitely lots of things that you can explore in Aruba. And let me give you an example. So we did take Tammy's recommendation from that other episode and we made a reservation at Flying Fishbone. And so when we were eating there, I overheard another diner kind of behind us comment that it was nice for them to take that taxi drive down. So Flying Fishbone is not located in that hotel area. So it's about a 20 minute taxi ride, car ride, whatever from those highrise hotels. But she commented it was nice to do that and see some of the maybe the neighborhoods. Maybe she commented like authentic Aruba, something like that. She said to see actually where people live. And it was interesting, though, because by this time we had driven already in a couple of days, we had driven our rental car all around, right, to see all these other towns and different things like that. And so it was just interesting hearing that because we also have a hard time going to a place and not getting to, you know, see or I feel like, oh, we didn't really like get to see a place or see Aruba, for example, if we hadn't done that. And then I guess my other thought too was that their taxi ride down and back would have been pretty expensive. But if that's the only place you're going to go in the day, then maybe cheaper than renting a car. So anyway, let's share, I guess, some of our most favorite off the beaten path Aruba experiences. And so we kind of sat down and brainstorms and came up with our top few things that we would recommend based on our experience that you do if you want to see more of Aruba and kind of have an off the beaten path experience.
Yeah. So I think for both of us, we came up with the Easy Raider Tour. But that was one of our favorite experiences in Aruba.
Yeah. So Scott, explain what that means, Easy Raider Tour, because I don't know that we've ever seen this anywhere else. You
know, I've been trying to think of what that would be. And I almost think about like when I had my foot in that boot and I had the little, the knee scooter thing. So, you know, it had four wheels on it with a steering wheel so just put that image in your mind now now put big tires on this thing and electric motors on those big tires and then a seat where you could sit on it or you could stand on it and drive it either on the street or off-road. And what they told us is it was made for the military. So like this thing's almost impossible to turn over. It's got a great center of gravity on it. It's fast. Very fast. Yeah, very
very fast because it's
because it's got those electric motors and it can go across all terrain. So whether that's off-roading or on road and that's where we went and we did a tour of kind of the coast of aruba and some kind of a downtown area yeah well he took
us to one place that would be considered like a very local little restaurant so that we could like a little local town yeah yeah and and then we had we we of course were asking him all
like a little local town yeah
yeah yeah and
yeah and
we had we we of course were asking him all kinds of questions so then we popped into the little supermarket and he showed us a few things that were just like local you know would be like local food for for them that they would buy at a supermarket and then yeah so then he took us to several other sites and the famous like natural bridge and i guess like a place that would show the coast. I guess it wasn't really a blowhole like we had seen in Curacao, but almost where you couldn't swim. It was too rough to swim. Then just some very historical sites and stuff like that. But then part of the adventure was really riding the Easy Raider, I guess it was called. Then just having that experience. So our tour guide, he was a young kid. He was actually our son's age. So then just being very open for questions about his heritage. He'd grown up part of the time in the Netherlands, right? Because Aruba is part of the Dutch Caribbean. So he had spent some time there. And then the fact that he spoke Papamintu that we talked about in the Curacao episode and the language that they speak, that's like their local language. He spoke Spanish, he spoke English, he spoke Dutch. And it was also so interesting because he said part of their schooling was they actually had to have like swimming proficiency because the wind can be rough and the waves can be rough. And so that's part of their schooling there, but it's also part of the schooling in the Netherlands as well. So just for me, it was a combination of we got to see things that we probably wouldn't have seen on our own. We got to do this Easy Rider, but then we got to talk to him and he was just so open to all these questions that we had. And yeah, so that, that was a highlight for me because that was one thing that we had mentioned about Curacao is we didn't do a local tour. And I think you just kind of miss getting to, you know, ask some of those questions like the language. And then he, you know, talked, we were able to ask him about that there. So what, what stood out from that tour for you?
Well, I definitely liked going to all the natural sites. We went to, there was like some rock formations as well. And when we went up there, then you got this great view of Aruba, kind of a 360 view because you were up so high that you could see on both sides. So that was really, really neat. And then, you know, just the experience of riding on that Easy Raider and then everybody would go by and they're like looking at you because that's the coolest thing that they've ever seen in their lives. And we were out there on those.
Yeah. And so a couple of things about this. So we had a rental car, so we drove to the place, but they do pick up. They pick up at the So port. if you take we drove to the but place, they do pick They up. pick up at the port. So if you take a cruise to Aruba, they could pick you up. They pick up in the hotel area as well. So in our particular tour, it was just the two of us and then one other man. He was on vacation with his wife, but his wife just likes to chill at the hotel. So he booked some different things on his own. So let me point out too, so Tammy had actually recommended a four-wheeler or dune buggy type tour. I think they have both. And we did see those. Yeah, we saw quite a few of those.
Yeah, we saw quite a few of those. Yeah, we saw quite a few of those.
Yeah, we saw quite a few of those. They went to kind of a different area. And so I guess what I liked about this that was different was that it was just something totally different. Like we'd never seen this Easy Rider before. So it was something totally different, but also you, we would stop and talk to him. And so, yes, it was about the riding, but it was about stopping and, and, you know, seeing these different things and then being able to talk to him and ask him questions, which I don't think that you would have quite the ability to do that on the Dune Puggy Tour or the Four Wheel Tour or whatever. But you would be able to kind of see some of that same area. So we will definitely link this one in the notes as well as probably a couple of the other ones, too, just so that you can compare and contrast. But highly recommend this. The same company that did the Easy Raider Tour also had some horseback riding that you could do. So they had people going out on that. So they did a great job, and we really enjoyed that. So when we're planning a
planning a trip, we love using Viator for finding and booking all of our experiences at the local destination. You can do more with Viator. It's one site with 300,000 plus travel experiences you will remember. We like using Viator because of the free cancellation policy. Plans may change so you can receive a full refund on most experiences if you cancel at least 24 hours in advance. Book your spot now and pay later with their Reserve Now, Pay Later feature. And of course, before we book, we always read the trusted reviews. Viator has 4.3 stars from 140,000 plus Trustpilot reviews. Go to sunshinetravelers.com slash Viator to explore and book your next local experience.
And on that page, we also have all the tours that we have booked on Viator. And so this one was also booked on Viator. So we will make sure that that is included there. So I think the next favorite thing that we did was
the next favorite thing that we did was sunset at Boca Catalina Beach, which is just north of the high rises and right before the California lighthouse.
And what I love about this is this is actually not something that we planned in advance. We had been snorkeling. We were going to go check out the lighthouse. And of course, you had your camera and we're just like, oh, it's going to be sunset. Let's find a place. And we actually met a couple who had told us about that Boca Catalina beach. And then we were actually in that area. And we also I think you spotted all the boats that were out there for sunset. So you kind of knew, okay, this is a place where people are paying money to do a sunset cruise. Let's go find a spot. And I think that actually ended up being a huge highlight because I love sunsets. So that was great.
Yeah, it was definitely a great place to catch it. The pictures just turned out fabulous because you had the silhouettes of those boats out there on the water in front of the sunset. So it was one of those days where there wasn't a lot of cloud covering the sky and you needed something to kind of break up that bright sunshine.
Yeah. So I'd highly recommend that plan for a sunset because I think Aruba is known for that. But this Boca Catalina Beach, there was parking, easy parking right there, and you just walk right
out. Yeah, and it's a great place to swim too. There's a lot of people just out there swimming.
Yeah. Even, even as we were watching the sunset. So it would be a great place to swim. That's true.
But before we went to Boca Catalina, there was a place that we went and went snorkeling. And we said, we'd been a little bit disappointed in snorkeling on Aruba up until this point.
Yeah, we had even asked our tour guide on the Easy Raider to give us a couple of spots. And so we had been at another spot down near, I think it's called Bachelor Beach or something. And he had said, now don't just go out. And he had kind of told us, go past. There's like a mama something's food shack. And he said, go kind of over that. There's a seawall. He said, kind of do that and then swim back toward where everybody else is. And it'll be great snorkeling. And it was good. It was good. It was just, I mean, it wasn't phenomenal. And it could have been just the time of the year. And then when we got into, you know, where everybody else was, it was a little hazy and stuff like that. So I don't even know how we found out about this. And when we first got in it, it was, I didn't really see anybody snorkeling. So I was like, I don't know if we'll really see anything. It was just kind of beside the road. And so we parked near where it said Malmock Beach, I guess. There were some condos. We kind of parked across the street, but we did see people out there like in the beach. Oh my goodness, put on your snorkel mask. And it's rocks kind of along the wall. And it was anything and everything that you could imagine, right? And what was great is it wasn't like necessarily, I mean, yes, it was down below you, but because of those rock walls, you could swim along that wall and enjoy fish and anemones. And
yeah. And if there's any divers out there, there was one like cave that went all the way through. Like I could go underwater and look through there and I saw light on the other side. But, you know, obviously with the snorkel, I wasn't going to go into there and find myself, you know, in a position where I couldn't make it all the way through. But I bet you there was probably at least a neat experience of going, you know, through that rock formation. It looked like a lava tube or something.
Yeah, it was just really neat because you could just kind of swim around those different rocks. So we'll share some videos of that. But I mean, you could spend a day there. There were some small sandy beaches. And so again, we kind of put in where Google Maps say Malmok Beach, and then we swam towards Boca Catalina. I'm not sure if that's like, I'm not sure what direction. I guess that would almost, I guess that would be north because in the sunset in the west, so maybe north toward Boca Catalina. But that was the best and clearest snorkeling that we found when we were there. And then, so something completely different, when we were And so something there. completely then, Drive south toward different. the, I guess it is So that south. south toward that southern tip in a town called San Nicolas. It has these absolutely colorful street murals and there were dozens of them. And so the way this came about is starting in 2016, they had an Aruba Art Fair. Since then has transformed the area into a cultural art hub because they've added these murals year after year. They're created by local and international artists and they showcased Arubian culture, history and the nature. For example, sea turtles and just sea
life. Lionfish.
That are absolutely incredible. And so it really has helped to revitalize the town and promote tourism there. So we saw a lot of people walking around. Now, there's not a ton, but they do have a restaurant. They have a place where you can stop in for coffee or an ice cream and stuff like that. So because of that, it's become a vibrant public gallery that really celebrates the island's heritage and community engagement in the art. So I would say plan to spend about an hour there. And then if you see this yellow building in this roundabout that says Nicholas Store, that was where we stopped in for ice cream. And like I said, there was a little restaurant. They had a few shops and stuff like that. But highly recommend if you love the street art. So we also found that in Curacao, but this was just right there together. And then just street after street after street. And you could tell that some of them were older, but then some of them were a lot more vibrant. As a matter of fact, I'm sitting here looking at, Scott has on his screen one of a sea turtle that actually is so clear and vibrant. It looks like it's the wall. Like it doesn't even look like a picture. So we'll definitely post some of those as well on social media and different places when this episode, you know, as we are airing this episode.
Yeah. So if you're a photographer, these murals are fabulous, you know, subjects to photograph. You might want to get there, though, a little bit earlier because you don't want to get all the shadows that may, you know, during the golden hour come about, you know, from the buildings and stuff like that. We were actually there kind of around lunchtime and the lighting was just was phenomenal. And you'll see it in some of the pictures. They just turned out terrific. Yeah. I
mean, something like this. I don't know how it does like on a cloudy day in comparison. I don't know that they have a bunch of cloudy days, but we had, you know, bright sun and it was definitely something to see. And so you could actually pair this, like if you don't want to make multiple trips in that direction from the hotel area, you could pair this with going to Flying Fishbone or some of the other restaurants in that area.
Yeah, but stop and spend some time there. You won't regret it. And then Flamingo Beach. Let's talk a little bit about that because when we originally planned this trip to Aruba, we had kind of talked ourselves out of going to Flamingo Beach.
So there was a couple of times when I asked on social media, as we were sharing the Aruba episode and the things that Tammy had suggested, does anybody else have recommendations of Aruba? And I got several people to say, go to Flamingo Beach. Go to Flamingo Beach. Now, what Flamingo Beach is, is it is a flamingo habitat, but the flamingos there are in, they are in captivity. They can't fly away. But when I say captivity, there's not in cages or anything like that. They are free to roam that area. And then you can get food and feed them. And they do have signs that say like they don't tolerate, you know, abuse or anything like that, that they are very, you know, there was a sign that said, you know, like we these are protected and we care for these. And now, like I said, the flamingos are free to go about wherever. Part of it is adults only. And so if they are down there, the children can go see them at a certain time of the morning. But then if they choose to stay down there, kids couldn't visit them all day. We actually found that they were on the family beach like more so. Yeah, there's more of them on the family beach side than there were on the adult beach.
more of them on the family beach side than there were on the adult beach.
the family
Yeah. So let's talk about this. So this particular island is the beach part of the Renaissance Aruba Hotel, which is a Marriott, like Bonvoy related hotel. And so the only way that you have access to go here is if two ways really is if you stay at the hotel, then you have access to visit that, you know, during your stay, or they also said that you could buy a day pass the day of that, but passes were limited. And so kind of for us, it was like, okay, how do we, you know, if you want to kind of plan your trip or you want to be guaranteed that you kind of get to go this and work in your plans, we actually ended up deciding to spend the night. So we used some Marriott Bonvoy points that we had because it was actually a pretty good redemption that that hotel is not cheap. For the time period when we were there, it ran about 800 or so dollars a night. So it's not an inexpensive place to stay. They did say that the day passes were $125 and that includes, so it takes, you have to get a boat to go over there and it's open from pretty early in the morning to like six, six 30 at night. So just depending on how many people you have, right? So it could be cheaper. We had the Marriott point. So we just use those. So that was really that we use that as our relaxing day for the most part. So we went over and saw the flamingos, enjoyed the beach, swam, you know, several times. They have a couple of places where you can eat and get beach drinks. They actually, surprisingly, had good snorkeling over there.
Yeah, it was pretty decent.
I mean, better than I expected. We actually didn't take our snorkel gear, but they had stuff that you could borrow. And in the dull area along the seawall, it was actually really good snorkeling. They have cabanas that you can rent as well and stuff like that. So if you want to be able to see flamingos, get close to them, feed them, if they like. So the flamingos were kind of done they were done eating by the time. And then one of them was particularly grumpy. So we also have a video of it like telling me to.
Back off.
Yeah. And so, but I would say, so what would you say? Are you glad that we went?
Yeah, I'm definitely glad that we went. And one thing that I was thinking about as you were saying that, that I was really surprised about when it came to the snorkeling, is there were baby sharks over on the adult, I mean, on the family side, swimming in the water.
There were, there were. Yeah. So when we, before we left that evening, we saw that the flamingos were back over there and it was kind of getting toward, like you were saying, golden hour. And so we wanted to take a few more pictures yeah and some of the kids were squealing about yeah that they were little nurse sharks yeah i don't know what kind of sharks they
know what kind of sharks they were they were really small but someone said shark and i thought that's not a shark and then i saw it and it was definitely a shark it
it was interesting too they do have some of the cabanas that like face out toward the sunset and they were actually in the process of building some more because he said they are absolutely so popular. We talked to a guy who was kind of in charge of it or whatever. And they're so popular. So if that's something that you want to do, rent one of those cabanas for the day. They were cute. They kind of like, it would put your name in the sand and it provides you some amenities and stuff like that. But so yeah, I'm glad that we went so that we had that experience. Now I would say so we didn't spend a whole lot of time at the beach at our resort. We did take a swim one afternoon. So we did this kind of in lieu of doing that. But I would say if you could work this on, you know, if you don't want to stay there the whole time, and could work this on one end. But this may be a place where you actually want to stay. They had a nice pool and things like that, too. It just wasn't on. You had to always take the boat to the natural beach, I would say. And we found that the hotel was very
we found that the hotel was very
nice. The hotel was very nice. Yeah. Well, so that
so that kind of takes us to our next topic. If you're picking between Aruba Surf Club or Ocean Club, which one are you going to choose?
Definitely the Ocean Club. And so we're saying that because we actually stayed at the Aruba Surf Club. And I know a lot of people go to stay at one of those Marriott properties because it does have lots of pool amenities, a lazy river, a very nice beach, walking distance to lots of restaurants. If you weren't going to very nice walking beach, distance to lots of restaurants. If you weren't going to go anywhere else, you wouldn't need a car.
Casino within walking distance.
True. And so when I had inquired about the dip, because we could have booked at either one and somebody had said, oh, they're basically the same. But then when we got there, we realized, I think that the Ocean Club has been more recently renovated. Because our main comment about the Aruba Surf Club is that we were a little disappointed in the quality, maybe, of the room and the fact that it really wasn't updated. We expected it to maybe have like a nicer shower or whatever. I mean, we had a great view of the pool. Yeah, when
when I go to a hotel somewhere, nothing says two star to me like a tub shower combo with the curtain on it. Like just immediately screams two star in my mind.
But a place like this, I mean, I think is probably a four star. Or do you say three star, four star? I don't know. I didn't look that up. But it's anything that convinced me it's a four star but these
it's anything that convinced
a four star but these rooms can be several i mean up to like a thousand dollars a night now we had booked it through like a marriott vacation club type of a a promotion in our case but i would have been very disappointed if i'd paid that amount. Whereas the room that we had at the Renaissance had like a little kitchenette and had been completely like we got upgraded to a like a family suite. We had more room than we needed and it had been very recently updated.
Yeah. Well, let me ask you a few questions. Would you go back to Aruba?
So I would not go. I just wouldn't put it like it's not like super high on my list because we have so many other places, even in the Caribbean, that we would like to explore. Because as you can tell here that we like to explore and we wouldn't just be there for the beach, right? New places to snorkel, stuff like that. So Turks and Caicos and Antigua and St. Martin and different places like that. So it really just depends. But I wouldn't I wouldn't say, put it like, above some of these other places to go.
places to go. I agree with that. How much time do you think someone needs on Aruba?
So we were four really? there, what, days, We probably could have used two or three more days. So I would say definitely spend a week, especially if you want to explore some of these other things, right? Because we wanted to snorkel and go see all these other things. And yes, it would have been nice to have like another day or even to do another tour or go just sit on the beach. So definitely a week. And I think a lot of people do book for a week. I mean, if you literally just need three or four days to relax at the beach, that would probably be plenty of time. But I would say a week is probably a good amount of time. Yeah. You
know, one of the things that we like about the Marriott Vacation Club places that we go is usually inside your room, you have at least some capability of having like a kitchenette and place where you could have one meal a day or something like that. Because the Marriott Surf Club didn't have that really, I don't know, it's a week of every meal you're having to eat out. But if that's what you're used to and you're really just going for the beach or the pool. Got great weather. You got beautiful water. You got beautiful sand at the beach. I think a week will be fine.
So let's disclaim that and say that we were like in a studio since it was just the two of us. And so it was a very limited kitchenette. So I don't know if they have like one or two bedrooms or that kind of thing where you'd have more facilities like what we were used to in Cancun where you have more of a full kitchen, more of a dining area where that is a possibility because that would have been hard. It felt very much like a hotel room with a little kitchenette. They knew our purpose for coming
They knew our purpose for coming down there and this is what they gave us. So that's all I can base them on.
So that's all I can base them on. Yeah.
Where would you stay? We stayed at the surf club. We're saying we'd rather stay at the ocean club. But is there somewhere else on Aruba that you would stay?
So that's that's an interesting question. So I wouldn't say that for us there was a place that if we just stayed, maybe maybe it would have been more convenient to be. I mean, maybe it would be more convenient for us to been at that Renaissance for the whole time we would have been more convenient to I be, mean, maybe it would have been more convenient for us to have been at that Renaissance for the whole time. We would have been closer you to, know, town. I felt like we maybe passed that area a lot to get to the tour, to get to the Southern part. We also commented that it might would have been interesting even to stay at like, like maybe find like an Airbnb type of a place, right? Even especially if one had like a pool or, you know, facilities or something like that. So, yeah.
Well, go back to episode 45. Tammy had some great recommendations about where to stay. Now, I would say that Renaissance is more in town. So, you know, just keep that in mind. But definitely the Palm Beach, Eagle Beach area. I think that's where I would I would agree with that and say, you know, that's most of the places where you might want to stay at. Yeah, that's
that's true, because I guess in town, when you say in town, it's also very close to the crew, like where the cruise ships come in. So depending on if that if that is your vibe, but if you actually want to be able to walk to the beach, yeah. So in that hotel zone, the Eagle Beach, that would probably be the best location.
So where would you eat again? Where would you go to again if you were going to go back to Aruba?
So I think my absolute favorite place was a place that was actually real close to our hotel that you had seen on the way seen on the way in i think you had read about it too but it was called a czar open fire cuisine and thankfully we were able to by the time we got there from curacao we weren't really sure timing and stuff like that but we were able to go on and get like a late reservation and thankfully people were starting to clear out and stuff like that. That was my favorite, I think.
Yeah, the food was phenomenal there. It's kind of like a typical steakhouse.
They had seafood too, like seafood appetizers. They had fish that you could get and stuff like that. But that was probably one of my favorite places.
Yeah, I like that. We definitely liked the Flying Fishbone. So Tammy had recommended that to us. Just a tip there. If you want to be guaranteed feet in the water table, the only time that they make that reservation is like 4.30 in the afternoon. And so you have to go on early and book that to try to get that reservation. our tip However, is that if you wait till later in the day, say around 7.15-ish 7, or so, you can go make your reservation so you'll have a reserved table no matter what. But once you get there, tell them that you're willing to wait a few minutes for a feet-in-the-water table. And this just means that there's some tables they have that are right on the edge of the water. And you take your shoes off, you go sit at the table, and during your meal, your feet will be just kind of in the water. It's just a different experience, something a little bit out of the ordinary, fun to do. But any of those little tables that they put you at down on the beach are great tables. We had a terrific sunset that we were able to, you know, watch from there. And then, you know, people were taking pictures on this little rock right near our table. And I definitely recommend the Flying Fishbone. Mostly seafood. So if you're not a big seafood fan, this may not be the right place for you yeah and i mean i think they had a few other things
and i mean i think they had a few other things too but yeah definitely mostly seafood and if your feet aren't in the water your feet are going to be in the sand too so be prepared for that and what was funny is if you know me
be in
and what was funny is if you know me notoriously like late or you don't need to get there until like after that time whatever so our reservation was at seven but we knew that the sunset so we got down down there like at 6 45 i just wanted to kind of like see the sunset and stuff like that well they went ahead and sat us and like scott's saying if we had known or waited a few more minutes they had started like most of those feet in the water tables we had out and people had those. But yeah, it was a great, excellent food. The service was excellent there too. It's obviously a very popular place. So regardless, you need a reservation or you're not going to be able to get in. But also, no, it's not in the hotel area. So if you don't have a car, it's a 20, 25 minute taxi from that hotel area. But like I said, lots of people, I mean, they, I think they maybe asked us when we went in, do you need a taxi to go back or something? And you could see when we left just like the lines of taxi. So that's a very common place to, you know, eat for even people who stay in the North part.
So here's one that I'm going to totally shock you is eat at the Holiday Inn right there in the high rise hotel area. There's a restaurant called Seabreeze. Now, we have a whole story around this, and maybe I'll get Melissa to share that story in just a minute. But that Seabreeze restaurant right on the beach, and they have these thatched roof building that all the tables are underneath that thatched roof. And the food there was really, really good. Yeah, it was really
really good. But I would never ever have thought you tell me you're going to go eat at a restaurant at the holiday. And apparently the Italian place that's super popular on Aruba is also there. It's not outside. They have no outdoor seating, but that is a place that has is coveted for reservations and stuff too, apparently. And it's in that same holiday and very close to within walking distance to the ocean club and the surf club, but do not. So if you book this, do not use Google maps to find this because i'd say don't use google maps anytime
don't use google maps anytime yeah scott says don't use and i don't know about apple maps like if
don't use and i don't know about apple maps like if you have the address but if you go to this name it will take you something somewhere 15 20 minutes so i will say scott took the he really took the reins on you know where we were going to eat making those reservations after we talked to tam, researching the tour, researching our snorkel destinations and stuff like that. He had booked this. What's the name of it? Somehow, lost in communication was we really didn't need to drive there. It was five minutes.
Funny enough, when we had been in the
Funny enough, when we had been in the water, relaxing at the beach for a few minutes before that, we didn't know it then, but literally you could see that little hut. So we get in the car, we put in Seabreeze, we drive like 20 minutes, we go to this place. We're thinking it's a little strange because the pictures it shows like by the water. And so I go in and ask this lady and she's not quite sure. And then it's got parks, man takes us on a golf cart. It is not by the water anywhere. We ended up at some all-inclusive resort in their buffet. And when we tried to go in, the people were like, oh, this is a buffet for this such and such resort. But you're the third person who's done this. So Seabreeze Restaurant or Google or somebody like you need to fix this because like the pictures are right. The reviews are right. They're about the place that we went. But the location is completely the wrong place. Unfortunately, their little restaurant was also called Sea Breeze. It's just not the right location. So highly recommend that. I think you actually said was that like your best. I think you had a steak there. I think it was at your best. I did ask the guy.
ask the guy. I what would said, you recommend? He was I'm like, a steak well, So I'm you had guy. a steak Was that there. your best? I I asked the did. I what guy. would said, you recommend? He was like, well, I'm a steak guy, so I'm going to choose the steak. And I was like, well, why not? If that's your favorite and that's what you'd recommend and you think it's a good steak, then I'll try it.
So we drove like an hour to get to a place that was five minutes away. But thankfully, even though it was way past our reservation, they were able to find us a table and we still got to enjoy the So sunset. that was five minutes But away. thankfully, even you though, it was know, way past our reservation, they were able to find us a table. And we still got to enjoy the sunset. So that was nice. So another place that we really loved, actually two people recommended our tour guide. And then somebody from the Marriott Hotel recommended Zierover, Z-E-E-R-O-V-E-R. Local place, right on the water. It's a near flying fishbone. So where like they could actually fish and stuff like that. But no reservations needed for this one. Be prepared to wait in a lawn. We went at lunch. I think they're open for dinner too, but you literally walk up to the counter. They had shrimp. They open a
a cooler. Well, they ask you what you want. We didn't know what they even had. So they open up a cooler and they start bringing out these cuts of fish and shrimp and stuff like that. And so you choose what kind of fish that you want. And then they take it out right then and show it to you. And is that a good piece of fish or not? And then once you get that, you pay and go sit down. Then you go get your drinks, right, from the bar. Go get a drink and you sit down and they'll call your number and you go back up there. Or they brought it out to the table, I think. But, you know, let me just warn you, there's only one way you can have the fish prepared and that's fried. So everything is fried. Now, they don't, like, coat it in a batter or anything like that. They just have the fish prepared and that's fried so everything is fried now they don't like coat it in a batter or anything like that they just fry the fish but it was really good it was really good so but again
good it was really good so but again if you don't like seafood you're out of luck i mean because they had a few sides like slaw and maybe french fries and beans or something like
a few sides
french fries and beans or something
like that. Something like
Something like that. But but it was fish. But if you want something fresh and like Scott said, they'll show you the pieces. But literally, they're showing you what which one you're going to have.
Yeah. So that was a really interesting place. And then for breakfast, we would highly recommend. I had seen this on I joined the Facebook group for the Marriott, and everybody was talking about Eduardo's, Beat Check. And so go there, it's coffee, they have these fruit bowls and or acai bowls that you can get there, a couple of like pastries in the cabinet. But that's pretty much what they offer. pastries in the but that's pretty much cabinet, what they And so get your fresh juices, offer.
your and coffee, some breakfast. And we went there twice. And then the first time we drove and then thankfully we found a little place to park. Yeah. again, But if you're staying anywhere along that little it's a nice little morning walk from any of those just to go to this hotel, shack. I mean, everybody knew about it because it's definitely a very popular place.
Is there any way where that you would try that we didn't get to go or somewhere that you would go if we had had more time?
So we, funny enough, we never made it to that. The lighthouse is called the California Lighthouse. And so we actually didn't make it down there. I don't know that there's a lot to see, but at least to photograph it or anything like that. I don't know if you were particularly asking about restaurants, but that was the one thing that we didn't really get to do. And then I guess the other thing that we didn't really get to do that I think maybe you do if you do book one of the like the off road, like four wheeler type of tours is they also have a like a natural pool that you can swim in. That's part of the the national park as well. And so we didn't end up going over there. Like you do have to have, you know, admission to get into that. And I think sometimes it's limited that. And I think that's also limited by the tides and stuff, too. So those were really the two things that I would say that we didn't do. What about you?
I think we covered Aruba for me. I'm not going to hide it. I really enjoyed Curacao much better, but for me, I think we saw enough of Aruba.
So when is a good time to visit Aruba? What did we learn?
Year-round. They are outside the hurricane belt, so they have pretty much steady weather throughout the year. A couple of the locals did tell us that when there is a hurricane in the Caribbean, is that it will steal the trade winds away. And that's something that we actually didn't talk about. Aruba is extremely windy. I'm not talking about just a little gentle breeze. I'm talking about almost knock you down windy.
And it was interesting because it wasn't necessarily like super consistent. So, for example, where we parked, which was like behind the surf club was up on this hill. And that was where it was absolutely the windiest. And for example, you open your car door and if it was windy at all, like that thing was slamming open. And then it was very hard to close. So you just had to be careful because you could very easily like slam your hands or something in there. But there was a couple of times when we got back and then maybe walk closer to the beach and it didn't feel as windy down there. So for some reason up in that area, but, but it's also, we went to a beach that is very popular for kite surfers. And so, I mean, it's very obvious why, because of those, those
winds. They did say that during hurricane season, the hurricanes can rob those trade winds that they're known for. And so it gets really hot, really humid, and very buggy during that time. So I'd say from August to early November, you've got that possibility that if there's a storm in the Caribbean, that it can mess up those winds.
So we were there in the middle of March or middle to the end of March, and it was great.
We do have a tip for when you're leaving Aruba. We had wondered, we saw all of these ads for like expedited service to get you out of Aruba. And we really wondered if that was necessary and whether because it was like 200, $250 for the service. And would you really need that? Still don't know if we know the answer to that. Let us tell you about our experience now, because we were going back to Curacao. We were able to avoid there's two parts of the airport. There's a local airport, and then there's the international airport. And so because we were going to Curacao, we went to the local part. Well, all that really means is that you start out on one side of the line or the other. In the local airport, we kind of equated it to the Fastpass or the Lightning Lane at Disney, where you get to kind of bypass all the crowds or whatever. You still had to wait a little ways because you went through the same security line. It's just they had a side for the local versus the international. Yeah, so we
so we basically came in on the left and everybody else from the international was coming in on the right and we could not see. It was a long hallway and you couldn't see the end of that line. And so then we were funneled in, didn't have to wait too long. Because they even had told us that we needed to be there, what, two hours ahead? So we get there and we take the rental car back and we're like two hours for the
two hours for the local airport right right two hours for the local i mean then we had to wait to even we had to check in our bags
two hours for the local i mean then we had to wait to even we had to check in our bags because it's it was what like a 12 15 16 passenger plane that we were taking back to curacao so you have to you know can't take the baggage into the cabin with you and so they hadn't even opened the counter yet so then we then we had to wait but yeah so that's what they had told us i mean i just thought wow you have to be at the airport four hours in advance so it really i mean it really just depends we did see one person using the service and the person was walking them up to the front so then i I guess you just have to weigh how much value is that to you. Because that service is per person.
you. Because that service is per person.
Yeah, that's per person. That was pretty expensive. But just know that it is available. And also just be very aware of taking everything out for your, I don't know, security. I had problems in both Curacao and Aruba. And I don't know, security. I had problems in both Curacao and Aruba. I don't know if it was keys or something kept setting the stuff up. So anyway, the second thing we wanted to remind you that I think we mentioned in the other Aruba episode that we do want to tell you about is that you do have to fill out some immigration paperwork ahead of time to get into Aruba. It's super easy. They ask for your flight details. You can't do it more than seven days in advance. We'll put the link in the show notes as well. And now we were asked to show it when we checked in in Curacao for that flight. You may, so if you're flying directly to Aruba, I would imagine, let's say you're taking Delta or United or American, they probably are going to ask just to show that. I think you can do it digitally. I just sometimes like to print those things out. And don't pay for this service, though, because if you go Google Aruba immigration form, and this I would say would be true for like most things. There might be some countries where, yes, you might need to pay a visa service and stuff like that, but do your research. But I would say for this one, especially lots of them pop up where they like charge you a fee to go do this. This is not something that you need to pay to have anybody do like it literally takes five minutes if you have your passport number and your flight information, etc. So we'll put a link to that. But it's like ED card Aruba and stuff like that. So you just it's just something a formality that you have to fill out. And I think a lot of these are, this is stuff you used to do on the plane, right? I think when you fill out and have it and they just do it all electronically now.
Well, having said that, we still want to go to Bonaire. So they have the ABC Islands or Ruba, Bonaire, Curacao. We didn't make it to Bonaire on this trip and we still want to do that. Somehow or another, well, I think I know exactly how. It was when we were in Curacao diving that tugboat wreck. But diving has made it onto our bucket list. I don't think either one of us want to do really deep dives, but we want to be able to go scuba diving. really deep dives, but we want to be able to go scuba diving. And so that's made it onto our bucket list is to learn how to dive and get certified so we can do that. And we hear that Bonaire is really good place for that. We also want to invite you guys to tune in next week because we're going to do a side-by-side comparison of Curacao and Aruba. And we got a little fun way of doing that. And so I hope you're going to tune in and listen to that. And, you know, if you're thinking about visiting the neighboring Curacao, you can get all of our tips in one episode back over at episode 56. So just go to episode 56 and listen to that about Curacao. I think you're going to want to listen to each of these individually and then listen to our side-by-side comparison before you make your reservations. Yes, definitely.
We have noticed that many people are curious about Aruba, and we also see a lot of our friends posting about their upcoming trips there. It's truly a wonderful place to visit. We highly recommend that you venture outside of the hotel zone and immerse yourself in the local culture to truly experience the beauty of the island. If you've already been to Aruba and have a story to share, we'd love to hear it. Just send me an email, scott at sunshinetravelers.com. We always find your travel stories to be inspiring. When you're looking at booking your
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