Trip to the ABC's (Aruba, Bonaire & Curacao)

**Return to Aruba - October 1-8, 2005** (click any picture to get enlargement)

We returned to Aruba after spending a wonderful week on the Polynesia. Behind her was another large cruise ship... no thanks! *We now will begin an 8-day vacation on Aruba.*

*The coast of Aruba has sandy beaches and many hotels.*	*Our hotel was on the tip of the 'nose'; by a wide beach.*	A closer view of our hotel; long orange roof with a white middle.


*Our hotel was called the Atlantic Beach Club. It had a nice garden & pool... at times full of retirees.*

*The room was spacious and had a refrigerator, stove & microwave.* Aruba was rather expensive, so it was nice to be able to cook some meals in the room... and to keep the fridge loaded with drinks.

*We had a small bacony...*	*... and had a nice ocean view.*	*A view from another room.*

*The beach area in front of the hotel was excellent.* *The beach was wide strip of clean, white sand. There were also nice little huts for us to use.*


*Luckily we came during low season, so there were not a lot of people competing for the spaces.*


*The water was very calm, which meant no playing in the waves. The temperature was hot and humid, so we took many breaks to go swimming. We also played catch & frisbee in the water.*

*The friends that joined us on the Windjammer cruise also stayed for a few days in Aruba. They stayed in a bigger hotel in the 'high-rise' section of the island.*
*Their hotel was not to far from us, so the beaches look similar.*
	*The iguanas were more abundant than the guests; perfect! Some of them did not look too friendly, so we took different chairs.*

*After the sun set we enjoyed ...*	*... one of our many happy hours on the beaches of Aruba.*	*Afterwards we went to town to see a 'Go Latin' dance show.*


The next day we went to see one of the most popular places on the island, called Natural Bridge. The first two pictures were taken awhile ago, as the bridge has since collapsed.

Another popular place that we had planned to visit was called Natural Pool. It was complicated to find the road that leads there (the signs are terrible) and then we found that the road was in such bad condition that we could not go... darn!

Each day we picked a part of the island to explore. On this day we went to the southeast point, to a place called Baby Beach... as it was so warm that babies would like it. *We found the snorkeling to be excellent by the barrier reef.*


*The only negative aspect (and a big one) was, if you looked to your right, you saw a big, stinky refinery that periodically burned off some excess oil. It didn't make for a very romantic lunch!*


Just a little ways from Baby Beach was Roger's beach... which was named after a shipwreck. The ocean on this side was much more rough and wind blown, which makes for dangerous conditions if your ship is out of control. We don't know if the graves below were for sailors or for locals.


*On another day we went to the northwest point to do more snorkeling. We found a couple of really good spots and repeated the trip later in the week.* *This beach had more locals and some even brought their horses!*


Every day we came back to the hotel for happy hour and for the sunset... ... each day the view was a little different... each one was quite special!
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*With these final beach shots of Nicole and I ... the story of the Trip to the ABC's is complete.*




*We thoroughly enjoyed our time on the the Polynesia and the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.*

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