Renaissance Beach Resort
(was Sonesta Suites)

August 4-11, 2000, Kurt & Mer

After catching the redeye flight out of Los Angeles, we arrived at Miami International Airport at 6:30 a.m. Our Air Aruba flight to Orangestad had already been delayed two times and we were now expecting an eight-hour layover. We took the elevator to the eighth floor of the Miami International Airport Hotel, which is right inside the airport. For $8 we joined the health club for the day. They had a Jacuzzi, spa, sauna, weight room, racquetball courts, lockers and a nice outdoor pool that overlooked the airport. We were provided with towels as we swam and stretched out on the lawn chairs next to the pool and fell asleep for a few hours. What a great idea! It really helped to rejuvenate us.

Upon arriving at the gate, we found out that our flight had been further delayed. We had to wait for the inbound flight from Aruba, which was late. We finally left a couple of hours late. What a long Miami day! The flight was perfect. The pilot played tour guide while we flew over Bimini, The Bahamas and Haiti. We enjoyed free drinks along the way. Try the Ponche Kuba, it's kind of like eggnog, with brandy and rum.

Customs was a piece of cake. We were glad we both had passports just to avoid any hassles. We were pleasantly surprised at baggage claim that all of our luggage made it from San Diego without getting lost.

Plenty of taxis out front. We hopped in one and it took us to Sonesta Suites for $10.

The Sonesta Suites were great. They had two swimming pools and their own little beach lagoon with a small bridge over the outlet to the ocean. I noticed couples out "swimming" in the lagoon by themselves when it was dark. How romantic! The staff was exceptionally friendly and helpful. The rooms were decently furnished, but nothing too special. There was a complete set of kitchenware that worked out well since I cooked several dinners and breakfasts. The only thing missing was an oven.

We had a ground floor room, which meant that we couldn't look out over the ocean from where we were. We did have a view of the pool and we could see the ocean though. It was still nice and convenient to walk straight from our room out to the pool area. All the activities and theme nights went on right outside our room. I liked how the rooms were arranged because all rooms face the ocean. The hallways are between the room and the city.

The Suites are perfectly located. We had access to the beach on Sonesta Island, and we were right next to the casinos, shopping, bus station, and restaurants. After driving to other parts of the island, we were convinced that we would prefer to stay at the Suites instead of in the high or low rises just because of the convenient location. During our stay, they changed the name of the Sonesta Suites to "Sonesta Beach Tower".

Our first task was to stock our room with food and drink. I had heard that there were grocery stores across the street behind the Sonesta Resort. We went over there but they closed at 8:00 so we took a taxi down to Certified Grocery Store (another $10). Although U.S. dollars are accepted everywhere, the prices in the grocery store are listed in Aruban Florins. We weren't sure how much we were paying for anything, but we just loaded up our cart. We bought hamburger, pasta, orange juice, fruit, bread, lunchmeat, sausage, eggs, cereal, chicken, beer, rice, etc and paid about $60. It was a little more than we'd expect to pay in the U.S. but it wasn't outrageous. The food would have lasted us for the week but we got cravings so we went back to get more stuff later (pina colada mix, rum, etc.)

After we unloaded the groceries, we went for a swim in the pool. Very relaxing. There is a swim up bar and little islands to swim around in the pool. They also have live music almost every (if not every) evening.

Saturday August 5, 2000

After the meeting, we headed out for Sonesta Island, The Sonesta Suites & Resort's private island. It's a short walk to the dock where the ferry takes you over to the island. We first had to stop at the Sonesta Resorts to pick up more passengers. We got to cruise through the Sonesta Resorts little canal. I felt like I was at Disneyland. There were some prospective passengers that were left behind at the Sonesta Resorts because they didn't have their Sonesta ID card. Each guest is issued an ID card when you check in. They are pretty particular on the boat and they won't let anyone board without it.

Sonesta Island was nice. The beaches were pretty calm and we got to see the flamingo that lives on the island. The place was literally crawling with iguanas. It was pretty cool just to watch them. There are two lagoons, a weight room and tennis courts. They give you a towel when you get to the island. We found that the beach on the right, as you get off the boat, was less crowded and a little more private. There were a couple of topless bathers there and nobody bothered them. We were a little disappointed in the snorkeling on the island. It was a little too rough outside the lagoons so we just practiced with our new snorkel equipment. It was pretty nice though to lay in the hammock, especially when Mer brought me a pina colada. This ended up being our only trip to Sonesta Island. Not because we didn't like it, but because there was so much else to see. If you just want to lay on the beach and cool off in the water, it was nice.

We had to satisfy her shopping craving so after we got back from Sonesta Island, we headed off to the stores. There is mostly the same tourist stuff (tee shirts, figurines, etc.) but we still enjoyed walking around and talking to people. Mer got hooked on gelatto from two different places. She also took advantage of all the jewelry coupons found in the ads. She got free diamond studs at Diamonds International (I think they were made in the presence of a diamond). In any case, they made a nice gift for our young niece. She also got a free five-carat amethyst from Kay's Fine Jewelry. We decided to spend the extra $69 to have it mounted as a pendant. We're glad we did, when we got home we realized it would have cost us about $300 for the same setting. At Colombian Emeralds International, we got some small tanzanite studs for $5 plus two free emerald specimens that will be made into earrings for our ten-year-old daughter. When we checked into the Sonesta Suites, they gave us a free three-carat blue topaz which Colombian Emeralds International mounted with a silver chain for free. We really made out in the jewelry department.

I preferred the Cuban cigars though. I found the best deals at Cigar Emporium in Seaport Mall. Perfume was also a little bit cheaper than the U.S. We went to The Aruba Trading Company and bought about four different bottles of Eau de Toilette and Cologne for $136. All the stores and shops are within easy walking distance of the Sonesta Suites.

At night, Sonesta Suites had "Carnival Night". It was terrific. They had live music and dancers. We missed the real Carnival in the spring, but this gave us a taste of what it was all about. It was a lot of fun and the first of many times when we danced "The Wiper".

Sunday August 6, 2000

Not much happens in Aruba on Sunday. We once again walked around the store area but they were all closed for the day. It was interesting though, walking around Orangestad while it seemed like a ghost town. Just the day before, the city was bustling with activity and now it was all shut down. We felt really safe during our whole trip to Aruba, the crime rate is supposedly very low. The grocery store was still open though so we loaded up with pina colada mix and rum among other stuff.

Snuba Mer tried the Snuba in the pool while I took a nap. I already wanted to Snuba. She said it took her awhile to get used to it but she finally swam around under the water at the pool and decided to go for it. They have a DePalm Tour rep inside the lobby at the Sonesta Suites so I signed us up for Monday morning.

We realized how little we could do without a car. It was no problem on any other day, but it was magnified today since everything was closed. Since my wife and I are both from California, we can't last too long without the independence provided by a car. We were planning on going out to eat at night and we knew that it would cost us $10 each way for a taxi. Since I signed up for Snuba, we also had to be at Eagle Beach in the morning. Another $10-$15 each way. I also had planned to go to Baby Beach while we were in Aruba. That would have cost another $16 each way.

I looked through the ads and found one for Economy Car Rental. It was a "today only special" for $25/day with a minimum of three days. The paper where I saw the ad was three days old but Economy honored it. They even picked me up at the resort and would bring me back at the end of the rental. It was the best price that I found. We were very glad to have the car for three days. It worked out perfectly because we just planned all the activities where we needed transportation for those three days. We did the tours where they picked us up at the hotel on the other days. Other than the one trip to the grocery store, we only needed a taxi to get us to and from the airport. They also gave us a bunch of discount coupons for free drinks, appetizers, jewelry, etc. We used a lot of those.

Coletta made reservations for us at Madame Janette Bar & Restaurant for 6:00. We were worried about being late after getting our car. We got directions from the Economy reps and were sure we'd get lost (so was he). The streets are not labeled and I think many of them don't even have names. (Addresses are based on the district in which you live. So, if you live in Ayo district, you're address might be 37 Ayo. There are no street addresses. ) Amazingly, we somehow drove straight there. They must have opened at 6:00 because we were the first ones there.

Madame Janette is a little bit inland away from the high rises but it is very romantic and you sit outside (Mer was bitten twice by mosquitoes but I guess I don't taste good). We started off with a drink suggested to us by one of our many waiters. I don't remember what it was called but it had champagne with a splash of blackberry liqueur and the glass was rimmed with sugar. I highly recommend it. I had the Pork Tenderloin with sautéed onions and Madagascar peppercorns. Mer had the Pork Cordon Bleu. Both were delicious and in very big portions. Mer had enough for lunch the next day. The whole experience was terrific. Great service, great food. It wasn't very dressy. I wore a pair of Dockers, but some people were in shorts.

Monday August 7, 2000

Parrot Fish We both woke up really excited because today was our big Snuba day. We had to drive up to the Aruba Palm Grand Hotel to catch the 40-foot trimaran for our trip out to the diving area. We signed up for the Seaventure Sailing & Snuba trip with DePalm Tours. It cost $65 per person and it was well worth it. They took us to three diving spots, Arashi Reef, The Antilla Wreck and Malmok. At one of the spots you Snuba and the other two you can snorkel. The guides split you up into groups of four for the Snuba, it's their choice where you Snuba based on your skill level. We were in the first group.

I was a little apprehensive because although I can swim well, I haven't tried anything like this before. Mer is a less confident swimmer and I could tell that she was a lot nervous. She doesn't usually like to swim without some kind of flotation device close at hand. I didn't tell her at the time, but I was very surprised that she wanted to try this.

Snuba is very similar to scuba but instead of having the tank strapped to your back, it floats on a raft on top of the water. You have a twenty-foot hose that you breathe through. That effectively limits your maximum depth to twenty feet. Of course, you don't have to go that deep, but you can if you want. They give you a complete brief before you ever hit the water and they let you practice breathing through the regulator. Alex, the guide, was excellent. He never rushed us and he let us go at our own pace.
They supplied all our gear and after we had our mask, fins, regulator, Snuba harness and weight belt on, Alex told us to jump in whenever we wanted. I was ready to go, so in I went. I turned just in time to see Mer floundering around in the water with a panicked look on her face. Two of the guides jumped in and had to pull her to the raft. I figured it was all over for Mer. She panicked because she didn't expect the different buoyancy caused by the weight belt. While she clung to the raft, I was practicing breathing through the regulator.

At first, it was a little weird. While it wasn't hard to breathe, it was slightly more difficult than breathing on land. There were also bubbles going everywhere when you exhaled. I only went down a couple of feet at first, but as soon as I saw all the fish I got excited and took off. In a matter of seconds, I forgot all about the regulator. I was amazed at how clear the water was and how many bazillion fish I could see. I brought a disposable underwater camera in the states before I left for about $10. I was off taking pictures. Alex led us around and he found a little porcupine puffer fish that he antagonized into puffing up. It was awesome.

After about 10-15 minutes of swimming around, I turned around to see Mer descending down to the bottom. What a surprise! After her rough entry into the water, I figured she would just hold onto the raft. She was swimming all around with me. We both realized later that it's just a matter of confidence. Once you learn to trust that the regulator is going to supply you with all the air you need, it's no big deal. They let kids even as young as eight do it.

We Snuba'd at Arashi Reef. After that, we went to the Antilla Wreck, an old WWII German ship. We snorkeled there in about 65 feet of water. They gave Mer a life-ring to snorkel with. It sure made her easy to spot! Again, there were a ton of fish there. We talked to the people that Snuba'd there and they said they went all around inside the ship.

On the way back, they made us free pina coladas (or whatever you wanted to drink - open bar). And they gave us ham sandwiches (not great, but we were starving after all the physical activity).

Were glad we didn't miss this experience. It was the highlight of our trip and now we are both interested in getting certified for scuba. You can do it even if you're not a strong swimmer. We knew that we were going to have to do this again soon, so we decided to do it again on Thursday. When we got back to our timeshare, we were exhausted and neither of us felt like cooking so we walked across the street to La Terraza which is located next to the Aruba Sonesta Resorts in the Seaport Mall. It was a nice little café. I tried the sate and Mer had some sort of cheese and bread plate. The smoothies (I forget what they actually were called) were delicious. So was the dessert. We got a 10% discount with our Economy Rental Car coupon book.

Tuesday August 8, 2000

Although we wanted to do it earlier in the week, we went on the four-hour Explore Aruba Tour. For $30 each, they took us all around the island. They picked us up at the timeshare and we went to the California Lighthouse, St.Annes Church, The Natural Bridge, the Ayo rock formations, the Guadarikiri Caves, Baby Beach and San Nicolas. They provided free Pepsi's along the way. It was a pretty informative tour and we got off the bus at each of these places to walk around. The guide talked a lot about what life on Aruba is like for the natives. The north side of the island is incredibly different than the south. It is like the moon with lots of sand dunes, lava rock and rough seas.

We got to snorkel at Baby Beach and they provided a mask and a snorkel. If you have your own equipment, I'd recommend that you bring it. They didn't have any fins. We snorkeled there for about thirty minutes. It was sort of difficult without fins so we decided that we'd have to come back the next day to snorkel.
Every Tuesday night at 6:30 is the Bon Bini Festival in downtown Orangestad. They have little booths selling knickknacks, tee shirts, crafts, art, food and drink. The highlight though, is the show. They have different local groups that perform. It was awesome and shouldn't be missed. Once again, we did "The Wiper". Get there early though. We arrived right at 6:30 and had to stand for most of the show. We found the best deal on tee shirts there and bought about six of them for gifts.

The show ended at about 8:30 and we decided to head over to Iguana Joe's to get something to drink. We again used our Economy Rental car coupon book to buy one get one free drink. It was a pretty lively and fun place with good drinks.

Wednesday August 9, 2000

Baby Beach We recognized from the day before that Baby Beach was a great place for beginners to snorkel. It's on the far east end of the island in the Seroe Colorado district. The water is really shallow all the way across the bay and there are two outlets to the sea. If you look closely in the picture, you can see me waving from the middle of the bay in about 2-3 feet of water. There are tons of fish going in and out of the bay through the outlets. If you swim past the outlets, the water is only about 5-6 feet deep and fairly calm. This is the best place for beginners to practice their snorkeling. It was perfect for Mer. She brought her "swimming noodle" from home that helped her to be a bit more aquatically mobile. We took lots of underwater pictures here. It's a very clean beach with a snack bar and restrooms (which are closed on Sunday). I'm glad we had a car, the taxi would have cost us $16 each way.

We stopped at Wendy's for a quick snack while in San Nicolas and saved some French fries for the fish. We were headed off for the other end of the island. We drove back through Orangestad, the low-rises and the high-rises to Malmok. This is near where we Snuba'd before and we wanted to try it again from the shore. It was beautiful. There was lots of brain coral and fish. They would eat orange peels right out of my hand. They loved the French fries too. It was another great place to snorkel and wasn't crowded at all. There were a couple of topless sunbathers there.

This was our last day with the car. We returned it to the airport and they gave us a ride back to our timeshare. With the right planning, we really got the most out of the car. It was perfect. Everything else we had planned for the rest of the week offered free pickups at our hotel.

We walked around the mall again and gambled at the Seaport Casino and the Crystal Casino. Our favorite game was video poker. We read some guides that were supposed to give us better odds. Some help they were! We lost about $100 during the week but we did get to play about four or five times. We convinced ourselves that we had fun giving them our money.

Our next great adventure was the Banana Bus. There are several party buses and cruises in Aruba; the Kuku Kunuku, the Jolly Pirates, Tattoo Party boat, et al. My advice is to pick one and have fun! I guess they each have their pluses and minuses. We chose the Banana Bus because they take you to places outside of Orangestad. The other buses pretty much just go around downtown and we could easily walk to any of those places. They charged us $50 (including $5 discount for signing up at the orientation meeting). Our first stop, after picking up everyone at their timeshare, was at Mangel Halto Beach. They made their own batch of Aruba Ariba and they were generous with it. Everyone got to know each other as we did silly dances as the incoming planes flew over us. It was a lot of fun. After we loosened up, we hit the road with party tunes blaring while we shook our maracas. As our guide told us, "just remember, nobody here knows you". Great advice.

From there we went to dinner at Nueva Marina Pirata. This is a place that I had never heard of and never would have found. It was beautiful. You eat on a dock right on the water. They started with wine and salad. The entrée included Aruban style fish, some sort of beef stew, fried plantain and rice. It was great meeting people from the other hotels and trading timeshare experiences with each other. After our nice relaxing dinner, and another round of Aruba Aribas, we hit the road again.

We went to three different bars, Commandeurs Café in Savaneta, the Coco Beach at Roger's Beach and the Iceberg in Savaneta. Beer was $2 and mixed drinks were $3 at all the bars. We had a great time learning and dancing the Merengue, playing games and lots of dancing. Of course, once again, we did "The Wiper". They sell the Banana Bus CD with all their party songs for $15. We forgot to buy it before we left and regretted it. Our only other regret was that we had scheduled another Snuba trip for 8:30 the next morning.

Thursday August 10, 2000

After a late night, I was surprised at how awake and "ready to go" I felt when I woke up. We were both excited to Snuba again. I thought about it all night. We signed up for the Sun and Snuba at DePalm Island. It cost $54 per person. The bus picked us up at our timeshare and brought us to the boat landing, which is next to the desalinization plant. We hopped on the ferry that took us to the island. We went through the same briefs as before, this time by Wendy and Clive. This was going to be a shore dive. Mer highly recommends that if you are a little apprehensive about Snuba, try this program first because you can just walk out into the water with your gear on, instead of just jumping right in. I actually thought it was more difficult because you have to wade through the small surf to get out. Still, it was pretty easy. Again, we had four people in our group led by Wendy. After I had just gotten underwater, Wendy motioned for us to surface. One of the members of our group had decided that this wasn't for him. No problem, we brought him back and then returned. I think we ended up getting a little bit extra time because of it.

This was definitely the best place to snorkel/Snuba in Aruba. The Parrot Fish as shown above were awesome. This was the only place in Aruba that I saw them. They were about 2-3 feet long and very friendly. They are bright blue and have the silliest looking face that I've ever seen on a fish. You could see them swimming among the people just standing around on the beach. They would come close enough to reach out and touch them and just slowly move away as you reached out. Wendy said that sometimes they would let you pet them. On the way out, I also saw a small eel and a puffer fish. I thought I saw a barracuda but I wouldn't swear to it. I brought a pocketful of frozen peas. Whenever I threw some out, the fish would just totally surround me. They must be used to all the swimmers because they seemed almost tame.

I think the water here was deeper than where we originally Snuba'd and there were definitely more corals (watch out for the fire coral). The water was so clear and blue. We were totally exhilarated when we came out of the water.

When we got back, we finished up our last minute shopping for souvenirs and gifts. Then, we went to dinner at The Paddock, which is a little outdoor place right in the center of downtown. We sat outside along the waterfront. They serve Dutch/American/Aruban food. I had the Wiener Schnitzel with sautéed mushrooms and a baked potato with a glass of wine. Mer had the shrimp scampi. It was perfect after our long day. We didn't have any leftovers this time. I thought the food was great and it was fairly inexpensive. This was actually our favorite meal. About what I'd expect to pay for the same thing in the states.

Friday August 11, 2000

What a drag! We had to get up early to be at the airport by 8:30. They recommended that we arrive at the airport two hours prior to departure. We were sad that we had to leave, but we needed to go home to rest. We had such a busy vacation and we had planned on resting and relaxing the whole time. Oh well.

We're glad that we checked out of the timeshare the night before, we avoided the morning rush. We also got the first taxis. At the airport, you go through US customs so you don't have to do it again in Miami. We had to throw away our orange, apple and boiled eggs that we had planned on eating while we waited for the plane. The customs guy said that we blew it by not buying any Gouda cheese. It supposedly is real cheap. Customs was easy.

While we waited for our plane, we shopped at the duty free stores and bought some Dutch chocolate and some Aruba calendars. Our plane was late again. We were supposed to leave at 10:30. There was another plane going to Miami that was supposed to leave about 30 minutes after us. We were all waiting for the planes to come in from Venezuela.

I read that Air Aruba has had some financial difficulties and so they are trying to become a hub from South America to the US. Not only did we have to wait for the late plane to arrive, but once it did all the passengers had to deplane and go through US customs. We left about 2 hours late. What really upset us is that the other plane ended up leaving before us. At least we made our Miami connection.

Upon arrival in San Diego, we discovered that our luggage didn't make it. What a surprise! We were so worried about it arriving in Aruba and we didn't think twice about it making it back. We finally got it back about three days later. At least we got some extra frequent flier miles out of it. Next time, I think I'd try to book my flight completely on American Airlines.

Final Thoughts

Eagle Beach We loved Aruba. The people are really friendly, it's very clean, and everyone speaks English. The beaches are beautiful, there is a lot to do, and we had so much fun. We'd love to go back but there are so many other places on our list of places to go, that I'm not sure when that will be. Given the opportunity, we'd jump at the chance to return.