Costa Linda Beach Resort

June 11 - June 25, 2004 By Teri

What a honeymoon - couldn't have been better!

We flew out of Norfolk on the morning of 6/28 and after a stopover in Atlanta, got into Aruba around 2:30 in the afternoon. Once we got settled in our room, we headed into town so my wife could pick up a new bathing suit and we could do a little browsing around the stores. That night we had some drinks and ate at the buffet at the Divi.

Our first full day in Aruba consisted of a 3 hour private horseback riding tour down to the lighthouse and back with Rancho Notorious. This was a BLAST. Since my wife is an avid rider, and I've ridden before, we got to gallop on the sand dunes - amazing. Once we got back from that we relaxed for a bit and later that night did the romantic dining out on the beach at the Pirate's Nest. The food here was EXCELLENT. For $75 a couple, 3 appetizers, and entree, desert, and a bottle of wine/champagne is a STEAL, especially with the quality of the food. Even having to hang onto our napkins tightly for fear of the wind blowing them away didn't dampen this dinner for us - only thing I regret is forgetting our personalized menu at the table - I really wanted that for a souvenir!

The next day, we relaxed during the day - my wife did some windsurfing and we laid out on the beach and had a few drinks. That night we went on the sunset cruise with Tranquillo. Again, AWESOME. Captain Anthony and his crew and GREAT. We were on the boat with just one other couple and it made for quite a quaint sunset. And talk about some good rum punch! When we went back for our snorkeling cruise on Friday (more on that in a bit) Captain Anthony said that we watched us "stagger away" after we got off the dingy. A great time was had this night!

On Thursday, we indulged by getting the Honeymoon Indulgence massage treatment at the Indulgence by the Sea Spa at the Divi. This was an hour long exfoliation scrub followed by an hour long sweedish massage. I've never done anything like this before, but let me tell you - it was HEAVEN! That night, we had brickoven pizza for dinner and sat around and had some drinks.

Friday consisted of returning to the Tranquillo, this time for the 6 hour snorkeling cruise (we decided to do this after the GREAT time we had on the sunset cruise). This was a ton of fun, even though I don't really enjoy snorkelling as much as some. I only snorkelled for a little bit (my wife did a lot more than I did and then went out into the deep snorkeling area) but I still enjoyed this a TON. I could've just been out on the boat for 6 hours and had a blast. Not to mention the FANTASTIC pea soup and sandwiches that they had on board. Stayed away from the rum punch this time, but indulged with a few Balashi's. That night we had dinner at the Manchebo Steakhouse which was delicious AND reasonably priced.

We decided that our last 2 days in Aruba would be filled with complete R&R. Saturday, we laid on the beach, had drinks, read, napped, went in the water - total and utter relaxation all day. It was wonderful. That night we ate at the Pirate's Nest and it was another good meal.

Sunday, we went into town in the morning to eat breakfast at the Dutch Pancake House, after a reccomendation from antoher couple that was on the snorkeling trip with us. The place was in the Seaport Marketplace, right across from the tiger exhibit (btw what the heck is a tiger doing in Aruba?!) These pancakes were a cross between our pancakes & crepes. They were good and one was DEFINITELY filling. The rest of the day we just relaxed outside again, spent the night watching the July 4th fireworks from our veranda, and drank the night away! We packed some too

Monday morning we got up at 7, packed and hit the airport at about 11:15, 4 hours before our flight. All I can say is, I feel bad for anyone that takes AA. The line to check in for AA was REALLY REALLY long and I can see why getting there 4 hours before would be advantageous. We flew United, walked right up to the counter, and were through security & customs in about 45 minutes. We spent the other 3 hours reading before our flight which was ontime and no real complaints there.

All in all, a wonderful first trip to Aruba, and an amazing honeymoon, that neither my wife nor I will EVER forget.