Aruba Surfside Marina

May 9 - May 13, 2005 by Amy B

Part II

Friday, May 13. Here's a tip if you are switching hotels and have items that you need to keep cold. We froze 2 bottles of water the night before and then placed them on top of the cold items in a tightly closed bag (as we didn't have a cooler with us). We were in the car most of the time, so the AC was on. The water was still partially frozen by the time we unloaded our stuff and everything stayed cold.

So, we were off to try to check in early at the Costa Linda. The room was not ready, but I was able to check in. They did not know when it would be available. Since we had a car, we decided to drive around for a while to pass the time. We drove around by the California Dunes and Lighthouse and found some very beautiful areas we hadn't seen before.

We started to get hungry and although we have never been to Salt & Pepper, we have always wanted to give it a try and this seemed like a good spot for lunch, because our car would be close by and all of our bags were in it (although we were careful to have nothing viewable in the car).

If you are not familiar with this restaurant, they are primarily known for their tapas (small plates). What is so great about this, is you can get a variety of dishes for lunch or dinner. Since we didn't know how large or small each dish was and there were so many yummy sounding ones - we got quite a few. Escargot (a huge portion and fantastic - my favorite dish), spicy beer-battered shrimp (huge shrimp and yummy), garlic bread (probably the best we had on the island), BLT sandwich (huge), parmesan mushrooms (Chris's favorite dish), tacos & fries. The service was very good and all of this food (plus 2 pina coladas) was just under $40 without a service charge included. We knew that we'd have to make another visit to this restaurant and include it on our list of favorites!

We went back to the Costa Linda (the lines were getting longer as their timeshares run from Friday to Friday). The room still wasn't ready and they didn't expect it to be ready until 4pm - the usual check in time. We then drove to town to do a little shopping. Iguana Joe's had been closed for several days due to a water pressure problem, but there was a note on their sign that they would be opening that evening - whew - we were getting worried that they wouldn't reopen before we had to leave. We walked around a little and bought some Aruba Aloe (the best stuff).

Back to the Costa Linda - the room was ready; we received our door code and got a bellman to help us with our luggage. The room was very nice. We've never stayed at a timeshare in Aruba before and were a little surprised when we saw that we were responsible for all of the items in the kitchen and that we were to count everything to see if anything was missing - or we'd have to pay for it. A bit of a strange way to begin your vacation. It was nice to have the full kitchen and when we saw the blender - we knew that we could make good use of it. :-)

The room had a small bedroom with two single beds, off the front hallway. There was a bathroom near the smaller bedroom with a large vanity and full-sized tub. As already mentioned, the kitchen was very complete with a countertop and stools. There was a dining room table with 6 chairs, a living room with a pullout couch, 3 chairs, a variety of tables and a TV set. The couch and chairs were vinyl, which was a little weird to get used to, but I guess it makes it much easier to keep the room clean. The master bedroom was off the living room and to the left of the room was a king-size bed, dresser, night tables, chair, TV and mirrored closet. The right side of the bedroom had a large vanity and large roman tub (similar to a jacuzzi but without jets). The toilet and shower stall had its own door. The best part of the master bedroom was the large window overlooking the pool, beach, ocean and sunsets (which you could watch while sitting in bed). Off the living room was the balcony with table, chairs and ceiling fan (much needed, especially, in the afternoons) with the same view as the bedroom window.

We unpacked and hurried back to the new spot we found while driving around earlier. It has beautiful divi divi trees, pelicans and waves crashing on rocks. I thought that this would be a perfect spot for Chris to take some sunset pics. There were several Arubans there fishing and we met a very nice Dutch woman, who was walking her dogs. The dogs were not on a leash and were very sweet and stayed right next to her. I chatted with her as Chris took some photos and she told me how these dogs adopted her.

Chris started to feel a headache coming on, so we went to a gas station convenience store for some aspirin - as we weren't near any grocery stores and they may have already been closed by then. Well, you cannot buy aspirin at a gas station store. They told us that we'd need to go to a pharmacy. I'm not even sure if a grocery store would have carried any - I think that you can only get it at a pharmacy. Chris decided he would just wait until he got back to the hotel - as we had some in the room.

We decided to go to The Buccaneer for dinner as it was a Friday night and they didn't require reservations. Chris got a virgin pina colada (he hoped the cold would help his head but knew that alcohol would not be good), and I got a brown lady. Dinner was the catch of the day for Chris (Barracuda - yummy) and madam jeanette shrimp for me (I forgot how spicy this dish is -whew!). This came with garlic bread, yummy salads (great garlic dressing) and a bunch of side dishes - a little of everything. Chris got a scoop of ice cream for dessert. The total was about $40 after the 5% off for the Visit Aruba card (you get 10% off if you pay cash).

Most of the turtles had been released from the tanks, as they had gotten too large, but there was a new Caribbean reef shark in the larger tank. Sitting next to us was a very nice couple from Richmond, VA - not too far from where we live. We chatted with them a bit and they asked us for some restaurant and snorkeling suggestions, as it was their first trip to Aruba. We were so engrossed in the conversation that Chris left a normal-sized tip on the bill without even giving it a second thought - but I think that they include service charge. Oh well, I guess that waiter was pretty happy - LOL.

Saturday, May 14. Since there was no breakfast waiting for us on our balcony, :-( we went downstairs to the Frangipani Cafe at the Costa Linda. We both got the American breakfast, which consisted of: eggs, bacon, potatoes, toast, juice and coffee (with regular milk - yum). The food didn't taste like it was just freshly cooked, it tasted more like it came off a buffet bar - like it had been cooked earlier and kept warm until needed. But it gave us what we needed - some energy for the day. One nice touch is that they discount the breakfast for people staying at the resort - 10% if paying with cash & 5% if signing it to the room. We checked out the Costa Linda's mini mart - which had everything from grocery items to liquors to clothing - but the prices were obviously higher than if you weren't at a resort.

Chris had been taking a ton of pictures and was concerned about his memory space. In the past, we had always stayed at the Bucuti and a friend there was more than willing to burn his photos onto a CD to free up some of his memory. So we went to Oranjestad to the Cafe Internet at the Royal Plaza. We got Chris' pics burned onto a CD and purchased an hour of internet access for a total of $10 - what a bargain. You don't need to use the internet hour all at one time - so we each checked our email and decided we'd use the rest of our remaining time later in our vacation.

While we were in there, a guy sitting next to Chris said that he had a t-shirt shop across the street (out the back exit) and he'd give us a discount if we came in. So we decided to check out his shop. It had a blue awning, but no name on it. He did have some nice t-shirts - especially the embroidered ones. We bought a few each and he gave us a discount on the posted prices (which were pretty reasonable to begin with). On our way back towards the resort, we stopped at Happy Taste - along LG Smith Boulevard across from the shipping port. We discovered this spot last year and they sell their own, really tasty, flavored Ponche Creme. You can get this at other locations - but it will cost more. We bought a bottle of the pistachio flavored.

We then went to Ling & Sons to buy some groceries - Balashi, bread, Gouda cheese, sandwich meats, snacks and a bottle of mango rum punch. Back at the room Chris blended the mango rum punch with some ice and BOY were those some yummy drinks! Although I must admit that after I finished a large glass, I needed a little nap.

After showers, we decided to try the Rio Steakhouse, as it was a Saturday night, we had no reservations, and didn't think that it would be too crowded. Wow, what an understatement!! We were the ONLY people in the restaurant (besides the staff). The restaurant is quite spacious and nicely decorated. We each ordered the Churassco. First came the garlic bread (fair), then the salad with a choice of blue cheese, thousand island or italian vinaigrette. The steaks were a very average-sized portion (not huge like at El Gaucho or the French Steakhouse) and came with corn (soggy), potatoes (excellent), and broccoli. The steak was very good - not excellent. It was served with garlic dipping sauce (not as good as El Gaucho's), a steak sauce and pickled onions. The service could have been better, considering we were literally the only table in the restaurant. It took a while to get more water and our bill. The bill was $39 with a service charge added in. We gave them the Visit Aruba card for a 10% discount.

We decided to stop at the Royal Cabana casino. It was along the way, and we hadn't ever stopped in before. I went to play Let it Ride while Chris took a seat at a roulette wheel. Well, it didn't take me very long to lose my small stash of cash and I went over to see how Chris was doing. It appeared that he was doing quite well as he had a huge stack of chips in front of him. I sat down next to him until it appeared that I was bringing him bad luck, so I walked away for a while and checked out the rest of the casino. When I got back, he had lost all of his winnings. Oh well, we had fun gambling and it wasn't that much money for a night of entertainment. We also met a fun couple (Toby & Nicole) at the roulette wheel.

Sunday, May 15. We ate breakfast at the Costa Linda, once again. Since we were going snorkeling today, I went to get our towels from the towel hut - what a trek! It is located on the beach, which is convenient for beachcombers, but not as convenient for pool-people and pretty far away if you're coming from your room and then heading back out. Then we jumped in the car and headed to Arashi beach to snorkel. We had good visibility and saw a wide variety of fish. I had some trouble with the seal to my mask - which really bothered me, as I wear contact lenses. It was caused by the sun block I applied to my face - and I was careful not to apply any around my snorkel mask area on our future trips. We ate lunch on our balcony: bread, cheese, deli meats and the pistachio ponch creme blended with ice - yowza!

After naps, showers and the sunset, we decided to go to Que Pasa for dinner. We had never been, but I made an online reservation from home. Well, they didn't seem to have our reservation, but seated us immediately, anyway. We were seated right across from Toby & Nicole - who we had met the previous night. We chatted with them throughout dinner and learned that they were from Minnesota and were there on their honeymoon.

Que Pasa has a fun, funky vibe. Our waitress was Dutch and didn't speak English very well, but we were able to get most of our questions about the menu answered. We were served bread with fantastic garlic butter and an olive spread. I order the surf & turf. You need to ask about this item as it is constantly changing. Tonight it was filet mignon & grilled shrimp, each with their own sauce. The plated food was gorgeous - we should have taken a photo. It looked like a ying/yang circle with one side a deep red wine sauce with the meat and the other a white creamy, garlic sauce with the shrimp. Both sides were excellent, but next time I will probably stick to the tenderloin as the meat and sauce were phenomenal. It came with a baked potato and Toby and Nicole had tipped us off to ask for the garlic butter in the potato - wow! It was too much to eat, so I finished off the shrimp (as I knew they wouldn't reheat well) and took the tenderloin home (they gave me a side of the sauce).

Chris started with a salad and had the tenderloin tips with mushrooms and onions in red wine sauce served over rice for his entree. The sauce was the same as mine, and he was in heaven. For dessert I had to try the banana fritters as I had heard they were heavenly. And, oh boy, they sure were! With a brown lady and 2 of their iguana drinks the total was a mere $60.

Although Chris had a tiny bit of his dinner leftover, he decided that he just had to have more of this delicious dish. He asked them for an order of his entree to go and asked the waitress to add his leftovers to the new order. Well, she refused to put his leftovers in with the new order. It was so strange. She insisted that they be kept separate - including keeping my leftovers separate from his. Well, we laughed about it, but threw them all together back at our room.

Since we were already downtown, we decided to go to Garufa for cigars and drinks. Well, they aren't open on Sundays. Instead we went to Iguana Joe's. We told them ahead of time that we weren't ordering food, because I didn't want to take a table, if they didn't have one to spare. It was late enough that the dinner crowd had already left and there were plenty of empty tables. We had our "usual" at Iguana Joe's - a cactus colada and a mojito. On our way out we bought a couple of t-shirts. The guy at the counter asked me what perfume I was wearing. When I told him what it was he said "I thought so!" We told him that we always buy it in Aruba because they don't sell it in the states and he said that he knew that and he had purchased it for his mother and the cologne for his father. He was a nice guy and we chatted with him for a bit.

We stayed around downtown and Chris took a couple of night pictures of Oranjestad. Then it was off to our resort to hang out on the balcony and then to bed.

Monday, May 16. We woke up a little later than usual and sat on the balcony for a while before deciding to go to Villa Germania for breakfast. This is my favorite spot for breakfast. It was a pretty hot day as there wasn't much of a wind blowing. We usually sit outside by the marina but opted for a table inside due to the heat. I ordered a frozen cappuccino (yum) and potato pancakes and eggs (which were good, but not as good as previous years). Chris had a diet coke and the special (french toast, eggs, ham, sausage and coffee). He agreed that it wasn't quite as good as usual. The service, however, was beyond slow. I think they may have had a staffing issue because we rarely saw any staff in the restaurant, the entire time we were there. In the past, the service had been excellent.

Here's a little background story as to what we had planned to do next. Last year we had found a bumper sticker that had the flag of Aruba along with "AUA" on it. As I mentioned in Part I of my report, Chris is a huge aircraft/airport fan and having a sticker with AUA - Aruba's airport code - was an important find. Well, this past winter, after one of our snow/ice storms, I was scraping the back windshield and - you guessed it - I scraped away part of the sticker. So, I promised him that we would spend some time on this trip looking for a replacement. Of course, we would choose one of the hottest days!! First, we went to the store we purchased the one I had ruined. It is the bookstore in the Seaport Mall. They had stickers, but none with AUA on it. Next, we started going into every little souvenir shop downtown (all over the Seaport Mall, the Seaport Plaza, the Royal Plaza, the Carlos 'n' Charlie's square - everywhere!). The ones that had stickers, didn't have the type we were looking for - but recommended going to a bookstore (and most recommended the one in the Seaport Mall!). Since we couldn't find it anywhere downtown, we decided to look around the Certified Mega Mall. As we pulled up, we noticed the Van Dorp bookstore. Sure enough, they had the exact sticker we were looking for! The store also had a lot of other interesting items - including some beautiful pictures and maps of Aruba.

We were dripping wet at this point, so we headed back to our room. After we showered, we ate our Que Pasa leftovers for lunch - still very yummy! And Chris blended up a pitcher of frozen mango punch. I downed the first glass pretty quickly and when I refilled my glass with the last of the pitcher, my hands were a little slippery (or maybe I was a little tipsy - whatever) and it slipped and spilled most of the frozen punch. Well, I looked so sad at the thought of no more rum punch that Chris gave me the rest of his and grabbed a Balashi for himself - thanks sweetie!

After finishing off the punch, I was ready for a nap. :-) Chris did a quick load of laundry as the machines were located on our floor, pretty close by. It was $2 (in quarters) for each use of the washer or dryer. I must say that the dryer was huge and probably could have held 2 loads of laundry.

We had reservations at the French Steakhouse for dinner. Their Ambassador's special no longer includes wine. They will add a bottle of house wine (red, white or rose) for $9.95. Although I don't like wine, Chris knew that he could take "home" any wine that he didn't finish, so we ordered a bottle. We both had the mushroom caps, salads and Churrascos (and they added the fire & spice sauce on the side, for Chris, at his request). I had the apple strudel and Chris had the dame blanche for dessert. We each took home about half of our steaks and a half of the bottle of wine. The total was $80 with the service charge included.

We then drove around for a bit while Chris took some more night pictures.

Tuesday, May 17. We ate our French Steakhouse leftovers for breakfast - yummy. Our first stop of the day was the Casa Cuna Orphanage. Here's a quick synopsis of why we were going to go to an orphanage. In February, the famous tree on Eagle Beach was vandalized - likely beyond repair. Chris had won a couple of different photo contests with his nighttime photo of that tree. We felt like someone had mortally injured a friend of ours. We wanted to do something positive in memory of the tree. Chris decided to make his photo available to anyone who wanted to purchase it - and said that any money over our cost of the photo + shipping, would go to a charity. A friend in Aruba suggested the Casa Cuna Orphanage and we agreed that it was a worthy cause. We collected money for a couple of months and then added in some ourselves to bump it to a respectable amount.

Although we had the phone number of the Orphanage & the address, it was difficult to get someone on the phone and setup a time & day to deliver the check & card. Of course, I had left the beautiful card (with the picture on the front, the story inside and all of the contributors names) at home - d'oh - and had to mail it to them. As those of you who have been to Aruba know, having an address does not mean that you can find a location. Even our map didn't have the road listed on it. I got directions from the woman on the phone and we were off! The Orphanage is near the Balashi plant across from the TeleAruba station. The woman who answered the door was not the woman I spoke to on the phone and didn't understand English very well but she was very kind and smiled a lot. We explained the story, gave her the check, took a photo and thanked her for the wonderful work that she does with the children of Aruba. I hope that when they received the card, it explained anything that she may not have understood.

We then drove around that area a little and found the two entrances to snorkel at Mangel Halto. It looks like a beautiful spot for snorkeling and we'll give it a try tomorrow. We decided to go into town to use the rest of our internet minutes and check our email. We were waiting to hear from American Airlines as to whether we were upgraded to Business class (using our miles). Well, there was no email for either of us, but when Chris checked his online reservation, he saw that his seat had been changed to the Business Class. When we went to see if my seat had been changed, the internet crashed on us (and everyone else in the place). We wanted to make sure that we both had been upgraded and that we were sitting together as we have individual accounts at AA and there is no way for an agent to know that we're together. We decided it was worth the trouble and expense of calling the airline. I spoke to a rep, they confirmed that we had both been upgraded and were indeed seated together - whoo hoo! And how much did it cost me to call AA - including the wait time for someone to get on the phone? A mere $.50 (.25 a minute) - what a bargain!

Then it was on to more shopping! We went back to Vibes to buy the rest of our trinkets & souvenirs - of course we used the Visit Aruba card for an additional 10% off. And what's a stop at the Royal Plaza without heading into Iguana Joe's?

We split the Iguanachos & fries, I had the rib sampler and Chris had the buffalo wings. Everything was excellent! Add in 2 cactus coladas and 2 mojitos, of course!

Next, we went to the Bucuti to say "hi" to Susan Biemens and give her our copy of the Caribbean Travel and Life issue that had the reader's survey results. We had emailed her a "congratulations" when we read in our issue that the reader's voted the Bucuti Beach Resort the best Mid-size hotel and she had been unaware that they had won. We noticed some of the recent changes at the Bucuti, like the lobby being closed in and air-conditioned. We also discussed with Susan the plans for the renovations of the bungalows - our favorite place to stay - and our desire to stay at the Bucuti next year for our 10th anniversary.

Then it was back to the Costa Linda for a quick nap & showers before sitting on the balcony to watch (and photograph) another spectacular sunset.

For dinner, we returned to Salt & Pepper. When Chris saw the dinner special, he knew he had to order it. It was tenderloin in a port wine sauce over rice. Of course, he had to order the parmesan mushrooms, too. I ordered the escargot (of course), the spicy shrimp and the beef with coriander. Now, I know that coriander is the seed that grows the cilantro plant and cilantro is Chris' favorite herb, but that the two do taste different. Well, I didn't see any coriander seeds in my beef dish, but there sure were green cilantro leaves. It was delicious! Chris and I shared our beef dishes, as he had to have some of my beef dish - and I wanted to try his tenderloin. Chris started with a pina colada and I was sticking to ice water. Then he remembered everyone on the bulletin boards talking about the Sangria here - so he ordered a glass. After one sip, he told me that I had to try it. He will often ask me to try wine and every time I do, I hate it - don't know why, I just do! But I took a sip anyway. Well, the next thing I know, I'm signaling to our waiter that I need my own glass! I'm only sorry that we were almost finished with dinner and too full to split a pitcher! The best sangria I have ever tasted!! (When I got home, I was on a quest to find a great Sangria recipe. I have found one that tastes pretty close to Salt & Peppers. Who would have thought that I would be preparing pitchers of Sangria every weekend??)

The little kiosks were open at the Arawak plaza where the restaurant is, so we wandered around a little. There is very little evening shopping available in Aruba - but sure enough - I found something that I wanted! I bought a little gecko pin.

We drove around a little and decided to go to Garufa. There are new "moving" neon lights shaped like trees in front of Garufa and El Gaucho - they're pretty neat. The same piano player/singer from last year, was playing. We smoked a couple of cigars, I ordered a brown lady (the best) and Chris asked for something refreshing, but not too sweet (since they didn't have the mint leaves for a mojito). They brought him a Garufa special - yum. We started chatting with the table next to us and Chris gave them a mini cohiba and I gave them a chocolate-flavored cigar to try. They seemed to enjoy them and moved over to our table so we could hear each other better. Nicole & Anthony were in Aruba for their 2nd time; their first was on their honeymoon, and they loved the island. We were still chatting while Garufa was closing down for the evening. We offered Nicole & Anthony a ride back to their hotel. When they got in our car, there was an Aruba Nights magazine in the back seat and Chris showed them his photo. Nicole had already seen the picture and had told Anthony at the time how much she liked it. Since they had never seen the tree and didn't know where it was, we then took them to see it and gave them a little tour of Eagle beach and the turtle nests. After we dropped them off at their hotel, we headed back to our resort as it was pretty late - for us.

Wednesday, May 18. We had breakfast at the Costa Linda and then off to Mangel Halto for snorkeling. The easiest directions I can give, is to follow the signs for Marina Pirata restaurant, but when you come to the restaurant, keep going. You will then see the water to your right and wooden ladders to reach it, down below. We parked near one of the ladders and you could see the platform below. It was an easy climb down. The hard part (well, for me anyway) was getting off the platform. The water was pretty shallow, so I didn't want to jump in, and the platform had large chunks of concrete next to it, so you could step down on them and then into the water. When I sat on the edge of the platform, I could see that my legs were definitely too short to reach one of the pieces of concrete. I had to sort of jump to the concrete and then into the water. Chris, at 6'2" had no problem stepping onto the concrete. It was a bit of a swim out, but there were many different fish to see along the way. I also wouldn't recommend this site for the beginner as you are swimming against the current over coral. Chris followed a barracuda into the brush but didn't get a good photo of him. I was watching the cutest family of purple/yellow damsels and floating along with the squid (they are so neat to watch).

When we had explored this area long enough, we decided to drive down to Baby Beach. It was getting dark and cloudy as we drove there but cloudy days can be great snorkeling days - so we continued on. We noticed the newly painted anchor as we drove past. Just as we reached Baby Beach, we saw lightening and heard thunder. Now I don't mind snorkeling in the rain, but I'm not going to get into the water when lightening is present. We did notice that Baby Beach looked different since the hurricane blew through, but it still looked like a great place to snorkel and there were plenty of people out there. Unfortunately, we wouldn't get to see for ourselves this year.

When we got back to our room, we showered and changed. We didn't feel like going back out, so we called down to the Turtle's Nest for room service. We had asked on the bulletin boards before our trip if they offered room service and were told by some folks who had recently stayed at the Costa Linda, that they got room service. Well, either that couple was very lucky or the woman who answered the phone wasn't in a good mood because she told us that the Turtle's Nest does NOT provide room service - and never has. Well, after that we didn't want to go eat there, but we were pretty hungry and didn't feel like going very far for lunch.

We each ordered a pizza and they were pretty big for $7.95. We could have easily shared one - but now we have leftovers. They were also pretty good. The service, however, wasn't too good. Our waitress left and didn't turn us over to another waitress, so we had to flag someone down for drink refills and our check.

Chris then went to the airport to meet up with a couple of his Aruban friends. I did some laundry and made a batch of frozen rum punch. Nothing makes laundry more fun than doing it while under the influence of alcohol. :-) Of course, then I needed a nap. Chris came back in time to see the gorgeous sunset.

We had dinner reservations at El Gaucho. We had asked to be seated in the small front room (it is quieter). They have redone this room since last year and it is very beautiful. There is now a large table at the end of this room, set off for some privacy. The chairs are now small booths with very cushiony seats; maybe a little too cushiony as my feet couldn't reach the floor. :-) We wanted to get a pitcher of Sangria, but I was worried I wouldn't like it. The waiter brought me a small amount so I could try it first. It was good, but not quite as yummy as the one at Salt & Pepper. We ordered a medium pitcher. The steaks no longer come with a salad, which was fine for me, as I don't like any of their dressings. We both ordered the Gaucho steak and Chris ordered a side salad to start. The garlic dipping sauce was amazing, as usual, as was the perfectly prepared steak. The corn, potatoes & broccoli were all excellent. We were too full for dessert (too full of Sangria!) even though we each only ate � of our steaks and took the rest back with us (the waiter also gave us a small container of the garlic sauce). $81 with service included.

We drove around a little looking for the (new) police helicopter "landing pad." There really isn't a landing pad for it, but it sits outside the firehouse. Well, it must have been out patrolling, because we didn't see it. So we went back to our room to veg out on the balcony and then to bed.

Thursday, May 19. We had our El Gaucho leftovers for breakfast - yum (I've discovered a really great way to reheat steak leftovers so that they don't lose any flavor and don't get overcooked). Then we went back to the firehouse to see if the helicopter was there. Sure enough it was, but Chris could only take photos of it behind a fence. He then decided to drive up to the firehouse and ask them if he could take some close up photos. They said "sure" and let him take all of the photos he wanted. :-)

Next, we decided to visit Mount Jamanota as we hadn't been in a few years. Getting there was half the battle. Chris is always the driver and I'm the navigator. The problem was that I wasn't sure of what road we were on when we decided to head there. It took a little doing, but I finally found the right road. The road was much rougher than either of us remembered, but the view from the top is certainly worth it. Along with the spectacular view of Aruba is the incredible quiet. The only sounds you hear are nature sounds - birds, goats, etc. We saw more varieties of birds there, then anywhere else: prikichi, trupial, yellow trupial, and hummingbirds. By the time we got back down the mountain and out the rough trail, we were pretty hungry.

We knew it was our last lunch in Aruba and decided that we had to make one more return to Salt & Pepper. We got the corriander beef, brushetta, fries, escargot, rice and smoked salmon (it was only 4 bites of salmon on bite-size crackers and although tasty, I wouldn't get it again). They were out of mushrooms and I thought that Chris was going to cry! We also got a pitcher of Sangria. :-) Now the menu says that a pitcher is 6 glasses. Well, I agree if it means 6 glasses each! We were pretty sloshed by the end of our lunch and there was still some Sangria left in the pitcher. Chris asked if we could take it with us and sure enough the waitress brought out a large styrofoam cup and handed it over to us. The total was $48 without a service charge.

We went back to Ling & Sons to purchase some bottles of booze that we wanted to pack to take home. Once again I was SUI - shopping under the influence. But this time I just wanted to get the bottles and get outta there - its a little different when I'm in a jewelry store. :-)

We went back to the room for showers and naps and Chris decided to take a long soak in the roman tub, as we got pretty sweaty and dirty on Mt. Jamanota. Well, he was still in there when I woke up from my nap! I think he fell asleep in there! Then I went to return our towels so we wouldn't have to worry about that tomorrow - once again - quite a trek - but no lines and quick service.

We sat out on the balcony and watched our last Aruba sunset for the year. Aruba was so kind as to provide us the best one of our trip. Then we were off to Chalet Suisse for our last dinner. :-(

I had a brown lady and Chris had 2 mojitos. We each had the side salad with the phenomenal garlic dressing and shared the chateaubriand. Benny passed by our table and recognized us (someone else had seated us). He stopped to chat briefly. When our meat arrived to be carved, Benny did the honors. It was quite lovely to see him as it was his day off the last time we had come in.

Then we drove around a little and Chris took some more nighttime photos. Back at the room, since we had the washer/dryers so close by, I took anything that still felt a little damp and put them through the dryer one time.

Friday, May 20. Time to go home. For breakfast, we finished off some leftovers remaining in the frig. Then it came time for the dreaded packing. We always pack an extra, empty duffle bag because we always load up on Balashi, souvenirs & t-shirts. My huge bag has a zipper that will extend the suitcase a few inches. Since I didn't need it extended on the way down, we decided to unzip it and load up my suitcase as much as possible. This way we'd have less bags to tote and the bottles of booze would be more protected (we wrapped them in our own beach towel-bags (we bought these cool bags in St. Martin last year - they are bags w/ rope straps that turn into towels and vice versa - ingenious!).

I called downstairs early because I figured that a lot of people would be checking out today (the timeshare runs Friday to Friday). Someone was at the door to help us with our bags in less than 5 minutes! I'm glad we were ready! We gave the room one last run through - to be sure we didn't leave anything behind - and we were off.

Chris went with the bellman to load the car and I went to check out. Since we had paid the timeshare owner for his week, we only had the small daily energy tax and the restaurant charges to our room. It was nice to have such a small bill waiting for us at the end of our stay. The guy behind the desk remembered my name from my check-in - that's pretty impressive considering this was our first stay and the Costa Linda is a pretty big place. I'm sorry to say that I don't remember his name - but he was very kind and helpful during our stay.

On to the airport. Chris returned our car at Economy and received our 10% discount for the Visit Aruba card (I waited by the curb for him with the luggage). It would be SO helpful if they had those luggage carts by the car returns. A woman next to me had one and I asked her where she found it. She said that there were two lanes of them by the entrance to the International flights, but they were both broken and you couldn't get the carts out. I stayed with the luggage while Chris found a stray cart.

Similar to our Dulles experience, there was a separate line for Business/First class - how nice! The American Airlines line is always so long (lots of flights and big planes) and it was so nice to join a line with only 2 couples in front of us. When it was our turn, he asked me to place my luggage on the scale. On the way to Aruba, it was only slightly over 50 pounds (which was pretty good considering the thing is huge and weighs quite a bit when it is empty!). Well it was over 70 pounds - I think it was 74 or something. So he said that we needed to pay $100 or move some stuff into our other bags to bring it down to 70.

Now here is what is wrong with this. I have one bag - just one. Why do I have to pay if it is over 70 pounds but others can bring in 4 bags that weigh 69 pounds each? That just doesn't seem right to me - they are forcing me to bring more than 1 bag! Well, our extra duffle had very little in it, so we stepped aside, found the booze/towel rolls in my suitcase and moved them to the duffle. We couldn't check the duffle now, because all of the booze would break since it didn't have that extra "clothing" insulation. That was enough to bring the weight of my suitcase down 12 pounds. Of course, now I had a carry-on - which I was trying to avoid. I know that some people love to only have carry-ons but I happen to prefer to dump my luggage at the counter and not have to worry about it until I'm at my destination (especially with a stopover). That's just my preference - each to their own! So be forewarned about the luggage weight!!

Next year, I'll be prepared with an extra empty duffle that I'll pack with heavier, unbreakable items that I can check when leaving Aruba. It was a little hard to plan the switcheroo better as we were shuffling everything around as quickly as we could and had to get back in line to weigh the bag to see if we were ok. If you're wondering why we didn't move anything to Chris' bags - well - his checked bag was jammed full and he had two carry-ons - one for his camera stuff and one FULLY packed with Balashis!!!

We moved pretty quickly through customs, stopped at Sbarro for a slice of pizza (I know it stinks but we were hungry by then), and bought a few more souvenirs and Marlboro Light cigarettes. It always amuses me that it is SO hard to find these in Aruba, but the airport has these huge boxes (5 cartons worth) of them cheaper than we can buy them anywhere in the U.S.

We didn't need to stop at the US customs table; they simply let us pass through. As we were heading towards our gate, we saw a door to an area that was for Business Class passengers. We entered, gave them our boarding passes, and were welcomed into this lovely room. There were soft chairs, sofas, tables, complimentary sodas, snacks & coffee (including cappuccino), men's and women's bathrooms, and an area to plug in your laptop. When it was time to board, the woman from the front desk came by, addressed us by name, and told us to proceed to the gate. Wow - what a nice way to wait in an airport!!

The flight home was uneventful. We watched the movie "National Treasure" - eh. The dinner served was excellent! And the booze was free flowing. After we retrieved our bags, we headed out to look for our bus to take us to the long-term parking lot. Bus after bus went by but they were all for different lots. We finally asked someone about it and he was able to get one of the drivers to switch routes, so that he could take us to our lot. So if you don't see your lot's bus - don't wait forever -ask someone about it. If you don't see anyone to ask, then ask one of the other lot's drivers.

Overall thoughts about the Aruba Surfside Marina - this is a quiet, beautiful place that has the feel of a bed & breakfast (as there are only 5 rooms). The airport is close by - so beware if you don't like planes. It does not have a restaurant or bar on site - once again - think B & B. There are several restaurants/bars in walking distance, however, they do not open until after 5pm. The beach is just steps away and the sunsets are right out your sliding glass door. The staff couldn't be nicer or more accommodating. If I ever need to add on days to my vacation, I wouldn't hesitate to return to this location.

Overall thoughts about the Costa Linda - this is a beautiful location with beautiful grounds. There are a lot of people here including children (we usually stay at places that are quieter). The rooms are large and have everything you could want - including a nearby washer/dryer (although a change machine in the laundry room would have been nice). The balconies have an echo - so either talk quietly or accept that others can hear what you're saying. :-) We felt very removed from the beach. We are usually only a few steps from the sand and it was very disconnecting to be so far away. This is a great resort to choose if you're into planned activities. Each day they had listed what was available - pool aerobics, karaoke (we could hear this from out balcony - wow - some pretty bad singers - LOL), bingo, etc. As far as larger resorts go, this is the nicest one that we have visited.

We have already booked our stay for next year when we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary. We booked our stay in the Bucuti's bungalow. They will be redecorating these rooms (along with the original Bucuti wing) this year and we look forward to seeing the changes.

Although we did a bunch of activities each day - as you can see by the length of this report - this was the most relaxed I have been on a vacation. I truly felt at peace during these 12 days and even switching hotels didn't break that mood (of course, it helped that we had a car to make the switch). I also think that being upgraded to Business class made the journey to and from Aruba much easier (well worth the miles). I usually feel so hassled at the airport, but didn't feel that way this time.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

I didn't include any photos with this half of the report because:

1. They need to be pretty small to imbed them in the report
2. It would have taken me longer to get this thing finished already!
3. There are so many photos, that it is hard to narrow it down.
4. This report is already too long!

Amy B.