Divi Village Golf and Beach Resort

August, 2005 by Craig Sutton

Arrived at Dulles at 6 for a 9 am Takeoff. Absolutely no problems!!! Was truly amazed at that but not complaining. Flight down was interesting sitting next to a family of four with two little kids. Why the kids were going is beyond me. Parents did little if anything to control them and all they wanted to do is go from Moms lap next to me to there dad in the row in front. Kids continually trying to climb over, through and on top of me. It got old in a hurry and the parents seemed to think that it was OK. Talked to the parents several times and the flight attendants and got little if any relief. FULL Plane and no where to go. United 1070. I finally grabbed the three year old and told him not to touch me again!! He got the message but the parents looked as if I was some sort of bad guy. Oh well, if they weren't going to do something they sure as heck weren't going to say something to me.

Got to Aruba and left them behind, Thank God, and customs and baggage was a snap. Cab to the resort and found our Unit still not finished. They put us in comparable unit and gave us AI for all Divi resorts to make up. Saved a lot of money but spent it on more bling blings at Kays anyway. Put suits on and of to the pool and then the beach. Went up and said Hi to Jimmy at Ocean view bar and had the first of many free Aruba Ariba. Took a nice walk on the beach and then called it a night.

Got up the next morning and was informed I would have to change rooms one more time. They did make it very easy and helped move our stuff at Noon and lost little if any bar time. This next room was better so it worked out great over all. Can't tell you what I did Sunday but soaked up sun and had great drinks. Dinner at Ocean Breeze Cafe at Divi Village on them but not great.

Monday we checked out the time share office and set a time to tour our yet unfinished unit for Tuesday afternoon. More Pool and beach time. Then more bar time, and more bar time, and more bar time and.... well you get the picture.

Tuesday we went to Divi Village golf and Beach Resort time share office and were finally given the straight skinny on a completion date for the time shares. Where originally told that they would be using the first four Eagle units and the first Birdie unit the day we left BUTTTTT..... after we took the tour let me say to all of you out waiting as we have for the last two years, it is still a few months away. Birdie 1,2,3 are ready now but the area around them, including the pool is not ready by a long shot. I would say at least a month or two before I would want to be over in that section. Construction going on all around you and blowing dirt and debris everywhere. Birdie not even close. I will try and post pictures tomorrow to show my point.

We went back to the office and where told that our maintenance fee for next year was being paid for and RCI member dues for next year also. The contract was moved to start next year, so all in all I was very satisfied. They took great care of us. Then came the sales pitch to buy the adjoining suite to my one bedroom for the same month.We said no but listened to the pitch anyway. Long story short we now own the whole bottom floor of Eagle 1, week 32. GREAT DEAL!!!!!!! Now I get to go twice as much or have many friends to go with me and pay for everything!!!!!!!! Had Dinner that night at El Gaucho and the steaks were better than I remembered.

Wednesday my brother in-law and I went deep sea fishing while the ladies went shopping and all us had a great time. Only time will tell what it really cost! We went out on the Jeliray all day and had a great time. My brother in-law was first in the chair and hooked up with a blue marlin sale fish and worked his butt off for 45 minutes. ( I have pictures to prove this also and will be in the same group as the timeshare photos) First fish bigger than a 6 inch bass he ever caught. After pictures and resetting the lines I found him in the cabin where he stated that he was done for the day! He was shaking like a leaf and his arms were about to fall off. But he was one happy fisherman! I was next in the seat and guess what? another sailfish, this one even bigger. The captain and the mate were speechless. After another 45 minute fight and more pictures we were ready for a rest and of course we got one. Nothing more for several hours. Lots of strikes but nothing hooked. Seas at this point were getting very rough but no one got sick. Finally found some luck and reeled in three Albacore tuna. At one point had a Wahoo on but right at the bout he got off. After 7 hours of rough seas we headed back and on the way in caught two barracuda. What a great time. The Captain said that the other boats out that day had one or two fish total so we did very well. The mate filleted the tuna and barracuda and we took that to Gilbert the chef at the Sea Breeze cafe and he made most of it up for us. OUTSTANDING!!!!! Best meal of the trip. We told him to keep the rest and said we would do it all again next year.

Thursday we rented a car for two days and toured the island. The in-laws first trip so we went and hit the main spots. Looked for the natural pool for about an hour and finally found the end of the road. We were going to walk from there but it was unusually hot last week (108 degree heat index even with the great breeze) and the trail out to the pool is so bad that eccono wouldn't let us take any of there vehicles out there. One lady had just come back and said that it took her and another jeep over an hour to make the trip. So now I get to look forward to it next trip. That night we did the Le Dome dinner cruise and had a great time and a fabulous Dinner. It was very windy and you had to hold on to everything, drinks included. The sunset was spectacular and all in all was a great time.

Friday we played golf at Divi golf course and played OK. Course is in great shape for being so new. only lost one ball. We had dinner at Aqua Grill and had a great seafood dinner. Went to the Alhambra for some gambling and came away even which I count as a win!!

Saturday we turned in the car and laid in the sun until checkout. Got to the airport three hours early and took us about an hour and a half to get all through the maze of getting through to the gate.

1. hour + to check in and get boarding passes
2. Check passport and boarding pass to get into the departure building
3. passport and boarding pass to go through Aruba customs
4. half hour to get through security screening
5. 15 minutes to find and pick out all our luggage to haul through US Customs
6. 15 minutes to get through US Customs (don't forget to fill out customs forms before you get to the window)
7. 15 Minutes because we were the unlucky random luggage search
8. 10 minutes to go through US (second) security screening
9. 30 minutes waiting to board the flight.

Bad family from trip down shows up but is in different seats. Three rows behind us but right behind sister-in-law. Kids kick the back of her seat for four hours straight. Again parents and flight attendants do nothing.
Tell me again why parents would pay to take little kids to Aruba?????

Get into Dulles one hour early.

We head straight for the smoking lounge and bar before we go get our luggage and we don't even smoke!

51 weeks until Aruba. Starting to make my little X's on my new calendar all ready!

Craig O. Sutton