Aruba Trip Reports

La Cabana

Dec 16 - 23, 2004 by Debbie

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We were met by Milo from Aruba Advantage Car Rental Co at the airport. Getting the car was a breeze. . We drove around the island a lot as Mom wasn't able to do much physical activity. I don't think we missed a street or path! We actually put 1200kms on the car.

My mom and I spent Dec 9-16 at The Mill. It was fine. You would never have known it had been flooded during Ivan. There graciously found us a newly cleaned room on the first floor. Since we had a car we didn't use their beach area at Palm Beach. We ate at their restaurant several times and enjoyed it. The pool area is attractive.

We spent the second week, Dec 16-23 at our timeshare in La Cabana. I like it better, maybe because I am familiar with it. LaCabana is so clean and has everything you need (including Aruba Aloe products in their dispensers). Despite the fact that it is a larger resort, there are so many private areas that I actually felt more anonymous there than at The Mill. The back pools are VERY quiet. Never saw more than 10 people around them.
My mom, who snorkeled with me last year, was afraid of the ocean this year, so she read a lot!

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In our wanderings, we visited the Aloe plant, downtown, and all the beaches we could possibly make it to. Unfortunately I didn't get to go to Andicuri because the road was too washed out. The island was very green due to the recent rains. And much clearer than I had ever seen it. It gets so much cleaner every year. I am proud of Arubans.

Baby Beach looks fine. It was clearer than I had ever seen it. It never did have much of a live coral reef close to shore, so the new configuration of old coral isn't much different. There are nice new holes for creatures to hide in! I saw many beautiful fish there on the 3 times I snorkeled there, actually more than on any previous trip.

Mangel Halto is the shining star of Aruba's coral reefs, I think. One day I did a drift snorkel from Pos Chiquito to the Mangel Halto inlet with some new friends. Most every day, I just swam out the "hole in the wall" and hung around over the reef for hours and hours. The totography is so varied in that area.

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You have the shallow reef and the deeper coral gardens, and the big blue hole and an area of coral rubble in the bay. Even though I was alone, I never felt afraid of the animals there. I've never seen a shark in Aruba's waters. The two times I saw a green moray eels I was too flustered to get pictures! I did feel a little uneasy when I looked around and saw a couple of spearfishermen. They looked like teens, and they trampled all over the shallow coral. Later they went to deeper water in a boat, so I assume they were locals.

We ate twice at Marina Pirata close to Mangel Halto. The food was very good (the best oyster soup I have ever eaten) and the site was great: the dining area is right on the water, looking west over the lagoon; after dark the fish swarm in the lights begging for crumbs.

All in all two very quiet weeks. Wish I was there now!