Aruba Trip Reports

21th Trip to Aruba - Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort

May 10 – 17, 2010 by Carolina & Ken

Aruba Forum Profile: CGO

Warning:

This trip report is very long. I took notes every day, as I wanted to return the favor for everyone who has ever taken the time to post a trip report and help me plan my trips. Get yourself a drink/6 pack and sit back, I found lots of notes. If you are not into long trip reports, stop now....

May 10th

We flew Delta from ATL to AUA. We were lucky enough to use a bunch of FF points and get first class tickets and husband is medallion so we had multiple drinks (bloody mary's for me) in the crown room before we boarded. Great flight, wonderfully attentive flight crew, kept the drinks coming. Enjoyed the movies on the flight and we arrived on time. We rented an SUV from Econo for the week. We got a Nissan Xterra in decent condition and the 4wd came in handy later in the trip!
Very easy check in at the airport to get the car, no wait and we were off. We stopped at the grocery store, Ling & Sons to stock up on beer, Diet Mtn Dew (my morning "coffee" and they were out!) Cheese, bread, juice, fruit, snack food and fun Dutch food as my husband's family is from Holland. We were loaded up and headed to the hotel.

We stayed at the Amsterdam Manor for the week and changed rooms during the stay as we brought friends with us for the first 5 days then it was just the two of us, so we stayed in a 2 br suite for the beginning and a 1 br studio for the last 2 days. I had won a Facebook contest that AMBR held and won 5 nights, so they were lovely enough to upgrade us to the 2br Penthouse Suite on the front of the building, just wonderful, then switch us to the studio which we also loved.
We can not imagine staying anywhere else now, we feel at home at the AMBR. We headed to the beach bar immediately. I love the new area around the beach bar, really gives great ambiance to the area. We had our obligatory cocktails then got our lovely penthouse, got dressed quickly and headed down to the beach bar to meet up for the BB party. We met Amy & Mike (as in ArubaAmy) Kyle and Vicky (sp?), Millie's Mom Carmelita (I think), a lovely couple also from GA and our newest UK penpals, Susan and Dave. It was great to put names with faces and meet such fun people.

We had dinner that night at Gianni's. There was a strange power outage that night in part of the High-Rise area, affecting only certain restaurants. Gianni's had power and the giant wheel of parm calling my husband like a lode stone. The gang split a calamari, I had a mozzarella salad & gnocci, the other husband had veal and the other wife and my husband split the giant parm wheel special....you all know what I am talking about. We then walked around the H-R area, we went in the RIU and the men dropped some money at the roulette wheel, I think my husband walked out up $50 or at least that is what he told me. Headed home and got a wonderful night sleep

Tue May 11th

Have no idea what got into me, got up and ran 4 miles (note: this activity was not repeated any other time during the trip) Since I could not find my diet mtn dew (coffee for me) I had to make do with regular mtn dew, wow what a rush! We then headed to Linda's Pancakes, a favorite of mine and my husband's. I love my sweets and got the Banana. The others got Apple & Bacon and 1 got just Bacon. With coffee for 2 and Diet cokes, total was $36 for the 4 of us. We then got back and headed to the beach for the day.

Guys did the jet skis our friend's wife was so relaxed on the awesome AMBR rafts that she rolled over and lost her sunglasses in the water....that's rough. I could float on those rafts forever. I am not sure there is a more relaxing thing to do. We ate lunch at the beach bar in the new dining area they put in. We all enjoyed our lunch: sate platter with peanut sauce, chicken finger salad, croquet sandwich and shrimp salad sandwich.

For Dinner we headed out to Flying Fishbone, where I was skeptical of it being another over priced, over rated toes in sand, more about the view than the food, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The food was probably the best meal we had on the island. Staff was friendly and attentive. The drinks were good too, the special was the flying rotor and I had a great mojito. My husband and the other wife did the Chef's Carte Blanche, where he creates a surprise menu and they bring you 3 courses of their choice. They both LOVED it. Literally oohhing and aahhing throughout the meal. For their app they had ahi tuna, crab avacado salad with calamari, for entree they had red snapper, mussels and shrimp with safron sauce, creole sauce and plantain chips, and their dessert was a trio of tiramisu, brownie and homemade ice cream. The other husband had red snapper, creole sauce, funchi, and lobster bisque for his app. I had artichoke goat cheese carpacio for my app and goat cheese risotto for my meal and somehow found room for a caramel parfait. It was all eye-rolling-back-in-the-head good!
We enjoyed a beautiful sunset at this meal, took lots of pictures, even the waitress took a nice group shot. We had the good cloud coverage sunset that leads to the purple, pink, orange then red sunset.
Totally changing subjects and random story: If you have ever eaten here, you might have experienced the interesting guy who lives next door. He made my night. Seriously, we called him Frank, as he reminded me of my husband's step dad, Frank. He obviously has some seriously nice digs next door to this restaurant.
We had a front table on the side with a full sunset view and view of his house. He owns the spa at one of the resorts, I can't remember right now, but he has an ad for the spa on the boat parked out front. Long story even longer, during our dinner he decides to do some yard work...really? Yes, really? At sunset, right where you are eating? Yes, right then and there. It gets even better when he pulls out his circular saw to do some random cutting on some random pieces of what look like wood molding or 2 x 4s. Circular saw, really? Yes, circular saw, really. Very loud and we really think he did not have a project to work on at all and does this kind of stuff just to be "that" guy next door to the fancy restaurant. I thought it was funny, some even got up and took his picture, but I guess he is used to this, as he has a couple hundred people pretty much eating in his back yard every night! See I wasn't joking about how long this trip report was going to be......

Wed May 12th

It rained overnight but I never heard it and did not believe it until I saw some puddles outside. It turned into a beautiful sunny day. We had breakfast at Mango's at the AMBR. Bread, cheese, OJ, mango juice, tea, coffee, kiwi, cantaloupe, pineapple and pastries. We headed out for our sail we had booked on the Morningstar. We have sailed with them twice in the past and could not fathom a trip to Aruba without going out on the boat with them. We stopped on the way to the marina to get the other wife some sunglasses since she lost her's while relaxing the day before. We found some cheap replacements for $20 that were polarized, I found some "teacher gifts" for my kid's teachers at the same booth I have frequented in the past. Kind of like a phone booth, but bigger back behind some of the larger jewelry stores and next to a grocery store. They sell great little pieces of silver and stone hand made jewelry from Ecuador. Bracelets 3/$12, Earrings 4/$10, and necklace/earring sets for $10. $42 and all my teacher gifts were taken care of and everyone really loved them (kept a few for myself too)

The Morningstar. What can I say, never disappoints. We booked a 4 hour snorkel lunch sail. We were greeted with cocktails (you specify ahead during the reservation process all your favorites and they are all stocked up with what you like) and fruit platter dusted with cinnamon. Pineapple with cinnamon, who knew? Well, we did, since we have sailed with them before. Kat, the chef and owner takes incredible care of you from the moment she greets you. We enjoyed rum punch, bloody mary's, balashi, water, diet coke as requested.
As soon as we finished our snorkel, we were served an onion cheese pizza for a snack. For lunch 3 of us had the tomato mozzarella salad and 1 had the shrimp, all served in a giant scallop shell. For lunch I think we all got light sandwiches, made to order. Sides: pasta salad, fried plantains, broccoli, and chocolate mousse cake for dessert.

Our snorkel was near the Spanish Lagoon where there is a little hut type pier on the island/jetty out in the water. We got in the water, made our way to the pier thing, then walked across and plopped in on the other side. There is a natural pool area there with great coral and we saw angel fish, parrot fish, zebra fish, trumpet fish, eels, and just beautiful sea scape.

If you have any interest in going on a private sail, look them up. They were wonderful, can not recommend them enough.

When we got back to the hotel, we hit the beach and all fell asleep under the palapas (btw, we never, ever had a problem getting a palapa and even varied which side we were on to change up the scenery). Somehow we woke up in time to hit happy hour at the beach bar...two for one, drink 'em fast before they melt! We hit the room, got ready and went to Bingo! for dinner. You will notice, this is restaurant review/trip report combined. We ate: coconut shrimp, onion soup (great but it made me sweat, hot soup on a hot island, not a great idea, just fyi) tataki tuna, Bingo Salad, Goat Cheese Salad (yum! you will notice goat cheese shows up in most of my meals) Chicken Brochette and for dessert Warm Apple Pie with Cinnamon ice cream....normally, I am a chocolate girl, but this pie was so good, I highly recommend. If you are not looking for toes in the sand, or some other outdoor experience, I highly recommend Bingo! The food is great, prices are reasonable and easy to find.

You might want to re-fresh your beverage now, this is longer than even I thought!

Thurs May 13th

Island Day! I walked over to La Cabana next door to find the last Diet Mtn Dew on the island....We had breakfast at Mango's again, same Euro breakfast like I like with the spread of meats/cheeses/fruit and pastries. Juices, coffee, tea. We then took off to find the Natural Pool. We put that Nissan Xterra to the test! If you have visited the NP, then you know, the road is treacherous and should not be taken lightly or in a normal vehicle. I knew for sure that we had punctured all 4 tires and the gas tank. My husband did an amazing job driving and I will just say to all the ladies, not the ride for a bathing suit that does not offer great support, I could have used my very best work out bra on this trip.
Enough said. We printed out the directions that Amy posted on the BB. They were great....I just wish someone would drop popcorn or use spray paint on the 4x4 trails on which route to take. Getting down to the pool itself from the parking area was an adventure too. I did not swim in the pool, but got some great pictures and really enjoyed the view.

We then drove down to San Nicolaas. We ate at Charlie's Bar. Another side story: for some reason, my husband's BFF is map-deficient? I don't understand as he is really smart, in int'l business, has travelled the world, but can't read a map to save his life. He was in the passenger seat, the other wife and I are in the backseat. I have blood dripping out of my mouth from biting my tongue as we drive in loops around San Nicolaas. He can not seem to justify that on the map the water is on the bottom, yet in reality the water is in front of us, as in you need to flip the map or figure out we need to do the opposite of what you see on the map. He keeps saying we need to make a left when we need to turn right. I will shorten all the tension build up in the car for you and tell you that I had just finished reading "An Island Away" and saw many places that I had read about.

As we passed the particular gate mentioned at the refinery, then Minchi's then Hop-Long laundry where she did her laundry and I knew she could walk to the laundry from work and passed Charlie's and that from Charlie's you could see said gate we kept passing, blah, blah.....I finally figured out exactly where we were b/c I could picture it in my head from reading the book. I said turn here, then here and sure enough, Charlie's was right there! Yeah for me! I was so proud of myself...We enjoyed lunch there, chatted with the server, bartender and couple at the table next to us. Got filled in on how much of the book was accurate and (SPOILER ALERT STOP READING IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK AND ARE GOING TO) I was so happy to find out that Sam is not dead! It was just part of the book, he was just in having breakfast that morning. Not sure why I was so relieved, not like I know the guy, but I was relieved.

Restaurant Review: We ate meatballs, yummy, fish soup- my husband loved, pork tenderloin - other guy loved, but it was the whole tenderloin....kind of weird for lunch? conch fritter were the app, everyone loved them. lots of beer....bought a t-shirt next door and took lots of touristy photos.

We then drove to Baby Beach. It was semi-crowded as it was Ascencion Day. It was beautiful and so great to see the local families enjoying themselves. We swam and took pictures, seeing all the kids made me miss my 5 and 7 yr olds at home, until I heard them screaming and arguing and I was so glad they were at home with the grandparents. We then drove to "the other" lighthouse at that end of the island. Stumbled upon the little natural bridge, got some great pictures, saw the kite surfers up the coast then headed back to the hotel. Great Island Adventure day!

The SUV served it's purpose. We went for a quick swim to wake up then hit the Manager's Reception at the AMBR.....I had a "bad" experience the last time I went to one of these....the $1 drinks do not bode well for me, as I ended up, we'll just call it "heavily asleep" before 8 pm the last time we attended one and I almost slept through our dinner reservations. This time I did not get loaded and hung out with Aruba Amy and her husband Mike and Sue and Dave from the UK. We had a lot of fun with all of them. We then decided to catch the sunset at the California Lighthouse (both lighthouses in one day!) We got some great pictures, picked out the house we wish we could one day have on the way, the sunset was worth the detour then we headed down to dinner at Pincho's.

Restaurant Review: Excellent. We were so happy with this choice too. It sits out over the ocean on a pier on your way to the airport, you have probably seen it if you have not actually eaten there. The food was really good and great atmosphere. I would definitely eat there again. We had no reservation, but were seated without a problem. If you want the best view, I would get a reservation. We had, Salsa Salad, yum!, Cucumber Asian Salad and the guys split the Tuna Tataki. For entrees, Chicken Skewer with peanut sauce for me (you might pick up on I don't eat any fish/seafood at all) It was delicious. My husband had the mixed seafood skewer as did the other wife (maybe they should be married, they tend to order the same thing???? just now picking up on this) The other guy had the grouper and everyone loved their meal. For dessert I had the chocolate peanutbutter pie, so good you might would want to use your finger to make sure you got it all off the plate, but don't want to embarrass yourself....a fork will have to do. The others ordered a snickers pie. Not a bit left on either plate. I had a really great mojito here (my measuring stick for the whole trip, how good was their mojito....you might have picked up on this one) They told me their's had a secret ingredient, making it far superior to all the others....I asked nicely using my very best manners and fake southern accent and he admitted it was the Havana Club Cuban Rum! Now we know!

Yikes, are we done yet......I am getting punch drunk!

Friday, May 14th

Woke up and it started to rain, hard to believe your eyes and we are supposed to go kayaking today! Breakfast at Mango's again. Turned sunny with clouds while we ate. Bus for kayaking picked us up right on time at the AMBR at 8:45am. NOTE TO ANY INTERESTED IN THE KAYAK TRIP: this trip is not to be taken lightly. You need to be pretty physically fit and/or active. Just getting that out there.

The bus picked up all the others going at the various resorts and we headed to the launch site which happens to be on the Spanish Lagoon near the Marina Pirata restaurant. They give you instructions, put you in the water in your own kayak and you are in protected water on Spanish Lagoon while you get the hang of it. We hug the coast and travel south then cut across the water and then west to De Palm island. Our $100 trip includes kayaking to and from De Palm, a few hours at De Palm, snorkeling (and b/c we have a guide, we get to go outside the De Palm buoys) then kayak back with round trip bus....pretty good deal. De Palm was not nearly as cheesy as I had feared. They gave us a few minutes once we got there to get a few of the cocktails they offer...I assume that is what the time was for, then we went for a great snorkel. Our guide, Densay....not too hard on the eyes.....was great. He took us out of the little roped off area to a drop off. My husband ponied up for the underwater kit for his digital slr and really enjoyed both snorkel trips we did. The drop off really had some great coral and fish and Densay would dive and bring up creatures for us to look at. I swear he could stay under for what seemed like days. Got some cool pictures. We then enjoyed the buffet lunch they have at De Palm. It was not gourmet cuisine, but it was okay and plenty of options: bbq chicken, grouper, veggies, mashed potatoes, bread, salad, drinks and apple strudel. The drinks at the bar were beer, blue margaritas and pina coladas. For somer reason, they serve these in tiny juice glasses, so when I say we all had 40 of them, don't think too badly of us.....They also have a "grill" where you can get hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, etc. at any time and as much as you want. We then enjoyed the water park. Who knew how much fun that would be? We all acted like we were 6 again and had to feel really bad when my 7 yr old saw the video of mommy coming down the water slide having way too much fun. Maybe it was my low expectations, but that was fun! We then split a huge plate of french fries and had more drinks....seemed like a great idea at the time and really hit the spot. We then headed back.

I had an inkling on the way over kayaking that I did not have to paddle that much and could really use my paddle more like a rudder to direct my course. So, I knew going back was going to be a work out. We had to head straight in to the wind and waves were just sort of lapping, trying to turn your boat sideways and flip you. side story, only 6 of us were on this tour, some others went on a nature tour (nature, smature....maybe they did not know about the free cocktails and the waterslides....idiots!) okay, back to the 6 of us + hot guide.....4 of us you know already, me, husband, other husband, other wife. the other 2 were girl friend and boy friend. girlfriend fell out of kayak on the way over in shallow water and hurt herself on some coral....she was also 90 lbs dripping wet. boyfriend, cut his hand wide open while snorkeling at De Palm and probably needed stitches. Needless to say, those two took the power boat back, not the kayaks.

Okay, so we have the 4 of us left. Hot guide looks at the other wife and says "You're taking the boat back too, right?" She says "no, I want to try to kayak" he looks really pissed off. You see where this is going. So the 4 of us + hot guide head out. He says aim for the white roof of Mirina Pirata across the open water and I'll meet up with you. Did I mention the 40 cocktails? Okay, they come in to play right about now. I head out, I have been working out like a champ, as I turn 40 the next day and really wanted to see what I could do with myself before I turned 40....Thank God I had or I might not have made it back. My husband is in amazing shape, runs or swims 6 days a week, so he was fine. Other husband capsized twice. Have you seen a 200+ lb man struggle to get himself back in a sea kayak in open water? Not a pretty sight, and you really can't help or you will end up looking like dolphin humping a surf board yourself. Every man/woman for themselves at this point. If I had a recording of the psychosis going on in my head and sometimes aloud on this trip back, I could probably sell it! I will say I made it back in amazing time, next person was a good 20 minutes behind me. I started to really freak out in the open water and panicked that I could not see anyone behind me and when I turned to look my boat would get sideways and want to roll over, so I hit it and hit it hard! I was focused on that white Marina Pirata roof like a laser. I can laugh now, but I was breathing hard, my heart was pounding and when I finally got out of the water I was not sore in the shoulders but my hands were completely cramped b/c I had a serious death grip on the paddle. I was literally chanting, come on, you can do, that's it, you're doing great. Like I said, I can laugh now.

Hot guide had to tow in the other wife, the whole way....he was really, really pissed that she did not take the boat. My husband circled back to help his buddy, he is a great guy! Other husband was dropping F bombs the whole way back and when Vlad the bus driver, now boat driver, was taunting him that he was taking too long and just get in the boat, other husband told him what to do with himself. On the bus ride back, Vlad got in his jabs and our friend shared F bombs with the whole bus. On how he would not get in that beep boat for anything b/c he knew he'd have to hear about it for the rest of his beep life. I think he might have been referring to me?????

Back to the AMBR, passed out on the beach, woke up just in time for Happy Hour! What great timing we have. I am getting close to reaching my max for Pina Coladas....close I tell you. It was our friend's anniversary, I had made reservations for them at MJ's, so off they went with the car (I think between the not being able to read a map to save his life and the whole kayak debacle, it was time for a little time apart for us, what do you think?) My husband and I walked down to Costa Linda and ate at Ellioti's Italian. My husband grumbled about walking and why not take a bus or cab, but it really was a nice walk and did not even get too hot.

Dinner at Elliotti's was really good. I had the Mozzarella Caprese (see a pattern yet?) and the Gnocchi my husband got the Seafood Pasta special, enough for a small village. + beer and I think we paid $90 with a tip. I think the food was better than Gianni's but my husband would say "no big parm wheel" whatever.....We walked home and took a look through Costa Linda. We are still hunting for a place to stay IF we were to ever bring our kids, so far we have been lucky enough to come without them, but our luck can not hold forever and they are dying to come with us. So, CL is on the short list for family friendly.

My hands are cramping.....

Saturday, May 15th....My 40th Birthday!

Linda's Pancakes for breakfast...it is my birthday after all. We dropped our friends off at the airport, no problems at all. We shopped in O'stad to get the kids a little something. Cute outfit for our 5 yr old daughter and a soccer jersey for our 7 yr old son. Got a great straw hat for my mom (watching said kids) and more jewelry from the Ecuadorian place for me and aforementioned teachers.

Back to AMBR, rooms not ready to switch out to the 1br suite. I don't think I have mentioned at this point that we were in the 2 br suite next to Amy & Mike, as in ArubaAmy. I tried not to seem like a stalker and let them initiate talking over the balcony to each other, or at the beach or at the bar or computers....Amy and Mike are so nice, gracious, exactly what you would hope them to be and then some....That said, when we were there and someone on the BB made some smartass remark to her, I actually got upset for her. She is THAT nice! Ok, point making here, we were sad to leave our neighbors and have to go to the 1 br.....and be with "strangers"...it was all just fine. We chill out on the beach, drink a lot, have lunch at the bar, again....float on a raft, read a book under the palapa, marvel at the 70+ year old Dutch man the color of a good leather football. I did not know that anyone caucasian could get that color...truly amazing and with NO tan lines. That is a whole 'nother story and involves rolling, moving things up and down and lots of tension on certain private parts. we'll just say my husband and I had odds on when "things" were going to pop out! But I digress....Rooms are ready to switch. We move from the penthouse to the 1br studio. I am pleasantly surprised at how much we like our "cute" new room. The AMBR had a beautiful bottle of wine in an ice bucket with flowers waiting for me. Such a nice gesture. I checked in on FB and was just overwhelmed with all the kind birthday wishes, really makes a great day to see all the sweet wishes. I will say the computer terminals that the AMBR has outside for their guests are just great. I used them all the time.

For dinner we ate at Passions at the AMBR. Our food was delicious. I started with the cream of garlic soup, amazing, but again, same mistake....too hot to eat hot soup....will I never learn? I had the Filet Firenze and Ken had the Red Snapper. We both loved our meals. If there were a downside, it was the dessert. It did have a sparkler in it, but it was nothing special from a dessert point of view, and I am a BIG dessert person. The location can not be beat for the meal. Food was great. I will say, the sun went down and we were thinking, oh, okay....cloud cover, oh well. Then all of a sudden it was like someone turned on a light (or we were having a stroke?) The sky started turning pink, then purple, then orange and red. It looked like lava. It was crazy. I will try to add pictures to this to do it justice. Probably the most amazing sunset I have ever seen! I think total on that bill with drinks and dessert was $122.

We had chatted the other night with Amy & Mike and Sue & Dave about going out for a drink on my birthday. Really did not expect them to show.....we met at the beach bar, ended up closing it....what I mean is they kept it open for us, as Amy is kind of like a celebrity down there and they do that for her.....we then drove to Moomba's....it was just okay, too loud, too young but we did get to see a wedding party, which is always fun for some reason. Then Amy suggested we hit this local place, Cafe 080. It is not far from Bingo! It was perfect, lights in the trees, we hung out at a table outside and ended up leaving around 2:30. Luckily, the service was good but not obtrusive, so we were not too hung over the next day. Really friendly staff took pictures of us even. We all have something in common, Aruba, but we all love to travel, so conversation flowed, funny stories were told, we really enjoyed the evening. What a perfect Birthday. Thanks to all of you!

Sunday May 16th

Slept in a little, we were supposed to have reservations at Windows on Aruba, but Ken talked me out of them, we had eaten enough heavy food and he did not want to have to dress and be somewhere at a certain time. So we did Mango's for breakfast again and hit the beach. We chilled all day on the beach, floated on a raft. We ordered pizza at the beach bar (note: two people can easily split one.) Ate, drank and chatted... with our UK friends Susan & Dave, ended up inviting them to go out with us for dinner. Met Kent Gerber from the BB at the beach bar with Amy & Mike. Could he be any nicer? Would have loved to have snorkeled with him, incredibly generous to offer to take us with his water scooters, but we had to leave the next morning....hopefully, we'll meet up another time. Susan & Dave did not have a car, so we asked if they had been up to the lighthouse. We went up there before dinner and had a drink at the restaurant El Faro Blanco. Had not heard great things, so we did not eat there, but the drinks were fabulous. I would definitely go there again. I had sangria and Susan had a sunset something or other, both great. I watched the bar tender make a mojito and it looked perfect to me, again a great mojito is my measuring stick. We took some pics and headed out.....

We tried to find Amadeus and got lost. Feel really dumb about that now, but we ended up at Bingo! as Susan and Dave had not been there. We had yet another great meal at Bingo! Review: Goat Cheese Salad (yes, again! but no soup, see I am learning) Coconut shrimp, 2 had grouper with shrimp specials, 1 chicken satay and 1 steak chimichurri. For dessert, I had the apple pie (stick with what you know) and I love Susan so I am going to tell on her. She wanted 2 desserts and could not decide so "she" go the creme brulee and "he" got the chocolate mousse....only "he" does not like sweets. I thought this was so funny for some reason. She could not eat them both so I think we all got to try the mousse. Great meal but even better company. The night got even better when Mike and Amy show up to hang out with the Bingo! gang and ended up at our table. So great meeting such wonderful people on vacation. Finally, wrapping up!

Monday, May 17th

Up at 8am, packed a bit then went to fill up with gas and to the grocery store to buy funny Euro candy for the kids (just something I do) and buy Dutch stuff for my mother in law (she was born in Holland) Ate breakfast at Linda's Pancakes....yes, again.... Saw Kent Gerber, the snorkel guy at Linda's heading out for a morning snorkel! My husband bought some cigars by the windmill and got some gifts at the little gift shop there for the kids....Back to the AMBR, an hour in the sun, floating on a raft, said goodbye to Susan & Dave. We REALLY hope to see them again, lovely people.

Packed up, showered and headed to the airport. We stopped on the way at Super Food, as the waitress at Linda's (who had seen us 3x in 7 days) gave us the great tip that you can buy the syrup they serve at Super Food, so we did and brought 2 containers home (posted about that on the Linda's thead on the BB if you want details) I bought a fresh baguette, sliced gouda, some drinks, 2 chocolate croissants and we had a makeshift picnic across the way at the little "beach". It beats airport food and think I paid $11 for all of it including the syrup! We got to the airport around 1:30 for the 3:00....there was literally NO ONE on line, totally freaked me out. We walked right up, got through, a little back up getting through the check points, but nothing to complain about.... We got through in plenty of time to see Amy & Mike and have one last drink in the airport bar before boarding.

Great flight home. Flight crew was good enough to pretend to remember us from the flight down and gracious enough to send drinks to Amy & Mike to thank them for being so wonderful to us. Watched movies on the way home, ate plenty and drank as many free cocktails as we cared to drink. Arrived on time. Waited and walked the terminal with Amy & Mike and said goodbye. We really had a great time with them. Hope to see them again too!

A huge thank you to all the staff at the AMBR, we felt like we were right at home. A special thank you to Janine, Sascha at the desk & Giovanny at the bar! You were so wonderful to us all week. Thank you so much for your incredible hospitality.

I know this is entirely too long. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to send me a pm. Hope something was helpful in planning your next trip. I know I appreciate everyone who takes the time to post a TR, as they have really helped me plan my trips.

Carolina & Ken