I recently took a long weekend trip with my sister, Julie, to ARUBA!

Aruba is a direct flight from Chicago, so she flew to me, and then we flew together.

Aruba is in the Caribbean. It is part of the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao), outside of the Hurricane belt, and close to Venezuela. Aruba is an independent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Arubians speak 4 languages: Dutch, Spanish, English, and Papiamento.

The trip was quick, only Friday to Monday, but it was so worth it! Renting a car gave us even more freedom and opportunity in our trip. We rented our car through Tropic Car Rental. The price was right, and the customer service was excellent. The owner helped us get to our car and was so nice and knowledgable. He offered us insight into Aruba as well as recommended places for us eat since we arrived ravenous at dinnertime. I was debating between renting a tiny car to easily navigate the island or a jeep to be able to drive around the national park. I ultimately opted for the tiny car.

Aruba is full of roundabouts. You are supposed to use your blinker to indicate where you are going through the roundabout. You should use your left indicator to show that you are going left, and then when are ready to exit, you should use your right indicator. We didn’t see that in practice much, but we enjoyed trying to follow those rules.

We noticed that the license plates in Aruba had some sort of system, so we asked him about it. A licence plate that begins with specific letters means different things. A means the car is owned by an Arubian. TX means it is a taxi. V means it is a rental car. Etc.

The wind in Aruba is pretty strong and frequent, so cars didn’t park too close to each other.

We stayed in the resort area, as that is common for first-time visitors. Eagle Beach Aruba was right off of Eagle Beach, and had 3 nice pools and a hot tub.

We ordered Aruba Aribas, which is like Aruba’s version of a rum punch containing vodka, rum, crème de banana, orange juice, pineapple juice, cranberry juice, and grenadine. They were very flavorful, sweet, and strong.

We agreed that Piña Coladas were tastier, and opted for them the rest of the trip.

There was a lot of good food in Aruba. Aruba is “One Happy Island.” Maybe the food is good because all the chefs are happy and the food is made with love.

On the way to Arikok National Park, Aruba’s national park, we stopped at a local kiosk to buy some treats. We bought a few pastechis, which is shaped like an empanada or calzone, but the most delicious item was the croket, which was a fried potato and meat croquette.

The Arikok National Park is on the northwestern part of Aruba, and the roads are too rough for a normal car to drive through. We bought our national park passes and then took the mildest road we could find to a parking lot that looked “normal car friendly” based on some previous Google Maps images. Julie drove very bravely and methodically along the dirt path to the parking lot that I hoped would work for us. It turned out perfectly! There were 2 small vans in the lot, but otherwise it was empty.

Off to the Conchi Natural Pools! The employees at the national park office told us that the pools were closed due to strong weather. The wind was strong, but we figured we could at least go check it out and look with our eyes at the very least. Just in case the conditions were favorable, we brought our snorkel masks and swimsuits. We walked the path from the gravel lot to the pool.

The wind was so strong it was difficult to read the map.

We passed a beach that is too dangerous to swim ever. The beaches on the east side of the island are rough and people don’t swim there.

We also passed a tour on horseback heading back from the pools. One of the guides of the tour told us that the pools were too far to reach by hiking, but then told us he was joking and we were almost there. Arubians are friendly and funny. There was a park employee by the Conchi Natural Pools and confirmed that the pools were closed for swimming because of the strong winds and high tide, but there were a few shallow pools where we could relax. The pools were fuller and rougher, but he told us we could sit in the closest pool which was essentially a puddle. We sat in the very calm small pool.

Here, I am posing along the rocks of the pools. Normally, people are able to swim and snorkel in the protected rock areas, when the conditions are more favorable.

We went to this very famous seafood spot known by tourist and locals, called Zeerovers. The line was long and took us over 2 hours, but the line itself was also part of the experience. People would walk up to the bar and buy beers and popcicles and enjoy them while standing in line.

By the time we were at the front to order a lot of food, our eyes were bigger than our stomaches. Zeerovers had fresh tuna, mahi, and shrimp that we paid for based on the weight.

We ordered pickled onion, cornbread pancake, mayo, and fries to accompany our seafood. Essentially everything on the menu. We went down the list and was like “do you recommend we get the pickled onion?” “yes” “do you recommend we get the cornbread cake?” “yes” The answer was always yes.

They immediately whisked our seafood away to cook it. We eagerly awaited our fresh fried seafood.

It was very good and well flavored. Julie and I both felt that the seafood was a bit overcooked for our taste. Perhaps this is how Arubians prefer their seafood? Or perhaps it was overcooked a bit.

One night, we went to these food trucks that were open late, so that we could get some dinner.

We went to a dutch pancake place for breakfast. A dutch pancake is similar to a crepe, but it is open-faced. There are sweet and savory varieties. The dutch pancake was very good, although, logistially, a crepe feels easier to eat.

Ther grocery store had so many meats and cheeses, so we bought materials to have a charcuterie.

We originally brought our charcuterie items to eat while we were in the national park, but when we arrived it didn’t feel like the time or place to set up a picnic. So instead, we had a nice charcuterie moment on our balcony before dinner.

We ate a lot of cheeses. When we went out to dinner, we found a cidery and decided to stop in for a drink. They served their cider flight with more cheese!! We were cheesed out.

One night, we had fancy Italian food and gelato!

Beaches and snorkeling

The west side of the island has multiple beaches, each with something different to offer.

Baby beach, at the southeastern tip of the island, is a very round and calm lagoon beach. Julie and I immediately hopped in and snorkeled. The beautiful turquoise water was gentle and shallow. We both wore snorkel masks, and I had my phone in a waterproof case to record the underwater wildlife.

The most exciting wildlife sightings at Baby Beach were the parrotfish that were swimming around the rock formations out in the water. It was magical.

I couldn’t get a good video, but we saw like 5 of them swimming together and then some got washed on and off the rocks and their scales were iridescent in the sun.

Mango Halto, another beach, has a lot of mangroves and is very chill for hanging out near the water under the shade of the trees.

We didn’t snorkel here. We were too tired from our Baby Beach and Zeerovers adventures. Instead, we opted for a beach nap and to eat some sun-warmed Albanese gummy bears that Julie brought for us. Yum! They had all fused into a super gummy bear.

The guys in line next to us at Zeerovers told us that we should save the Tres Trapi beach area in the north for early morning because that is a great spot for sea turtles in the morning time before the boats and crowds scare them out to deeper water.

Our last morning in Aruba, Julie and I woke up very early and drove up to Tres Trapi to try to see some sea turtles. After about 20 minutes of acclimating to slightly stronger and much deeper water, we finally got our bearings.

I am still working on taking an ambient slow panorama video. Here you can get a feel for the beach and the water.

There were a few other tourists snorkeling by themselves as well as a few tour groups. We saw a manta ray! There were so many different schools of fish. Julie saw an octopus! We saw a few flying gurnards which were so fascinating. And, of course, the video is blurry, but you see their “wings” expand at one point, so that’s cool!

We saw a turtle maybe 1.5 hours in. We saw sea turtles 3 or 4 other times. Perhaps it was the same turtle over and over, or more likely it was multiple turtles. Truth be told, I got motion sick while reviewing the underwater videos, so I have selected the least dizzying turtle video.

It was extremely logistically difficult to navigate the technology underwater. First of all, I am an unreliable videographer. Half the time I think the camera is on, or in focus, or off, and the camera is doing the exact opposite. The settings kept changing underwater and pausing the recording. It was nearly impossible. I have since decided to replace my broken GoPro. GoPro just is easier to use and has less settings to worry about. Also, trying to stay afloat and not drown while also trying to take a video results in some so-so videos, but most importantly results in not drowning. It was beautiful to see with our own eyes.

We snorkeled for almost 3 hours. It was fun, but exhausting.

We walked a bit south to the adjacent beach and got to see this very relaxed pelican.

If you wake up early enough in the day, you can have a whole adventure before having to checkout from the resort. Our morning was action packed. We had just enough time to checkout and go get breakfast.

Our last breakfast of the trip was at the most delicious place called Perfect Shot Café & Restaurant. It was so dreamy that as someone who doesn’t like to repeat places on vacation, I would absolutely want to go back to that restaurant multiple times. A perfect last meal before heading to the airport.

It was a great trip! Matching souvenir sweatshirts was the cherry on top!