This year for Thanksgiving, we decided to #OptOutside in Aruba instead of partaking in traditional Thanksgiving festivities.
And boy did it not disappoint! We may have stumbled upon a new tradition!
I am a big Clark Howard fan and he has always talked about how traveling internationally on Thanksgiving is cost effective as there is so much domestic travel due to the holiday here in the U.S. that international flight prices drop. So you can imagine when I saw a flash travel deal on delta for Aruba come across my screen... I booked it!
This was our first time booking travel through something like this where hotel, flights and shuttle transfers were arranged by a third party company. I usually plan all details of our trip and do plenty of research so I was out of my comfort zone. The trip DeltaVacations had booked for us had De Palm tour as our shuttle to and from the airport and staying at the Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort. This all added up to cheaper than what flights would normally have cost!
Our flight was Thanksgiving day around 10am and we arrived extra early only to realize that the airport would be basically deserted since everyone was in the domestic terminal or had already reached their destination. So we drank some coffee and I shopped for new lipstick... because why not?
We carried on so could have gotten to the airport when our flight was boarding honestly!
The flight is about 3.5-4 hours and you lose an hour since they are 1 hour ahead of us East Coasters. We landed and quickly made our way to the exit. The Aruba airport is much nicer than other Caribbean airports we have been to. We were told to look for De Palm Tour guides in yellow shirts and they showed us to our bus. About 15-20 minutes later we were at our hotel!
We dropped our bags and quickly changed out of our cold weather clothes into shorts and headed downstairs to explore. The hotel grounds were very nice and there was a beach bar called Bugaloe right off the dock so we went there for a snack! The waiters sing karaoke and it's a very chill bar. We had some drinks and watched the sunset!
That night we walked around the little square and had dinner at Daniel's Steak & Chop before having a somewhat early night!
The next morning we were up early and had no real plans. We got some iced coffees and went down to the pool to relax and try to plan our day. Next to the pool were some exotic birds so we visited them for a bit.
We decided our game plan was to rent a car to explore the island. After a few calls, speaking with the Hertz at the hotel and going to a few car places in the square we realized that everything was sold out. Bummer! We then decided on renting an ATV and walked around to a couple places to decide on pricing.
We were approached by a young woman who was handing out scratch off tickets and answered some of our questions about ATV rentals. Brandon won a t-shirt with his scratch off and I won an 8 day 7 night fully paid for vacation to anywhere in the world. ;) Her and her companion then proceeded to try and get us to come watch a 90 minute presentation with them so they could get a commission on our free vacation. We politely declined several times before I rudely said we had to go. We later heard this is obviously a scam so be cautious if approached about any kinds of contests in the more touristy areas.
It was around noon by this time and we found a place that would rent us an ATV for a fair price. The company is called Arubiana and they offer a lot of ATV, RTV and scooter options. I'd recommend getting there earlier since we paid for a full day but only had the ATV from noon until 6pm and could have easily had it for hours longer.
The company laid out all of their policies, instructed us on how to avoid damaging the vehicle, proper safety protocols and even helped us download their app.
The app is great, it works offline so you don't need service or Wifi and it will track your location in relation to various points of interest around the island. We would have been very lost without this several times.
We started on the Northwest side of the island and went around 2/3 of Aruba. The main points we hit were the California lighthouse, the Natural Pools and the Quadiriki cave. Aruba is a desert island and so there is plenty of sand so wearing face and eye protection was very important. You're 12 degrees from the equator so sunscreen and cover ups are also crucial.
There are so many beautiful beaches all around the island and we stopped so many times to explore and take pictures.
The natural pools were probably our favorite thing, at least at the time since we'd been covered in sand and were so hot from the sun. We dipped into the natural pool and the water was amazingly blue and refreshingly cool.
We hadn't really eaten much aside from snacks at this point so once back on our ATV we decided to final a local grocery store to grab something to eat. We love finding places outside of where tourism is rampant to see how locals would actually live. There is a lot of Dutch influence on the island so we found lots of food we couldn't pronounce, saw eggs room temp (which is how it is supposed to be) and found hemp beer! Brandon made sure to grab a Presidente before we continued on our day.
The last main stop we made on our ATV was the Quadiriki Caves. These were on our map and we anticipated a crowd, however, we had them all to ourselves. There is a mythical tale of the caves about a daughter of an Indian chief who falls in love with a lover who was unacceptable to her father and so she was imprisoned in the cave until her death.
After spooking ourselves out, we took our ATV back to Arubiana to drop it off for the day. I couldn't wait to get back to the hotel to shower, we were a literal hot mess at this point.
We'd made reservations but completely missed them so we decided to grab a drink while we waited for some crowds to die down before going to eat.
We grabbed some drinks at Craft and people watched for a bit. The area we were staying in has a very busy nightlife and would be an ideal place for a single girls' trip or Bachelor party.
We ended up at Chicken and Lobster for dinner that night. The name seemed funny but the food was so good and they were very accommodating to my allergy.
Saturday was really the only day I had made any real plans for us. I really REALLY wanted to go to this private island that had flamingos and had booked us a room at the Renaissance to get there. I'd read about this magical place after we'd booked our trip but read that access to the island is very limited, you either stay at the Renaissance or can buy a day pass but they sell out after 25 and are $99 a person. It was much cheaper for us to book a room for 1 night with Brandon's Marriott account and it also gave us access to shower after.
We'd heard taxis were expensive so we decided to take their local bus down to the hotel.
The Arubus is fairly reliable and inexpensive and had all the stops and times listed online so we got some popsicles to eat while we waited on our ride.
Once we got to the stop closest to the Renaissance, we took the 5 or so minute walk and checked in at the front desk. Our room wasn't ready but we could use any of the amenities so we walked over to where the water taxi was and waited for the next boat to Flamingo island.
It is maybe a 10 minute boat ride including the stop at the other end of the hotel to pick up guests. The boat pulls right up to a dock and you can take a left to Iguana Island which is family friendly or a right to Flamingo Island which is Adults Only! (hell yes!)
We obviously took a right and I was amazed as soon as we walked in the flamingos were just wandering around. When you first get there, you're going to take 100 pictures but then you relax and order some drinks and the wandering flamingos almost seem normal. They love to be fed... so much so that when you run out of food they will keep biting you for more!
I had so many questions about this island and how these flamingos were here so the bartended filled me in on some FAQ's:
The Flamingos are originally from Bonaire (2 islands over) and have their wings clipped so they do not fly away. Flamingos from other islands come visit but they have just domesticated these 6. They have a vet come one a month for checkups and they are fed shrimp 3 times a week on top of the food tourists feed them. Children are allowed to visit for 1 monitored hour a day. The flamingos are free to wander the entire island and even a nature preserve away from humans if they choose. He said he had worked there for about 6 years and the flamingos had been there the entire time so he wasn't certain of their ages.
Speaking of the bartender, there is a cute little bar with all the frozen drinks you'd ever want and a pair of water hammocks to lounge in. I think we thought we'd stay for an hour or two and then leave but we hung out all day, had lunch and even watched the sunset!
I am so glad we did this! It was so nice to relax after a long day prior on the ATV. I'd highly recommend the private island and playing with flamingos but yes they do bite!
After watching sunset, we took the last boat back to the hotel and showered and changed for dinner. We decided to go eat at Yemanja which was amazingly good but very slow service! So make sure you're not starving if you come for dinner.
Sunday was our last day in Aruba and it had crept up so quickly. We wanted to make the most of our time there so we set our alarms for 5am, packed a bottle of champagne and OJ and took the first bus of the day to the northern tip of the island and then hiked a few miles to the California lighthouse. When we were on the ATV we realized this would be the easiest spot for us to get to without a car to watch sunset.
The walk was through some beautiful neighborhoods and then some desert to get to the perfect spot.
After the sun was up, we trekked back to the bus stop and took the Arubus back to the square by the Hilton to grab some breakfast at Diana's Pancake Place. They serve huge Dutch pancakes with all kinds of options and we were definitely hungry!
After stuffing our faces, we changed for the beach and it was definitely time to bring out the one piece! We had a few hours before we needed to leave for the airport and soaking in the last bit of sun we could was our top priority!
Our checkout was at 1pm and our shuttle was scheduled to get us at 1:15 so we hurried off the beach, showered and packed up. We'd heard security was a nightmare and so we had planned about 3 hours before our flight took off. Thankfully we made it through security in a timely manner but you do go through Aruba customs and security and then American customs and security so you land at a domestic terminal back in the states. We had a fair amount of lines but if it had any busier it could have taken us all day. At each point we thought we were done, there was another line to be in. However, it was nice to land and take MARTA home from a domestic terminal.
Notable Stuff:
Aruba is very westernized, almost everyone speaks English and they accept USD almost everywhere
It is very very safe and there are cameras everywhere
December is when their season starts
We liked the beach at the Hilton but the surrounding area of the Renaissance better
The sun is very hot, bring sunscreen
We didn't use cash except for the bus
Book a car or ATV rental ahead of time to maximize your exploring time
Flamingos bite