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What a gem of an island. I’d get stranded on this island anytime!

Busy day at the cruise terminal, with our ship one of three docked in Aruba for the day. Patrick, our concierge, had mentioned some of the hotels offer day passes for use of their amenities, but as I later confirmed at the visitor center in the cruise terminal, it requires advanced booking. Eagle Beach was the recommended beach to go to, beach chair and umbrella rentals available, bars and restaurants at the beach, and an easy cab ride.

Seeing reviews about umbrella rentals selling out and the concern of competing with 3 cruise ship day trippers, we headed out shortly after 9AM. Finding the cab stand was a bit of a challenge, but I figured it out. Cab came by within a few minutes. He wanted $5 a person. A family of at least 8 was looking for a cab as well, but they didn’t want to pay that much. So we took the cab ourselves. The cabbie was very nice and helpful, knowing the best spot to drop us off at Eagle Beach, where there were plenty of rentals, and a beach bar/restaurant. Paid $50 for umbrella and two lounge chairs, expensive but what I expected. Laura grabbed us some Planters Punch at the bar and we were all set to go. The beach quickly became full of umbrellas in 4 rows, and they were all sold out by late morning. The beach sand was white but not hot to walk on. Water was a bit cool, but refreshing.

We walked over to the beach bar, the Moco Loco Bar, for lunch, getting the last table in the shade and just before the line for food and drink got long. Laura always says, places get crowded after I arrive. Ordered some cold beers, chicken wings, and a chicken wrap from the waitress, and had to pay up front, but it was good, especially those local chicken wings. Another couple asked if we could share our table in the shade. They were off of the Celebrity Cruise ship and didn’t get here early enough to rent an umbrella. We obliged and had some great conversation, especially about the bridge collapse in Baltimore. Our ship was leaving around 4:30, but theirs wasn’t leaving until 6:30, so we offered them our umbrella after 2PM. They were grateful and said they’d check back with later. As we were leaving later in the afternoon, we saw they had been able to get their own umbrella and chairs down the row from us, so all was good.

A couple more hours on the beach, cooling off in the water, and we decided that was enough sun for us. There were cabs waiting in the beach parking lot, so we hopped into the first one. Our cab was of Dutch descent, and told us the correct pronunciation of our ship, Oosterdam (not oooster…). We got out at the flea market and shopping center in front of the cruise terminal for a little shopping. I found a souvenir Aruba baseball cap and a tropical shirt.

After some nice refreshing showers, cold beers and a change of clothes, we were ready for dinner as the ship pulled out from Aruba.

This is a wonderful, friendly island. Its is definitely worth considering a return visit to stay on the island.