Colin and I enjoyed 6 full days of the best Aruba has to offer - the beach!! We spent as much time as we could on the Renaissance hotel's private island.
A boat was available every 30 minutes to pick you up inside the Marina hotel. It would then drive the 2 minutes to the Renaissance Ocean Suites to pick up a second group of passengers. From there, it was just a 5-10 minute ride to the private island.
View of the Renaissance Marina from the boat as we head to the private island.
The private beach was sheltered from the waves by a rock barrier. It also had a wide beach area and several smaller beach areas like the one you see above.
The private island boasted a "family" beach and an "adults-only" beach. We spent time in both areas, but the beach was better on the "family" side. Thankfully, we didn't hear or see too many bratty kids, and we tried setting up our chairs away from the main beach. The other awesome thing about the private island was having free wifi!! So we could catch up on e-mails, post facebook photos, and keep in touch with the rest of the world (when we weren't napping, swimming, eating, walking around, reading books, or listening to podcasts).
Half of the days were picture perfect, with blue skies and calm waters for most of the day.
A disturbance in the Carribean (Tropical Storm Rina I think!) gave us a few days of rough waters, which led to the canceling of the wedding's booze cruise (more about that in the next post).
This picture shows us looking back on the main beach area from one of the small areas. Yes, the water is this bluish-green and you can see all the way to your feet while standing in 5 feet of water!
The private island had a series of paths between each of the beach areas. Along the path, you could see lots of fish in the water and lizards of all sizes sunbathing on the wood!
We also got to see some flamingos on the beach and some dolphins out enjoying themselves in the water (I couldn't get my camera in time to catch them!).
During the six days, I fully recovered from appendix surgery, read two books, and got a nice tan! Lounging on calm waters or in a hammock isn't a bad way to forget about life's problems!
It was also wonderful to catch up with my friends and former teammates.
Look at all those soccer legs!! I have to give Annie (4th from the right) the title for best abs!!
When we weren't at the beach, we were hanging out with our friends at the pool, or participating in the wedding festivities (more about those in the next post).
The hotel pool was right near the lobby/bar and had a great view!
The only bummer is that you could see and hear the cars on the road below.
To explore the island, we decided to walk from our hotel (downtown) to the high-rise hotels (called the high-rise area). On the map, it looked really close, but it ended up being ~4 miles. That doesn't sound so bad, but when the weather is beautiful and you are walking on the sidewalk looking at this...
instead of walking on the beach, it seems like forever.
(Note - we took this photo because they have a shoe store called DCW, instead of DSW).
By the time we got to Eagle Beach, which is supposed to be one of the nicest on the island, it was already late in the day. While the beach was nice, it didn't allow you to wade slowly into the water like our private island did.
It was nice to enjoy some solitude though.
I definitely want to go back to Aruba. The beaches are as beautiful as they were in 2000.
Both times these beautiful beaches have keep me from exploring other parts of the island
- not that I am complaining.
Stay tuned for the wedding celebration details, a story that's sure to entertain!
What's your favorite beach destination?
