Thursday

Another bright, sunny day began with a jump off the dock directly across from our house into our own little lagoon/cove into the crystal clear warm water. There is something special about a short splash and swim before breakfast in the morning.

After breakfast we went back to Baby Beach. We had no trouble finding it this time and claimed a wonderfully spacious tiki hut. We stayed from about eleven in the morning until mid-afternoon, just relaxing and playing in the water. Arnold, Mike, and I took a drive back to the supposed fish camp we had found on Tuesday. In addition to not having running water or electric power, the shacks had no floors, just the natural beach sand. And there still weren’t any people there. It was difficult to figure out the purpose, but very interesting as a photo event for us. The beach along the shoreline is reef-like — very rocky — so water shoes would be a good idea here.

We also explored some of the amazing rock formations near this beach area. They were probably a quarter mile from the water, but it looked like the ocean had at one time beaten against the rocks, undermining them in some places, leaving caves and jagged pieces of rock hanging down. The formation was at least 30 to 40 feet high. The land was flat leading up to the base of the rocks, so it appeared that the ocean had receded quite a bit. Also, the rock looked to us like hardened lava, yet there isn’t a volcano on Aruba. Very curious!

Unfortunately, when we got back to the rental house we discovered that the dive bag with Arnold’s and my snorkel gear and water shoes was stolen from the front porch while we were gone. We had left it on the front porch, so our mistake, but it was really a shame. It was a wakeup call for us to be more careful.

We dropped Lisa, Kaley, and Torrey off at the house after our day at the beach while Arnold, Mike, and I continued on to the grocery store to get the fixings for another dinner at home. It was another smorgasbord — beef tenderloin (which Mike rolled in sea salt, pepper and coffee grounds), steak, pork kabobs, hamburger for Kaley and ribs for Torrey. A feast complete with the usual adult beverages. Early to bed for me (10 p.m., as usual). No idea when the others hit the sack. Mike was mixing up another batch of his famous “Ritas” when I fell asleep.

BOSTON

Go for Old-world ambience, New England coziness, Beacon Hill’s cobblestone streets dusted with snow, roasted lobster instead of Christmas turkey.

Where to Stay: A gas fireplace warms every bedroom at the XV Beacon Hotel (15 Beacon Street; doubles from $295), which combines classic details like an antique cage elevator with 21st-century amenities: CD players, high-speed data ports, a private phone number for each guest.

Holiday Dinner: The dining room at Locke-Ober (3 Winter Place; dinner for two $200), a blue-blooded institution since 1875, still feels like a gentlemen’s club. Lobster bisque, Dover sole, calf’s liver, and baked Alaska continue to draw the Brahmin faithful—and the food is actually delicious.

CHARLESTON

Go for Pecans roasting on the fire instead of chestnuts, eggnog laced with bourbon, choirs singing spirituals at Drayton Hall plantation.

Where to Stay: The 21-room Wentworth Mansion (149 Wentworth Street; doubles from $385) dresses in subdued Victorian finery for the holidays with magnolia wreaths, old-world Santas, and two grand Christmas trees in the foyer. Every room has its own fireplace. On your pillow at turndown: chocolate truffles.

Holiday Dinner: At Peninsula Grill (112 N. Market Street; dinner for two $110), chef Robert Carter puts a radical spin on such low-country favorites as black-eyed pea, country ham and mushroom soup, and rack of New Zealand lamb with coconut-mint pesto.

MONTREAL

Go for a quiet celebration in the Canadian city that Harriet Beecher Stowe described as “a mountain of churches”, a triwl in one of the many outdoor ice-skating centers.

Where to Stay: After a day of shopping in the frosty air, check into a hotel with a heated outdoor pool: the Hilton Montreal Bonaventure (1 Place Bonaventure; doubles from $95) or the Omni Mont-Royal (1050 Sherbrooke Street West; doubles from $145).

Pre-Holiday Dinner: The majority of restaurants in predominantly French-Catholic Montreal are closed December 24 and 25, so it’s best to have a fabulous meal before Christmas day. At the loungey, elegant Restaurant Globe (3455 Rue St.-Laurent; dinner for two $170), chef Alex Rolland’s duck breast with Japanese eggplant and black cherry sauce is a perfect stand-in for goose.

PUERTO RICO

Go for “Jingle Bells” with a salsa beat, palms and exotic flora instead of pine trees, evening strolls through a 500-year-old Spanish colonial city on the Atlantic.

Where to Stay: Hotel El Convento (100 Calle de Cristo, Old San Juan; doubles from $325), a converted 354-year-old Carmelite convent, has 72 rooms with handcrafted colonial furniture. The Water Club (2 Calle Tartak, Isla Verde; doubles from $199), billed as Puerto Rico’s only beachfront boutique hotel, has 78 rooms overlooking the ocean through floor-to-ceiling windows.

Holiday Dinner: The 160-year-old La Mallorquina (207 Calle San Justo, Old San Juan; dinner for two $50) is known for its family-style cocina criolla, or traditional Puerto Rican feasts: seasonal favorites include lechón (suckling pig), arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas), and pasteles (yucca and meat wrapped in a banana leaf).

Another beautiful day in Paradise—sunny, breezy, gorgeous!

We ate breakfast at home every morning (there was no place close to us for breakfast),  but cooking in the house kitchen was fun for all of us anyway. This morning, we headed in to Oranjestaad (about 20 minutes away) to do some shopping. We hit several local touristy shops and saw pretty much the same things in each one. There was beautiful jewelry in the high end shops, but no one felt the need for anything like that, so we didn’t contribute to the local economy in that way.

We all met for a nice lunch at Iguana Joe’s restaurant and outdoor bar, overlooking the busy street below. It was on the second floor of an open air mall filled with shops on three levels. After lunch, we decided to go up to the north end of the island.

Alisa and I dropped the others off at Malmok Beach and went in search of Alto Vista Chapel. Our directions said to take Palm Beach Highway and turn left at the Aruba Rum Factory. We never saw a rum factory—I don’t think it’s there any more—but we just turned down a street that looked promising (remember—very few road signs and sometimes you follow one sign and then never see another until you reach a crossroad and have no idea which way to go). We were just about to turn back when, up ahead, Alisa saw a white cross. We went toward it and, sure enough, it was one of the Stations of the Cross that led up to the Chapel. I still can’t believe we found it.

The road leading up to Alto Vista chapel has Stations of the Cross on one side and the Hail Mary on wooden signs on the other —a few lines on each sign. Think of the old Burma Shave signs. It was a tiny chapel, very beautiful and well maintained, on top of a mountain. The view from the top is inspiring—you look down at the sea and it is very tranquil.

We retraced our route to the beach to meet up with the rest of the group. Malmok was a very small beach with some neat rock formations on the beach, but it wasn’t our favorite. We stayed until about 3:30 and decided to go up to the northernmost tip of Aruba to the California Lighthouse. What we found along the way was the best part. Miles of sand dunes and gorgeous rock formations with the waves crashing on the rocks! The terrain was so different from the other beaches we had been to—very rugged.

The California Lighthouse itself was nothing special. You can’t go up in the lighthouse any more because a few years ago someone committed suicide by jumping from the top. Probably would have been a great view from up there, but from the ground it wasn’t that spectacular.

I had wanted to see the beaches on the northeast side of the island. Even though they weren’t good for swimming, they are supposed to be good for windsurfing and sunbathing. So we set off for those. The island is only about 6 miles wide at its widest part and that is the center of the island so it shouldn’t take long to get across the northern tip, go a little south, and find the beaches, right?   Well, not so much.  As I’ve said before, signs and directions are few and far between.

To make a long story short, we never did find those beaches! But we did find one of our favorite places of the whole trip. We found the Natural Bridge. Now, we didn’t take a direct route. Oh, no. We wandered all over the place, seeing a lot of residential areas, places most tourists don’t usually see. We were on tiny dirt roads and were thrilled when we saw a sign to the Natural Bridge. Oh yeah—that was the only sign we saw on the whole drive. We finally asked a group of kids and they directed us. I’m not sure we ever would have found it on our own! We were way too south to find the beaches I wanted to see, but at least we were on the east coast.

The Natural Bridge was awesome! Actually, the Natural Bridge collapsed back in 2005, so you can only see what’s left of it, but it is still really cool. The Natural Bridge was a formation of volcanic rock cut out by years of pounding surf, and was one of the largest of these types of spans in the world. It stands some 23 feet above the water and spanned more than 100 feet before it fell. It is still pretty spectacular. There never was a volcano on the Aruba island but a thousand years ago there were undersea volcanic eruptions which produced the rock formations here and on other parts of the island. Just when we were ready to leave the Natural Bridge, Arn wandered down a little farther and found another beautiful spot—a great swimming hole!

There was a little cove-like area that was protected by large rocks and rock wall formations so that when the waves came crashing in, they were broken up by the large rocks and were pretty gentle by the time they got to the cove—well, at least most of the time. We climbed over the rocks and down about ten feet and sat on large rocks in the small pool (about twenty feet across). As I said, most were pretty gentle by the time they reached us, but every once in a while a rogue wave would come crashing in, knocking us off our pedestals. Great fun! We could not stop laughing at the wave action and us getting pushed around. We knew that this was not a typical tourist experience. We were so glad we climbed down that rock formation to the water.

Also in that spot, people had piled up small pyramids of stones. We think there may be periodic services there, because there is a small statue-like monument about two feet tall and all these “memorials” around it. Alisa made one for her Dad—very nice.

After leaving the Natural Bridge, it was off to the grocery store to buy dinner. We found the best grocery store in Oranjestaad.  It was called Super Center. It seems all the grocery stores are owned by Asians and have names like Kung Lee or King Hong. The one we frequented had the best meats, but strangely no fish. This night we dined on steak, pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon, pork and chicken kabobs, wings, baked potatoes, asparagus and tomato halves—all grilled in the back yard of the house. It was a feast fit for queens and kings. Everyone took it upon themselves to do some part of the dinner prep, cooking, tending the grill, setting the dining room table, making the drinks, whatever was needed. It was delicious and loads of fun!  Oh yeah—there might have been some really strong ‘Ritas, some Cap’t Morgan and coke, and such, but we’ll never tell.

On Tuesday, Torrey wasn’t feeling very well, so Kaley and Mike stayed home with her while Arn, Alisa and I went to Baby Beach and Rodgers Beach, two more on the “top ten” list that were right next to each other. On the southern tip of Aruba, these seem to be visited mostly by locals. In general, the roads in Aruba are not very well marked; signage is almost non-existent outside the tourist area of Oranjestaad. So finding Baby Beach and Rodgers Beach proved to be a little bit of an adventure.

During our exploration, we found the prison, the refinery, a beautiful beach with a beachcomber’s hut of driftwood, and a stretch of rocky shoreline with what looked like a weekend fishing camp—about a dozen huts (shacks with sand floors) built of colorful wood and tin metal roofs right at the high water line. The shacks did not have running water or electric or furniture, but some had 3 or 4 rooms. We also discovered huge rock outcroppings and caves and, oh yes, about a hundred goats. From here, we could see the coastline of Venezuela, which is only about 19 miles away.

After asking directions three times, we finally found Baby Beach and it was worth the search. The water at all the beaches was so clear! You can stand in four feet of water and still see your toes! At Baby Beach, the water was about waist high until you crossed the rocky reef and then it dropped off to about neck deep. There are lots of rocky reefs in Aruba so water shoes are definitely recommended.

Baby Beach has a crescent shape and at one end there is an area with a couple of small restaurants, cabanas, and such amenities. At the other end, where we chose to set up camp, there were only tiki huts (we got the last one available) and the beach. The tiki huts consisted of four upright wooden posts buried in the sand with a wood truss roof frame covered with dried palm fronds. It was about twelve feet square and could hold all of us on our chairs when we wanted to get out of the sun. Most people were up around the cabana area which left the other end for us and maybe a half dozen others. It was like our own private beach!

When we were out into the water looking west, the refinery sort of spoiled the view, but I’m sure it provides jobs for a lot of people on the island, so just look in other directions for the beauty.

The beach started getting more crowded around 1:30 (maybe 25 people on a quarter mile stretch). We left about an hour later anyway to get ready for the Bon Bimi Festival held every Tuesday at Fort Zoutman in Oranjestaad.

We got home, cleaned up, dressed in shorts and t shirts and set out for our first night on the town in Oranjestaad. Torrey was feeling better, so we could all go. We decided to take a taxi so we could all comfortably indulge in adult beverages. The taxi was $25 one way (be sure to call way in advance, as it took us almost an hour and calls to two different taxi companies to get a cab). But our cab driver was wonderful, very personable and very funny!

The Bon Bimi Festival was written up in every tour book and brochure we read as a celebration of the culture or Aruba, including dance, song, drinks, food and handicrafts. Well, I guess it was but it certainly was small (1 food vendor (serving goat soup), 1 drink vendor (terrible drinks), and about 4 artisans with jewelry). The entertainment wasn’t too good either and there were about 40 people there, including the six of us. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by Orlando, though I certainly didn’t expect a Disney production, but it was so widely written up that I did expect something better than it was. We stayed about a half hour and then opted to find entertainment (and food!) elsewhere. Somehow the thought of eating goat soup was not appealing to any of us—even Mike who is usually very food adventurous!

We soon figured out Tuesday nights are dead nights in Oranjestaad. Apparently the partying starts on Wednesday. So we had dinner at The Paddock, which is painted to look kinda like a cow (white with black spots). The food was decent and the setting was waterfront, so no complaints. Then we went to a little bar and had a drink, got a cab and went home. It was an early night, but a good day.

My family includes my daughter and son-in-law, Alisa and Mike Fuller, my two granddaughters Kaley and Torrey (19 and 17), and my “significant other” Arnold.  We vacation together every year, usually cruising or hitting a beach/island location.  It’s a great time to reconnect and enjoy each other and have some really good family times. This year, we rented a house in Aruba, part of the Netherlands Antilles, just off the coast of Venezuela.

Arnold and I got to the Fullers’ house around 7:50 a.m. on Sunday, July 31. The cab got there promptly at 8 and the six of us —Arnold and I, Mike, Alisa, Kaley and Torrey — loaded up. Everything at the airport went smoothly. Our flight left about on time at 11:15 and about 3 hours later we landed in Aruba—very nice flight. Aruba is always on Eastern Daylight Time (when we go off DST they don’t change the time), so right now it’s the same time there as in Orlando. .

When we arrived, we breezed through Immigration, hit the duty free liquor store in the airport (Arnold’s Cruzan Rum that costs $19 at home was $11), and were picked up by our car rental company, “More4Less”. We had a Honda Stream, which held all 6 of us, but left only about 10 inches for luggage or anything else, so the rental car company, in another van, led us to our rental home with the luggage.

We were met at the house (43 Spaans Lagoon, Pos Chiquitos) by Marie, who is hired by the house owner to meet the rental guests, answer any questions, and do the house cleaning before and after the stay.  She gave us all the info we needed on the house: security system, where everything was, and so forth. She also told us that nothing is open on Sundays. Uh oh! What were we going to do for dinner?  We asked Marie where we could get something to eat and she offered to show us where a local restaurant was since it was on her way home. So we resigned ourselves to having to wait until Monday to lay in provisions. Good thing we stopped at the duty free liquor store!

Marie led us to La Granja, obviously a favorite with the locals. Very little English was spoken here and it was basically Aruban fast food; but it filled the void! We ate fish with a Creole sauce, fried plantains and rice—very tasty. And there is one somewhere in Orlando too, in case we get nostalgic. After dinner, we went back to the house, unpacked, and checked out the house and the beach across the street from us.

The house was great—3 bedrooms, 3 baths, with a good size kitchen and huge living room. The owners really thought of and provided everything—beach towels, beach toys, snorkeling gear, fiction and non-fiction books (including tour books on Aruba), games, coolers, pretty much anything you could hope for. The backyard wasn’t much to write home about, but the view from the very large front porch was spectacular! The lagoon was right across the street with a little tiki hut there, though not much beach. But about twenty yards down the road was Mangel Halto, a very nice beach. A wooden platform across the street from us gave access into the water, about 3 feet deep. Farther out near the reef, The water’s about 5 feet and more. It was so peaceful to sit on the porch and look out at the water, very calm—almost like a lake. There were waves crashing over the reef, but the water smooths out as it comes in to the beach.

We didn’t do much Sunday night but drink cocktails on the front porch and watch the sunset.

Monday

Our first full day here and of course, we wanted to head to the beach. But which one should we choose?  There are a ton of beaches here. One of the tour books listed ten “must see” beaches, so we decided we would try to hit each one of those. One of them happened to be Mangel Halto, the beach about twenty yards from our home, so that one would be easy!

Today we chose Eagle Beach in the northern part of Oranjestaad (the main city in Aruba). Everyone piled into the van and we drove north to the beach. There is a hotel there (Passions) with a tiki beach bar in the sand where you can get your favorite drink and lunch. The lunch is delivered from the hotel restaurant across the street directly to the beach bar. The beach itself was beautiful—sugar sand, very few rocks in the water, and the water was waaarm. We parked our “stuff”—chairs, towels, cooler—under a wonderful divi divi tree, which provided lots of shade, and we proceeded to totally relax.

After a while on the beach, we went up to Passions for some lunch and an ”adult beverage” or two. We were served by Lucy, who did not forget to put the alcohol in the drinks—Yum! We would find that most places put lots of alcohol in the drinks—unlike most places in the States! The calamari was excellent, the fried shrimp very good, and the fish tacos also very tasty. We stayed at Eagle Beach most of the day and then hit the grocery store and went home.

That evening we had dinner at Marina Pirata, which was an easy walk from our home. Sylvia was our server and our table was on a wooden deck about a foot above the water. While we waited for cocktails and dinner, we were entertained by the huge fish swimming near us, enticed by the leftovers the servers threw to them. Great dinner—among us we had lobster, steak, shrimp, and barracuda (which Arn proclaimed very tasty!). The generous portions of really well prepared food left us all groaning. The walk back home was a very good thing!

Arriving back at the house, we sat around, talked and had a few more “adult beverages.”  Then it was time to go to bed and get ready for an early day and another “best beaches” outing.