We were traveling on the Coral Princess from Fort
Lauderdale. Aruba was our first port and after being
at sea for two and a half days we were ready to get
off the ship and do some exploring.
On our cruise, we were only in port for a few hours
from about 7am until noon. We are not big on excursions
and generally like to explore on our own. After reading
up on the island we found out that there are tours that take
you to visit the Natural Bridge and then tell you that the
Natural Bridge was destroyed in a storm in 2005, they do
show you a smaller version of a natural bridge but we knew
this sort of tour would not be for us.
The ship docks at the Aruba Cruise Terminal and it is
just a short walk to get outside the terminal to taxis and
the main shopping area. Aruba is one of the countries of
the Kingdom of the Netherlands and you can see the
Dutch influence in the facades of the buildings on the
main drag, though with a pastel Caribbean vibe. There
are casinos, restaurants and bars and the typical
shopping venues found in most island ports such as
Diamonds International and stores of that type.
We exited the cruise terminal and approached the
line of taxis. There are fixed prices in Aruba and we
knew it would be $10 to get to our destination but
we told the driver where we wanted to go he told us
the was a Sunday surcharge and now the fare would
be $13 each way for a 3 mile trip. I really hate being
ripped off when I travel and prefer to walk away when
it happens. I walked onto the main street and just
behind the stores is the bus station, a few local guys
told me I could get to the beach easily and cheaply.
We could pay with US dollars on the bus since the
ticket booth was closed. The bus arrived in a few
minutes and we hopped on, for a few dollars each we
rode the local bus and the driver told us when we
had reached our destination.
We chose to visit Eagle Beach during our time in Aruba.
This beach is often rated as one of the best in the islands.
And it is beautiful, a lovely wide beach with turquoise blue
waters.
We didn't have wifi on the ship so we needed to find a spot
on the beach with wifi so we could check our emails and
get a little work done. We paid a guy for a few lounge chairs
under a palapa and settled in for what we thought would
be a few hours of rest and relaxation. Very soon we were
slapping and scratching from some small insects that were
biting us. We wrapped towels around ourselves and checked
our most important emails and then high tailed it out of
there before we were devoured by the insects.
We said farewell to the beach and hopped back on
the bus to town.
We strolled over the the Wharfside Flea Market and met
up with a few friends from the ship who told us all the
stuff there were cheap souvenirs or other trinkets that
are brought over from Haiti. By this point we had seen
enough, we headed back to the ship.