Aruba in April of 2021

This is an overview of our trip to Aruba in April of 2021, as the world is seemingly starting to win in the battle against the pandemic.

Beaches and Resorts

Holiday Inn

We stayed for five nights in this resort by a public beach called Palm beach. The resort has everything you'd expect from a Caribbean resort - pools, restaurants, bars. There were even jewelry, liquor, and souvenir stores onsite. The location was perfect as it's a relatively short drive from the airport and it is steps away from J.E. Irausquin Blvd where one can find even more restaurants and shops.

De Palm Island resort

We had a day trip to De Palm Island, which is a resort accessible by a ferry from the main island. To get there, you will need to purchase a pass giving you an all-inclusive experience with unlimited free food, drinks, palapas, and beach chairs on the island. The island is also good for snorkeling and has a group of flamingos.

Palm Beach

This is a public beach, and all facilities like paddleboard rentals and towel service close by 7 pm to comply with the local curfew (as of April 2021). This beach is great for swimming as the waves are very low due to the wind blowing against waives from the shore.

Baby Beach

A beautiful beach located in a bay. Great for snorkeling and swimming. Palapas are available for rental.

Mangel Halto

This is a beach with mangroves which is away from resorts. Snorkeling is good here but beware of sea urchins in shallow waters.

Boca Catalina Beach

Good for snorkeling and swimming. Many catamarans stop here, bringing large groups of snorkelers with them.

Geography and climate

Aruba island is mostly a flat semi-desert with lots of cacti, thorny shrubs, and low trees. It has a very stable temperature, around 27-29 C, and is very dry.

Activities

Snorkeling

There are numerous snorkeling spots in Aruba waters. Baby Beach, Mangel Halto, and other spots mentioned have plenty of sea life. We saw some Parrotfish, Spotted trunkfish, and many other kinds of reef fish.

Parasailing

We used Frank's Place Watersports located at Palm Beach for our parasailing experience. We boarded a boat that then took us to a different ship further in the sea. The crew provided us with a life vest, helped us to wear a harness, and attached us to the parasail wing. We were then lifted up in the air, and before we knew it, we could barely see the ship down below and were flying above Aruban sea. We spend about 15 min in the air and successfully descended right on the boat's landing platform.

Standup Paddle-boarding

We rented paddleboards from Frank's Place Watersports, where we parasailed earlier for a short paddle-boarding session near the shore. The experience cost us $16 USD per person for 30 min.

Arikok National Park

This park which comprises almost 20% of the island, is mostly a desert with cacti, shrubs, and sand dunes. At the visitor center, we were suggested to visit several locations accessible by our car, like Dos Playa beach, Vader Piet wind farm. Driving on the rugged terrain in the park with a non-4-wheeler was a very challenging adventure.

Food and Restaurants

Here are some of the restaurants we dined at which are worth mentioning Moomba is a restaurant and bar by the beach with a live music performance in the evening. Bavaria is a family-run German restaurant with a great selection of German beer. Rotisserie La Braise Aruba a French rotisserie that also serves delicious seafood.

Cost

Car rentals from the Budget were about $35/per day for a mid-size car Holiday inn was about $250 per night in April of 2021 Food prices are comparable to USA prices Paddle-boarding was $16/per person for 30min rental; parasailing was about $60 per person.