ORANJESTAD, ARUBA

Our final port of call was in Oranjestad, the capital city of the island of Aruba. It is one of six islands that make up the Netherland Antilles, the three most important being the ABC’s -- Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. (The Netherland Antilles were dissolved in 2010 and the islands are now autonomous).

It is thought that Aruba was first inhabited about 4500 years ago by natives from South America. In 1499 it was claimed for Queen Isabella of Spain by Alonzo Ojeda, but it wasn’t even colonized because they thought it had little value for Spain. Its name may have come from the Spanish “oro hubo” which means “gold was there” or from the Arawak Indian word “oibubai” meaning “guide”.

In 1636 the Dutch helped themselves to the island, and it has remained under Dutch control ever since. The first governor in 1643 was Peter Stuyvesant, who moved after 4 years to become governor of Niuew Amsterdam (later New York).

The southwestern coast of this small island is vacation paradise with all its many resorts, beaches and casinos, and just emerged as a tourist attraction in the last ten years. Oranjestad is noted for its seven mile white sandy beach, and the clear, blue waters have beautiful coral formations and many off shore shipwrecks for scuba divers. The city itself is very charming, with narrow winding streets lined with pastel colored colonial buildings. Each morning the locals shop at the colorful produce and fish markets. We browsed through the many duty free jewelry shops (and even purchased some gifts and souvenirs!), and admired the handicrafts in the stalls conveniently located near the pier. We also enjoyed the harbor front malls with their designer merchandise, and checked out the casinos where we sampled a Heineken beer! We loved the picturesque white coral bridge formed naturally by the ocean surf and tides.

The World:

We were excited to see that the only operational condominium cruise ship, The World, was in port for 2 days. This is a 12 story cruise ship, with all the usual amenities i.e. spa, gym, fine dining, private hot tubs, golf driving range and putting green, etc. However, the “staterooms” are 165 fully equipped condominium units, +/- 2,000 square feet each, minimum $5 million investment, fully equipped kitchens with all the most modern appliances and full size washer/dryers, tons of marble and granite, full time high speed internet and satellite phones and TV, sumptuous luxury, custom decorated. It’s more like a private yacht than a cruise ship. Some owners even use this as their permanent residence and conduct business from on the high seas all over the world! Of course we weren’t able to board and look around, but I understand that there are a few resale units available if anyone’s interested …. This is the only one in service at this time, although there are a few others on the drawing boards … What fun to see it!

It was easy to explore the town -- the population is only about 70,000 people -- but they represent 60 different nationalities! Everyone was very helpful and they all had a smile on their face -- it truly is a Happy Island! We concentrated on shopping and visiting the town, but there were tours to the rugged and windblown north eastern coast where goats eat the landscape, and wild donkeys could be seen roaming the hills. The Dutch dismantled a 200-year old windmill in the Netherlands and brought it to Aruba where it was reconstructed and is now a symbol of old Holland, and houses a quaint restaurant.

The Aruba Natural Preserve comprises a quarter of the island and contains the highest peaks on the island. There are nature trails that showcase the many kinds of local plants and animals like the windswept “divi-divi” tree, rare and exotic cacti, tropical flowers, birds and iguanas.

What a lovely spot to end our cruise! And now to the challenge of packing our treasures for the journey back to reality …