Guest post by thadeus_d3
Map tips: each color represents a different day. Click a marker to learn more about the spot, and click the star in the map header to save the entire map under Your Places in Google Maps.
Day 1: Palm Beach
After arriving and unpacking on July 4th, we decided to visit Palm Beach to watch the fireworks. The beach was very nice with shallow, warm water. The beach wasn’t crowded, which was surprising, but there were a handful of kite surfers taking part in a competition. We stayed until the fireworks show that night around 8:30.
Day 2
- Renaissance Island
- Eagle Beach
In the morning, we took a boat trip to Renaissance Island. We stayed at the Renaissance, so the boat picks you up in the lobby of the hotel and takes you there for free. It’s about a 10 minute boat ride, but it’s in calm water. Once there, there are several bars serving food and drinks. The entire Island has wifi and it’s pretty fast. The western portion of the island is catered to families, while the eastern portion is adults only. There are flamingos on the island, but they’re on the adult only side. My family and I visited that side briefly to feed the flamingos. On the southern side of the island, you can also watch planes takeoff and land from the airport.
Later that day, we decided to visit Eagle Beach. The beach was a bit too crowded for my liking, but we stayed a while.
Day 3: Baby Beach
Baby beach was a short drive from our hotel. The beach is large and has several reasonably priced restaurants and bars. The water is very shallow and is ideal for families with small children. We enjoyed ourselves and spent most of the day there. There are no public restrooms at the beach. However, you can buy food from one of the restaurants and use their facilities.
Day 4
- Alto Vista Chapel
- Bushiribana Ruins
- Natural Bridge Aruba
On our final full day, we visited the Alto Vista Chapel. The church was unusually small and located near the coast. Next, we went to Bushiribana Gold Smelter. This was one of the highlights of our trip. We visited the ruins that were right on the coast and had iguanas all around. It was a beautiful sight. Lastly, we drove to the Natural Bridge. It was a little off the beaten path and folks generally recommend driving a 4×4 to get there. We drove a compact car (slowly) and was able to arrive without problems. We all stood on the bridge and took pictures, then we drove back to our hotel for a little R&R before leaving the following morning.
Traveled in July 2016
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