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Published: December 19th 2009
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Aruba, Marriott Surf Club
November 29, 2009
Karen and I were invited by Kim and Jim to share their timeshare in Aruba the week after Thanksgiving. This was the perfect way of escaping the beginning of winter in New England. We stayed at Marriott Surf Club on Palm Beach in the High Rise District of the island. The island of Aruba is justly known for its great weather, fine beaches, and exquisite restaurants.
Aruba is an interesting place to visit, it’s a desert island the size of Nantucket. The weather was always great at 87 and breezy every day. This is supposed to be the rainy season and three times during the week it clouded up rained for 5 minutes and then dried up about 5 minutes later. The population of Aruba is about 100,000 people. They primarily live along the southwest coast of the island in ten different districts. The island is located at 70 degrees longitude so it’s directly south of Boston in the Caribbean and 12 degrees latitude 18 miles of the coast of Venezuela. This locates the Aruba fairly close to the equator so it’s always warm, sunny and south of the usual hurricane track.
It’s also a very dry desert and cactus dominates the landscape of the entire northeast side of the island.
The Marriott Surf Club is part of a large multi-building Marriott complex of seven large buildings that include two different timeshare complexes, The Surf Club, The Ocean Club with a Marriott Hotel with Casino. The Marriott complex is the last resort along the Palm Beach district, a mile long strip of beachfront hotels, timeshares, restaurants, casinos and shops where all the tourists seem to be segregated. We stayed in a lovely two-bedroom unit on the eighth floor. At the Surf Club there’s a lovely ocean beach, two-pools and a lazy river pool that is only for use of those who are staying at the Surf Club. The use of the different Marriott pools is limited by what building you are staying in. You have to wear a colored wristband at all times you’re at the pool or one of the many guards that patrol the grounds will ask you to leave if you can’t produce one. Guests at the Marriott have to attach a special card to their lounge chair at the pools or on the beach. People staying here
Palm Beach
RIU HOTEL Palm beach start tagging the lounge chairs at 7 each morning. This certainly isn’t very convenient for late risers like us but lucky Kim was up early and claimed our spot each morning.
Marriott also seems to make it difficult to enjoy any of the off site activities offered east along Palm Beach. They clearly want you to spend your money on site. This it’s the only facility along the beach without a paved walkway connected to the rest of the hotels and restaurants. There’s also no sidewalk along entrance road so you need a taxi to get out the front gate. We had to walk through the employee’s parking lot and through a hidden gate in the fence to get out of the facility to ride the local buses. After we found the hole in the gate we took numerous bus rides from the Surf Club to Orangestad the capital city of the island. Orangestad has a great Lilly Brothers IGA supermarket, shops, restaurants and a vibrant harbor and it’s just a short 15-minute bus drive away.
It’s been strange to see palm trees with Christmas lights. It’s only a few weeks until Christmas so everywhere you go on
Aruba
Palm Beach Plaza the island there are holiday decorations. The nearby Palm Beach Plaza provided shops and entertainment and a liquid fireworks show each night. We usually end up here on our evening beach walks.
Tuesday we spend another day floating around the lazy river that night we rode a taxi into town for the weekly Bon Bini Festival. This weekly festival that’s been promoted to us by the concierge ends up being a bit less than we expected. It’s local food and performers in an old fort. Jim and Kim felt like they had wandered into the Coolidge hall at the Topsfield Fair and left early. We end the evening at the Green Iguana Bar for drinks.
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Jeanne
non-member comment
You look so cool!
Hi Sylvan, I had never thought of visiting Aruba but after seening your pictures and you floating down The Lazy River, I have definitely put Aruba on my list of places to visit. It's so nice to have someone who previews the areas and writes a review. Keep on traveling and sending your blogs! Jeanne Murdock