Aruba Vacation 1999

Hello to all from the Bucuti resort in Aruba!

Doug and Judy were here for a fun filled week in February of 1999. Come with us as we explore the Aruban sun-drenched beaches and magical evenings (I got that out of the brochure).

All marketing aside, Aruba 'aint a bad place to be.

The island is only 20 miles long, and a splendid breeze is constant no matter where you are!

One dangerous thing about this island is the car accident death rates! There is a big "Death Thermometer" in the city square, and everytime someone dies in a car accident, a guy comes along and paints some more red on the thermometer! Last year it hit 18, this year alone it is around 8. So be careful on the roads, kids.

Click on a photo to see a bigger blowup

The Resort !
We stayed at the Bucuti Resort, which I heartily recommend. It is a "low-rise" hotel, which basically means you have a less crowded beach, more friendly people helping you, and less annoying loud people from New Jersey.

Our main contact at the hotel was Karin and Carsten! These guys helped out a lot and also had fun accents.

The Activities !
We had a very busy week, as we went kayaking, scuba diving, snorkelling, and windsurfing! Here are some pix of us before and after our scuba dive, and also windsurfing.

I can't wait to go scuba diving again, it was a tremendous experience. We actually got to do a 30 foot dive and see a shipwreck. It only took an hour of training in a swimming pool before they allowed us to risk our lives in the open sea. You can see the tip of the wreck in the background.

After all this hard play, we visited the best French restaurant on the island, Chez Mathilde! Highly recommended.

The People !

Some of the people we met:

Ken, our amazing kayaking instructor. This guy actually swam to Venezuela, then kayaked back to Aruba! Insanity! He only made us kayak half that distance.
Eddie, our windsurfing instructor, from California. Eddie was happy to be dealing with some west coasters (us) for a change; instead of all these Andrew Dice Clay sound-a-likes from the east!
Sven, our scuba diving instructor, who is from the Swiss Alps where he goes back to ski as often as he can. Ladies, get a lesson from this guy if you can.
Hank, the smoothly dressed greeter of Chez Mathilde. Known around the island for his impressive white silk garb.
The Genie! This big fat happy bastard greets everyone when they enter the Alhambra Casino, then laughs at you as you exit pennyless. He is so popular he even has his own billboard.

Back to Doug!