Aruba Travel Adventures

airlines.

The Top Temptations

Endless summer weather with little rain.

Dutch colonial charm.

Ideal tradewinds for sailing and windsurfing.

Excellent underwater reefs and magnificent sea life.

Super duty-free shops.

Championship golf courses on Aruba and Curaçao.

International cuisine served at a wide variety of restaurants.

Genuine hospitality offered by friendly residents.

Accommodations, from basic to luxurious, at reasonable prices.

Miles of trails and dirt roads for hiking and biking.

Intriguing national parks and nature preserves.

Curaçao's capital, Willemstad, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tips on Using This Book

General information about Caribbean travel and facts that apply to all three of the ABC islands is covered at the front of this convenient take-along guide.

Specific information about Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao follows in separate sections.

If you plan to visit only one of the islands, rip out just the relevant sections from this book, place them inside a zip-lock bag and tuck them into your carry-on luggage. Leave the unneeded pages at home.

Most attractions, hotels and restaurants have web sites, and web addresses follow the phone numbers given in this book. Use them to gather additional information or make reservations.

Prices change seasonally in the Caribbean, so use the cost information given in this book as a guide to a price range, rather than a specific cost.

Check Island Facts and Numbers at the end of each island section for important information that will be helpful both during the trip-planning stage and once you arrive on the island.

High Points in History

4000 BC-1499 AD: Earliest archeological evidence of nomadic tribesmen, probably Taino/Arawak from South America, inhabiting the Lesser Antilles. These tribes were later joined by other Amerindian subgroups, such as the Caribs and Caiquetios, also from South America. They migrated in waves through the Caribbean for thousands of years, competing for food and land.

1499: Spaniard Alonso de Ojeda and Italian Amerigo Vespucci arrive and claim the islands off the coast of South America for Spain. Finding little of commercial value, the Spanish decide not to develop the islands, but capture the natives and move them to Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic) to work on plantations.

1526: Governor Juan de Ampues starts cattle ranches on Bonaire.

1634: The Dutch West India Company, a quasi-private, government-backed company, lays claim to Curaçao and makes Dutch explorer Peter Stuyvesant the governor in 1642.  Plantations and the lucrative slave trade flourish on Curaçao, and to a lesser extent, on Aruba and Bonaire.

1732: The Jewish community establishes the Mikve Israel Emanuel Synagogue in Willemstad, Curaçao. The structure is still standing and is one of the oldest synagogues still in use in the Western Hemisphere.

1800-1815: The British twice wrestle control of the islands from the Dutch. The 1815 Treaty of Paris returns the ABC islands to the Dutch. Social and economic conditions are harsh.

1824: Gold is discovered on Aruba and becomes a major export, along with phosphate, divi-divi pods (used in leather tanning) and aloe.

1837: Bonaire becomes a thriving center of salt production and exportation.

1920: Oil is discovered off the Venezuelan coast. Curaçao and Aruba become centers for distilling crude oil imported from Venezuela.

1939-1945: During World War II, the Allies establish an American military base at Waterfort Arches, in Willemstad, Curaçao.

1954: The ABC islands, along with St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius, become part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

1986: Aruba is granted "status aparte, and becomes an autonomous part of the kingdom.

2007: Bonaire (along with St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius) signs an agreement with the Netherlands to dissolve the Netherlands Antilles by December 15, 2008.

Did You Know? Citizens of the ABC Islands are Dutch nationals and carry passports issued by the European Union.

Land & Sea

Location & Layout

Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire line up west-to-east just off the north coast of Venezuela, safely south of the Caribbean hurricane belt. Of the three, Aruba is closest to South America (15 miles), and smallest (approximately 110 square miles). Curaçao, 40 miles east of Aruba and 44 miles north of Venezuela, is the largest, at 182 square miles. Bonaire encompasses 112 square miles and lies 30 miles east of Curaçao and 50 north of Venezuela.

Geography & Topography

First-time visitors are surprised by the arid landscape of the ABCs. Each of the islands has somewhat varied topography, but all are basically flat, dry, and rugged - more like the southwestern United States than a typical Caribbean Island.

What makes the islands compellingly attractive to travelers is their leeward beaches and their spectacular underwater reefs.

Climate

Summer never ends here. The temperature difference between June and December or midnight and noon is rarely more than four degrees either side of 82° F. A dependable cooling trade wind blows from the east, and fewer than 22 inches of rain fall anywhere on the three islands during a year.

Since the equator runs about 12° to the south, the sun is strong, especially between 11 am and 3 pm, and visitors enjoy morning sunrises and evening sunsets at roughly the same times each day, regardless of the season. (The sun rises at 6:45 and sets at 6:15 during December, while it rises at 6:15 and sets at 7:05 during June, making summer days only a few minutes longer than winter days.)

From January through March, the trade winds provide ideal windsurfing conditions off the windward coast. Since the terrain is almost flat, these same winds sweep clouds quickly over the islands without allowing moisture to build into rain showers. Therefore, the sea off the leeward coasts is rarely stirred up by a storm, and visitors may count on ideal conditions for scuba diving, snorkeling, and swimming.

Did You Know? Current weather reports can be found online at www.intellicast.com/LocalWeather/World - or the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration at www.noaa.gov.

Plants

Landscapes on the ABCs resemble those of the southwestern United States. Cacti outnumber palm trees and aloe plants thrive where ferns won't grow. But, the countryside is lovely in a dramatic minimalist sense, and the plants that struggle to grow in the arid windswept soil deserve recognition for their ingenious tenacity.

A dozen types of cactus grow on the islands. Most impressive are the tall pillar varieties, which islanders call datu (straight-limbed plants that are sometimes made into privacy fences) and kadushi (an organ-pipe variety that is used in soups). The kadushi can grow to a height of 40 feet and live as long as five years without water. After a rain shower, flowers spring forth from the dense thorns.

Unaware hikers may come into contact with the prickly pear infrou, which makes a pleasant-tasting jam, but also delivers a nasty sting to bare skin. Less dangerous plants include the large agave (century plant) that sends out a 30-foot stem and blooms only once before it dies, and the prickly bromeliads that attract thirsty birds to their red-centered white flowers. Aloe plants are cultivated for their medicinal uses, and islanders recommend their gooey sap as a balm for sunburned or cactus-gashed skin.

The most recognized and photographed tree on the ABC Islands, and the national tree of Curaçao, is the divi divi or watapana. It always bends toward the southwest at almost a right angle, pointing away from the easterly trade winds. Divi divi seed pods were once a valuable ingredient in leather-tanning products, and plantations on Bonaire and Curaçao profited from exporting the crop to Europe.

Brasilwood trees (also called dyewood) are recognized by their twisted, deeply grooved trunks. At one time, Europeans heavily logged the tree and used its timber to produce a red dye for the textile industry. Today, only a few hundred Brasilwoods grow wild on the islands. Look for them on the west side of the Bubali Bird Sanctuary on Aruba. You'll recognize them by their sinuous trunks, thorny branches, small round leaves, and small yellow flowers that appear during dry periods.

The indigenous matapiska tree produces a substance that is harmless to humans but deadly to fish. Caiquetio Indians put leaves and berries from the tree into the sea to poison nearby fish, then scooped up the dead fish when they floated to the surface. Unlike the matapiska, the manchineel tree is harmful to humans. Most of the trunks have been marked with red paint, but uninformed tourists sometimes pick up the yellowish-green apple-like fruit, with painful results. The sap, leaves, and fruit are highly acidic and easily irritate broken skin and mucus membranes.

Tourist-pleasing palm trees and flowering bushes have been imported to resort areas on the three islands. Desalinated water is used to irrigate familiar tropical plants such as frangipanis, bougainvilleas, oleanders, and hibiscus. Fruit trees produce mangoes, lemons, and papaya for restaurant tables.

Wildlife

The ABCs have a surprisingly large number of critters, considering their sparsity of vegetation and fresh water. Iguanas and lizards come in many sizes and colors, including the Caribbean anolis, a lizard noted for its ability to cling to smooth surfaces, such as tree leaves and hotel walls.

Frogs, whose ancestors probably arrived on the islands as stowaways on cargo ships, can be heard croaking their love songs after an infrequent rain shower. Several species of harmless snakes (only Aruba has poisonous rattlesnakes, the indigenous cascabel or Crotaluds thurissus) and a variety of land snails make themselves at home under the islands' limestone rocks.

As for mammals, bats find shelter inside caves and under rocky outcrops along the coasts, and benefit the islands in several ways. Insect-eating bats devour as many as 600 pesky mosquitoes an hour, and nectar feeders pollinate night-blooming cacti that provide fruit for the birds.

Curaçao has a few white-tailed deer living in the thickets of Christoffel Park. All three islands have a problem with goats and donkeys, both originally brought to the Antilles by Spanish settlers. They run wild on public lands, often darting into the path of motorists and getting hit. While the donkeys have outlasted their usefulness as transportation animals, the goats are still raised for food. However, many break out of their fences and roam wild, grazing in private gardens and gobbling up the scant vegetation.

Birds

Native and migrating birds are the islands' true wildlife treasure. On Bonaire, flamingos are the national symbol. These captivating birds flock around the salt ponds at the Pekelmeer Sanctuary, one of the few places in the world where flamingos breed. The rare and endangered yellow-shouldered lora parrot (Amazonia Barbadensis Rothchild) also lives on Bonaire and is protected by international treaty. This mostly green parrot is recognized by yellow feathers on the shoulders, thighs, and around the eyes. Adults measure about 13 inches from head to tail, and the shy birds congregate in flocks to feed on wild fruit, including cactus fruits.

Fantastic Flamingos

These long-legged long-necked birds have distinctive pink plumage, with black flight feathers. An adult may grow to a height of five feet and weigh