At the windswept north end of the island we found the beautiful “California” lighthouse, named after

So far,  I have introduced you to Holland America Line's Noordam , I've told you about the  dining venues and food  on the ship, and I ve discussed some of the islands we visited . Today, I conclude with Aruba.
Aruba was the last island attraction on our voyage to the southern Caribbean. We independently all travel and cruise center rented a 4 4 pickup from the local Amigo car rental (which we do not recommend, due to the company's many errors). The left-hand-drive, manual transmission 2007 Nissan Frontier was beat up and dusty, and cost $82 per day plus $5 per gallon for gas. So a typical ship's tour at about $45 each would have been easier to organize and about the same price or cheaper for the two of us. But it was fun to be able to tour the island at our own pace.
Leaving the car rental parking lot near the cruise terminal, we headed northwest along the western shore of the island. This leeward all travel and cruise center side of Aruba is home to many low rise and high rise hotels and resorts, which overlook the wide, golden beaches that beckon so many visitors from North America and Europe. On the inland side of the road were numerous restaurants, many of them with familiar names such as Ruth's Chris Steak House, Champions and Benihana's.
North of the hotel and resort area, we stopped at a kite-boarding center on the southwest shore and admired the instructors zipping along at 25 knots in the very strong breeze, and pitied the students, falling over and over, going nowhere.
At the windswept north end of the island we found the beautiful "California" lighthouse, named after a ship that sank nearby in 1908. We were surprised to learn that our 4 4 rental pickup was allowed all travel and cruise center in the dunes and on the sandy beach trail that traverses the northwest coast of the island, but we chickened out when we saw the soft sand and potholes ahead.
Instead we looped around to the southeast using paved roads, and discovered the cute little Alto Vista Chapel, built in 1952 on the site of the original 1750 missionary chapel. all travel and cruise center Beside the chapel we found a spiral meditation maze, and we got in some spiritual enlightenment by walking the half-mile all travel and cruise center trail squeezed inside the 100-foot-wide labyrinth.
Next we drove through the well preserved Arikok National Park at the southeast end of Aruba. Spanning 7,900 acres, all travel and cruise center the dramatic park covers almost all travel and cruise center a fifth of the island and looks like a hilly part of Arizona, with lots of cacti, dramatic rocks and even Indian petroglyphs. The striking divi-divi trees, which always point downwind, show that you're not in Arizona any more.
The paved road through the northwest part of the park is slow going, due to the numerous and deep water channels that cross the road, which must be traversed at about two miles per hour. These are so deep that I would not recommend this road be used in a typical small rental all travel and cruise center car, with only 4-5 inches of ground clearance.
The southern part of the park, with a dramatic coastline and huge wind turbines, features a dirt and gravel road that is much flatter and faster. It took us more than two hours to drive through the six-mile-long park, including stops at the visitor center and at a beautiful cove on the coast.
This was our last island, and we got a bit panicked by the dense traffic all travel and cruise center as we approached the cruise terminal and rental car location. We didn't want to miss the sailing of the Noordam and all that great food on the way home! But we made it back with a few minutes to spare.
The Avid Cruiser's  Cruise Line Profiles are designed to help you make informed vacation decisions, featuring reviews of such  Luxury Cruise players as  Crystal Cruises ,  Cunard Line (grill class),  Hapag Lloyd ,  Paul Gauguin ,  Regent Seven Seas Cruises ,  Silversea Cruises ,  SeaDream Yacht Club and  Seabourn .
The Avid Cruiser also reviews the so-called upper-premium ships operated by  Azamara Club Cruises all travel and cruise center and  Oceania Cruises , as well as the mid-sized vessels that make up the fleets of  Celebrity Cruises and  Holland America Line (often all travel and cruise center erroneously called,  Holland American ) .
You'll also find cruise reviews of such popular large-ship cruise lines as Carnival Cruise Lines ,  Costa Cruises ,  Disney Cruise all travel and cruise center Line ,   NCL ,  MSC Cruises ,  Princess Cruises and  Royal Caribbean International .
A journalism graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (North Carolina) and an award-winning travel writer, Ralph has been writing to help inform and inspire travelers for nearly three decades.
He has made a lifestyle of cruising and typically spends half the year on ships, the other half in cruise destinations, especially Helsingborg, Sweden — or with his two children in Asheville, North Carolina (they often travel with him.)
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