Aruba Jeep Tour

  Our main touristy effort was a jeep tour.  There are a couple of tour companies on the island.  We used ABC Tours (That's for Aruba/Bonaire/Curacao).  While we were initialy happy to have taken a tour from an "underdog" (DePalm Tours being the larger, more "corporate" tour company) in the end, we think we can recommend DePalm instead.

  Things didn't start out well when we realized that the discount dollars we received for our time share sales pitch couldn't be used since we had booked the tour through our concierge.  Apparently there is some major difference (seemingly related to the resort's cut) in the billing method.  That wouldn't have been a problem had we actually had money with us!  They were at least helpful in that they let us take the tour with the promise to pay at the end.

  The tour was run by one guide, but we were spread across a few jeeps.  If you do the math here, you'll quickly discover that there just aren't enough drivers.  Well...  they pick people do drive the rest of the jeeps.  This was after we had just signed all our rights away.  Even this wouldn't have been so bad had our driver not been some newly wed idiot out to prove how cool he was.  There were four couples in our jeep including the driver and his wife.  One of the other couples was also up for being crazy.  The other two of us were scared for our lives.  Less than half way through the tour we switched jeeps not only because we thought the guy was going to get someone killed with his driving but we didn't want Melissa to end up in the hospital with a major back injury.  But enough of that...

  The tour ran roughly clockwise around the island.  We started at California Lighthouse, named after one of the ships that sunk just off shore (before the lighthouse was built).  After that it was to the Alto Vista Chapel, old Gold Mill, Ostrich farm, Natural Bridge, Natural Pool, Fonein Cave and ending at Baby Beach.  Ending at the beach is a pretty good idea as by the time we got there we were all covered in red dust.  By the way here's a tip: if you go on a jeep tour, make sure you're in the first jeep!

  Overall we had a good time.  It was a great way to see the various parts of the island.  The ride is pretty rough, so if you do it, be prepared!

  See the items on the left for pictures from the various stops.  Another important note is that the Natural Bridge collapsed!  No, not due to us - we're not the Griswalds.  However, you can add it to the list of places we've been that have closed down, burned down, and now fell down.