Been There, Dean That: Sunken Treasure in Aruba

Hello everybody, and welcome to episode nine. I've been there being that.

Hello.

So if you follow us on social media, I hope you do. I hope you do as well.

I think that you would know that we just got back from the beautiful country of.

Aruba, gorgeous, gorgeous beaches.

We just landed yesterday in Denver and then we drove straight to our home here in the Roaring Fork Valley and the drive was a little longer than I would have wanted, but the trip itself was nothing short of amazing.

It was so gorgeous. The beaches are just like what you picture a very relaxing vacation with crystal clear blue waters.

It was great.

I gotta say it was maybe some of the coolest blue water I've ever seen. Yeah, it kind of We were driving around the island quite a bit, and we'll get into this hall obviously in a little bit. But it reminded me of a mixture of some of the places that we've been. Reminded me a little bit of Greece, it reminded me a little bit of like Baja Mexico. It reminded me a little bit of Hawaii.

A little bit of Maldives, water.

Yeah, yep.

I didn't think Waldive's always there. I was just think in Greece, Mexico and Hawaiian. I see, but if you think wal theves, I'm not going to take that away from you, just clear. But how did we stumble upon Aruba as a destination for us? Oh?

How did we? I we follow a few other travel influencers and I saw that they went there, and I haven't traveled too much to the Caribbean, same with you.

Saint Lucia's the only other place I've been Saint Lucia.

I've been to Cayman Islands, and that is it.

I wonder for Roatan counts, but I don't think it does. Where is that It's like a small island off Underish maybe.

And so I was like, let's go back to the Caribbean. And we worked with their toursm Board and it's just the people who work for their toursm Board spoke so highly of a Rubot, which makes sense. But they were like, just wait, like we come here every single year. It's such a special place. And I was like, well, you know, you work for the tours and Board, so of course you're going to say that. But then we go, and it really is such a special place, and they kept

Yeah, it was.

That's kind of why I was thinking about Greece a little bit, was because it just seemed like everyone was like we were are.

First.

For instance, our first trip that we did, we went to the park in the northern part of the island, and we had this great guide who was like telling us a lot about the island. He was he was born and raised there and knows it in and out, and he was saying, like the country's main export, for lack of a better word, is tourism, and so everyone that lives on the island kind of knows that, and they are just there to help be informative if they can be. Everyone's just everyone's just so kind show.

Off the island. And it was so cool because we drove i don't know, like an hour to the National Park and immediately like the second molieve of the hotel he's like honking at someone and he's like, it's such a small island, we all know each other. And then it was like every two minutes he's honking at someone and saying, hey, how's it going, Like he I swear he knew everyone on the island.

Yeah, it seems like it was kind of like our small town, but in and out there. So yeah, So our first trip, we took north.

To Aercock National Park.

Aerkock National Park that's exactly right with Ila Aruba was the name of the tour company that we went with.

He was wonderful private tour guide.

It was kind of tricky because it's a very hot spot for cruise ships to send cruises to, and so a lot of people would be getting off the cruise ships and doing day trips and stuff up there. So we had this private tour guide, which was amazing. I always kind of reco and I think you even mentioned this while we were on it, like private tours are so much better than group tours in my opinion, and not ten out of ten times, but majority of the time I would say that they're better.

You're on your own schedule, like you don't have to wait for other people. It's like, Okay, we're in and out of this cave. Let's move on to the next thing and avoid these other crowds.

It's especially great for us because we love stopping to take pictures and you know, if we're allowed to fly our drone, will fly our drone. If we can in a in a big group, you don't necessarily have that freedom because you're kind of on the group's time versus your own time. So iilo rubatours. They were great. They took us up to Arakok National Park. Let us like walk around, let us swim in some of the pools

He's seen a lot of the history.

Like the Frenchman past thing where you were saying like there's a big war there at one point, you know.

And it's haunted, like he was talking about the Frenchman's past. He said, there are a bunch of documentaries on it. It was so interesting. He's like, I will not drive this road at night. Any local will tell you the same, because if you're here at night, you'll hear screaming and you'll hear all these crazy noises. People will just be driving down this road intead of only their car jerks and they get into a crash for no reason. And he said it's very haunted, which I found interesting.

Yeah, when he first mentioned it, I was like, oh, you don't come here at night because there's like a lot of crime on this or something too, And I didn't say it, but then he was like, yeah, there was, you know, a lot of battles here fought back in the day, and so.

The pirates came.

Pirates came. And then I asked him.

I think I was like, well, what is the crime like on the islands, because you just had a curiosity. He goes, Honestly, there's really not that much. And I'm sure he might have been underplaying a little bit, but I do believe him. He was saying that since it's such a small community of people, Like if you are caught being a criminal, your reputation gets tarnished immediately, and like you get kind of outcasted by the society there.

Yeah, so it felt super safe.

I had so many people dms, They're like, is it safe? Is it's safe? Do you feel safe? I'm like, is there like information out there that makes you think it wouldn't be safe or are people just hesitant in traveling in general? But everywhere we went I felt.

Super safe, super super safe. So we did that. It was amazing.

The caves, the pools, everything was. The beaches up on the north side maybe aren't as like swim friendly just because it's a little bit more windy.

Upiki and windy.

Yeah.

Yeah, so you're not really going to be like swimming out the like you're not gonna be spending time at the beach up in Erkok National Park.

Except that one beach dose plias. Two beaches those plias in Ericock National Park you can swim in. But we went on an windy day, so he was like, you know, normally you could cliff jump here and you could do whatever, but the waves are pretty massive.

Yeah, we had wind kind of the whole time, and I don't want to say it was a bad thing. It was kind of nice because we came from twenty degrees in Colorado to eighty five degrees there every single day, and so it was nice to have the breeze kind of like cooling you off occasionally.

Oh, it was great because I was laying out and the wind was like heavy wind, but I was laying out and I would get really hot and then a gust of wind would come and cool me off, so I could lay out for a little bit longer.

Yeah, and then later that night we went to dinner at Kaya House. I do have to say because I've had a couple of friends reach out asking me about my time in Aruba, and obviously I say such incredible things about it because we did like it a lot. One of the things that I noted to each of them, which I don't normally ever talk about when I come back from a trip, is the food there was amazing.

And Dean is not a foodie, so that's like I'm the foodie. I'm the one who like plans meals and stuff, and it's it's a big deal for that to come from your mouth.

Yeah, Well, the food is so good.

The poke bowls every morning at the hotel Kaya House was like it kind of felt like a mini elefante in Aruba, which is like really cool.

I thought, yeah, if you've been to La and haven't meant to Alfonte, you should go. But this was like very La meets Toulom meets Aruba. It was such a cool, trendy restaurant and the food was amazing. But my favorite restaurant, which I almost canceled because I was like, I hate Mediterranean. I don't I don't think I we should go to this restaurant tonight. It says it's Mediterranean. I'm glad we went. Dean was like, let's just go. We have reservations. It's called Olivia in oranges stad oraistad.

I actually never heard anyone pronounce it, so I don't know how I hear it. That is Ronidad.

Sounds like it would be more of like a South Asian thing, but it could be like Aron Hasta or something like that.

Anyways, it's like the main town downtown, super super cute. But we went to Olivia and that was my favorite meal on the island. Every single thing we had there was incredible. Also, make sure you go to downtown Ronjastad. I didn't know this, but Aruba has a lot of Netherlands influence and you can really see that in downtown.

Yep And I was actually really a surprise, so we were into a car as well. I was surprised by how easily drivable the island was, like most of the

Also, they have a lot of healthy options, which I loved, and the tourism board made sure to tell us They're like, don't get plastic water bottles because the top water is drinkable here, which I feel like a lot of people are cautious when traveling about drinking top water. But our guide even told us that he showed us how what is it desalinating? Desalinating the water? It's pretty cool.

Yeah, I want to ask the tour guide about how the indigenous people lived on the island without desalination processes. Because there's no fresh water, there's no lakes, no rivers.

What did they drink?

It's a good question.

Yeah, I actually just recently learned this is kind off topic, but sort of similar to this situation. When the Forefathers left England to come to America to settle it, the water in England was so bad that it was safer for them to drink beer because of this fermentation like kind of killed all the bacteria and stuff. So when they got to the US, they eventually ran out of their supply of beer, and they didn't realize how safe the water in North America was to drink, and so

Maybe that's how they survived in Aruba just drinking beer.

I was surprised by. You know, you go to these Caribbean islands. Again, we haven't really been to many, but a lot of these like tropical places that you go, there's kind of like a big like drinking culture, like in Saint Lucia for instance.

The rum here.

It's what is.

But it didn't really seem like it was a big part of their culture, which I really respect that, you know, like they didn't make it out to be a big thing, which I don't even know why I respect that, but it was it didn't seem like it was such an important part of their culture, whereas a lot of places that you go to it is a big part of their culture.

Yeah, like let's go to the rum tasting. Let's yeah.

I agree, And maybe I'm missing that. Maybe we just didn't get to experience that part of it. But I'm kind of referring to it as a complimentary thing.

Yeah, you know, yeah, because we're not big drinkers, so it was kind of nice.

Yeah, we only really drank that one night. We went to Olivia.

And you were still in bed by nine, which is great, great for you. And then we woke up the next morning and we went on a boat, which is amazing. We went with Delfi water Sports up in the high rise area, so again it was like a ten minute drive. I stayed up earlier or later that night prior because there's a casino near the hotel that I just just wanted to hang out at for.

A little bit. Miss in Vegas, Yeah, just missing Vegas.

I'm just a sucker for a good blackjack table. And I got to say it was a small casino, and I'm sure that like no one's going to go to a roub for the casinos, but it's a fun little thing to do at night, like we're not going to

Unfortunately for us, the non.

English parts of the movie were translated to Spanish, and so we didn't really get to pick up on a lot of like the Iraqian stuff.

My brain was working over time trying to figure out what they were saying.

Yeah, there would be like subtitles, and you know, I speak very little Spanish, Kalin speaks even less, and so anytime I would catch a word that I understood, I'd be like, oh, they're talking about water. I'd like, Okay, make so much sense. But I wonder what else they're saying.

I don't know if it was because we didn't drink or what, but I feel like when we come back from vacation, I'm usually so exhausted and drained, but I feel pretty refreshed after this one.

Yeah.

I think it was just like it was very relaxing, And I think part of what you're saying, like having the comforts that you went at home, made it not feel as draining.

Yeah, no, I agree with you.

I normally get stir crazy when I sit on the beach, even like Saint Lucia and Maldives, these beautiful places that we've been to a couple of days, until I'm like all right, I'm kind of ready to go home now. But with a Ruba when we were leaving, I was like, oh, I could probably stay here for at least another half a week week, Yeah.

However long.

And you see a lot of people come from the US, specifically from like Florida and like that kind of whole Eastern seaboard there because it's so easy to get to, like so many direct flights from Florida and Charlotte and New York and Boston and all these places. So there's a lot of like a lot of people from that area. Maybe excuse a little bit older, but I do kind of think that it's kind of starting to catch on with the younger generation.

Yeah, starting to like I think years prior in our tour guide even said this, it was an older crowd, and it's becoming a bit younger.

Yeah.

Also, one thing that I highly highly suggest is there's an option when you book your flight to have like a private security escort you when you're when you're leaving Aruba. I would one hundred percent recommend doing that. I don't know how much it is. We didn't do it, and we are notorious for getting to the airport like thirty minutes before our flight. We got there an hour and a half before our flight this time, which was good for us. But sometimes like I feel like in Mexico

That's true.

Yeah, it was nice for you because you hat global untry so you could just bypass everyone. And then she was waiting at the gate, like banking the gate officers to keep it open for just a couple extra seconds so I could get through it.

It's like two minutes, where is he? Two minutes do you know where your husband is? One minute? Where's your husband? And I'm like I don't know. I don't know, and then Dean comes running barefoot's.

Yeah I was, but I didn't have time have put my shoes on.

That's the only non positively glowing thing I have to say about Aruba was the airport security just took a little bit longer than I.

Would have liked, way longer, but they do, you know, give you an option to bypass it.

Yeah, but yeah, there were so many checkpoints and I got so lucky, like you were like, Okay, I'm at the gate, they're about to close it, and I was. There was still probably good eight hundred people in front of me to go through that last security where you have to like take your backpack off and everything. And I went up to someone and I was like, hey can I'm like, my flight is literally on the last call right now.

I need to go.

And the guy was like no, sorry, like you just can't do that. And I kind of walked back to the line with my tail between my legs and a girl that was working who like does the like the wheelchair and like you know, the wheelchair bypass and stuff, she was like, hey, just come with me real quick, and she like lift it up the gate.

She goes get to the front of line now.

And so I go to the front of the line and I'm insecurity, like in the line to put your stuff on the turnstile whatever it is. And there was like still ten people in front of me there, and I was like, oh my god, I'm close, closer, but

And that's why my shoes.

Were off, because I was like, like, this angel, this heaven sent woman was like, just trust me, just do this. I know you're in a USh, you need to do it now. And much of the credit of the other travelers, they were all there like three hours early before the.

Oh my gosh, we had There were two separate couples. They're like, did you say you have forty minutes till your flight takes off? And we're like, yeah, but I think we'll be fine. We didn't realize there were three security checkpoints and they're like, no, no, we're here three hours early, please take our spot. And then it happened twice, so they were very kind. But yeah, everyone got there early and knew better than we did. But I feel

That does feel like something that you learn the first time and then you'll never make the same mistake again, specifically at Aruba, like you other once and then you'll know next time you come back that you kind of have to get there a certain amount early to feel comfortable getting to your gate on time. So that was the only like messy situation for us. But the second last day we did do that. I want to talk

Boats before and we were miserable.

We just don't like the group stuff, especially on a boat like it's tight quarters.

We were in Hawaii once on a group boat tour and the people on that boat were so incredibly rude. It was like, we are going to take the best spot. This is all about us, it's our time. It's like we are the most important people here. And just like didn't care that this is a group tour and I don't just being so rude and disrespecting everyone. And they made it clear like you can't touch the turtles. They were touching turtles. It was just not great.

Yeah, they treated a group tour like a private tour, ye, And if you're going to do that, just get the private tour.

And we don't.

I mean, I don't like to think that we would ever do that, but we were just lucky enough, I guess, to get the private tour.

It was great.

We went to a little beach spot or like a lagoon area and just kind of did they have like a rope swing off the side of the boat, which is really fun.

Yeah, let's hear it.

In my head, okay, I've seen these swings that like extend really far.

I know what you're talking about, where you can like swing from the back all the way to the front like around a little bit.

And in my head, I saw you do it. But I'm like I can swing back and forth figure out when I want to go, but no, you swing out once and if you don't let go, then you smack into the side of the boat and I got a big bruise to show off from it.

Yeah, I think that if you maybe spend a little bit of extra time looking around and seeing like where the anchor, where the rope was.

I am so aware, but in my brain I couldn't comprehend that. And I think it was pretty amazing of me to be able to swing through the window so talented.

I was truly so talented. I was even surprised you did it, So props to you for doing that. We just kind of swim around that little.

Area for a little bit and kicked an ancient boat well.

And then I was gonna say, and then we went to this next spot. There's a sunken battleship from World War Two. The Germans had a boat there in Aruba, and once the Dutch I think realized because the Dutch had to occupied the island at the time, once they realized it was a German warship, they said, give us the boat or we're going to open fire on you. And so they the boat like surrendered all of their

So I'm swimming around.

I'm deep, and I'm diving deep and trying to get as deep as I can, and I don't really have that much lung capacity. Just for whatever reason, I was never granted that ability in life and so I like go down and I like the second I get to the bottom, I kind of had to come back up for air. But I at this time I wanted to like to really push it and see how far I

Wait, did you get coral or the ship?

Well, it was like the coral had overrun the steel on the ship, and so it was like, you know, like like the water, you know, how like rocks getting water. Yeah, it was like that, and it was like all corroda and stuff. And so I don't know if I'll be what. I texted my friend that I did that, and he goes, you know, you're going to turn into a zombie now, per Pirates of the Caribbean. True, And I was like, well, I hope not because those are Nazi zombies.

Oh no, because it's.

The Germans from nineteen four. Oh so it's kind of like the worst zombie to be. But all that to be said, it's totally fine. It's not in fact or anything like that. It was just a kind of a silly mistake on my part. But it was just so cool to see a sunken ship there. I don't think I've ever I've seen a couple sunken boats, but this one is like massive, and it's just so cool to be able to swim around it.

I'm personally not a snorkeler. I am just not a strong swimmer, and I get embarrassed having to have a floaty and I just I just don't love snorkeling. But there were also a ton of jellyfish in the Our tour guide was like, there's a bunch of jellyfish, you'll see And as we were like floating around in their boat, I saw a ton of them. And I have a big fear of jellyfish. I didn't get in the water, but he did say they were harmless, and I saw a bunch of people just touching their heads and stuff.

Didn't someone like pick one up and throw it at someone.

Yeah, they were playing with it like a ball, and it made me really sad. These are the big group people.

They were cute jellies. They didn't have tentacles and so they're not really They didn't.

Have long tentacles, but they could say you if you touched the bottom, but like little zaps, he said.

And he also said that this is like a phenomenon that never happened really before.

It just happened like a couple weeks prior to us getting there.

Yeah, and he said, two weeks ago there were thousands and thousands of jellyfish and now they've dispersed a bit, but there's still quite a lot.

Yeah.

But like I said, I swim around, didn't really wasn't really bothered by them.

But I could see why you would be apprehensive to get in there with that. I don't know, Yeah that makes sense.

But yeah, the was snorkling was awesome. Delfy water Sports. If you're there, check them out. They're great. And then what else did we do? We just kind of kept eating and sitting by the beach.

Yeah, but I mean, and the food is just so good and they've got again so many healthy options that I came back, I don't feel bloated, I don't feel gross. I feel refreshed and rejuvenated.

I think that's that we take to Japan kind of set the good precedent for us where it's like, if we're going to go on a trip, especially to a place like this, it's so much better to, especially at least in the beginning of the trip, don't drink because you're gonna want to enjoy more, Like you can eat more. You'll feel better if you got to do more stuff and like wait, yeah, and that's kind of the same method we took with this.

Yeah we had we had like two drinks.

There last night, and I had a few drinks at the casino the night before. But yeah, you know, but.

It was good. I highly recommend a Ruba.

Highly recommend it.

I am I you know listening to this podcast if you have been listening up until now, I know we're still pretty early on in the process, but I've never I don't really have many positive things to say about beach destinations. I think I think Aruba probably is my favorite beach, like beach tropical trip.

That I've ever taken.

Yeah, I agree, just something about it. You know, I didn't feel stuck. I didn't feel stagnant. I felt like we were always kind of occupied with things that I thought were interesting, and so I really had a good time.

Me too.

You did you prom promise? That's great? Is anything else you want to talk about her before we say goodbye?

That's it. I kind of jumped the gun on the airport thing, but I just want to want to make sure everyone knew.

Yeah, small, small, little thing to consider, but definitely important and worth you know, remembering next time, next time we go, or if you the listener decides to go at some point.

Yeah, thirty seconds longer and we'd still be in Charlotte right now.

Well, our flights out of Charlotte got massively delayed, which is very frustrating.

Not not any but we would have had to catch a new flight out of Aruba the next day. Would have still been in a rubo last night.

But I'm just saying the worst part about it wasn't anything to do with the Ruba.

We had to do with Charlotte. That darn Queen City Dean calls it.

That what did you call it the state I used to rule over.

Yeah, yeah, Charlotte, South Carolina North Yeah, she was the former queen of that state. So they treated you pretty well out there, No, they didn't. They still couldn't get you out on time though.

Yeah.

Anyways, that's gonna do it for this week's episode. Have been there, Dean that thank you so much for coming to Aruba with us. Please be sure to see it next week, where maybe we suck just a little bit less