Kaleidoscope Travel & Cruise

Article Published: December 21st, 2006

Welcome to Aruba the first port of call on Kaleidoscope Travel & Cruise’s Southern Caribbean group cruise. Aruba is located in the heart of the southern Caribbean, 20 kilometers off the coast of Venezuela. It is 30 kilometers long and 9 kilometers across, at its widest point. The vegetation of Aruba is unusual for a Caribbean island. On the south and west coasts there are miles of pristine white beaches that rank among the most beautiful in the world. The northeast coast, along the windward shore, is rugged and wild. The interior is desert like with a variety of cacti and dramatic rock formations. The island’s most famous trees are the watapana, or divi-divi trees, all permanently sculpted into graceful, southwest-bending shapes by the constant trade winds. Our choice of shore excursion was the Aruba Town and Countryside Tour. We drove through the picturesque city of Oranjestad on our way to the Aloe Factory, where we received a tour of thefactory and its amazing products. Then it was off to the Casibari Rocks, for such a flat island, the presence of these unusual mountains and huge boulders that dot the countryside are truly amazing. These strange puzzling geological formations contain large quartzdiorite stone and provide adventure seekers with an “unexplained” mystery. Our next stop was the Natural Bridge. On September 5, 2005 the 100-foot long rock bridge fell into the ocean after centuries of pounding by the surf. The island’s most famous natural archway was carved out of the limestone coast and came to be one of the most recognizable tourist attractions in the entire Caribbean. We were able to view a mini natural bridge at the same location. After the tour we headed back to the pier for some duty free shopping before the ship set sail at for our next port of call – Willemstad Curacao.

Entry Filed under: Caribbean, Cruise