Sunny breezy Aruba is truly a delight to visit! We drove the main Arikok National Park road for expansive views of cactus-laden hills rolling to white sand dunes with the blue ocean beyond. While visiting Boca Prins, Fontein Cave and Quadirikiri Cave, we spotted colorful whiptail lizards in the sun, under bushes and in the caves along with a few bats. After exiting the park past the windmills, we found ourselves back in Seroe Colorado. A truly wonderful and delicious outdoor dinner at Madame Jeanette wrapped up our second full day in Aruba.
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| Park road stretching out to the sea, crossed by periodic drainage ditches. |
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| Fontein Cave |
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| Boca Prins Beach |
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| Dagger cactus |
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| Entrance to Quadirikiri |
Sunny, breezy Aruba is truly a delight to visit! On our first full day, we snorkeled a mangrove-lined beach, took the mosaic Stairs into the Sea, relaxed at Baby Beach, explored the art and dining scene in San Nicolas, and drove on a quest to see the other side of the Seroe Colorado natural bridge, only to find wild, windy wave-polished ledges that felt like the edge of the world!
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| Rodger's Beach near Stairs into the Sea |
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| Seroe Colorado Natural Arch |
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| Cactus "forest" |
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| Octopus by Odeith, 2017, that apparently represents Tito Bolivar, with Paul Wong’s ‘Mi Forsa’ in background. |
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| Southeastern coastline just north of the Seroe Colorado Natural Bridge |
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| Sunset from top of Hooiberg |
We had selected the small boutique hotel Serene by the Sea so we could stay on the quieter side of the island, populated more by local residents than tourists. With that in mind, we spent our first day exploring the southern beaches, rugged coastlines and the artsy, historic town of San Nicolas.
Then, after showers and a break, we headed to the central part of the island for wonderful sunset views from the second highest point in Aruba, followed by dinner in the Oranjestad port area.
Mangel Halto Beach
Our first stop was Mangel Halto. This is a lovely beach with lots of shade from the green mangroves lining the shore. The few thatched shelters were already claimed when we arrived around 10:20 am, so we picked a quiet alcove formed by mangroves.
I had read that the current runs from the left to the right, when facing the sea, so we walked over the little wooden bridge to use the curved, sandy beach on the left to enter the water.
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| Sandy beach to the left, with a few rocks to get past. Although it looks calm in this photo, there were some white caps that made it to shore. |
The water stays shallow pretty far out, and the water was nice and clear. We planned to snorkel with the current and return to shore in the bay to the right with the wooden dock.
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| Shallow, but dead reef against which the fish really stood out. Photo by TO. |
Mangel Halto is considered by several bloggers to be the best snorkeling in Aruba. However, you do have to swim out a ways to get to living coral. On this day, the winds were running at 18-20 mph, and I was the only one with flippers. So we decided not to venture towards the sandy cuts through the reef.
We saw lots of large green stoplight parrotfish in their terminal phase coloration. There were also some more drab fish that reminded me of the Rainbow Fish after it had given away all of its scales. It turns out that these are younger stoplight parrotfish in their initial coloration phase.
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| Stoplight parrotfish in their colorful terminal phase, as well as more subtle grey initial phase parrotfish in the back. That orangey fish to the right might be a rainbow parrotfish. |
Sunny, breezy Aruba is truly a delight to visit! And the small boutique hotel Serene by the Sea was the perfect idyllic refuge on the southern part of the island with easy access to the best snorkeling, food, and coastline, both tranquil and wild. It was an excellent base for our self-guided explorations of the scenery, flora and fauna, murals, beaches and culinary delights offered by this amazing Dutch Caribbean island.
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| View from Oceanfront rooms |
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| Use of sea kayaks, snorkels and beach chairs |
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| Many relaxing outdoor spaces |
This 9-room hotel is ideally situated right on the shore with a small sandy beach to launch snorkeling and kayaking adventures in a cove protected by one of the Commandeur's bay islets, nicknamed Sea Glass Island. We saw sea turtles, crabs, fish, eels and many birds right from the breakfast dock.
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| View from breakfast dock, from the resident eel and fish in the foreground to Sea Glass Island, across Commandeur's Bay. We saw several turtles during one of our breakfasts. |
The friendly family that runs the hotel kept us supplied with everything needed to enjoy a day on the beach, including complimentary breakfast, snorkel & mask, towels, beach chairs, water cooler and kayaks. They even have a car available for rental, and other extras such as the Serene Floating Massage and private sunset dinners.
One of our classic meals for a weekend in the mountains is simple and satisfying. Who can resist dunking a perfectly grilled buttery sandwich filled with stretchy Annato-stained cheese into a smooth, rich bowl of tomato soup? The key for maximum enjoyment lies in the canned tomatoes and the bread used. Read on to learn which brands yield the very best versions of grilled cheese in tomato soup.
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| Tomato soup garnished with scallion blossoms; Grilled colby cheese sandwiches on Giant Eagle peppercorn-parmesan bread. |
The March 2008 issue of Taunton's Fine Cooking magazine focused on classic comfort foods ranging from macaroni & cheese and roasted chicken to silky tomato soups and chocolate ganache, and even how to make French bread at home. Each recipe gave some basic techniques and variations of sauces or toppings to customize the flavor. While my family voted thumbs down on Creamy Tomato Soup with Basil Coulis, and we developed our signature Mac & Cheese from another source, the Classic Tomato Soup from this issue was a keeper.
Crisp, fresh green beans play well with salty, tangy pickled Chinese long beans. Add a spicy punch from dried red er jing tiao peppers and crispy, smoky mushroom bits for a colorful dish that pleases the eye and palate. This beautiful dish paired just as well with a Chinese dinner of mapo tofu and General Tso’s cauliflower/tofu as it did with an creamy, rich pan of Mac and cheese made with extra sharp cheddar and flowerlike campanelle pasta.
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| Ingredients for pickled & fresh green beans. |
