Going to Aruba was amazing, beautiful, and let us have some of the best dives we have ever experienced.

And we probably won’t go back, at least not any time soon.

Carrie found an amazing deal on flights, and we loved it there. White sand beaches so soft that they almost melt under your feet, emerald blue – Green water that amazes you every time you look at it, and a population that really does live up to the Aruban trademark phrase.

At the same time, going to Aruba was, without a doubt, the most expensive beach vacation we’ve ever had.

Aruba cost even more than the first time we went to El Cid Cancun, which was all-inclusive.

Even though we packed a bag of food (which was a great way to save money when we went to Tahiti), the real cost in going to Aruba is in the hotel cost…

We had a beautiful ocean view room in the Holiday Inn…

And at over $300/night, it was one of the least expensive hotel options we found.

Of course we could have paid less for a pool view, or done an Airbnb further from the beach, but the beach and the ocean are the reasons we went.

While we were there, we also learned about Bon Aire.  Aruba is super close to both Bon Aire and Curacao.

For the same cost to spend a week in Aruba again in the future, we could explore either of these 2 new islands.

The Diving in Bon Aire is supposed to be among the most amazing in the world, for coral reefs.

We loved the wreck dives we had in Aruba, and would love to do more wreck diving.

At the same time, it’s hard to imagine that we would go back for more wreck dives in Aruba before we explore the lesser known reefs in the area.

We don’t think we’ll be back in Aruba… at least not any time in the next 10 years.  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Aruba, save the expense of going/being there.

But with so many other places to see and explore, if we’re looking for a nice beach vacation, it will probably take place in either in Mexico or in some location we haven’t yet visited.

(Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahamas, Key Largo, Montego, or maybe even Kokomo – because, y’know – we’ll get there fast, but then we can take it slow.)

Takeaways from our travel to Aruba
– Take a bag of non-perishable food with you.
– The wreck dives in Aruba are amazing.