No sooner had we ‘dropped the hook’ than out came the tool boxes again!  Truth to tell Aruba hadn’t really been on our cruising itinerary… We were considering changing our domestic batteries whilst in Curacao, but when one of them failed, our minds were made up.  We shall spare you the details of the lengthy and ultimately fruitless process of trying to purchase a set of Trojan batteries whilst in Curacao (most frustrating, though).  A quick telephone call to the Budget Marine in Aruba put the smile back on our faces as Tony, the Manager, confirmed that he had the batteries and would hold them for us until we had a weather window to make the trip to Aruba.  He even said he’d be happy to deliver them to the dinghy dock at the beach armed with mobile Card Payment machine.  What great service.

Skipper patiently waiting for our new batteries and a few hours later…

So now it was time to explore the town and capital Oranjestad.  Aruba is known as a shopping ‘mecca’ and there is certainly a large number of designer shops to be found, but we immediately liked the place .  We found the locals to be very friendly and helpful and the town colourful, clean and safe to walk around at night.

Sites around Oranjestad:

As we were in celebratory mood, we enjoyed a night out at the cinema followed by a delicious meal at the nearby Barefoot restaurant.