Ahhhh Aruba, how I miss you! In February I had the fortune of traveling to Aruba to visit & stay with family friends who live on the island. Aruba is truly all about the beaches – think beautiful white sand, awe inspiring calm turquoise waters that look like they’re straight out of a glossy magazine ad. One of the great advantages of visiting Aruba, is that tourists aren’t limited to staying in the confines of their resort grounds. February is also an ideal time to visit as the weather is warm and breezy without humidity & stifling heat.
Check out some of my trip highlights below. For my full travel story on Aruba visit The Hip & Urban Girl’s Guide: http://bit.ly/ArubaHUG.
Some of my trip highlights include:
Palm Beach – Perhaps Aruba’s most famous beach. The perfect beach to choose for a long walk on the beach.
Arashi Beach – My favourite beach out of 
all the ones I visited. A smaller beautiful beach with azure waters & a wide area of sand to find just the right spot to park yourself for the day. I love snorkeling & this was a pretty good beach to snorkel from as the reefs were fairly close to shore. Although I didn’t experience it myself, I heard the sunset here is amazing.
The best snorkeling spots at this beach are to immediately to the left as pictured above (follow the rocks & swim towards the tour boats) & a little further out from shore to the right (for more confident snorkelers). Note: water is a bit murky while snorkeling.
To escape the suns intensity, settle into a beach chair ($5/chair to rent for the day) under the shade of a beach hut (best to arrive early as there are only a few available). A snack booth and portable washrooms are also available. To get here, take the Arubus L10A from the high rise hotel strip. Buses run every 30 mins. Note: bring your own snorkel gear.
Baby Beach – A very shallow, clear & tranquil beach. This beach also has a small clear snorkeling area. You also need to bring your own snorkel gear here (unless you go with a tour).
ABC Jeep Tours– Take a trip around the whole island in the back of a jeep. Stops 
include: Lighthouse, East side of Island (rocky desert landscape), Ostrich farm, swimming at Baby Beach & the Natural Pool.
East side of the Island
Ostrich Farm
Snorkeling in the Natural Pool
Tranquilo full day snorkeling tour: This tour takes you on a sailboat ride to the 
Spanish Lagoon for some really great snorkeling in clear shallow water. Afterwards, we were taken on a rubber dingy to do some drift snorkeling in deeper water with large coral reef formations.
Spanish Lagoon – snorkeling spot along the reef
Snorkeling in the Spanish Lagoon
For more photos & underwater videos see my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/taliasfootsteps/
taliasfootsteps 
Looks simply amazing! Great photos.
Thank you for your comment! Glad you liked the photos as well.
Makes me want to book a flight -right now!! Pictures are awesome. Thanks for sharing.
Truly tranquil!
@joyful @crazycook – You are very welcome! I am glad you enjoyed the photos.