6 Tourism News & Local Updates in Aruba

ORANJESTAD (March 24, 2019) – Sundays I write about the most relevant and interesting happenings on the island in my newsletter.

This weeks edition features the top news headlines in Aruba.

Subscribing to my newsletter is an ideal way to stay up to date with what’s going on in Aruba – whether you’re living on the island, miles away or your first visit!

If this is your first time reading my newsletter – welcome!

Master Plan Tourism in Aruba 2021

Tourism minister presented the new “master plan for tourism in Aruba for 2021” to the members of parliament this week.

Here are the key highlights for the future of tourism in 2021, according to tourism minister:

Focus on quality of visitors to Aruba
Explore more outdoor activities: a new mountain bike trail
More Aruba beach tennis tournaments
Restore tennis courts at Baby beach and other beaches
Repair and fix the infrastructure at Baby & Rodgers beach
Two new projects: Airport Expansion “Gateway 2030” & new downtown living at “Cruise Port City”
New conservation plans for nature and environment
New boardwalk project at Malmok, beautification of high rise and low rise area, including new roads on the hotel strip.

These are only a few of visions for the future of tourism in Aruba.

More information will be released in the coming weeks.

10 Cruise Ships in One Week

This week was a record breaking for tourism in Aruba as 10 cruise ships were docked at the port in the last 7 days.

The cruise port is located at the downtown, and the main streets were full of first time visitors enjoying a glimpse of what Aruba has to offer.

Here’s a list of cruise ships that were in Aruba recently:

Celebrity Silhouette
Monarch
Freedom of the seas
Rotterdam
Navigator of the seas
Prinsendam
Windstar
Aida
Zuiderdam
Koningsdam

Cruise ship visiting Aruba

According to the port authority, 2019 is off to a great start as cruise tourism is projected to grow and break records of 2018.

Larger cruise ships are visiting Aruba compared to previous years, and they are carrying more passengers and growing the cruise tourism at a rapid rate.

Corona Sunsets At Moomba

Moomba beach introduces a new way to spend afternoons on the island.

It’s a new beach party, called Corona Sunsets and it’s every Saturday starting from 3:30 pm until 6:30 pm.

Enjoy the last hours of sunlight in paradise, with a cold Corona and live music as the sun dips into the horizon.

There’s special Corona bucket deals – $30.00 and live music by local bands like Honey Pot and Travel Sessions.

Entrance is free!

Moomba is a bar located on the beach between Holiday Inn and Marriott.

What are your plans during sunsets in Aruba on Saturday?

Soul Beach Is Getting Closer

The promoters of soul beach released the line up of artist that will perform on the stage this year.

Here’s a list of artist that will be on the island for soul beach during memorial day weekend:

John Legend
Charlie Wilson
Ella Mai
H.E.R.
Deon Cole (Comedian)
DJ Jazzy Jeff

Do you have any plans for memorial day weekend?

The festival is going to offer an unique combination of excitement in a paradise setting.

Soul beach music festival is known to have the best internationally renowned performing music artist and comedians.

John Legend and Ella Mai will be headlining the Soul Beach Festival.

John Legend will be signing all of his hits – All of Me, Ordinary People, Green Light,

Glory and Used to Love me. And everyone’s ready to sing the words to Ella Mai’s popular hits like Boo’d Up and Ready.

Besides a music festival, there’s going to be different beach parties, pool parties and other events around the island.

Soul Beach Music festival will take place May 22 – 27, 2019.

Save the date as discount packages are being pre-sold already.

Record Breaking Local Fishing Tournament

One of the largest local fishing tournaments took place at Spaans Lagoen and records were broken again!

Local fisherman from all parts of the islands registered and a total of 32 fishing boats were on sea during the tournament looking to hook a big one!.

A record breaking 806,1 kilo fish was caught in total by all fisherman combined.

Would you snorkel next to this big fish?

Here’s a breakdown of the fishes caught, by weight.

Djampou, a local grouper, was one of the most caught fish with 399,9 kilo. The largest djampou weighed 79 kilos.

There’s another type of Djampou, named “hala geel” which is one of the most cuaght and liked fish at spaans lagoon – the largest one was 7.6 kilos.

Dorados were also caught, and the largest one weighed 5,4 kilos.

Locals also hooked Brazi’s, and the biggest one weighed close to 42 kilos.

The popular red fish, known as pisca cora, were also hooked. And the largest red fish weighed 4,3 kilos.

Picudas were also part of the catch, and the biggest cuda weighed 8,9 kilos.

Some fisherman caught mulato, another native fish, and the largest one was 20 kilos.

Fishing is tradition on the island, a lifestyle and a source of food for many natives. A main part of Aruban dishes consist of fish, and no matter which local spot or fine dining restaurant you go for dinner on the island, you’ll find a great tasting seafood dish!

Are you going fishing in Aruba and hook a big one?

Leather Beach Sea Turtle Season

Leatherback sea turtle season has started in Aruba as of March and it ends in July.

It’s the time you notice giant sea turtles coming ashore to nest their eggs on the beaches of Aruba during nighttime.

The leatherback sea turtles seen in Aruba don’t live anywhere near the Caribbean, but journey all the way here from the Northern part of the Atlantic Ocean, close to Nova Scotia, Canada.

Believe it or not, they were born in Aruba and return several decades later to their natal beach to nest during the season.

It’s a spectacular to watch a sea turtle nest, but it can also be dangerous for the sea turtles, because when they see people they may retreat from coming ashore and nesting their eggs.

The famous driekiel.

Here’s a few rules you can follow in order to leave the turtles nest their eggs at night without disturbing or scaring them away:

Limit any sounds and movements that might stop the sea turtles to come ashore
Light can make a sea turtle turn back and not nest, no flash lights or camera flashes
Do not drive on the beaches with any type of vehicle, because the eggs can get crushed, and the compacted sand makes it harder for turtles to come out
No littering, because plastic materials can resemble a sea turtle’s favorite food, jellyfish
Do not disturb a nesting sea turtle, by trying to touch it, keep a safe distance at least 10 meters or more.
If you notice crawl marks on the beach on your morning beach stroll, tell the front desk at your resort to notify Turtugaruba (+297 5929393), the islands local foundation that protects sea turtles

All species of sea turtles are endangered and need our protection in Aruba.

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