Reasons to stop at Aruba in ABC’s

We almost skipped Aruba based on the postings from other cruisers regarding the check-in procedures. There are complaints about having to tie to a commercial dock with large tires and limited cleats.

We found this to be only a very minor inconvenience. We had no issue with the dock and used our fenders. Yes, we did get one black tire mark on the boat but nothing that didn’t wipe off. One person complained they had to dock between two tug boats.

Well, I guess if you cannot control or dock your boat perhaps you should skip the island. However, I think to skip Aruba based on having to do this check-in procedure is really a bad decision. The island is wonderful.

We are so glad we did visit. Here’s why:

• Easy check-in and check-out. Customs and immigration request you to tie at a commercial dock (free) and they come to the boat. It took us about an hour to clear it. No fees for entry or exit.

• Very friendly English speaking people.

• Beautiful beaches

• Duty-Free – parts shipped onto the island are not charged duty. No need to prove Yacht in Transit status.

• Cheap Air Fares – We went to the USA briefly and paid $250 each for a round trip ticket on Southwest Airlines from Aruba to Ft. Lauderdale.

• If you need a boat part, consider picking it up in Ft. Lauderdale in person rather than freighting it. It may prove to be cheaper. (Southwest allows two free checked bags up to 50lbs each)

• Great grocery stores. Ming and Son’s have a full selection of food such as you might expect to find in European and American city supermarkets.

• A conveniently located marina in downtown Oranjestad who also provide a dinghy dock for boats on anchor

• A bus system (mini and large buses) for about US$1.50 per person per trip. The buses are clean and run regularly.

• Great restaurants. Because of the large amount of tourism (over one million people a year who are about 60% American), there are tons of choices.

• This is the cleanest island we have ever visited. No trash and no graffiti anywhere.

• Statistically, Aruba is the safest island in all of the Caribbean with virtually no crime.

October 2017:

The only place worse than Aruba to tie up to for clearance is Barbados… Concrete dock, old black tractor tires, lousy placement of cleats, no one to help with lines, and winds and swells pushing you onto the dock… Not cruiser friendly at all…

The island is great, but not sure the struggle with checking in and checking out is worth it?

The Port Authority has listened to complaints apparently: for immigration and customs, when entering from sea go to the commercial harbour, go in between red and green buoys, just stay in the channel between the docks on your starboard and the reef on your port, just before the giant yellow crane at the second slip you see at the round corner of that slip some yellow boulders and a white wooden board for your fenders.

Briljant. Only the mooring lines should still be somewhat longer and not new! Use some old ones. It is a bit bumpy because of wind waves in the harbour and wake from passing ships. But not problematic. You will be between big tugs probably. If a cruise ship is entering the main channel, you will almost be able to touch it, so close does it seem to be.

However, before entering the harbour from the sea, call Aruba Port Control CH11 for permission to enter.

When docked the immigration and customs officers will come by car to your boat for the simple effective procedure (yes, 2 forms to be filled out and an entry-card for each crewmember.
When leaving the dock, first check with Port Control if they allow you to move, cruise ships have right of way here.

This is all our experience when entering Aruba February 2017.

You must call Aruba Port Control for permission to enter Oranjestad. We were asked to wait an hour before entering which can be a bit tricky if it is blowing as it was for us (35kn). You may need to be patient as we then had trouble contacting Aruba Port Control and had to ask Ren Marina for some assistance contacting them.

The Customs Quay is H quay you come past the Marina and there are two docks on the right and it is the most Northerly dock. There are yellow bollards. Be aware this is used for cargo ships also and there are large tyres keeping you off the quay for the most part but in some areas, these are missing and there are some nasty looking rusty extrusions so it is advisable to have plenty offenders out on the port side to keep your hull from being marked.

If you are single handed there may be someone on the quay to help but this is a little haphazard. We then had to wait over three hours for customs and immigration to come to us.it can be frustrating. Leaving Aruba you reverse the process and for us having expected to be waiting on the Customs Quay a while we were rushed through and told to be off the quay and out in five minutes and leave via the Northern channel as a large ship was due in.

All yachts are now being asked to use the Customs Quay whilst work is ongoing at Barcadera and so calling Aruba Port Control on Ch 16/11 is necessary to ensure you don’t argue with any of the large cruise liners and container ships in the Port!

Renaissance Marina was very helpful and sorted out all the paperwork for us. Having said we would be there for 7 days ….it was over three weeks before we finally got a weather window for Colombia.
SV Orion1