EXPLORING THE ABC ISLANDS FROM A CRUISE SHIP

Oh the beautiful A-B-C Islands!!!! Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao also known as the ABC islands. The ABC's are a popular group of Dutch islands in the Caribbean. I had the chance to go to all three of these plus Haiti when I cruised the Navigator of the Seas a few weeks ago. I’ve never been to any of these ports or islands before so I was very happy to be in new territories. The islands sure were beautiful and offered many different shore excursions from the cruise line. Here was my experience with each excursion.

Zip lining through Labadee Haiti

So Royal Caribbean actually owns the port of Labadee and no other cruise ships go there. So to begin, I highly suggest taking a Royal Caribbean cruise just so you can do this zip line. The tour started off by getting suited up in our flying gear and everyone receiving a brief introduction of what is to happen next. There was about 40 of us all together for the 11am time slot which seemed like a big group but really wasn’t.

We then took a short hike toward the back for a trial zip-line run. This was great as it was a very short run but they went over safety procedures, how to take off and how to land on the zip line. This was also great for those that were scared or it was their first time on a zip line to ease into it.

Once we did the trial run we loaded up into two separate jeeps and drove to the top of the hill where the Dragon’s Breath Flight started. The views from up top were absolutely spectacular. You can see the entire ocean, the port, your ship, and the entire line of what you’re supposed to soar over in just a few minutes. Once we got up top our tour guide explained to us the process of going down, there were five rope courses and once you make it down you’re not obligated to stay there. You’re able to do whatever you wanted, hang out and explore the port. Because there were 40 people on this tour I gladly went first as I’m a bit impatient.

I have been zip lining quite a few time before but this was probably my favorite zip line ever. I am now 500 feet in the air, dangling on a swing by some rope over the ocean. I was extremely excited to soar through the sky. The flight was pretty short, about a minute long but the views were absolutely spectacular. I enjoyed every second of flying through the sky with the beautiful scenery around me.

UTV through Aruba and go swimming in the natural pool

This was such a fun excursion! I’ve been off-roading in dune buggies and ATVing through canyons before but this put a whole new meaning to UTVing. We were picked up at the port and driven into the city by a coach bus where we then filled out safety forms and were off to go in our UTVs. Thankfully we had a really small group for this which allowed us to get to know our tour guide a bit more, and she was able to show us different roads than if we had a bigger group.

We started off going to the Arikok National Park. The drive down was extremely bumpy and rocky. Nothing unsafe since you are in a UTV but at times it threw me a little off thinking we would crash. But that’s the whole fun of UTVing though, right? The Natural Pools are at the national park and they were beautiful when we finally arrived. Here we would have been able to go swimming and snorkeling. Unfortunately, the waves were too high this time of year and we couldn’t go swimming. It was still beautiful to walk around, see and explore the area.

Our next stop was the Gold Mill Ruins where we learned some history and saw the remains of Aruba’s gold-prospecting days. The ruins were really neat to explore and see, you were also able to walk up them which provided a beautiful view of the ocean ahead of us. We had about half an hour to explore this area.

Aruba reminds me a bit of a mix between Mexico and Arizona. After our second stop it was time for more bumpy riding, here I really saw that Arizona look. This was the best part of the excursion though, driving around in a dune buggy, hair flying everywhere, being tossed side to side, and beautiful scenery all around. Definitely a fun exciting excursion for those that love adventures.

Zip around on a Segway in Bonaire

The island of Bonaire is absolutely stunning. They have a lot of salt on this island that has gotten into the waters and they have these beautiful pink (salt) lakes everywhere. Right when we were picked up for our tour the first thing that we saw was pink on one side of the street and blue on the other. I’m familiar with Mexico’s Las Coloradas so I knew that the pink comes from the salt and sun mixed together. But it was my first time seeing it in person. I was in absolute awe with how beautiful this was to see in real life.

Everyone that did this tour has never been on a Segway before other than one person. So this was a new adventure for everyone. As usual, we filled out liability forms and went for a test run of the Segway. It was fairly easy once you got a feel for them, but the first time you stepped on the segway you felt a bit unbalanced. After some trial and error, I was able to hold steady and felt comfortable on it.

The ride itself was beautiful with the different colors all around. We made a couple of stops where we learned about the history of Bonaire, the salt, as well as stopped at the slave huts from back in the day. The tour guides were extremely sweet and informative. The tour was only a couple hours, which was short, but it was long enough to see the beautiful island and learn some history as well.

Go on an aqua boat safari in Curacao

What the heck is an aqua boat? That was my first impression when I first saw this tour. Well I’ve never been on one of those, so I’ll do it.

We ported at Curacao and I went out to look for the excursion people, right away I felt this island was extremely unorganized. The waters were beautiful but the island vibe wasn’t as inviting as the previous islands. It took me a while to find where I should meet my group because everyone I asked told me to go in a different direction. But I finally found my meet up spot and I was on my way to the aqua boats.

When we arrived at our destination and signed our waivers we were showed what an aqua boat really is. It’s pretty much a jet ski with a steering wheel instead of handlebars. Interesting. I’ve never seen anything like this before. Should be fun.

I ended up riding with another person on these because the waves were a bit choppy and I didn’t want to be alone on one. I am extremely glad that I did that because the waves were SOOO choppy that we actually ended up smashing into another aqua boat, landing right on top of him. There was nothing we could have done and everyone was ok but I am very glad that I wasn’t on that by myself.

After the choppy waves, we went snorkeling in more choppy waves. The snorkel spot was pretty and there was some beautiful fish as well as a shipwreck we saw. And even though the waves were choppy the water was very clear so we were able to see everything. Then we headed back to our mail location. Overall this was an alright tour. I had a bad vibe the second I got off the ship about the day, and maybe it was just me having an off day. But I would have liked it a lot more if the weather was nicer. The waves being extremely choppy made the tour not as fun and a bit unsafe too. I would try the tour again, but hopefully another time of year where the waves aren’t as crazy. Would you enjoy this tour? Click here to book it.

Xoxo Ania Travels 💜