Aruba, the happy Caribbean island

It’s easy to understand why Aruba is known as The Happy Island.  It’s silky white sand beaches include Eagle Beach, consistently rated as one of the world’s best, it’s a cultural melting pot with international cuisine, it has some of the best scuba diving in the Caribbean, and that’s just for starters.

Aruba is located below the hurricane belt, which means more sunny days and less danger of being caught in a storm. That also has helped make the island a favorite destination for weddings and honeymoons, and for family vacations.

I’m a scuba diver, drawn here by some of the best wreck diving in the Caribbean, and at shallow depths comfortable even for the novice diver. The most famous wreck is the Antilla, a WWII German freighter, which was scuttled off Eagle Beach.

She sank at an angle. One end is at about 55 feet, but the other end is so close to the surface that you’ll be sharing the space with snorkelers and “snuba” divers. There also are plenty of shore dives, which let me walk across the beach into the water and the coral reefs just offshore. No dive boat needed. Don’t we love that.

Outdoor lovers will appreciate Arikok National Park, the Casibari and Ayo Rock formations and Indian caves. Anybody who has ever gotten a sunburn will learn something at the Aruba Aloe Factory. History lovers will appreciate touring the Bushiribana gold mill, Numismatic Museum and new, state-of-the-art Archeology Museum in downtown Oranjestad.

Both the capital city and hotels and resorts serve up world-class restaurants that reflect Aruba’s cosmopolitan and international influences, including Portuguese, German, Greek, French, and, of course, Dutch and Flemish.

Aruba also has a strong “green” heritage and focus, and is in the forefront of what some of us call the Green Revolution. Conservation efforts protect natural habitats, nearly 20% of Aruba’s electricity is generated by wind turbines, and there are solar parks dotting the island. If all goes according to plan, by 2020, Aruba will be the first country in the world to be entirely free of fossil fuels.  Yes!

Already, Aruba has one of the few resorts in all of the Caribbean to be certified by Green Globe. Click here to read my recent ecoXplorer review of the Bucuti Beach Resort.

Find your perfect hotel or resort in Aruba

Learn more about Aruba travel in this video –

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Aruba Tourism Authority for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.