please be more than usually cautious when on the beaches. this is high season and there are some teens taking advantage of the crowds and the mix of tourists. petty theft is on the rise so rent or buy one of those travel safes that you can hook to your palapa. aruba is not the only place suffering an increase in petty crimes. this is a recession and it is hitting everywhere so beware where ever you travel.

I never like to assume that we're going to get ripped off (by a tourist, native, or otherwise) while we're on the island, or anywhere else. However, this warning is worth heeding, as we had an unfortunate situation happen to us while we were on Aruba a few years ago. We were too trusting and left our stuff (camera, iPods, etc.) at the beach in our bright purple bag. My husband returned to our chairs a short time later and discovered the bag had been stolen. We sprang into action, went on a tear, and luckily for us, the bag and its contents was recovered just a few minutes later -- intact. It taught us a real lesson. We now own a vacation vault (worth the investment) and never leave things around that would be a hardship to replace.

It's terrible to have to post things like this, but thanks for the reminder.

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Next trip to Aruba - February, 2011

We bought something like the vacation vault last year but never used it. It's much bigger and can actually accommodate a computer. Packed it last night "in case" we need it. Guess I'll make sure we use it this year. Thanks for the heads up.

TO SET THE STAGE:
THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR ANY THEFT, PETTY OR OTHERWISE. that it exists more so than before is a sad fact.

We went to RIO a few years ago and our friends were coming to Aruba to meet with us and we would go down with them via Caracas. For this 7 day trip, I had a full sized suitcase just for me, not to count the other three suitcases. Our friends arrived and we picked them up. My first impression when they shot out of the arrivals hall was that they had lost their luggage. Not so. They each had a tote bag - (the kind you drag on wheels behind you.)

In these they had multiple changes of clothing, ZERO JEWELRY, clothes pins and some other items. When we talked to them they explained how they did it and we tried as well.

RESULT?? Rio is definately not a safe place and the beaches are VERY dangerous, however, we had nothing worth stealing and the crunchy cotton shirts and pants were just that - CRUNCHY. In other words, we purposefully did not make ourselves targets. The one thing of value was the passport, and that stayed at the hotel and they gave us a receipt in the event we needed to show a passport. We were light on junk and heavy on fun!

Thought I would pass that on.

be well
charles

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RENTING A CELL PHONE MAKES $EN$E
FAST PHONE ARUBA - A cell phone rental company
http://www.fastphonearuba.com/

I don't necessarily recommend this, but our group spent most of our time by our pool this year. Don't completely recommend keeping close to home, but our law-enforcement backgrounds dictated safety in Aruba this year. Had a magnificint time regardless!

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Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.
Mark Twain

I looked up "the vault" & it is pretty inexpensive. I really haven't had any problems in Aruba, but I have always been careful. Because I wear glasses, I usually put them in my bag when going into the water...if my bag were taken I'd have to wear my back up pair which is my old Rx. I might just the the vault to ease my mind when in the water.