This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).
Leaning back on the captain’s chair, Sherwin Muller crosses his scuffed, olive-green sandals and steers our trawler out of Aruba’s Renaissance Marina. It’s 7.30am and the breeze blowing through the boat’s upper deck is merciful on this humid morning, as the marina’s stillness gives way to the Caribbean Sea’s choppy roll.
“I’m the only fisherman in my family,” says Sherwin, now in his 11th year at Hats Off Fishing Charters. “My mom worked in the oil refinery and my dad was a cop.” Wearing a stained grey hoodie and floral shorts, the jocular Sherwin exudes calm while I hope my fragile sea legs don’t abandon me. Aruba’s a fish-obsessed island, and this expedition is a window into the everyday life of the fisherfolk who use the traditional line-caught method. Every hotel and restaurant in Aruba serves fish in one form or another, from succulent deep-sea grouper to small but muscular octopus. “When I was young, I used to watch the guys coming in with wahoo and mahi mahi,” Sherwin says, pointing toward the docks.
Beautifully presented with grill marks and a generous knob of butter, the mahi mahi is a must-try in Aruba. Photography by Stock Food, Octopus collection
The tram running along Wilheminastraat in Oranjestad can be easily spotted thanks to its vibrant orange exterior. Photography by Davide Camesasca, AWL Images Ltd
Suddenly a metallic-blue wahoo shoots out of the water and Sherwin leaps from his chair, spitting commands to his crew below in Aruba’s local creole language Papiamento. I scurry down to the chaotic lower deck and am quickly inserted into the boat’s ‘fighting chair’, like a movie president scrambling into the war room. Reeling in the struggling wahoo takes around five minutes but feels like an eternity, with my right arm limp and my grey T-shirt caked in sweat.“It’s a workout, right?” says Sherwin afterwards, laughing. I tell him breathlessly that I’ll remember this slog with some reverence when I sit down for dinner later.
Aruba is set on the Caribbean Sea’s southernmost flank, barely 15 miles from the Venezuelan coast. The island is just 20 miles from end to end, and its 18th-century capital Oranjestad was once a thriving merchant city, but these days is a breezy, pastel-splashed pit stop for the mountainous cruise ships that heave into its busy port every week.
Possibly inspired by the opening line of the Beach Boys’ 1988 earworm track, Kokomo (“Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya”), the island seems to have been canonised as the Caribbean escape du jour for Americans. Aruba’s tourist heart has a slick western feel and its streets are well furnished with McDonald’s, KFC and Wendy’s.But travel beyond the garish Americana of Oranjestad’s port and west-coast Palm Beach’s well-heeled strip, and Aruba couldn’t be more different, its unusual desert climate creating rolling, cactus-strewn trails.
Seafood graces practically every menu on this multinational island, but locals hold an unabashed love for cheese and deep-fried soul food. I stop by Huchada, a family-run roadside bakery with a patient morning queue extending outside from its well-stocked counters. I order a host of favourites, including the ubiquitous cheese pastechi. The small, warm half-moon pasty filled with melted gouda cheese is an unctuous delight, with the subtle sweetness of the pastry balancing the saltiness emanating from the cheese.
“In Papiamento we say ‘sin webo no tin fiesta’ – ‘no egg, no party’,” explains my guide Jonathan as I bite into a webo yena, a soft devilled egg garnished with black pepper, salt and oregano. There’s a delicious, bitter tang to its creamy texture. Aruba’s soupy humidity ramps up by lunchtime and the sea breeze at our next stop, coastal hotspot Zeerover, feels like a blessing. This place draws in knowing crowds from right across the island, despite a southern location that’s far from the traditional tourist drag. Here, they bring out food in baskets and encourage eating with your hands. It’s liberating, and I snatch at succulent cuts of mahi mahi loin, tender ovals of fried plantain and more pre-peeled shrimp than is decent or indeed necessary.
This vibrant tuna tartare is a popular choice at the Taste my Aruba restaurant in Oranjestad. Photography by Call Me Petit
The Coco Cafe is a beach bar at the Boardwalk Boutique Hotel. Photography by Palm Studio
That evening in Oranjestad, Nathaly De Mey waits for me beneath a swirling ceiling fan at Taste My Aruba, her restaurant on lively Wilhelminastraat — one of several local food venues that hosted the island’s new culinary festival, Autentico, when it made its debut in October 2024. The colourful Portuguese-tiled patio of this century-old building is draped in festoon lights, while the garden is awash with fragrant thyme, basil, mint, lemongrass, lavender and rosemary.
“I opened here three years ago,” she says, smiling though her thick-framed black glasses. “I started under a tree down the road with four tables and an induction stove. I sold sandwiches, but they didn’t really work. Then one day a guy came over, since I was close to the harbour, and sold me seven kilos of wahoo. And the rest is history.”
I toast the restaurant’s haphazard origin story with a smoky old fashioned and learn that Nathaly is a food obsessive who’ll harness any method to provide the freshest produce for her customers. Recently, growing produce in hydroponic greenhouses has taken off. Nathaly’s lettuce comes from greenhouses run by local Jake Arends, while Oranjestad tattooist Rachell Peterson provides oyster, shiitake and lion’s head mushrooms grown at her urban farm Farmacure Fungi.
“All my fish is line-caught,” she says. “I have my own fishermen. It’s a relationship. They’re my family.” I’m served a buttery tuna tartare on a bed of fresh avocado, before a shredded stoba di cabrito is brought out in a small clay pot. Despite the year-round heat, Arubans love stews and this hearty goat variety is rich, chewy and given a fiery kick by a drop of hot pica di papaya sauce. “We don’t have one such thing as Aruban food, we’re a melting pot of cultures,” Nathaly explains, before discussing Aruba’s love for Italian polenta, Indonesian satay sauce and Colombian beans. “We even have black pudding,” she says, with a staccato laugh. “I love black pudding. My chef makes a beautiful black pudding croquette.”
Boca Grandi Beach on Aruba’s southeast coast hosts the world’s largest amateur windsurfing and kitesurfing competition every year. Photography by ARTN Photography
For those with the time and passion, foraging is also an option in this challenging landscape. One man with both is Frank Kelly, a chef known by all as ‘Taki’. Inked in tattoos of sketches by his children and hopping with bubbling energy when we meet, the gregarious Taki is Aruban of Colombian and Irish heritage. It’s hard to imagine that he once worked in a bank. These days he tours the island, scavenging on land and fishing at sea.“In my family, I’m the only one who fishes and loves the water,” he says, echoing Sherwin Muller. “My mom and dad weren’t supportive when I started surfing, because I’m an only child. I’m their everything.”
During a serpentine drive into Aruba’s parched heart, we pick up bitter fungi growing on the umbrella-like kwihi tree, sweet red fruits from the breba cactus and citrus flowers from somebody’s front garden. In between pontificating on mortality (“You have to ride life until the wheels fall off!”) and stopping for drinks at the various Chinese supermarkets scattered through Aruba’s inner suburbs, Taki brings us to the island’s rocky south coast, where we scoop up natural salt left behind by the seawater following evaporation.“Anyone can gather this salt but nobody does because it’s easier to go to the supermarket,” he says, as we amble back to the car.
It’s difficult to imagine that Chef Taki pictured at an impromptu barbecue at the Boardwalk Boutique Hotel used to work in a bank. Photograph by James March
Taki reappears at my hotel that evening, armed with a small barbecue. Moonlight gives the clouds above a milky white glow, while the wind ruffles the swaying palms. He boils a gentle consommé using the salt and seaweed we’d found earlier, before finishing with tender pink shark and octopus he caught the day before. I’m grateful; he didn’t need to do all this.“For us, on our island, giving you a lot of food is giving you love,” he says, sharing a local rum with me. “It is equivalent to love. And I like that.”
Where to eat in Aruba
Infini
Local chef Urvin Croes showcases island produce, from delicate croquettes to quails. The pâté with king oyster mushroom is sourced from Rachell Peterson’s urban farm Farmacure Fungi. A map of local suppliers’ locations is a nice touch. Eight-course tasting menu US$169 (£132); seven-glass wine pairing, US$110 (£86).
Papiamento
Try keshi yena, an Aruban cheese pie stuffed with chicken, olives, raisins, minced beef and cashews, wrapped in a burnt gouda exterior — a sweet-savoury treat. Try them on the shady terrace then head inside to Pappa’s Cigar Lounge for pricey bourbons and Cuban cigars. Two courses around US$65 (£51).
The West Deck
This Oranjestad-based beach bar is the home of the ‘beerita’: a bottle of local Balashi beer upturned in a rum punch. But the food here is the real delight. The tender beer-battered grouper pairs wonderfully with the sweet coconut and plantain rice, while the fried gouda cheese balls are given a fiery pica di papaya hot sauce kick. Mains from US$21.50 (£17).
Pinchos Bar and Grill
A superlative coastal spot for sunset. Book ahead to snag a table at the far end of the deck or, even better, on the pier. Standouts include pan-seared sea scallops in vegetable ratatouille, while the pan-fried mahi mahi fillet with glazed carrots and plantain puree is classic Aruban seafood. Two courses around US$50 (£39).
Published in the Jan/Feb 2025 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK).
This story was created with the support of Aruba Tourism Authority, KLM and Holiday Extras
To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only).
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=67881eead6ca437da2a47954fed5ea58&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yahoo.com%2Fnews%2Feat-aruba-caribbean-island-where-090000614.html&c=1236317038470390634&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2025-01-14 20:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
