Aruba is chill!

Aruba is chill indeed

This was my first time visiting the island of Aruba — and my first time visiting any of the ABC (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao) Dutch Caribbean territories — but definitely not the last.

Compared to a few other Caribbean destinations I’ve visited before, Aruba feels like a level up in infrastructure and in the overall quality of tourist services the island provides.

---

Weather, wind, and tiny drones

The weather was amazing and pretty much perfect for a laid‑back vacation: stable temperatures, plenty of sunshine, pleasant sea conditions, and a constant breeze.

That breeze, however, came with sudden and frequent wind gusts exceeding 15 m/s, which made flying a tiny drone… interesting. I was getting plenty of strong‑wind warnings, and on a few occasions the gusts were strong enough to make the gimbal flip in random directions, triggering gimbal errors.

Luckily, there was no damage. I managed to snap a few nice shots and land safely every time.

---

Local hospitality

I’d like to thank the locals who let me use one of their beach shacks as shelter while flying the drone — and a conveniently flipped reel on the sand as an improvised drone landing pad.

They were genuinely nice, curious about my hobby, and happy to chat. I gave them my standard drone lecture, answered all their questions, and showed them the controller screen so they could see where the drone was and what I was photographing and filming.

They seemed quite impressed — though they may have had one drink too many that day, so I’m not entirely sure how much of it they remember 🙂

---

From the air

• Aruba — A few aerial shots of northern Palm Beach.