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I drove yesterday by one of my favorite beaches in Aruba, the one between Divi All Inclusive and Tamarijn Aruba All Inclusive, [name of this beach is Druif Beach], and noticed it suffered some damage after Sunday’s Felix. The currents in that part are always stronger then Eagle Beach or Palm Beach, so it comes as no surprise that last Sunday, on that particular point, the sea got a bit more rough.

The damage to the beach is actually the sea carving through the beach in one spot, consequently there is a little inlet visible now. The Divi Tamarijn people are used to clean and sometimes fix the beach, so I would guess they will do this part as well. Meanwhile there is a kiddie pool on the beach.

The frequent visitor to Aruba knows that Tamarijn have had their floods in the past, this time they out of the storm pretty well. The beach just in front of the rooms at Tamarijn seems to be in good shape as well.

Today the Meteorological Service of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba released some weather figures of last weekend.

• In the 6 hours that hurricane Felix was closest to Aruba it rained 0.9 inches (23.6 millimeters)
• The total rainfall between Saturday night and Sunday night was 1.6 inches (40 millimeters)
• The strongest wind gusts recorded were 37.3 mph (60 kph) [Note: average wind in Aruba is 20 mph]

As hurricane Felix is headed towards Central America and left Aruba behind, it raises the question on how common hurricanes are in this part of the Caribbean. Many advertise that Aruba is not in the hurricane zone, lets analyze this a bit.

To get right to it, since 1995 there were 3 hurricanes within the 100 miles radius from Aruba:

Hurricane Felix

• Year: 2007
• Saffir-Simpson scale: Category 1
• Closest distance to Aruba: about 40 miles*
• Damage in Aruba: minimal, typical flooding in low lying areas

Hurricane Ivan

• Year: 2004
• Saffir-Simpson scale: Category 4
• Closest distance to Aruba: about 80 miles*
• Damage in Aruba: substantial material damage caused by flooding throughout the island

Hurricane Emily

• Year: 2005
• Saffir-Simpson scale: Category 3
• Closest distance to Aruba: about 100 miles*
• Damage in Aruba: minimal

* Own estimates

Hurricane Lenny in 1999 was a category 1 storm and the closest it got was 170 miles. No damage to Aruba.

These were the major storms that Aruba had to deal with since 1995. Occasionally there were other systems to take into consideration like tropical storms/depressions. These systems tend to bring rain and big surf but no major damage.

I’ve used data from National Hurricane Center in Miami for above image and this post. By the way those guys at the hurricane center do terrific work, keep it up guys.

Disclaimer: I’m not a meteorologist, use above data as an indication. For more scientific information visit National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration or National Hurricane Center.

Yesterday was exactly two years ago that Natural Bridge collapsed. On September 2nd, 2005, early morning, nature (erosion) put an end to the once mighty bridge.

Riu Palace Aruba didn’t suffer any damage. Picture taken after the hurricane.

No resort have reported any damage to its structures. Staff at the resorts on the Palm Beach strip sure had to do some mopping though.

JetBlue issues a travel alert for Aruba on Saturday, this regarding their two flight coming from New York’s JFK on Sunday.

From the major airlines flying to Aruba JetBlue is the only one to issue a travel alert related to hurricane Felix thus far.