Costa Linda with the Wilsons

In the summer of 1999 we were vacationing at La Cabana when Hyun-Ju had spotted an ad in the local paper for timeshares at the Costa Linda Resort just a few minutes walk down Eagle Beach from where we were staying. They had advertised a package of three weeks for half the usual price. The catch was that you had to buy all three weeks to get the savings. We were staying with our best friends, Linda and Ken Wilson in the room at La Cabana and the four of us decided to take a walk down the next morning to have breakfast and check out the resort.

Let me give you a little background on how we ended up here in the first place. Linda and Ken were married about eight years ago and visited La Cabana on their honeymoon. They told us all about Aruba. We were intrigued by the Jeep tours on the wilder side, Eagle Beach and the other hotels, world class restaurants and of course "The MiDushi". So, when we were looking for a place for our honeymoon Aruba seemed to be the perfect place to begin our marital bliss. We fell in love, again.

After a brief presentation in the sales and Hyun-Ju's bartering finesse, we had purchased our first timeshare. We couldn't wait to share the news with the Wilsons as it was our intention that next year we could all travel together to Aruba to share the room and the island. They were the best man and matron of honor at our wedding and we were excited to be able to invite them down so we could all be together on "One Big Happy Island".

In 1998 we all arrived at La Cabana and had the time of our lives sharing the experiences up until now that had been separate memories. Linda had decided to listen to a presentation to get the free gift of an excursion on "The MiDushi". On any given night or afternoon you can see her sails breaking the horizon just off of Eagle Beach. Mario and his crew really do make it an adventure to remember.

Anyways, they had been gone for quite some time and as we were sitting by the pool we started to wonder if they were having a hard time getting away from the sales person with their free gift. A few hours later we saw them walking towards us poolside with them infamous black box of ownership. They were so excited that we made plans right away to share rooms next year so we could both enjoy two weeks in Aruba. Total bliss!

So here we were, sitting in the sales office of Costa Linda charting out the possible blocks of time that we could string together to get the most out of our time on the island. When all the dust had settled Hyun-Ju and I owned weeks 18, 19 and 20 and the Wilsons owned weeks 21, 22 and 23 followed by our week 24 at La Cabana then theirs for week 25. Combined we now owned timeshares for eight weeks straight. The ultimate goal - someday to retire early and enjoy two months of the white sands of Aruba.

Back to the year 2000. Linda and Ken had rented one of their weeks at Costa Linda and taken a two week vacation at the "new digs". We had traded their week at La Cabana to have two weeks also and had a five day overlap that we could share together so we spent time with them at Costa Linda our first week to get a feel for the resort. Costa Linda is one of the few resorts located right on the beach without having to cross the street and it is perched on a small penninsula off of the tip of Eagle Beach. It really is a perfect location.

The pool area is cozy and private with much more exotic native vegetation and wild iguanas. The Costa Linda has about 150 suites wheras La Cabana has over 800 including the villas away from the beach. Costa Linda is quite with lots of activities for the kids whereas La Cabana is perfect for honeymooners or that special tropical romantic paradise. All in all you can't go wrong staying at either of these world class luxury resorts.