Running around Aruba; an approximate 37-mile / 60 km run covering the entire perimeter of the Dutch Caribbean island. I’ve made a map to calculate the distance and to see where I need water or more important: where I can get water. The entire Northeast side is inhabited; there are no gas stations or shops to get water except for 3 points. The moment you turn around the south point of the island and you’re running on the east side, there are only three places where one can get water: the visitor center at Arikok National Park, the restaurant at the Natural Bridge center and a food truck at the Bushiribana ruins further up north. The total stretch on the east side is about 30 km, running this distance on send and steep climbs towards to entrance of the national park, followed by a large stretch of sand and dirt roads takes about 3 hours and thus water top-up is important. The wind direction is typical for Aruba as the wind always, or most of the time blows from east to west and as the wind always blows in this direction, some of the trees, or tree branches rather, also grow in this direction; they are called Divi Divi trees and they are typical for Aruba; Here is an overview of the wind direction which is so typical for Aruba.

Since I can’t get important food supplies en-route, I have a full backpack with supplies: electrolytes, water, dates, raisins, bananas, energy gels, extra shirts, socks and a phone….

Here is the route and the elevation profile for the run

I left the ship at 8:30 am to make my way south towards baby beach via Savaneta and San Nicolas. It started of pretty OK temperature wise but as soon as I hit the 20mile mark (32 KM), temperature went up to 38C or 100F. This part is protected from the wind (as soon as you enter Arikok National Park from the South side) and in combination with a long climb to the visitor center, this part is the hardest part of the course.

Getting ready

Once you are at the Natural Bridge (or the remains there of) you run for 15 miles on very rugged terrain with rocks and lots of sand. Of course I couldn’t resist to kiss the ground – man I fell – bunch of scratches but it was worth it

Here is a movie I took during my run around the island