As the new year approaches we prepare to welcome all our old friends and look forward to meeting new ones.  Here is some of what is new at Bucuti that may be interesting & helpful for your upcoming visit.

2008 was an award winning year for Bucuti!  Bucuti proudly received the National Geographic Magazine ‘Stay List” award in 2008. For the third consecutive year Bucuti won the TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s choice award and Expedia’s Insider’s Select List. Bucuti’s associates were celebrated with the winner of the Aruba Hotel and Tourism Association Employee of the Year Award for our housekeeper Bernice Dennis and first runner up Marguerita Doyley-Osbourne for the Supervisor of the Year. Apple Vacations awarded Bucuti with its 8th consecutive Golden Apple Award and the International Restaurant and Hotel Association Green Award.

Bucuti

Photo: Marguerita Doyley-Osbourne (Left) Bernice Dennis (right)

All guests of Bucuti and Tara Beach Resorts have full American Breakfast included each morning. Our chef is standing by to freshly prepare your eggs, pancakes, French toast, etc at the hearty and healthy buffet at the Pirates Nest where you can dine on the beach. Our Tara Lounge location offers, scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage as well as pancakes, and your hot favorites are available at the Buffet.

New Pool!

Bucuti Welcomes the New Year in Style!

In 2008 the Aruba Bucuti Beach Resort realized the final stages of its complete renewal. After the addition of the award winning Tara Suites in 2005, the original Bucuti Wing rooms and public area interiors were completely rebuilt and stylized in 2006 and 2007 and this past year our fresh water pool was transformed into an elegant oceanfront oasis complete with Dedon and Kettal sunbeds, coral tile and hard wood decks.

SunSquares shade the new Pirates Nest Terrace

At Bucuti & Tara, you only pay 9% in addition to your room rate! By far the lowest tax/fee rate in Aruba.
Some resorts charge as much as 24% in addition to your room rate for taxes, service charges, resort fees, and other fees. At Bucuti we only charge 9% ! When comparing rates, consider that Bucuti & Tara include a hearty full American Breakfast Buffet (Value of $20 per person) plus the low 9% tax/fee rate. Add in all your charges before comparing rates!

Cashless System, you can leave your cash at home.

Our resort and restaurant will accept all major credit cards, debit cards and signing privileges to guest rooms as for all payments for rooms, food and beverage, incidentals, and all services within our resort.  We will stop accepting cash as payments for room and the restaurant beginning December 23, 2008.  While cash deposits will be accepted on behalf of third party vendors such as dive operators and tour companies at the concierge desk for deposits, the resort will not be receiving or dispensing cash unless arrangements are made in advance.  If you have any questions or concerns regarding this policy, do not hesitate to contact us.

New Streaming Video Web Cam at Bucuti
See live streaming video on http://www.bucuti.com/en/about_us/webcams.php of Bucuti’s dream beach of the world as it pans north to south all day long. Stream video of your wedding live to your family abroad, or witness the hatching of a giant sea turtle nest on Bucuti’s Beach. Stay Tuned ! 

On behalf of all of us at Bucuti, we wish you Happy Holidays and we hope to have the opportunity to welcome you to Aruba soon!

He was a teacher in Pacific Grove, California and the high school football coach.    They called him “Pappy”. 

He loved the outdoors and fishing…and took my father and his brother every summer vacation to appreciate nature in our beautiful US National parks - Yosemite, the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone…  Later, he travelled all over the globe with my Grandmother while teaching high school in American Schools in US Army bases. 

He was an artist, and crafted figures from wood and whatever was laying around in his renown woodshop.  As a child I remember my father showing me his collection of his whimsical human figures made from Brazil nuts, walnuts and pecans…

My mother smiled when recalling an early morning when I was two years old and she found my grandfather telling me a story while he was sewing up the holes in the toes of my pajamas.

My grandfather died in his 50’s, leaving a family who loved him dearly - as well as thousands of students who remembered and honored him for decades.

My Grandfather died of blood cancer, Leukemia. 

I have always wished I had the opportunity to know this man who was loved by so many…especially my granndmother Mildred who often told me about the love of her life.  She kept his memory alive and remained his loving wife until she died over 25 years later. 

I couldn’t know him but I now have the chance to honor him and to help future families have a chance to find a cure for this cruel disease.    I am training for and running the Miami marathon this January with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training.   Team in Training has raised millions of dollars over the past 20 years and has improved survival rates for victims of Leukemia through the research they have funded.  

I am very proud to be a part of their team and invite you to visit my Team in Training Website:  http://pages.teamintraining.org/sfl/miami09/sbiemans

Thanks to those who have become sponsors for this cause and supporters of our team!

If you happen to be in Miami this January, please come and cheer our team!

Thank you!  Susan Biemans

Aruba’s tap water is renown for being of the cleanest and tastiest anywhere.  Originally sea water, the desalination process, which filters the water through coral rock, results in fresh, tasty water which flows directly from the tap and can also be purchased from the Tropical Bottling Company labeled “AWA,” Papiamento for water.

Visitors to Aruba however continue to demand bottled water.  As environmentalists, Bucuti management and associates do all we can to inform our guests that they may enjoy our safe, clean and tasty water from the tap and to inform about the damage to the environment caused by the process of bottling, transporting and ultimately the waste produced from this product.

The Earth Policy Institute estimates that to make the plastic for the bottles used only in the USA, 1.5 million barrels of oil is consumed, enough to power 100,000 cars for a year.   Nearly 90 percent of the bottles are not recycled.  A simple way to visualize the average energy cost to make the plastic, process and fill the bottle, transport bottled water to market and then deal with the waste - ” it would be like filling up a quarter of every bottle with oil.” states Peter Gleik, Director of the think-tank Pacific Institute located in Oakland California who is a leading expert in water policy. 

Therefore Bucuti has instituted a ban on imported bottled water in the resort.  While we continue to offer the locally bottled AWA - our Balashi Cocktail, for those who wish for the convenience of a bottle when hiking or exploring the island - we hope you will refill it.   We often get the request or comment that our visitors see us recycling paper and glass and ask why we do not recycle plastic…the answer is simply that plastic recycling is not possible in Aruba because it requires a huge facility and a huge amount of recyclable plastic to make it feasible.  We simply do not have enough waste to justify the creation of a plastic recycling plant.  Therefore we do all we can not to buy plastic - and reduce our consumption to as little as possible. (Hence the dispenser of Aruba Aloe lotions and shampoos instead of the little plastic bottles that inundate our landfills)

The other policy change this week is the promoting and sales of Heineken and the locally brewed and highly demanded Balashi Beer, exclusively.    Balashi’s beer bottles are returnable and deposit refundable and Heineken bottles are refilled with locally produced cleaning products for sale in our local supermarkets.  

We would love your feedback on our new environmentally friendly changes to our product offerings.   All the products we offer are top quality and tasty - do you believe the limited choice we offer in order to preserve our environment is a positive or negative decision in respect to your enjoying your vacation at our resort?   We hope to hear from you!

I am given positive feedback about our Bucuti associates on a daily basis.   Our guests want to be certain that I know about and recognize the people who have made their experience in Aruba special and I am grateful for the feedback. 

First time guest, Mrs. Dumford popped in my office last week to share her story about Filomena in housekeeping.  Filomena has been a part of our team since Bucuti opened in 1987…Mrs. Dumford described how she was moved by an unexpected delivery of steaming tea, lemon and honey from Filomena who learned the she had the flu.     The week prior, repeat guest Mr. Bijden informed me about how grateful he was for the extraordinary effort of Mr. Prince and the front desk team who located his wallet which he lost the evening before.  After calling the stores, restaurant and taxi company used by Mr. Bijden the wallet was finally found, retrieved and returned completely intact. 

I have come to know that our team is composed of authentic and mindful souls who continually inspire me with their genuine desire for our guests happiness.    Not only have I learned this from our guests, but also from first hand experience, working side by side with them recently in their daily routine.   My original reason for working the line positions is because I think that departmental policies and procedures made on the management level can only be done well when we know the intricacies of each and every position.  So for several weeks I spent one day a week as a housekeeper, a waitress, a mini bar attendant, a front office receptionist, etc. etc.   

In the Tara Lounge I marveled over Marguerita and Caroline’s ability to do so much, so quickly and efficiently…amazing women who happen to be sisters - and they run the entire operation themselves from set up to break down and everything in between.  I always appreciated their hard work, but I am now in awe.  While I was preoccupied with cutting fruit into precise pieces for the fruit salad, they had set up the entire buffet, I struggled to keep up with them.  Afterwards they manage the mini bar operation.  Amazing women !   I was constantly smiling as I observed guests’ faces light up in response to their warm, broad smiles as they were welcomed to breakfast. 

In housekeeping, our star, Bernice Dennis, moved through her rooms like the wind with her usual grace and Mona Lisa smile, never missing a detail.  Guests often ask to be located in her section and it was clearer to me why, she is so thorough and pleasant.  

The front office team is the most cheerful group of people you will ever meet.  Mukesh will knock you out with his smile as he and the team he has personally trained greet everyone at curbside and ultimately to the guestrooms.  Prince Alexander and Inca Boye are two long time front office treasures who recognize our repeat guests and often navigate around the desk to give warm welcome back hugs.   Both love to laugh, love people, take great pride in their work and sincerely care if our guests enjoy themselves on their island and in their work place.  

Our guest experience begins with the reservation process  and our team led by the young and ambitious Romy Ras is the best.  I would challenge any of our big corporate chain neighbors to come close to the personal service that Marinda, Sharol and Jill deliver every day.   They engage our guests with such care that in most cases, we feel we know them before they even arrive and are able to deliver their dreams, as promised. 

Behind the scenes we have amazingly talented  professionals like Mr. Wilfred Kelly, one of our engineers.  Mr. Kelly knows where every electrical line and pipe is located, above and underground and as Ewald says with enthusiasm: “he can fix anything”

At the helm of the operation is Deborah Dintelman.  Deborah sees everything…nothing gets by her and while she is known to rule with determination and will, she is the first one to come to the aid of an associate in need and fight for the advancement of her most dedicated team members for the opportunity to grow.   Deborah…I shutter to think about Bucuti without her.   She is our north star.

I would love to recognize all 89 of our associates personally because my time working with them in their departments was inspiring.  It also gave me better insight about setting operational policy and they were prolific with their feedback on how we can do it better!  I have pages of notes…  The time with them also gave me a deeper and renewed respect for their hard work.   On this labor day I wish to recognize the everyday effort of each and every member of our Bucuti team who is deserving of the praise and celebration that the ‘big’ stories of tea and found wallets receive.  With this blog I hope to deliver just that.   

Caroline, Susan and Marguerita in the Tara Lounge for breakfast

Susan with the housekeeping team

Just like Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy, Gaylord Nelson’s unique strategy and contribution was that he was one of the first people to see the political importance of the environment, and that it could be used to mobilize people in a positive way. He recognized the partnership between traditional conservation issues and the new emerging urban and industrial issues. Nelson recognized that the economy and the environment were inexorably linked to each other, and he was also the first and foremost to build bridges between environmental concerns and labor markets, recognizing that the social and natural environments are essential in the welfare and well being of a nation. Gaylord Nelson was the founding father of our modern-day discussions on sustainable development. In many ways, his strategies and solutions are still applicable today

It happens more than you might think, and we are acutely aware that vacation is serious business and most guests have spent considerable time dreaming about their vacation and saving for it.

It is heartbreaking for us when tragedy has stricken for a guest…a critical illness, accident or death in the family. It is even more painful to have to enforce our strict cancellation policy in times of extreme emotional distress.

Despite the quantity of information we provide in regard to our strict cancellation policy and strong advice we give towards the investment in travel insurance, some of our guests do not heed our advice.

In this blog I hope to bring the business situation of a small, family owned business, on a small island, in perspective when it comes to late cancellations and early check outs.

One of the reasons we are strict with our cancellation policy and recommend all guests take insurance so we do not have to factor in cancellations and no shows into our overall rates. We believe in reasonable rates and offering good value. Hotels who do not charge for cancellations or have a lenient policy have added the cost into the overall rate.

Ours is a perishable product…we cannot resell an empty room, it is gone forever. Yet, our static costs in an island environment remain extremely high. Therefore we work hard to fill our resort every night and charge reasonable rates to our guests.

We urge all our guests to protect themselves from loss due to emergency situations which cause last minute cancellations or early check outs. Established and highly rated companies such as TravelGuard and AccessAmerica provide insurance which are easily booked on line.

If you have any questions regarding our recommendation to purchase insurance, do not hesitate to contact us or comment below.

Islands Magazine is the global authority on island destinations and has been in existence for 26 years and if you have not read one of their monthly magazines,…you should. They are worth having for the dreamy photography alone. This December issue is particularly lovely…where we have a full page of our beach !

Island’s Magazine Editorial Director, Ty Sawyer explains the meaning of the award in these excerpts from the magazine: “Local advocates and ISLANDS readers have noticed, and they are voicing their opinions in the way they travel and where they travel. It’s no longer a fringe group that wants to save the planet. Its become a worldwide phenomenon borne of the necessity to save and sustain all those cultures and places that make the world and incredible place to experience. So we here at ISLANDS decided to celebrate, support and honor the places and people who are so important to islands travel, those who have taken up the challenge to make responsible and sustainable tourism practices a vital part of the way they do business and, more importantly, the way they live. To celebrate these incredible and on-going achievements, we’ve put together our inaugural BLUE LIST and launched our ISLANDS Global Sustainable Tourism Awards, which we’ve dubbed THE BLUE AWARDS. The 100 people, places and things that made our list are the very best of the world of islands responsible tourism. They are models that are working. And, they are role models that should be followed and venerated. Congratulations to all our winners in each and every category. We’ve scoured the globe, and everyone on the pages of this issue is doing remarkable work. Support them. Celebrate them. And we at ISLANDS would like to thank them. Safe Travels. TY SAWYER, Editor

We are very proud to be included on ISLANDS Blue List with this award. All of us at Bucuti are dedicated to sustainable practices and receive our inspiration daily from my husband, Ewald Biemans. He maintains his lifelong passion for nature and the environment by local activism, which was started by setting an example within our own resort. Environmental sustainability is deeply woven into Bucuti’s company culture and the entire team participants from day one on the job.

We hope that this award will inspire more of our islands businesses and community members to participate in environmentally sustainable practices in order to protect and preserve our treasures for future generations.

Give us your thoughts!

I meet the most wonderful and interesting people…and learn so much from them. One such couple is from Seattle, WA. A medical doctor and his wife… the most petite and lovely woman who is also a powerhouse - consulting big men and big machinery in emergency situations… They are also conservationists, birders…writers, watercolor artists, (extraordinary) photographers…an amazing couple. If you visit my office you will enjoy a beautiful watercolor Casey painted at the resort and left for me as a gift.

During a visit a couple years ago, they loaded me into their rental car, drove me a mile from the resort and turned off the road to face a pile of sand in the distance. I was handed a pair of binoculars and allowed to witness two local owls…a couple…who literally popped up out of the pile of sand as we slowly inched nearer to their nest. They were delightful…curious and observing their observers. These local owls are rarely seen by humans, their local name is Shoco. The sight of these fragile and inquisitive birds was a magical moment and I have always been grateful to them for it.

They have just returned home from a recent visit and I received an email from them this week. I’ve copied it for you all to read because the information it contains - in my opinion - is extraordinary. Steve kindly sent me a quote - as promised - by Teddy Roosevelt which he recalled during a conversation we had about the current state of US politics and the environment.

Hello Susan

Your Friend
Steve

 

The following has been copied from the WSPA - World Society for the Protection of Animals website: http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/272_what_s_wrong_with_swimming_with_dolphins_.cfm

What’s Wrong With Swimming With Dolphins?

On the surface, swim-with-the-dolphin programs seem like a fun, safe way to get up close and personal with these fascinating creatures of the sea. The dolphins appear to smile as they pull laughing children around swimming pools by their dorsal fins. But you don’t have to look too deep beneath this whimsical façade to realize that there is something fundamentally wrong with all swim-with-the-dolphin programs. Regardless of what country they are located in, how crystal blue the water is, whether the trainers claim that their dolphins are allowed to “swim free” for a couple hours per day, or how much money park owners spend caring for their charges, swim-with-dolphin programs create a threatening environment for the dolphins - and sometimes their human visitors.

The Sad Truth Behind SWTD: Swim-with-the-dolphin (SWTD) programs allow visitors to pet captive dolphins in shallow pools or interact with them in deeper water by swimming beside them or being towed around by holding onto the dolphin’s dorsal fin. Currently, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) does not regulate SWTD programs, and as a result, record keeping concerning human injuries and dolphin deaths are often not complete, with countless dolphin deaths going unreported.Dolphins have been on the earth for thousands of years. They are perfectly evolved to live and flourish in their wild ocean home, not within the confines of a human-made concrete tank or artificial lagoon. Statistics of dolphin deaths during capture and confinement prove that dolphins do not belong in captivity. Consider the fact that Sea World, one of the most recognized captive dolphin facilities in the U.S., reported 93 dolphin deaths between 1971 and 2002. That’s an average of 3 dolphins per year, assuming that all dolphin deaths were accounted for. If these numbers were extrapolated to include the total number of captive dolphin facilities around the world, the number of dolphin deaths as a result of captivity in the last 30 years would be astronomical!

Wild vs. Captive: Wild dolphins can swim over 40 miles a day, they engage in mating, foraging, fighting and play behavior with their pod members and they use their echolocation to explore their diverse ocean environment. In contrast, captive dolphins are forced to swim in endless circles in artificial habitats, interact with unfamiliar dolphins and other species, eat dead fish, and perform behaviors that are unnatural and in some cases painful. Captive dolphins also face exposure to human infection and bacteria, chemicals such as chlorine, and suffer from stress-related illnesses.

Things to look for at captive dolphin shows and facilities: Dolphins poking their head above water. Captive dolphins spend up to 80% of their time at the surface of the water seeking scraps of food and attention. This is in direct contrast to wild dolphins who spend 80% of their time below the surface of the water playing, hunting and exploring.Beaching themselves as part of the show so that visitors can pet or kiss them. If left in this position for an extended period, a dolphin’s immense weight on land would slowly crush its internal organs. Captive dolphins have been trained to ignore their natural instincts; wild dolphins never voluntarily beach themselves.Vocalizing for food rewards and nodding their head as if to say “yes” or “no” and offering “handshakes” or waving at the audience with their pectoral fins. Dolphins are trained through food deprivation. When they successfully perform a trick they are rewarded with scraps of fish. If a captive dolphin waves to you, it is because it is hungry, plain and simple.Swimming in circles or constantly peering through the fences (stereotypical behavior) or floating listlessly on the surface of the water. These behaviors indicate that the animal is bored and psychologically stressed. Wild dolphins rarely lie still and with the entire ocean at their disposal, they would have no need to swim in circles!

All of the above are unnatural behaviors consistently exhibited by captive dolphins. Dolphins perform these behaviors because they have been trained to do so using “positive reinforcements” - the captivity industry’s politically correct term for food deprivation. They wave to the audience and kiss the trainer because they are hungry, not because they desire human interaction and sadly, they often float motionless in their tanks between shows because they are bored or lonely.

It’s ok to use captive-born dolphins, right? Wrong. While countless dolphins are still ripped from the wild to populate SWTD facilities, some programs use captive-born animals instead. They hold up their use of captive-born dolphins like a trophy, proof of their mission to conserve dolphins. The truth of the matter is that captive breeding programs offer no contribution to the conservation of wild dolphin populations, acting instead to replenish the industry’s dolphins when supplies run low. The fact is, whether born in captivity or pulled kicking and screaming from the ocean, all dolphins share the same physiological and psychological needs.

Setting a bad example: Unfortunately, the commercial success of SWTD programs and the high profile of the larger facilities in the U.S. have spawned a legion of copycat operations in the Caribbean, Mexico, Latin America and around the world. These operations are the driving force behind a sharp rise in dolphin captures from the wild. Many of these new SWTD programs lack the necessary funds and staff to properly care for the dolphins.

Perhaps the most damaging aspect of the SWTD industry is the misconception it perpetuates among the general public. SWTD programs present themselves as “educational” and “eco-friendly”. They market themselves to people who love dolphins, care about conservation and are looking for a tangible way to express this interest. What SWTD participants don’t realize is that by patronizing these programs, they are not only contributing to this expanding, profit-driven industry, but they are ensuring that dolphins will continue to be captured from the wild and suffer in captivity.

Love dolphins? Don’t buy a ticket! Untold numbers of dolphins die during the notoriously violent wild captures. These captures are carried out in secret - far from the public’s eye - so obtaining an accurate number of dolphins killed is nearly impossible. What we do know is that of those dolphins that survive the capture and are brought into captivity, 53% will die within their first 3 months in a tank. Every seven years, half of all captive dolphins die due to the violence of their capture, intestinal disease, chlorine poisoning and stress-related illness. To the captivity industry, these numbers are accepted as standard operating expenses, but if this information was printed on SWTD brochures, it is unlikely that any person who cares about dolphins would purchase a ticket.

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Hurry, there is still time, we will send all your comments to Minister Wever.

By Jessica VanderKolk
The characters “P41USA” hold special meaning in the amateur radio world this year.

Two local amateur radio operators will use the unique call sign to remember the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. They also will send around the world small cards, featuring a photo of the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Center taken the day of the attacks.

Robert Gutshall of Altoona and Roy Goshorn of Bellwood left this morning for Aruba, a small island about 15 miles from the South American coastline in the southern Caribbean. They previously met two California attorneys with island property, who allow the area men to use their radio station.

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