Sharman's Aruba adventures

When actor Sharman Joshi was informed that he had to travel abroad for the Aruba Film Festival to promote his film, his first reaction was, "Dude, where's Aruba?" But the trip to this tiny exotic Caribbean Island turned out to be a wonderful surprise for the actor who loved the pristine beaches, adventure sports and mixed culture.

Sharman recounts his memories of the trip:
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Dream Island
I was in Aruba last month where my film was screened at the Aruba Film Festival. For starters, it's a small island in the Caribbean, 30 odd kilometres from Venezuela, South America.

The whole island is around 36 kilometres in length. Aruba is a part of Netherlands, and people have Dutch passports. It's a beautiful place with white sand, lovely beaches. The atmosphere is also very chilled out.

Surprisingly, a part of the island has a lot of cactii, which is hardly found in beach destinations.u00a0

All for adventure
Apart from spending time at the festival, I indulged in adventure sports like snorkelling, windsurfing, boating, etc. I had never done windsurfing before so it was quite an experience. It took me three hours to get my balance on the cycle but the thrill of windsurfing was worth the effort.u00a0

What a sight!
Aruba has a lot of casinos and I enjoy gambling. However, I have set some limits for myself when it comes to gambling. We spent most of our time at Palm Island, where all the water sports were happening.
The nightlife was at South Beach with restaurants, bars and shacks. We saw plenty of Irish pubs in Aruba also.u00a0
Cultures collision
Though it is a Caribbean island, I didn't see too many blacks out there. There were a lot of Venezuelans, Spaniards, Arubans, etc. Most of the tourists were Americans as it is a four-hour flight from New York. Yes, we did spot some gorgeous Latin American gals in the Aruba, though.