Rodgers Beach, Aruba: the quiet neighbor of Baby Beach

Almost everyone who drives to the southeastern tip of Aruba is aiming for Baby Beach. Rodgers Beach is the one they drive past, and on a busy Saturday it is often the better call: the same calm water, the same corner of the island, a fraction of the crowd.

Where it is

Rodgers Beach sits immediately next to Baby Beach in the San Nicolas area, close enough that you can walk between the two or drive it in about a minute. From Oranjestad it is roughly half an hour, and from Savaneta around twenty minutes east. The two beaches share the same access road.

What it is like

It is a narrow crescent of powdery white sand with calm, sheltered water that is easy to swim in. At the far end of the bay local fishermen keep brightly painted boats at anchor, which is the detail most people photograph and the clearest sign that this is a working piece of coast rather than a resort strip.

The beach carries the name of a captain associated with the refinery built at San Nicolas in the 1920s, the industry that shaped this whole end of the island. The refinery site still stands between the town and these beaches and is visible from the sand. Some visitors find that jarring, others find it honest. It does not affect the water.

Practical notes

Facilities. There is public parking, there are showers, and there is a restaurant on site, plus a dive shop next door where snorkel and dive gear can be arranged. That is more than most quiet beaches on Aruba offer.

Shade. Thin. Bring an umbrella or accept the sun, because there is not much natural cover.

Crowds. Weekdays are genuinely peaceful, to the point that reading a book is the main activity. Weekends bring Aruban families, and it feels like a neighborhood beach rather than a tourist one.

Water. Calm and swimmable. Snorkeling is pleasant rather than dramatic, and the livelier reef life on this end of the island gathers around the mouth of the bay at Baby Beach next door.

Combining it with the rest of the southeast

The efficient version of this corner of Aruba is one drive with three stops: the murals of San Nicolas in the morning while it is still cool, Rodgers Beach for a swim, and Baby Beach for the shallow lagoon and lunch.

Where the paddling happens

The kayaking on this coast is further west, on the sheltered stretch between Pos Chiquito and Savaneta, about twenty minutes from here.

Our Mangel Halto kayak and snorkel tour paddles mangrove channels and stops twice over the reef, and the Sea Glass Island kayak tour crosses from the Savaneta ramp to an islet whose shore is scattered with ocean tumbled glass. Both run daily, 2.5 hours, capped at 10 guests, with departures at 8:30 AM, 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM, and the 5:00 PM one brings you home through the sunset.

The company was founded by a veteran Aruban ranger with decades on Aruba's south coast, and the crew learned these waters from him. Adults pay $89.99 at our summer rate, children from 6 to 12 pay $69.99, minimum age 6. Instant confirmation, free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure, and WhatsApp at +1 786 971 2221. Book online or compare all our Aruba kayak tours.