I decided that I wanted to rent a car (Bob thought a taxi would be better) to go see the three lights in Aruba. The taxi drivers wanted $40 US/hour. So we rented a car from Hertz which was $58/day.

First we went down to see the Serio Colorado lighthouse

I had printed out that page about the Serio Colorado lighthouse, so we were able to show the taxi
drivers where we wanted to go, and then with the rental car, we had
absolutely no trouble in finding it because we knew what we were
looking for.

First we went around the oil refinery which took up almost the whole
west side of the south end of the island. The little town of Serio
Colorado was almost completely engulfed by it and we never did get to
it. We knew that Baby Beach (so called because the shallow water goes
out a long way) was in the area, and we headed in that direction.

When we got to the coast, we saw a large red anchor, and we could see
the lighthouse from here, so we headed for it. The road was indeed
narrow and surprisingly winding considering that Aruba is such a flat
island. It looked like there was a prison on the next peninsula of
land to the east. Having experienced a prison in Barbados, I was perhaps looking for a prison
more than I might otherwise have done.

It was a very arid area. I saw at least two kinds of lizards - one
brown and one a brilliant teal. They were very hard to take a picture
of because they moved so fast (as I would if I was barefoot on the hot
ground). The rocks were a rusty color - it was almost as though the
ground was made of iron which had rusted.

In addition to the pipe organ cactus and the prickly pear cactus there
appeared to be two barrel shaped cactus, and we even saw several
different birds. One was a dove type bird and the other one looked
sort of like a Baltimore oriole in that it had some orange on it.
When we came back to the big red anchor, we saw people kite surfing.

After lunch and the visit to the Ex-Natural Bridge, we went to the
California lighthouse, and I took several photos of it from various
angles and also of the surrounding countryside.

Then we went back to town. After one attempt to park in what turned
out to be a gated lot where you needed a password, we parked and
walked over to the tower in the fort which was now also a museum. It
was not open, even though it was within the hours that were listed for
it to be open. There were no signs to indicated that it was a museum
or to show why it was not open. I am guessing that it was closed
because of Christmas week. So we walked around the fort once, and
then went and turned the car in.

These are My photos of the Aruba lights

This is the non-lighthouse part of our day in Aruba

We came into Aruba late enough in the day that I was able to take
photos of the harbor etc as we came in. I could see the California
lighthouse way up north of us in the distance. The Empress of the
Seas was at the dock across from where the NCL Crown was last year and
there wasn't enough room there for two of us, so they put us down
along the side of the terminal building - docked on the port side.
The reef line was not too far away on the starboard side of the ship,
and we could see planes coming in to the airport just on the other
side of it.

I could see two Pelican catamarans loading people up at the dock - one
was a motor boat and the other was a sailboat - maybe the same one I
took last year. There was also a marina on the other side.

I wanted to see the three lights in Aruba which I had looked up on the
internet. Bob thought that we should get a taxi, but the taxi drivers
only wanted to take us to the California lighthouse (named for the
wreck of a ship named California). They insisted that there was no
lighthouse at Serio Colorado, and that it would take an hour to go
down there and an hour to come back. They wanted $40 and hour to take
us there.

In addition to looking up the lighthouses, I had looked up the rental
car rates, and we could have pre-booked on the internet for $32/day.
But Bob had been against that, even though they drive on the right.
But when he heard what the taxi drivers wanted, he decided that
renting a car was a good idea. So we went back to the car rental
places at the dock. The first one in the line was Hertz and the lady
was saying that she had only one car, a station wagon. Other people
who had been asking her apparently wanted a smaller car, and also
wanted to keep it to 8 or 9 oclock (the boat didn't leave until 10
pm). So they left.

I asked how much it was ($60) and whether she would give us a AAA
discount which was in my AAA book. She said she would give us 5%,
and did we want the car. I said yes. The other people came back and
were negotiating with her also, and she asked if we were together. I
said no. We got the car and they didn't.

We drove south (it is easy to drive along the west side of the island)
while I was trying to decipher the road signs. Some were easy to
figure out (stop, no left turn), but some were unfamiliar to me. A
yellow/orange diamond meant that it was a right-of-way road. A
triangle bordered in red with a big black vertical line with a little
cross in the middle mean that you have the right of way at the
intersection.

I had a little difficulty with the frequently seen signs that had two
cars next to each other, the right one black and the left one red.
I discovered that this one meant "No passing". And a dark blue circle
rimmed in red with a red slash across it was "No Stopping or Parking".

We found the first lighthouse pretty easily. On the way
there were signs for a model train museum, but we didn't stop. It was
getting to be noon and I wanted something to eat. There is no road
along the east side, and not much in the way of habitation. Bob
remembered that there was a little food place by the old Natural
Bridge, so we headed over that way.

The road to it was rough and unpaved. At one point a bus was coming toward
us and it disappeared into a big dip in the road. The landscape was
rocky and barren, and there was a lot of surf on the shore. We saw
various packs of ATVs.

Bob parked and said he was going to use the bathroom (which cost 25
cents) and I wandered along the shore and took pictures of the surf
and the smaller natural bridge. Then we both went into the shop at
"Thirst Aid". I got a kind of meat pastry, and Bob got a "finger dog"
(a hot dog inside dough for $1) and a pineapple drink which was
carbonated. This cost us under $6.00. We ate at a table inside which
was next to a large parrot - people stood and had their pictures taken
with the parrot.

We passed the Bushirbana ruins (Bob stopped there on the trip last
year and he said there was nothing to see), and the Gold Mine Ranch
and the Ostrich Farm. The latter might have been interesting, but I
didn't was to pay $15 each to see it. We ended up at the California
lighthouse where Bob had been before.

On the way back along the shore, we stopped so I could take pictures
of all the kinds of boats that were there snorkeling or sailing. We
saw the old windmill which is now a restaurant in the distance - I had
originally thought we might eat there or at the California lighthouse where it looks like there is a nice restaurant.

After we got into town, we parked to see the last lighthouse, and then
drove around Orenjestad a little bit - past the parliament, Wilhelmina
Park, and a bunch of casinos and shopping malls.

We decided to turn the car in (although it was only 2 pm) because we
were tired, so we went to a gas station - no self service here. The
gas was priced in liters. The man put the nozzle in the gas tank and
went to see to someone else, and it cut off. He put some more in and
then we paid him $11.00. But when we turned the car on again, the
gauge went from 3/4 full to under half full.

We put the car back in the parking lot, and then went to find the
Hertz lady, but she wasn't there. We had to go to the car gate and
have the guard phone her. She was there in about 15 minutes and tried
to persuade us to keep the car the rest of the day, but I was too
tired. So we turned it in. The gas gauge showed wildly varying
levels of fill, but she decided to take our word for it that it was
pretty much full.

We went back to the ship and I went swimming in the outside pool (salt water).
When we went to dinner, we could see the Empress behind us, and also
the sun setting.

I've finally gotten home and can post some of these pictures - not just the URLS.

This is various views of the Serio Colorado lighthouse






This is an old concrete base of some building - there are steps on the other side.



When I stood by the lighthouse and looked out to sea, this was what I saw.



The area around the lighthouse is quite arid. We did see some birds

This dove, which may be nesting in the cactus


And I think this is a Scott's Oriole.


And there were brown and green lizards (although I could not easily get pictures of them.

Bob took pictures of the California lighthouse last year




In the course of our trip, this year, we went back to the California lighthouse and I took some more pictures. Bob was a little miffed that I was taking more pictures where he had already taken some, so I didn't take too many



This was a plaque which was at the restaurant explaining the lighthouse


It says: HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA LIGHTHOUSE

Built during the years 1914,1915 and 1916, the California lighthouse is located at the northernmost point of the Island of Aruba.

The tower of this magnificant master piece is made of strong blocks that were hewn right here and is 100 feet high. The metal top of the lighthouse, which contains the light that sets a romantic setting is 25 feet in diameter.

Although standing on a hill called Hudishibanz, the lighthouse is called the California Lighthouse.

This point of the island, called California, is named after a vessel that shipwrecked at the coast near Aruba's northernmost point. The ship California was traveling from Liverpool to Central America with passengers, merchandise, provisions, clothes and furniture.

Ironically, when the ship hit the coast at midnight sharp, the passengers were partying on board. It was not until daybreakd that the inhabitants of Aruba saw and understood what had happened.

The crew of the California had thrown much of their cargo overboard when the boat hit the coast. This meant that everybody was able to salvage the merchandise out of the water and take it to Oranjested to sell.

The restaurant you are now standing at used to be the dwellings of the lighthouse keepers.

The first lighthouse keeper was a young man from Curacao called Jacob Jacobs. He learned the profession of lighthouse keeper at a lighthouse on the islet of Klein Curacao. The last person to watch over the California Lighthouse was Federico Fingal from Aruba."




Lighthouse from below the restaurant (old lighthouse keeper's house)



I didn't walk right up to the lighthouse, nor did we linger long.

After we parked, we walked over to Fort Zoutman, Willem III Tower, and Museo Arubano. This is the oldest bit of Dutch architecture on the island. The Fort was completed in 1796 and was named after a Dutch Rear Admiral who had outwitted a British convoy on the North Sea during the 4th British War, the tower is situated on what was then the shoreline and is armed with four cannons.

This is the cannon that were in front of the tower, next to a post box



The Willem III Tower was added in 1868 with Aruba's first public clock and originally served as a lighthouse equipped with a spire and petrol lamp and to sight pirates.



It was not open, even though it was within the hours that were listed for it to be open. There were no signs to indicated that it was a museum or to show why it was not open. I am guessing that it was closed because of Christmas week.