Aruba Santa Cruz Audio Tour

Things to do on the Tour Include:

• Welcome

  Your Aruba Santa Cruz tour begins near the Bushiribana Ruins. From here, you'll dive into more history, piracy, and other fascinating sites on the island.

• Bushiribana Gold Mill

  Your first stop will be at the Bushiribana Gold Mill, a remnant of the Aruba gold industry dating back to the 1800s.

• Not So Uninhabited After All

  Early island visitors thought Aruba was deserted. But they couldn’t have been more wrong -- humans have lived here for 4,000 years! These early inhabitants called themselves the Arawak. Archaeologists guess they migrated from Venezuela

• Spanish Occupation

  During the 15th and 16th centuries, Spain sent expeditions all over the Caribbean in search of gold. This meant lots of galleons crossing these seas ladened with lots of gold -- perfect for pirates on the hunt! Thank goodness they didn’t find gold here -- it would’ve just put a giant target on this beautiful island.

• Natural Bridge & Hurricanes on the High Seas

  Next up is the former site of a natural bridge, one of mother nature's strangest creations. While the bridge succumbed to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, what's left behind is a unique and photo-ready view of the ocean.

• Francis Drake vs Spanish

  During Spanish occupation, Aruba often served as a place for merchants to hide when they feared pirates were chasing them. These merchants feared one pirate in particular above all others: Sir Francis Drake. Drake was an English privateer knighted as a hero by the queen. “Privateer” basically means “state-sanctioned pirate”!

• Pirate vs Privateer: What’s the Difference?

  So what’s the difference between a pirate like Black Bart and a privateer like Drake? It’s pretty simple, actually. A pirate plunders for themself. A privateer plunders for whichever nation has sponsored them. Think of privateers like naval mercenaries. If England wanted to cripple Spain’s economy without declaring war, they couldn’t actually send their navy to directly attack Spanish ships. That would surely result in open warfare. So they’d hire people like Drake to do it for them.

• Dutch & the Golden Age

  Spain’s control over Aruba didn’t last forever. A war an ocean away brought an end to that. The Thirty Years’ War raged across central Europe during the first half of the 17th century. The war killed over 8 million people, and no clear winner emerged at its conclusion. To secure peace, the nations involved used conquered territories as bartering chips, as if they were goods to be traded. That’s how the Dutch assumed control of Aruba in 1636

• Pirate Myths

  What do you picture when you imagine a pirate? Peg leg, eyepatch, hook hands, skull and crossbones, a parrot on the shoulder… Turns out that actual pirates almost certainly looked nothing like this! This mythologized image comes entirely from famous artist Howard Pyle. Pyle wrote and illustrated popular young adult books in the 1800s like The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. His pirate imagery emerged in the swashbuckling tale, Who Shall Be Captain?

• El Nino & La Nina

  Not all years around the equator deliver the same punch. That’s thanks to the El Niño Southern Oscillation cycle. Basically, the ocean goes through phases, about every four years, where the water will be either unusually warm or unusually cold. These extremes dramatically alter weather patterns during the following year.

• Shipwrecks - Antilla

  All this talk of pirates might have you picturing shipwrecks littering the waters around Aruba. As a matter of fact, that’s not too far off. Along Aruba’s coastline, you’ll find a ton of wrecks, though most don’t date back to the age of pirates. Seasoned scuba divers can don their masks and flippers to explore the cracked foundations of boats from the past couple of centuries.

• Donkey Sanctuary

  Continuing on, you'll arrive at one of Aruba's cutest and most unusual attractions: the Donkey Sanctuary! This volunteer organization takes care of over 100 donkeys which descended from animals brought by early Spanish colonizers.

• Franse Pas

  As you drive, you'll cross through Franse Pas, otherwise known as Frenchman's Pass. Here, you'll learn about the strange history behind this picturesque site.

• Pirates of Frenchman's Pass

  According to the legend, French pirates attempted to invade Aruba through this pass during the Golden Age of Piracy. They sailed into the shallow harbor of the Spanish Lagoon. The pirates thought they had an advantage, having already made it far inland by sailing into the lagoon rather than landing on the beach. All they had to do now was surprise the locals with a devastating sneak attack

• Buried Treasure in the Spanish Lagoon

  Next up you'll come to the fabled Spanish Lagoon. Legend has it that pirate gold is buried somewhere in this lagoon, but no one knows for sure!

• Balashi Gold Mill

  After that is the Balashi Gold Mill, another relic of Aruba's gold rush. This bit of history hasn't been active for a long time, but its skeleton remains.

• Airplane Wrecks

  It’s not just boats under the water here. Aruba features some unique airplane wrecks as well! There’s no Bermuda Triangle-esque mystery behind these wrecks, though. Aruba intentionally sank both of them to create homes for marine life! One of them even has some distinctly piratical history behind it.

• Beach Sanctuary

  Hope you packed your rackets! Aruba hosts the world’s biggest tournament of… beach tennis! Players play the sport like a usual doubles match of tennis, with the twist that they play on the sand. The sand might make it a little more difficult to maneuver, but it’s also softer on the joints.

• Aruba’s Many Languages

  Aruba still bears the marks of its many colonizations. You can see this in the island’s languages. Three-quarters of Aruban locals speak a Creole language called Papiamento. The language combines elements of Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch, culminating in a completely unique tongue that’s only spoken on three Caribbean islands. The language itself is a historical record of the countries that left their handprint on the island

• Hooiberg

  Finally, you'll arrive at the Hooiberg Lookout. Standing at 541 feet above sea level, this rocky formation boasts unbelievable views of the island and the water below... for anyone willing to climb its 600 steps, that is!

• Conclusion

  You’ve now seen that Aruba is a small island with a big history! Centuries of piracy and colonization have dealt the island a rough hand, but it’s come through it all with a powerful sense of independence. The history of seafaring adventure still lives on this island to this day.