- Tons of activities and sightseeing
- Friendly, informative tour guides
- Great photo ops all along the way
- Tour conducted via open-air Jeep is very bumpy, dusty and dirty
- Not many bathroom stops
- It’s a very long, tiring day
- The Natural Bridge on tour is no more; it collapsed in 2005. Such is nature.
- Address: L.G. Smith Blvd. 142, Oranjestad, Aruba
- Phone: 297-582-4400
- Rates: $150, with Sea Trek option; multiple packages range from $42-$150
Next comes a bouncy but scenic Jeep jaunt through a barren, dusty landscape, which contrasts with stunning vistas of waves slamming into the coral-riddled coastline. Stops include the very picturesque and oft-photographed Alta Vista Chapel, a lovely little building in the middle of nowhere, and the Bushiribana Gold Ruins, a largely nothing-looking chunk of dilapidated stone buildings littered with trash that once housed a thriving gold mine.
There's also a vestigal visit to the Natural Bridge, which up until its collapse from natural erosion in 2005 had been one of Aruba’s biggest tourist draws, The coral bridge was once 100 feet long and 25 feet above the water.
Palm Island, owned by the tour company, is home to a very noisy water park, a lovely beach, restaurants, and snorkeling and other water sports. Absolutely not to be missed is the Sea Trek Adventure. Guides put you in a diving bell helmet that pumps air inside, and you walk down a ladder 20 feet underwater to a 375-foot long walkway, led by scuba divers who take pictures and videos of your adventure. The bus and old plane placed one the sea floor are a bit hokey, but they attract the most beautiful tropical fish you can possibly see up close and personal. There’s even a table with flowers and two empty bottles of wine where you sit and pretend to drink as the scuba dudes take your pictures and video to sell to you later. It is a truly remarkable way to spend 15 minutes in a watery world not many people get to see.
