California Lighthouse

The California Lighthouse stands on the island's north-western point, built in 1916 and named after the steamship California, which wrecked offshore in 1891, a disaster that helped prompt the building of the lighthouse two decades later. It sits on a rocky rise above sand dunes, and the ground around it is the transition zone where Aruba's calm resort coast turns into the wild windward side - on one horizon the hotel strip and turquoise shallows, on the other pounding surf and bare rock. The tower is open for the climb, and the point is the island's fixed sunset spot, with the light hitting the dunes and the divi-divi trees leaning permanently in the trade wind.

History

The British steamship California of the West India and Pacific Steamship Company sank off this point on 23 September 1891 on a voyage from Liverpool, and its cargo of clothing, provisions and furniture washed ashore, where islanders gathered it; police sent from Curaçao to stop them were laughed at for searching for a place called California, which gave the lighthouse its name. The design, by the French architect Leon Jean Marie Bourgeois, was approved in 1913, when Aruba belonged to the colony of Curaçao, the light came from Barbier, Bénard et Turenne in France despite the First World War, and materials were carried from Oranjestad by donkey; it was finished around 1916, its first keeper was Jacob Jacobs from Curaçao and its last, in 1962, Federico Fingal (Wikipedia, California Lighthouse).

Highlights

• The lighthouse climb - the tower and its coastal panorama.
• The dunes - pale sand hills between the light and the sea.
• Sunset from the point - the island's classic evening viewpoint.
• The wild north coast - the surf-battered windward shore beyond.

When to go

Aruba sits below the hurricane belt and stays dry and warm year round, which makes any month workable. Sunset is the hour here. The trade wind blows constantly and is strongest early in the year, which keeps the heat manageable.

Good to know

The tower climb is short and the view, while good, is not dramatically better than from the ground at the point. Sunset draws crowds and a queue of cars on a narrow road. The surrounding area has been developed with restaurants and a resort in recent years, which has taken some of the wildness out of it. Nearby beaches on the north side are for looking, not swimming.

Nearby

Arashi Beach, Palm Beach and the Alto Vista chapel inland.

Key facts