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The primary objective of our explorations on the second day of our holiday was the Werbata triangulation point number 8 on top of the Hooiberg (Haystack). This point was the central measuring point in the land survey by the Werbata employee. Werbata did not take the measurements in Aruba himself. That is why it is interesting to see to what extent the triangulation points correspond with those in Curaçao.
Sunday October 31, 2010; the intention was to go to Fort Zoutman today, but unfortunately it only appears to be open on working days. So we decided to do some touring around the island with the final stop at a restaurant in San Nicolaas, of which we had good memories from last year.
First we went to Noord, where I took a waypoint from the church of St. Ana, so that I could possibly use that to calibrate the Werbata map.
Monday November 1; today Frances and I visited Fort Zoutman. According to the Werbata map, triangulation point no 9 is on the fort. The fort is the oldest Dutch building in Aruba. It was built in 1796 to defend the port of Oranjestad.
The fort was originally at the waterfront, but, because land was reclamed later, it is now further from the coast.
The fort is named after the Dutch Admiral Johan Zoutman. In 1868 the tower was added to the fort; the tower then served as a lighthouse, while a bell was also placed in it, which was rung on the full hours.
At the time of the land survey by Willem Jonckheer jr, a land surveyor trained by Werbata on Curaçao, a triangulation point was also placed on the tower.
Due to the passing of tropical storm Tomas, which according to the weather forecasts would cause 40 - 80mm of rain on Aruba, we decided on Monday, November 2, 2010 not to make an extensive tour. As an alternative we chose the Archaeological Museum. It took some searching, because it turned out to be no longer opposite the Post Office, where I have been there once in the past, but on the Schelpstraat.
Originally the plan was to the Jamanota today, Wednesday 3 November, but because it had rained for a large part of the night, we decided not to do that. In addition, there is a good chance that the triangular point, that I intended to find there, has disappeared there due to the installation of cell towers and the easy accessibility. A greater chance of success of finding a triangulation point was at the top of the Seroe Alejandro north of Savaneta. So we went there. The Seroe Alejandro is not a high mountain, but looking from below it appears quite inaccessible due to a dense vegetation and residential houses around the mountain. After consulting a resident across the street, who incidentally warned us about the many snakes in the vegetation, I decided to take a chance and entered through the vegetation. Mentioning the snakes was reason enough for Frances to stay beneath.
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