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.
Via the hotels along the coast we went to the east side of the island. Past the airport we drove close to the coast and on my GPS I saw that we were approaching a triangulation point along the coast at Spanish Lagoen. The height of that triangulation point marked on the map is only 3.78m, so if the triangulation point is still there it should be easy to find.
We parked the car on the side of the road and I began to search the area. Under a tree, partly overgrown, I found a square block, which has the dimensions of a Werbata point on Curaçao, but it had not the well-known copper point with a cross on top. This block has the remnants of what appears to be a vertical tube. It also seems that there is still a small metal construction on the block, which is bent over.
On the side, half underground, I found the confirmation: Triang No 11; so it is a real Werbata triangulation point. Also different from the triangulation points in Curaçao is that in this case the text Triang No 11 seems to be scratched into the wet cement and not pre-made on a tile set in the cement.
It is good to have identified now with certainty a Werbata triangulation point in Aruba. It does mean that the other two suspected triangulation points found earlier (Seroe Colorado and Hooiberg) may not be Werbata triangulation points.
We continued our drive along the coast towards Savaneta; we passed one of the few remaining salt pans in Aruba. Then we drove past the church of Savaneta, which appears to have been founded in 1900 according to a plaque on the wall at the entrance.
Later I tried to match the waypoint that I took from the entrance of this church with the Werbata map; it seems that the church and surrounding buildings are not in the correct spot on the map, because the distance to the old road, which also existed at the time of the measurements by Werbata, is incorrect.
After a perfect lunch in a restaurant in San Nicolaas (all small dishes, eat as much as you want, with unlimited mimosa as a drink for only $29) we drove back to our timeshare apartment in Oranjestad.
Foto's
Along the road near Spaans Lagoen
Under a tree this triangulation point is hidden
The triangulation point is not in very good condition
Not the traditional copper point on top
Triang no 11, a real Werbata triangulation point!
It seems that there were metal tubes here
Between Pos Grandi and Savaneta these salt pans are located
Partly overgrown
The dams between the pans are hardly visible
The church of Savaneta
Founded in 1900; not in the right wpot on the Werbata map
And this is what we came for: a perfect brunch in San Nicolas
