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Sonny Binn's tour

saphir

By saphir,
in Aruba

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mafig

mafig

Posted
Posted

It's not that I want a private tour, it's just that my roll call is so dead that I wondered if I booked with Sonny did I have to do it as part of a group. Could we be put into a group?

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robinlbe

robinlbe

Posted
Posted

We just got off the Freedom on Sunday, and toured Aruba on Thursday....We used Sonny Binns. He is AWESOME!!!

 

Don't worry about your roll call being dead. No one on our roll call had booked with Sonny either, but yet our little "bus" was full. Very comfortable, but he was at capacity. Since there are other boards on the internet, people find out about him in other ways.

 

As others have said, he is funny, takes his time, is very informative, and is just all-around GREAT! My nearly 16 y.o. found it most interesting!!!! And it takes a lot to keep him interested ;)

 

Our three hour tour ended up being between 3.5 and 3.75 hours long, but was still just 30 a person. Of course, we gave him a nice tip.

 

Just go ahead and contact him and book the two of you. I'm sure there will be plenty of others besides you.

 

We had a great time with our group, and we knew NO one, and NO one was from our roll call. I'm not a big talker and like my privacy, but we did enjoy talking to an older couple sitting by us. They took an interest in our kids (20 y.o. daughter and nearly 16 y.o. son).

 

Definitely DO a tour of Aruba....it is such a diverse environment. I had NO idea I was going to see such huge cactus plants!!

 

Anyway, Sonny is GREAT!!! You will NOT be sorry.

(just be prepared to pay to go to the bathroom at a couple of places....water is really expensive there, especially on the more "desert" side, so one place I paid $1 to use the restroom, and another place I paid 50 cents to go....but because I was drinking water all the time, it was well worth it!!:cool:)

 

If you have any other questions, just ask!

blessings...robin

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Leo's Rule

Leo's Rule

Posted
Posted

Thanks Robin!

 

Now I really can't wait for my tour with Sonny. Everyone on my roll call has been to Aruba before, so they are doing their own thing. Originally I wanted to go with Bully, but to cover that cost on my own was not feasible for me.

 

I have 2 cruises this year and BC7 next year, so I have to tighten my purse strings. :D

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Kerry&LuAnn

Kerry&LuAnn

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We contacted Sonny Binns by email for a tour of the island. He had responded promptly to our email and gave us all the information we needed. The tour was scheduled to last 3 hours and would cost us each $30. Following his instructions, we walked off the ship and once inside the terminal building we spotted him holding a sign that said “SONNY TOURS.” There were 18 people in our group. The minibus, which Sonny had specially ordered from Japan, could actually hold up to 28 passengers. The vehicle was clean, air conditioned, and very comfortable. Sonny was anxious to get all of us settled in and on our way so we could stay ahead of all the other tour buses.

Sonny is a Jamaican who has lived in Aruba for the past two decades. He knows the island well and speaks the local language. At one time he had worked as a guide with the big DePalm Tour Company, driving the large buses around the island. Then he decided to start his own independent operation. It was clear that he really enjoys showing visitors around the island. He provided an extensive amount of fascinating historical and cultural information, and he was always gracious, outgoing, and witty.

After leaving the downtown, our first stop was at the Ayo and Casibari Rock Formations. For such a relatively flat, sandy island, the presence of the unusual hills and huge monolithic boulders (some the size of small houses and weighing several tons) that dot the countryside are truly an enigma. These remarkable geological formations add aesthetics to the landscape as well as provide excellent vantage points from which to better view the island. Once considered sacred sites by the island’s original inhabitants, rock drawings dating back thousands of years can be found.

We then stopped at the location of the famed “Natural Bridge” which was one of Aruba’s most popular attractions. The bridge was a formation of coral limestone cut out by years of pounding surf, and was one of the largest of these types of spans in the world, standing 23 feet above sea level and spanning more than 100 feet. The bridge collapsed early in the morning of September 2, 2005, fortunately at a time when no one was nearby to be injured. This continues to be a popular spot, with the smaller “Baby Bridge” nearby. Inside the gift and refreshment shop we enjoyed a delicious pastechi. This local treat is sort of like a fried turnover – a pastry filled with gouda cheese and either ham, beef, or chicken.

Proceeding up the north side of the island we came to the ruins of a gold smelter. Built of natural stone when gold was discovered here in 1824, the smelter had processed the ore here for most of the 19th century. The coast along here was quite rugged, punctuated with occasional quiet inlets.

Further along we arrived at the Alto Vista Chapel. It was built in 1952 on the site of the original, and first, Catholic church built in Aruba in 1750 by a Spanish missionary, Domingo Antonio Silvestre. The winding road leading up to the bright yellow chapel was lined with white crosses marking the stations of the cross. The Alto Vista Chapel is not just a tourist site, but a special place for peace and contemplation surrounded by the Aruban countryside.

At the northernmost point of the island we stopped at the California Lighthouse. This stone lighthouse was built in 1914 and named after the S.S. California, a wooden sailing ship that sank near shore. Around the lighthouse are acres of stone-filled flat land and an area of white sand dunes.

In contrast to the rocky north coast, the palm tree-lined white sandy beaches along the calm waters of the west side of the island are where the hotels and timeshares are located. Off the coast here is a popular snorkeling spot – the shipwreck of the 400-foot “Antilla” which was sunk during World War II and is now home to many kinds of exotic sea life.

Some of the passengers on our tour wanted to spend some time on one of the beaches, so Sonny offered to drop them off and come back for them in two hours. A few others were dropped off downtown for shopping, before he took us to the cruise ship terminal. Although the tour was supposed to be three hours in length, we were actually with Sonny for close to four hours. We definitely got our money’s worth! The tour was outstanding, and we would highly recommend Sonny to anyone visiting Aruba.

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mafig

mafig

Posted
Posted

We contacted Sonny and he was very prompt in getting back to us.

 

I wondered if he would take us since there's only two of us (I posted previously that I was afraid that he would want more than two).:)

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