Qualla: California Lighthouse https://qualla.com/california-lighthouse en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:13 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/6/n/p/california-lighthouse-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: California Lighthouse https://qualla.com/california-lighthouse California Lighthouse: Introduction https://qualla.com/california-lighthouse/ Photo credit Bgabel, CC BY-SA 3.0. The name is a trick. Visitors assume it has something to do with the Golden State, but the California Lighthouse on Aruba's northwestern tip owes its name to a shipwreck, not a coastline. On September 23, 1891, the S.S. California -- a wooden British steamship of the West India and Pacific Steamship Company, sailing from Liverpool to the Americas -- went down in the strong currents off Hudishibana. The wreck still sits at a depth of 14 meters, a popular dive site where currents tug at swimmers the way they once pulled a sailing ship under. The lighthouse was built to make sure it never happened again.

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Image: Bgabel | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/6/n/p/california-lighthouse-wp/d6np-california-lighthouse-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full California Lighthouse: A Shipwreck's Ghost and a Famous Namesake https://qualla.com/california-lighthouse/ Photo credit Vanderbiezen, CC BY-SA 4.0. The S.S. California is routinely confused with a far more infamous vessel: the S.S. Californian, the ship that failed to respond to the Titanic's distress calls during its sinking in 1912. The two names differ by a single letter, but the Aruban California met its end 21 years bef...

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Image: Vanderbiezen | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/6/n/p/california-lighthouse-wp/d6np-california-lighthouse-a-shipwrecks-ghost-and-a-famous-namesake.mp3 0:06 2 full California Lighthouse: French Elegance on a Limestone Plateau https://qualla.com/california-lighthouse/ Photo credit Noshha.photography, CC BY-SA 4.0. Designing a lighthouse for a remote colonial island during a world war required both ambition and patience. In 1913, with Aruba still administered through the Colony of Curacao and Dependencies, French architect Leon Jean Marie Bourgeois drew up plans for a structure that would e...

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Image: Noshha.photography | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/6/n/p/california-lighthouse-wp/d6np-california-lighthouse-french-elegance-on-a-limestone-plateau.mp3 0:06 3 full California Lighthouse: Kerosene, Pendulums, and Twelve-Hour Cycles https://qualla.com/california-lighthouse/ Photo credit Ricky23, CC BY-SA 3.0. In an era before Aruba had electricity, keeping a lighthouse burning required mechanical ingenuity. The light ran on farol, a type of kerosene, illuminating from six in the evening to six in the morning. A weighted pendulum descending 24 meters regulated the mechanism, completing...

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Image: Ricky23 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/6/n/p/california-lighthouse-wp/d6np-california-lighthouse-kerosene-pendulums-and-twelve-hour-cycles.mp3 0:06 4 full California Lighthouse: The Arawak Name and the View https://qualla.com/california-lighthouse/ Photo credit Joshua/Yoon Hernandez from Chicago, USA, CC BY 2.0. The plateau where the lighthouse stands carries the Arawak name Hudishibana, a word whose components suggest something like "Great Spirit" -- hu meaning spirit or almighty, bana meaning big. The Arawak people named this windswept point long before any European ship ran aground he...

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Image: Joshua/Yoon Hernandez from Chicago, USA | CC BY 2.0

]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/6/n/p/california-lighthouse-wp/d6np-california-lighthouse-the-arawak-name-and-the-view.mp3 0:06 5 full