The Bushiribana cave pool is closed

What happened to the Bushiribana cave pool?

It was closed for swimming in September 2025, and the wooden ladder down the cliff has since been removed. You can look from above, nothing more.

On 29 January 2026 Aruba Today reported that the cave pool at Bushiribana was "no longer accesible". The paper noted that "many tours included this spot in their itinerary, where guides provided a hand and advice when climbing down", and that "the ladder has been removed" because the descent had become too dangerous.

Operators had already changed course. The EZ Raider north coast listing says the authorities closed the cave pool for swimming in September 2025, that tours now visit only for the view, and that it added Pearl Cove as a place to cool off. A TripAdvisor reviewer of Around Aruba Tours headlined their review "Cave/Pool/Cliff Jumping is now permanently closed". No reopening date has been announced as of 21 October 2026.

One trap: some pages still describe it as open. Visit Aruba's cave pool page still talks about the ladder and calls the pool safe for swimming. That text predates the closure.

How is the cave pool different from the Natural Pool (Conchi)?

Different place, different rules. The cave pool sits outside the national park by the Bushiribana ruins; Conchi is inside Arikok, needs the $22 park pass and a 4x4, and is open whenever the rangers allow.

The names get mixed up online. Aruba Today itself once billed the cave pool as the "new" Natural Pool, a few minutes' walk from the Bushiribana goldmine down wooden stairs. It was popular because it was easy: a paved road, no park fee, no off-road track.

Conchi is the one the jeep tours are built around. It sits on the windward coast inside Arikok, reached by about a mile of rough track that only a 4x4, a horse or your own legs can manage, then roughly 100 steps of rock and stairs. Rangers close it when the sea breaks over the rim. The Natural Pool season post has the month-by-month odds.

Which tours used to stop at the cave pool?

Mainly the north-coast UTV and private island tours that sold a swim or cliff jump there. The jeep safaris on this site stop at the Bushiribana ruins for photos, not at the pool.

The cave pool never needed a jeep, so it belonged to the UTV north-coast circuits and to custom private tours. The EZ Raider north coast ride and Around Aruba's private trips are the examples guests mention by name. Search listings still turn up titles such as "full island sightseeing tour with cave pool swim", which should tell you how old that text is.

On our list, three tours stop at the ruins themselves: the full-day island safari for 15 minutes, the Outback Safari for 20, and the private open-air tour for up to 30 if you pick it. All three itineraries list Bushiribana as free and none promises a swim there. The private tour's overview still mentions cliff jumping and natural pools: ask the operator what that means in 2026 before you count on it.

The north coast and Arikok in one half day: the ruins, the bridge site, Alto Vista and the Natural Pool, park admission included.

★ 4.9 · 4.5 hours · from $122

Explore the Outback Safari jeep tour → Tour details

Where do jeep tours swim now instead of the cave pool?

At the Natural Pool when it is open, and at Baby Beach on the routes that go south. The north-coast bays are for looking: the currents there are strong.

For a jeep safari, nothing changed much. The swim was always Conchi, and the backup was always Baby Beach, the shallow lagoon at the island's south-east tip. Fofoti and the island safari give it an hour; AGW and the Arikok safari truck half an hour.

UTV tours, which cannot enter Arikok, lost their easy swim and moved it to Pearl Cove. Andicuri, Wariruri and Dos Playa on the jeep routes are photo stops with heavy surf. If a swim is the point of your day, choose a route with both Conchi and Baby Beach. If the thrill of the drive is the point, our jeep or UTV comparison explains what each vehicle can reach.

Is the Bushiribana stop still worth it without the cave pool?

For ten or twenty minutes, yes. The ruins are the draw, and the Natural Bridge site and the surviving Baby Bridge are a short drive away.

The Bushiribana smelter was built in 1872 to process gold ore and worked for only about ten years. What is left is a fortress-like shell of local stone with the surf behind it, one of the better photo stops on the island.

Down the coast is the site of the Natural Bridge, which collapsed on 2 September 2005, and the smaller arch beside it that still stands. Stay back from the cliff edge above the cave pool: the climb down is the reason it closed.

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