Aruba

According to the website operated by Numismaster, the 2001 Aruba 10 florin coins were minted with a brilliant, uncirculated value of $75.

Specifically, 2,000 coins were minted. These coins depict seven green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). The composition of these coins is silver.

Aruba is an island of many sports. Competitions and tournaments are held annually. Hosted throughout the island, the events highlight the variety of sports as well as Aruba's natural, diverse beauty.

One, the Aruba International Half Marathon is held in March. It covers the 21 kilometer [31 mile] distance from Sint Nicolaas [San Nicholas] in the southwest to Oranjestad in the northwest.

Two, the Royal Nationals Drag Race is held in April at the Palo Marga International Raceway Park near Sint Nicolaas [San Nicholas].

Three, National Beach Tennis Championships are held in May at Palm Beach in northwest Aruba.

Four, Hi-Winds Competition is held in July. The windsurfing events take place off Hadikurari Beach in northwest Aruba. Kiteboarding takes place off Boca Grandi Beach on the southeastern tip of Aruba.

Five, the International Pro-Am Golf Tournament is held in August at Tierra del Sol Resort and Golf Course on the northwestern tip of Aruba.

Six, the Catamaran Regatta is held in November off Palm Beach in northwest Aruba.

Aruba's capital city at Oranjestad is 1,936 miles [3,116 kilometers; 1,682 nautical miles] from Nashville, Tennessee. It takes around 4 hours to fly between the two cities.

Nashville isn't in the same time zone as Oranjestad. Aruba doesn't observe daylight saving time [DST] when clocks are set one hour ahead. During DST Nashville is only one hour behind Oranjestad. The rest of the year it's 2 hours behind.

Nashville is in the Central Time Zone. The eastern third of the state is in the Eastern Time Zone.

Aruba doesn't have an independence day ... yet. The closest thing to it is flag day every March 18th or autonomy day every January 1st.

Specifically, the island has been largely under Dutch control since 1636. Aruba gained autonomy in most internal affairs from the Netherlands on January 1, 1986. But the Kingdom of the Netherlands controls defense, foreign affairs, final judicial review, and such Kingdom matters as human rights and good governance. The movement toward independence was halted in 1990 upon the request of Aruba's Prime Minister Nelson Orlando Oduber [b. 1947].

Yes, the current Governor of the Netherlands Antilles is Aruba born. Frits M. de los Santos Goedgedrag was born on November 1, 1951 in Aruba. He began his government career as a legislation lawyer at the Department of Legal and General Affairs in Curaçao. He moved to Bonaire in the 1980s and eventually became Secretary of the Island Territory of Bonaire. He served as Lieutenant Governor of the Island Territory of Bonaire from 1992 to 1998. In 1998 he returned to Curaçao where he served as Procurator General of the Netherlands Antilles. In 2002 he was appointed Governor and assumed office on July 1, 2002.

For his official biography and a day in his life as Governor, please visit the link provided below.

Natalee Holloway [b. October 21, 1986] is the only tourist known to disappear in Aruba. Natalee arrived in Aruba on Thursday, May 26, 2005 with 124 fellow graduates of Mountain Brook High School in Alabama. She was last seen by her classmates around 1:30 a.m. on Monday, May 30. She failed to show up for the flight home later that day.

Despite extensive searches of the island and surrounding waters, no trace of Natalee yet has been found. Her father, Dave Holloway, has established the Natalee Holloway Foundation to provide information and resources to immediate families of U.S. citizens who have missing family members.

For more information on the foundation that honors Natalee's memory, please visit the link provided below.

Driving in Aruba is on the right hand side of the road. If you have a valid U.S. license and are 21 years old, you may legally drive in Aruba. You don't need a temporary Aruba license.

But please be aware of the fact that right turns on red aren't permitted in Aruba!

The Caribbean tectonic plate is the plate upon which Aruba is located.

Specifically, Aruba is an arid, sunny island in the southernmost Caribbean Sea. It is only 17 miles (27 kilometers) off the coast of the northern South American country of Venezuela. But the island is not part of that continent or of that continent's tectonic plate.

Manchebo Beach is the location of the French Steak House.

Specifically, the restaurant is part of the Manchebo Beach Resort & Spa. The exact address is JE Irausquin Blvd 55. Reservations can be made by telephone, online or email.

Dutch and Papiamento are the national languages, and the Aruban florin is the national currency, in Aruba.

Specifically, Aruba is a Caribbean island and constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its official, national languages therefore are the Dutch language of its colonizers and the Papiamento of its Caribbean native populations. Aruba's autonomy within the Dutch kingdom dates back to 1986, when its currency concomitantly changed from the Netherlands Antillean guilder to the Aruban florin.

Trade imbalance is Aruba's main economic problem.

Specifically, Aruba is limited by size and terrain such that the happy island must import. Despite healthy tourism and profitable exports of aloe vera, Aruba must bring in to the country more than it sends out. Correcting that trade imbalance is a priority of Aruba's government.

Surinam Airways currently is listing round-trip tickets Suriname-Aruba-Suriname at $259. In January 2009 Aruba Airport Authority NV selected Surinam Airways as the winner of the Wow! Award 2008. Surinam Airways won the award for introducing flights that transit on Aruba and continue to Miami.

For information on the Wow! Award ceremony, please access the Aruba Tourism Authority's website by visiting the link provided below.