Caribbean Sea from Bushiribana Ruins
North coast of Aruba
December 2, 2006 | 12:45 p.m.

On the undeveloped northeastern coast of Aruba stands Bushiribana, the ruins of a old smelting operation that processed local gold. The smelter was housed within an old stone fort in order to disguise it from pirates, who were not uncommon along the Aruban coast during the late 1800s.

I was touring the back coast of the island when I stopped to poke around Bushiribana. The place was full of interesting doors and windows, and so it lent itself well to photographing. I shot this photo through the crumbling side door to the fort. The edges look like a torn negative, but it's really just the structure itself. Luckily, I caught the waves in mid-crash.