The natural pool is a sheltered little stand of water actually protected by aforementioned rugged rocks from the pounding surf and is a cool little place to take a dip, dive from some low rocks, and, as you may have guessed by now, explore with your trusty snorkel. If memory serves, we found some soggy cash whilst exploring that some tourist had likely lost while swimming there.
The cool part is that while you swim, the ocean is pounding the rocks around you but you are perfectly sheltered in your little liquid fortress. A big wave will smash the rocks and just a little soft wave will trickle over the rocks into the pool, all bubbly from the churning surf. At one point, I climbed up on the rocks to look down into the surf and was completely freaked out by the nasty power of the waves on the sharp rocks. Please watch this video as a combination sales pitch and warning about this place. If you've ever wondered where Natalee Holloway ended up, the waves/rocks combination may help you form a pretty likely theory.
When we went, we happened to time it just so that the sun was about to set and we ended up being the only two people there. I'm not sure if that trick will prove effective in the busy season but take it for what it's worth. It is located here and, like Mangel Halto, I will leave it up to you to study the map and figure out a route over there from your hotel. We used to spend a few minutes studying the map and jotting down key roads and turns and we always found our way pretty easily. If you do get lost, you can always stop and ask the locals.
Which reminds me, as a brief aside, the languages of Aruba are English, Dutch, Spanish, and Papiamento. If you speak English, you will be fine 90% of the time. If you speak Spanish, you are 100% covered. If you speak a few Papiamento phrases, you will win the hearts of the locals. Here are a few sites full of Papiamento phrases: site, site, site.
And, since you're already clear out in the middle of nowhere, you may as well see the Bushiribana gold smelter ruins too. According to Wikipedia, the smelter was built in 1825 to process gold mined nearby. It sits up on a prominence that overlooks Aruba's forsaken eastern shore and, as shown in this picture taken from the top of the ruins, you can climb all over around and inside of them:
I don't know, I get a kick out of historical things so I really enjoyed this. You guys may not want to waste the time and gas to get over there. It is located a little ways north from the road to the Natural Pool. Also, between the ruins and the cliff, people have stacked hundreds of cairns with all the loose rock/coral laying around. I thought that was pretty cool too.
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