I just completed a week-long trip to Aruba. I dove with Clive Paula at Dive Aruba (www.divearuba.com). What a great dive trip! Clive used to be based at the Bushiri Resort which subsequently closed. He now runs the operation out of his home. I did five days of two-tank diving with him. You can see the schedule on his web site. Clive takes out no more than seven people on each trip. He led us through several wrecks (The Antilla, Jane Sea, Sonesta) and some drift dives as well. What I like about Clive the most is that he lets us stay down as long as we want. Because of this, I had my longest dive ever, 1 hour and 27 minutes. Ok, I confess...it was at an average depth of 30 feet. During the surface intervals, Clive provided fruit and soft drinks. The visibility was good, but not quite up to the level of Bonaire and Roatan. I highly recommend Clive. You will not be disappointed.
As far as lodging, I stayed at Villa Sunflower (www.arubasunflower.com). It is a land house with guest suites. The suites are clean and simple with A/C, kitchenette, and cable TV. The owner, Rienke Bosch, is very kind and does whatever she can to make people comfortable. The rates were very reasonable ($80/night) and it is close to Palm Beach. When I got off the plane, I wasn't sure if I would like Aruba. By the end of my trip, I didn't want to leave!
As far as lodging, I stayed at Villa Sunflower (www.arubasunflower.com). It is a land house with guest suites. The suites are clean and simple with A/C, kitchenette, and cable TV. The owner, Rienke Bosch, is very kind and does whatever she can to make people comfortable. The rates were very reasonable ($80/night) and it is close to Palm Beach. When I got off the plane, I wasn't sure if I would like Aruba. By the end of my trip, I didn't want to leave!