snturner
Contributor
We are back from Aruba. The trip was pretty good and the diving was great. I dove with http://divearuba.com. I went on five trips with Clive, the owner of Dive Aruba. All but one trip I was the only diver. Clive says he doesn't just take one diver but since I had already made reservations he would take me out anyway. Other divers had either cancelled or just didn't so up. We dove the Antilla Wreck and the Arashi reef the first day. The Antilla wreck was nice. We penetrated the wreck. It was not crowd at all. I was the last dive in line so the slit got a little stirred up a couple of times, which made it a little hard to see the exit. Not a bad dive but most of the fish on this dive where at the top of the wreck. The wreck sticks out of the water in some places. Visibility was about 60 to 70 feet on the outside of the wreck. The second day of diving we did the airplanes, the Sonesta Airplane Wreck. They have sunk another plane with in the last couple of months. The plane was donated by Aruba Airlines, which went bankrupt. The new airplane was great. We went inside the plane and up to the cockpit. I got stuck but was able to free myself with in a few seconds. The new plane is sitting at an angle so that the nose of the plane is pointing to the surface. The landing gear is down and the stairs are extended. After the dive I pointed out to Clive that I would hate to be the diver who is under the plane when it starts rusting or the landing gear collapses and the body of the plane breaks in half.
The last day of diving was just Clive and I. He took me to the Jane Sea Wreck and Barcadera Reef. This was the best dive of my life. First time I have been deep inside a wreck that actually wasn't stripped clean. Clive asked me before the dive if I would be comfortable with this dive and told me, just as he had on every dive, what we would be doing and what to expect. When he first went in I couldn't believe he was going in with out a light. He disappeared into the darkness in front of me. I stopped and thought "what the hell", he didn't tell me about this part. I stuck my head through the door to see how much light was inside. I could see like through port holes and another door. I did have a small light on my BCD so I turned it on. I shined it in front of me and found Clive only 10 feet in front of me. Waiting on me. I go in a little further to find that after my eyes had adjusted to the dim light I could see plenty of escape routes. Clive turned and kept going forward. My small light was working great for looking into rooms and in the floor of the ship. I was astonished to not see any eels or fish inside this wreck. Bummer. I got stuck in this wreck several times. There are lots of large cables hanging in this wreck and lots of tight turns you have to make to maneuver in the wreck. Taking your time and being calm is the keep. Clive's experience was easy to see. He didn't hit anything, get stuck or stir up slit. This was a huge plus for me. The visibility in the wreck was crystal clear. This was a very educational dive for me. I wouldn't recommend that anyone else do this penetration dive unless you are very comfortable underwater and you are diving with someone with has done it before. We kept the exits in view at all times.
I would recommend Clive at Dive Aruba to anyone going to Aruba. Small boat, only takes 7 divers or less. Very polite and will suit your needs to make sure you have a good time. Follow his instructions and you will have fun and stay safe.
Overall our trip to Aruba was pretty good. We had a hard time with Thrifty car rental. Which is the only car rental the Renaissance Marine Hotel offers. The car was a piece of junk. Brakes squealed and the front end / steering wheel shake when we got above 50 km an hour, so much that it was hard to keep the car going straight down the road. This was a soft top and had no back windows. We had the car for 3 hours before returning it. We drove out to baby beach and back. When I tried to return the car for a different car they told me they where closed because the next day was a holiday. That didn't make a lot of sense. It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon and they had already left for the day. The only office open was at the airport and we were told to drive the car there. Not to bad but when we got there we were told that we would have to pay for the car that day and start a new contract on a new car. Then I figured out that I would be charged again for the same day on the new car. The lady was very rude and would not call a supervisor for me to discuss this. In the end we called our credit card company and told them not to authorize any charges from Thrifty.
I did have problems actually spending our money. Almost every place I went, they could not run my VISA credit card. When I would try and offer them a twenty for an $11.00 purchase they would tell me they didn't have change. Again this made no sense. This happened several times. Most of the time I just had to leave without my items. Several times I had store clerks try and charge me American dollars at the Aruban rate. I also noticed that when a clerk gave me back my change in Aruban money, I was always short changed. Usually just some change but sometimes I was sorted several dollars.If I was shorted only some change I wouldn't say anything. t wasn't worth it. The clerk gets very upset when you bring this to their attention.
About half of the Arubans I came across didn't seem happy. I got in the habit of asking them if they are having a good day. Sometimes they would smile and say yes but others would just look at me with a blank stair. Once I stood in the lobby of the Renaissance Marine Hotel to watch the people at the front desk be checked into their rooms. Not once in 20 minutes did I see a clerk smile at a customer. I think this is very odd for a country that has a license plate that says "One Happy Island".
Now about the Renaissance Marine Hotel. The hotel was clean and the private island was great. The bathroom was very small. We did get disturbed once at 9:30 PM and once at midnight. The first time room service said they were there to turn down our beds. At 9:30 PM? Midnight rolls around and I hear a knock at the door. I start to get up and get dressed when a lady from housekeeping comes in the room. I asked her what she was doing. She did not speak English very well. All she did was turn and leave saying she was sorry. My wife calls the front desk to see why this happened. They say they will check on it and let us know. Twenty minutes later the phone rings, waking us up again. They tell me that the housekeeping lady was looking for a remote and thought the room was empty. Well that makes the issue about clear as mud. When we checked out my wife asked to speak to the supervisor. She explained the incident to him. He gave us fifty dollars off our bill. Not sure that makes up for this but oh well.
The island was great. I took my metal detector which broke on the 3rd day. I did manage to find a lot of change and a white gold wedding band. Drinks and food are expensive on the island but I guess they where expensive everywhere. At the hotel lounge a Bud Lite was $6 a can. The cheapest drinks I found where at Iguana Joe's, $3.50 for an Aruban 12 ounce beer. By the way Iguana Joe's food and service where great. Price was not too bad either. The Driftwood was also a great place to eat. Very good food and not too expensive. Several times when we went o a restaurant my wife was brought food that she didn't order. We didn't complain. She just ate it. When the bill came it had the correct items listed with the correct price.
It was also odd to see that 95% of the stores close at 7 PM. On Sunday everything was dead until noon.
For horse back riding I would recommend Rancho Notorious. Nice ride on the beach and through the hills in Aruba. We also did horse back riding with another company that took us to the natural pool . The bad thing about this ride was that it was about 2 miles of ridding on asphalt.
The casino's where OK ( free beer when you are playing) but the dealers where not friendly at any of the casinos we went to. I even tried to cheer some of them up. A few would start smiling but most seemed to not like talking to us. I found that a dollar tip for an 8 ounce beer would get the waitress to come back when the cup was empty.
A funny thing about other visitors in Aruba. We talked to a lot of people form different places and found that they where having the same trouble as us. People not be friendly and slow service. But it didn't seem to bother most of them. They just said "yes we noticed that too". We did find a lot of people who had time shares on Aruba and had been coming to Aruba for several years.
Overall I would rate the diving as very good and the hotel about a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. The people of Aruba would have to get a 3.5 for not being very nice.
The last day of diving was just Clive and I. He took me to the Jane Sea Wreck and Barcadera Reef. This was the best dive of my life. First time I have been deep inside a wreck that actually wasn't stripped clean. Clive asked me before the dive if I would be comfortable with this dive and told me, just as he had on every dive, what we would be doing and what to expect. When he first went in I couldn't believe he was going in with out a light. He disappeared into the darkness in front of me. I stopped and thought "what the hell", he didn't tell me about this part. I stuck my head through the door to see how much light was inside. I could see like through port holes and another door. I did have a small light on my BCD so I turned it on. I shined it in front of me and found Clive only 10 feet in front of me. Waiting on me. I go in a little further to find that after my eyes had adjusted to the dim light I could see plenty of escape routes. Clive turned and kept going forward. My small light was working great for looking into rooms and in the floor of the ship. I was astonished to not see any eels or fish inside this wreck. Bummer. I got stuck in this wreck several times. There are lots of large cables hanging in this wreck and lots of tight turns you have to make to maneuver in the wreck. Taking your time and being calm is the keep. Clive's experience was easy to see. He didn't hit anything, get stuck or stir up slit. This was a huge plus for me. The visibility in the wreck was crystal clear. This was a very educational dive for me. I wouldn't recommend that anyone else do this penetration dive unless you are very comfortable underwater and you are diving with someone with has done it before. We kept the exits in view at all times.
I would recommend Clive at Dive Aruba to anyone going to Aruba. Small boat, only takes 7 divers or less. Very polite and will suit your needs to make sure you have a good time. Follow his instructions and you will have fun and stay safe.
Overall our trip to Aruba was pretty good. We had a hard time with Thrifty car rental. Which is the only car rental the Renaissance Marine Hotel offers. The car was a piece of junk. Brakes squealed and the front end / steering wheel shake when we got above 50 km an hour, so much that it was hard to keep the car going straight down the road. This was a soft top and had no back windows. We had the car for 3 hours before returning it. We drove out to baby beach and back. When I tried to return the car for a different car they told me they where closed because the next day was a holiday. That didn't make a lot of sense. It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon and they had already left for the day. The only office open was at the airport and we were told to drive the car there. Not to bad but when we got there we were told that we would have to pay for the car that day and start a new contract on a new car. Then I figured out that I would be charged again for the same day on the new car. The lady was very rude and would not call a supervisor for me to discuss this. In the end we called our credit card company and told them not to authorize any charges from Thrifty.
I did have problems actually spending our money. Almost every place I went, they could not run my VISA credit card. When I would try and offer them a twenty for an $11.00 purchase they would tell me they didn't have change. Again this made no sense. This happened several times. Most of the time I just had to leave without my items. Several times I had store clerks try and charge me American dollars at the Aruban rate. I also noticed that when a clerk gave me back my change in Aruban money, I was always short changed. Usually just some change but sometimes I was sorted several dollars.If I was shorted only some change I wouldn't say anything. t wasn't worth it. The clerk gets very upset when you bring this to their attention.
About half of the Arubans I came across didn't seem happy. I got in the habit of asking them if they are having a good day. Sometimes they would smile and say yes but others would just look at me with a blank stair. Once I stood in the lobby of the Renaissance Marine Hotel to watch the people at the front desk be checked into their rooms. Not once in 20 minutes did I see a clerk smile at a customer. I think this is very odd for a country that has a license plate that says "One Happy Island".
Now about the Renaissance Marine Hotel. The hotel was clean and the private island was great. The bathroom was very small. We did get disturbed once at 9:30 PM and once at midnight. The first time room service said they were there to turn down our beds. At 9:30 PM? Midnight rolls around and I hear a knock at the door. I start to get up and get dressed when a lady from housekeeping comes in the room. I asked her what she was doing. She did not speak English very well. All she did was turn and leave saying she was sorry. My wife calls the front desk to see why this happened. They say they will check on it and let us know. Twenty minutes later the phone rings, waking us up again. They tell me that the housekeeping lady was looking for a remote and thought the room was empty. Well that makes the issue about clear as mud. When we checked out my wife asked to speak to the supervisor. She explained the incident to him. He gave us fifty dollars off our bill. Not sure that makes up for this but oh well.
The island was great. I took my metal detector which broke on the 3rd day. I did manage to find a lot of change and a white gold wedding band. Drinks and food are expensive on the island but I guess they where expensive everywhere. At the hotel lounge a Bud Lite was $6 a can. The cheapest drinks I found where at Iguana Joe's, $3.50 for an Aruban 12 ounce beer. By the way Iguana Joe's food and service where great. Price was not too bad either. The Driftwood was also a great place to eat. Very good food and not too expensive. Several times when we went o a restaurant my wife was brought food that she didn't order. We didn't complain. She just ate it. When the bill came it had the correct items listed with the correct price.
It was also odd to see that 95% of the stores close at 7 PM. On Sunday everything was dead until noon.
For horse back riding I would recommend Rancho Notorious. Nice ride on the beach and through the hills in Aruba. We also did horse back riding with another company that took us to the natural pool . The bad thing about this ride was that it was about 2 miles of ridding on asphalt.
The casino's where OK ( free beer when you are playing) but the dealers where not friendly at any of the casinos we went to. I even tried to cheer some of them up. A few would start smiling but most seemed to not like talking to us. I found that a dollar tip for an 8 ounce beer would get the waitress to come back when the cup was empty.
A funny thing about other visitors in Aruba. We talked to a lot of people form different places and found that they where having the same trouble as us. People not be friendly and slow service. But it didn't seem to bother most of them. They just said "yes we noticed that too". We did find a lot of people who had time shares on Aruba and had been coming to Aruba for several years.
Overall I would rate the diving as very good and the hotel about a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. The people of Aruba would have to get a 3.5 for not being very nice.
