Aruba Trip Report

[parzdiver]

Aruba in January. Nothing better than to get away from the cold weather in Pennsylvania and hit the sunny, breezy, 82 degree weather to the south. My wife Cathy and I booked the trip from the 7th - 14th at the Occidental Grand Resort (all-inclusive). We had stopped in Aruba a couple times on cruises and the decision to go all-inclusive was based on what we remembered. Of course, that last cruise to Aruba was ten years ago and things have changed. The biggest change, which would have altered our choice of hotels, was the addition of a large strip of restaurants and shops in the "High Rise Zone" of hotels. Ten years ago, there wasn't much except for the hotels. Now there is a huge selection of restaurants, although not the small local places we prefer, but places like Benihana, Hooters, TGI Fridays, and a variety of large restaurants. While the food at the Occidental was good, we would have enjoyed a better variety of food off site. We did go out twice, once to Madam Jeanette, great food, poor service, and once to Soenchi's, good food.

Overall the Occidental was good, clean rooms, great pool, plenty of chairs on the beach. The drinks at the bars were readily available and the service was quick. Breakfast buffet was large, plentiful and always fresh and stocked. Same with the lunch buffets. We didn't eat at the buffet for dinner, going to the "specialty" restaurants instead. The Italian and Mexican were my favorites, followed by the Asian and Caribbean. Beach was what you expect from an Aruba beach - very nice.

Now to what every really want to hear about, the diving. I went with JADS Dive Center on recommendation from DNYer Skipper John and was very happy with the choice. While they are located about 20 minutes away from the hotels, south of the airport, they picked us up every morning. Their big boat was out of the water for its regular service and inspection, so we were on their 6-pack. A comfortable boat, but gets a bit crowded with six divers, a dive master and captain. The captain for the week was ET, and we rotated through Rudolf, Ernie and Felix as our dive masters. All of them were friendly, helpful and fun. Conditions were the same all week, air was 82, water was 78-80. There was always a wind blowing (always in Aruba), so there was a bit of surface chop, but nothing big. Visibility did vary from about 40 to 80 feet. The low viz days had a lot of particulate in the water. Once I get the videos posted, you'll see what I mean.

First day of diving it was just Cathy and I on the boat and we did a couple drift dives. We dove Parcabera and Tire Reefs. Good healthy reefs, lots of eels and the typical cast of Caribbean fishes.

Cathy dove every other day, so I was on the boat with three other divers including a guy from NY who divess at Dutch Springs. Small world. We were joined with a Dutch couple as well. We hit the plane wrecks, two planes sunk as artificial reefs. One was broken in pieces, but had a nice swim through at the cockpit area. The other plane sits fully intact. I definitely would like to go back and spend more time on all the wrecks in Aruba with some additional equipment to do some penetration dives. Overall a great dive. Second dive of the day was Sponge Reef.

Cathy is back on day three and we start with the Jane Sea, a 200+ foot freighter confiscated for smuggling drugs. While being towed to its intended scuttling location, it broke free and landed in 90' of water. The ship sits upright and the cargo bays are open and easy to swim through. Again, the superstructure taunted me to go inside, but I resisted and stuck to the easy swim-throughs. Our second dive was on Bacadera Reef. This day I had my new GoPro camera and shot plenty of video, unfortunately I haven't posted it yet, since my PC is too old to handle processing a 3 GB 1080p file. The new computer is already ordered and will be here next week. I am glad I had my video camera with me since we got a fly-by from a Manta Ray. One of the most graceful and beautiful creatures of the sea.

Day four was a couple reefs, Finger Reef and Isla de Ora. Bother were great dives with the visibility getting better. I took a lot of pictures with my still camera on these dives.

Last and final day was a double wreck dive with Cathy back in action. For these dives, the boat relocated to a marina in the north of the island, so our drive was only about five minutes from the hotel. The first dive was Blue Reef and the Debbie II, a 120 foot fuel barge. While small, the boat is upright and intact, with some good swim through opportunities. Got video of a large sting ray out in the sand. The second dive was the Antilla, a 400+ foot German frieghter scuttle by the captain in WWII to keep it from being taken by the Dutch after Germany declared war on Holland. This is a big wreck, but very broken. There were a couple snorkel boats there when we arrived and the DM told us to keep our eyes open for things dropped by the snorkelers. The only thing found was a rental mask and snorkel. No treasure. Again, I would love to go back and be able to spend more time poking into some of the holes I saw.

Overall I would rate Aruba as a great destination with a good combination of activities above and below the waterline. The diving isn't challenging, but has a nice variety of wrecks and reefs. With the right gear and group, the wrecks could be much more fun. I wouldn't hesitate go to Aruba again, but there are so many other destinations I want to explore and so little vacation time (and money). If I do go back, I will definitely dive with JADS.

I have pictures posted on my web page and the videos should be completed in the next week or so. Let me know if you have any questions! Aruba - January 2012

Now, I just need to find my next trip...... any ideas?

[parzdiver]

Got my first video extracted - we got a Manta fly-by on Bacadera Reef.

[HenrikBP]

Wow, you couldn't have scripted that fly-by any better. Very nice.

H

[parzdiver]

Wow, you couldn't have scripted that fly-by any better. Very nice.

H

I love the sounds in the background. Someone is screaming into their reg (honestly it might be me) and someone is banging their tank like crazy. The pure joy and amazement I saw in Cathy's eyes after the dive was just awesome.

[ScubaSam]

I love the sounds in the background. Someone is screaming into their reg (honestly it might be me) and someone is banging their tank like crazy. The pure joy and amazement I saw in Cathy's eyes after the dive was just awesome.

Great report and video. DNYers tease you like crazy about your many trips but you know it's only done out of pure jealousy as we live vicariously through your trips.

For a newish diver, Cathy has some great dive stories to share. In the video, I was wondering what was being screamed into the reg but never thought you may be the screamer.