My first open water experience was with Clive of Dive Aruba. The max on the boat is 8 including Clive. He picks you up, takes you to the site, leads the dive, and changes out your reg/bc on the SI.
Although only a newbie, I enjoyed the diving in Aruba. I dove four sites there. The Antilla is a definite must do. Also the Sonesta Airplane dive. Visibility was 50-60 feet on a good day but still quite nice.
With Clive, you can get extended bottom times. Our group was the first in the water, with several cattle boats (Red Sail Sports) arriving and dumping people in the water for 30 minutes, and we always finished after them. Bottom times were 50- 60 minutes on most dives.
Clive has a web site, where you can preview the dive schedule and email a reservation for the days you would like to dive. I strongly recommend that if you know when you are going. A deposit isn't required. Our boat was full every day and people would call on arrival to Aruba and often not get on.
Enjoy Aruba. I certainly did.
Troy Coleman