We just returned from our first trip to Aruba 9 days ago. We chose to make reservations with Pelican Adventures about a month before we arrived based on some good things we had seen on the Aruba forums. They have a very good dive boat(s) and we were well pleased with their emphasis on safety, good rental equipment, etc. My only concern was their no money back policy on reservations. I used my MC to make the early arrangements (not unusual) but on our first dive I found out about their policy. I had a rather long conversation with the operator that I felt that was wrong, and had not run into that situation in either Provo or St. Martin. As it turned out, the discussion probably helped on our second scheduled dive. We were the only two that showed up that morning, and they took us out anyway even tho they had a policy of diving only with a minimum number of divers (4 or 6 ?). Make sure you schedule the Antilla Ship wreck dive--a 440 ft. long German ship in 60 ft of water that was scuttled in 1941. They have a published schedule for each day and where they dive, tho it can be altered some based on conditions that morning. Their dive pier is in front of the Holiday Inn at the "High Rise" section on Palm Beach. They have a very nice Bar/ Restaurant right on the water, and our dinner there one night was memorable--Hans was both our divemaster that day and our waiter that night. Be prepared for the tradewinds--they can sandblast you on the beach!
