alashas
Contributor
Seven of us visited Aruba in March, and arranged a weeks worth of dives with Clive Paula of http://www.divearuba.com Clive was highly recommended by numerous divers, and we were not disappointed in the least!
Only two of us were interested in doing our first night dive, and it was awesome! Our dive boat attached to a buoy near one of the 3 sunken airplanes a couple of hundred yards in front of Renaissance Island. It was kind of surreal as my brother, our dive master, Clive Paula, and I sat in silence on the boat in the moonless night for a moment, hearing only the waves, while, just a few hundred yards on shore we could also hear the band playing and people partying on Renaissance Island. Trust me, I think we had a much more enjoyable experience than any of them, but "to each his or her own," especially while vacationing in Aruba!
I entered the water first and could see the bottom about 25 ft below me with my bright light. As I descended, I could look up and see the light from the boat, as well as the lights from my brother and Clive as they began their descent. Once the three of us were on the bottom, we gradually swam down a coral reef to the plane wreck in about 75 ft of water. Everything underwater becomes more colorful at night, and the coral glowed orange, yellow, and pink whenever the bright beams of our lights shone on it. Most of the fish were asleep and glowed with every color imaginable. When we turned off our lights and quickly moved our hands back and forth through the water, plankton and other phosphorescent particles sparkled as though hundreds of lightening bugs were suddenly swimming (or is it flying?) all around us.
The plane, a turbo prop, Im guessing a 16 seater or so, had been deliberately sunk in the water about 50 yrs ago, and has broken in to several large pieces. There was beautiful coral on the planes surface, snoozing fish inside, and several large moral eels and crustaceans underneath and under various parts of the wreckage. The current was stronger than Clive had anticipated, and he said he normally sees more fish at the site. French Angelfish are one of the most beautiful fish to encounter in the water, and, while swimming back to boat, my brother and saw the largest one we have ever seen, approx. 30 inches in diameter, happily snuggled inside a large coral and sponge garden.
Once ashore, my brother and I celebrated our dive by sharing a 5 pound Caribbean lobster at Don Carlos Ristorante Italiano on the waterfront. We had so much lobster left over that our group of 7 enjoyed homemade lobster alfredo for our last dinner in our villa. Cheers!
Only two of us were interested in doing our first night dive, and it was awesome! Our dive boat attached to a buoy near one of the 3 sunken airplanes a couple of hundred yards in front of Renaissance Island. It was kind of surreal as my brother, our dive master, Clive Paula, and I sat in silence on the boat in the moonless night for a moment, hearing only the waves, while, just a few hundred yards on shore we could also hear the band playing and people partying on Renaissance Island. Trust me, I think we had a much more enjoyable experience than any of them, but "to each his or her own," especially while vacationing in Aruba!
I entered the water first and could see the bottom about 25 ft below me with my bright light. As I descended, I could look up and see the light from the boat, as well as the lights from my brother and Clive as they began their descent. Once the three of us were on the bottom, we gradually swam down a coral reef to the plane wreck in about 75 ft of water. Everything underwater becomes more colorful at night, and the coral glowed orange, yellow, and pink whenever the bright beams of our lights shone on it. Most of the fish were asleep and glowed with every color imaginable. When we turned off our lights and quickly moved our hands back and forth through the water, plankton and other phosphorescent particles sparkled as though hundreds of lightening bugs were suddenly swimming (or is it flying?) all around us.
The plane, a turbo prop, Im guessing a 16 seater or so, had been deliberately sunk in the water about 50 yrs ago, and has broken in to several large pieces. There was beautiful coral on the planes surface, snoozing fish inside, and several large moral eels and crustaceans underneath and under various parts of the wreckage. The current was stronger than Clive had anticipated, and he said he normally sees more fish at the site. French Angelfish are one of the most beautiful fish to encounter in the water, and, while swimming back to boat, my brother and saw the largest one we have ever seen, approx. 30 inches in diameter, happily snuggled inside a large coral and sponge garden.
Once ashore, my brother and I celebrated our dive by sharing a 5 pound Caribbean lobster at Don Carlos Ristorante Italiano on the waterfront. We had so much lobster left over that our group of 7 enjoyed homemade lobster alfredo for our last dinner in our villa. Cheers!
