Aruba or Curacao?

[gargoyle999]

We are on a cruise in Nov and we will be visiting Aruba and Curacao. Which would you prefer to dive if you only could choose one?

We will be new divers (getting certified in Aug).

I plan to dive in Cozumel and Grand Turk before our stops in Aruba and Curacao. As these two are back to back I'm thinking two days in a row of diving might be too much for newbies? So I'm trying to decide which port I should plan to dive between these two.

Thanks!

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Two days in a row is hardly too much, unless you have significant medical issues.

My wife and I did a resort course with a one tank dive. Then one tank the next day. Then two tank dives each of the next three days. We were not even certified.

When we did get certified, we did OW and AOW over a five day period, followed by more diving. Fouteen dives over a six day period.

Assuming you're in good health and reasonably fit, there's no reason you should find serial two tank dives too stressful.

Dive both. Then go dive them again.

Incidentially, we will also be in Curacao in Nov. We'll be at Breezes, diving with The Dive Bus. When will you be there?

 

[catskill diver]

Hey 999 contact JADS in Aruba. JP the owner and his crew in baby beach are 1st rate. Drop him a line and see if they are picking up from the cruise ships. Tons of wrecks - some shallow. They put two DM in the water with us with a group of 8.

 

[drrich2]

Mostly likely you will do a 2 tank dive (basically, 2 dives in different sites, spaced far enough for a bit of a surface interval) on a day you dive there (I'm assuming you book with the cruise line or independently book with a dive shop and do boat diving; since you're fairly new I'm guessing you won't be doing shore diving in Curacao, although I guess it's possible).

So, 4 dives in 2 days? That should be no problem.

Richard.

 

[JPAPPAS]

if cost is not an issue - dive both - you wont regret it in fact - you might regret it if you dont. More than likely - you'll be doing two tank dives from each port you stop at.

john

 

[gargoyle999]

Dive both. Then go dive them again.

Incidentially, we will also be in Curacao in Nov. We'll be at Breezes, diving with The Dive Bus. When will you be there?

I plan too, someday!

I'm just trying to find the place I want to go back to for a land vacation. We have been snorkeling in several places from Hawaii to Cabo to various places in the Caribbean and I figured it was time to take it to the next step and try and get scuba certified.

So far my fav spot is Roatan with Belize being second. Hope to go back to both when we can scuba. Unless of course Cozumel (have been snorkeling there), Aruba, Grand Turk or Curacao win me over in Nov.

We will be in Curacao on Nov 23rd. I'm trying to see if we can just rent equipment from the Dive Bus and do our own shore dive. We are there for odd hours (either 1pm-10pm or 2pm-11pm depending on ship vs land time-not sure what it will be exactly) so a guided tour is out. I just sent them a message so I'll see what they say!

 

[gargoyle999]

Thanks everyone for the input! I think we will do both if we can work out the odd schedule in Curacao!

We did do a two tank discover dive from shore when we were on a cruise to Hawaii in April so I'd be happy to do that in Curacao.

I'll have to check out JADS in Aruba, I've seen them mentioned in other threads as I've been exploring this site for the last couple days. Do they take newbies? I normally book my own cruise excursions but I'm leaning towards booking my scuba trips through the ship since I'm guessing those with more experience would book independent trips. Don't want people getting mad at me for sucking too much air!

Does everyone have to come up when the first people do? We did stay down just over an hour per tank in Hawaii but maybe we had big tanks? Only could down to 40 feet too.

As far as cost I have to say that while not "cheap", doing a guided tour with rented equipment is about the same or less than we have paid for a lot of our excursions in the past. And that is even comparing ship price to scuba vs independent non scuba excursions on other cruises.

So thanks again everyone! I do think we should maximize our scuba time as much as we can to get more experience under our belts.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

I plan too, someday!

I'm just trying to find the place I want to go back to for a land vacation. We have been snorkeling in several places from Hawaii to Cabo to various places in the Caribbean and I figured it was time to take it to the next step and try and get scuba certified.

So far my fav spot is Roatan with Belize being second. Hope to go back to both when we can scuba. Unless of course Cozumel (have been snorkeling there), Aruba, Grand Turk or Curacao win me over in Nov.

We will be in Curacao on Nov 23rd. I'm trying to see if we can just rent equipment from the Dive Bus and do our own shore dive. We are there for odd hours (either 1pm-10pm or 2pm-11pm depending on ship vs land time-not sure what it will be exactly) so a guided tour is out. I just sent them a message so I'll see what they say!

You'll be there after we've left, so no chance we'll bump into each other.

I'm not sure why your times would preclude a guided dive. I know that The Dive Bus does dives with cruise passengers, and I know they do night dives...

You may be suprised at how well Suzy and Mark can accomodate your schedule. They've certainly been enormously helpful with our trip planning.

 

[Scubadam]

Go diving in Aruba, no doubt. You can experience the Antilla, Pedernalis, Arashi Reef, Shark Reef, etc. Aruba is where I was certified. I was certified at Red Sail Sports and they are very professional and friendly.

 

[georoc01]

Check out the Dive Bus in Curacao. That would be my preference of the two sites