Aruba - Red Sail Sports

[BillNH]

Hi all, I will be in Aruba June 13-18 and want to dive 3 days. I am staying at the Hyatt Regency Aruba. I noticed there is a Padi dive op there called Red Sail Sports. After a search here on SB, there seem to be alot of negative comments ? However, most of them were pretty old. Has anyone had recent experience with them ? Are there other dive ops that would pick me up at the pier at the Hyatt ?

Thanks
Bill

 

[randykiw]

I dove with Red sail in aruba april 2-5 of this year. They are not a small boutique type of operation. They have a large boat. Each day we had approximatly 10 divers on the boat with one dive master. Their service was decient, but it is follow the diver master type diving. Each dive was around 40-45 mins. I used them mainly because they were located close by to where i was staying, and i knew the diving there was not to challenging.

 

[pedo]

I have no experience with Red Sail other than seeing their boats sail past. They look crowded. I went out with JADS and had a very good time. Four divers, a DM and captain. Nice

 

[boulderjohn]

Red Sail is actually a very large company that has a lot of operations, most of them in Grand Cayman, I believe. They obviously do very well. Whether you like them or not depends upon you and your level of experience. If you are not highly experienced and are pleased with a diver operator who leads you through a very carefully controlled experience in basic diving situations, you will be very happy with them. If you are looking for longer bottom times and more freedom, you will not.

 

[BillNH]

Will any of the other dive shops such as JADS pick me up at the Hyatt ?

 

[boulderjohn]

Will any of the other dive shops such as JADS pick me up at the Hyatt ?

It's been a few years since I was there, but when I scouted things out, pretty much all the shops would pick you up and drop you off anywhere.

 

[kendallpg]

Boulderjohn is correct, most of the dive ops will pick you up at any of the hotels on the island. I posted a review of DiveAruba on Scubaboard before and Red Sail Sports is the dive op that I referrred to when I said that we saw them at a dive site one day. They arrived after we were already in the water for our dive and they were done with their dive and leaving the site when we surfaced from our dive. They will limit you to 40-45 minutes per dive. Other than the bottom time limit, I hear that they do a good job. There were people in our resort that dove with them everyday and that was their only complaint.
Personally, I dive with Clive at DiveAruba when I am on the island, which is every thanksgiving.

 

[Tim-O]

As others have posted, most ops will pick you up at any of the hotel by either boat or car/van. There are two piers (one either side of the Hyatt's property) - one is a resturant (not bad food), but no boats can use it and the other is red sails - so if you are picked up by boat - expect to load up off the sand with a little wading (shin deep), or a short walk up/down the beach to one of the other piers.

I have used Native divers and he picked us up on the beach once, but usually we met him out front and loaded in his van for a quick drive to the docks. I think he has a spot on the beach by the Marriott now (a short walk up the beach from the hyatt). I have never used Clive, but hear good things about him as well...

Either way - I think the diving in Aruba is under rated... and I love the island... Enjoy!

 

[BillNH]

Kendall, do you know if DiveAruba charges extra for Nitrox ?

 

[kendallpg]

I don't know about the nitrox. I have never done any nitrox dives on Aruba.
BTW...my average dive time with Clive was about 65 minutes, and one was about 75 minutes.