Aruba shore diving

[greenone]

Going to Aruba in Feb. Are there any dive shops that offer shore diving, I will also need to rent equipment.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I believe Pelican will just rent you tanks. They are located on Palm beach at the Pelican pier.

 

[H2ODog]

Several shops in Aruba will rent gear and a quick search in the archieves will give you all the names to choose from and the ones to avoid.

Shore diving is limited but boat diving is great. The rides are very short, many only 5 minutes or so. Snorkling from shore is OK but you'll need to rent a car to travel to the better spots. Boat dives will cost a little $$ but well worth the expense to get to the better locations. The Jane Sea is a deeper dive ~90 FSW, a longer boat ride (25 min) but well worth the trip.

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

Pelican is a great operation. I have been diving with them multiple times. Personal opinion, the best diving in Aruba is by boat. I haven't been impressed with the shore diving. That having been said the shore diving options are Mangel Halto Reef off Mangel Halto Beach (Duh!), Snapper City (also called Porto Chiquito), and Baby Beach Reef.

Most of the operations go by boat to dives off the west coast which are mainly wrecks. If you want pretty reefs, ask for the south coast trips. They are farther away but much prettier from a coral standpoint.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

We haven't been to Aruba, but shorediving.com was an excellent resource for our trip to Bonaire & Curacao (1 week each) last year. I pasted their Aruba info link below in case you hadn't seen this stuff yet.

http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/ABC/Aruba/index.htm

 

[getmenus.ca]

I too am going to Aruba, I wondered if there was any good snokeling off the shores by the resorts.

The two resorts I am deciding between are: Holiday Inn Sunspree or Tamarijn
Any diving suggesstions? Can you see sharks in Aruba - hope so.

Thanks,

Chelsa

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

There's not good snorkeling off the hotels unless you like sand! The best snorkeling is south of town at DePalm island or off Baby Beach. You can also go north of Malmok near the California Lighthouse.

Sorry, but not many sharks in Aruba. I've been on five dive trips and never seen a shark, not even a nurse shark! I guess the non-diving tourists like that!

Like I mentioned above, I prefer diving the south sites because the coral, etc reminds me of Bonaire. However, if you're into wrecks, Aruba has a ton and they're much closer boat trips for the dive operators. There are a lot of dive operators, but I would recommend Pelican Watersports near the Holiday Inn.

 

[H2ODog]

Sounds as though I misssed out. I opted out doing one more dive because I was pushing the no-dive time prior to flying. The site was South Coast Harbor if I remember correctly and the guys saw a 5'-ish shark. I was slightly dissappointed since I could have been on that dive but took the safe route.

No regrets though.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

If you stay at the Holiday Inn, there is a grounded ship wreck in about 5 to 7 feet of water. It is about a half hour walk up the beach to the northwest or you can take the bus. It costs $2.00 U.S. round trip. There are hundreds of yellow tail snappers, and some trunk fish, blue tangs, french angel fish, trumpet fish and lots of other small fish. We usually walk up there 2 or 3 times while we are there. Take water shoes because some of the spots are a bit rocky getting out to the wreck. If you want to do any boat dives, I recomend Native Divers. Vanessa is set up on the beach in front of the Marriott by the fishermans docks. If you use them tell Romeo that Steve from Canada says Hi. IF you have any other questions about the diving or Aruba in general you can PM me. Two years ago we seen 4 5 to 6 foot reef sharks on one dive down by the old Sonesta airplane site

 

[tedtim]

We haven't been to Aruba, but shorediving.com was an excellent resource for our trip to Bonaire....

Thanks for posting this website. We are headed that way in February. Good info.