LeFlaneur
Contributor
Just got back from Aruba and I thought I'd dash off a little report. It wasn't a dive trip per se, but we did get in 3 partial days of diving.
We went with Clive at Dive Aruba (www.divearuba.com). He comes well recommended on this board and I can add my recommendation to that. Clive is an Aruban native and pretty much a one man show. He picks you up at your hotel in his beat-up van, drives you to his house/dive shop to do the paper work, then to the harbor where his little boat waits in the shadow of the giant cruise ships. One afternoon dive my girlfreind and I were the only people on the boat. Otherwise we never had more than 7 people total.
People on this board seem to ask often if Aruba is "worth it." In my opinion it is. You could certainly fill a week or two with nothing but diving and be very happy.
According to most people who have dived there, the one dive you should do in Aruba is the Antilla wreck. We didn't do it. We had some screwy weather and the Antilla was milked up both days we had a chance to go.
Conditions on Aruba are like that apparently. The same day that the Antilla was low viz, the Jane Sea has some of the best conditions they had seen. We saw some great formations and the usual fish. No big ticket items (other than the largest green moray I've ever seen) but that's the luck of the draw.
So here's what I did
Sponge reef - 40' okay drift dive. Lots of sponges as they say. But probably the weakest of what.
Jane Sea wreck - 95' really fun. some non-overhead sections allow for swim throughs. Don't miss it.
Barcadera reef - 40' - 50' - good drift dive with a little barge wreck toward the end to explore.
Finger Reef - 110' nice black coral that looks like little pine trees. Very fun dive. Another one you should do.
Mas Bango reef - similar to Barcadera.
All the dives I did were swimming distance from the tiny barrier islands that run along much of the southwest side. Navigation by depth is easy on the gradual sloped reef.
I agree with others too -- the Flying Fishbone in Savaneta is a great spot for a final night splurge especially if you're with that special someone. Gasparito in Noord was another favorite.
All that said, I will probably not go back to Aruba. The reason for me is that for a Aruba has about zero native culture left. For all its brightly-colored dutch-style buildings, Oranjestad felt like a cross between an outlet mall and Epcot center with no remnants of its history left intact. All this is subjective of course - I'm more of a stew chicken and plantains kinda guy.
We went with Clive at Dive Aruba (www.divearuba.com). He comes well recommended on this board and I can add my recommendation to that. Clive is an Aruban native and pretty much a one man show. He picks you up at your hotel in his beat-up van, drives you to his house/dive shop to do the paper work, then to the harbor where his little boat waits in the shadow of the giant cruise ships. One afternoon dive my girlfreind and I were the only people on the boat. Otherwise we never had more than 7 people total.
People on this board seem to ask often if Aruba is "worth it." In my opinion it is. You could certainly fill a week or two with nothing but diving and be very happy.
According to most people who have dived there, the one dive you should do in Aruba is the Antilla wreck. We didn't do it. We had some screwy weather and the Antilla was milked up both days we had a chance to go.
Conditions on Aruba are like that apparently. The same day that the Antilla was low viz, the Jane Sea has some of the best conditions they had seen. We saw some great formations and the usual fish. No big ticket items (other than the largest green moray I've ever seen) but that's the luck of the draw.
So here's what I did
Sponge reef - 40' okay drift dive. Lots of sponges as they say. But probably the weakest of what.
Jane Sea wreck - 95' really fun. some non-overhead sections allow for swim throughs. Don't miss it.
Barcadera reef - 40' - 50' - good drift dive with a little barge wreck toward the end to explore.
Finger Reef - 110' nice black coral that looks like little pine trees. Very fun dive. Another one you should do.
Mas Bango reef - similar to Barcadera.
All the dives I did were swimming distance from the tiny barrier islands that run along much of the southwest side. Navigation by depth is easy on the gradual sloped reef.
I agree with others too -- the Flying Fishbone in Savaneta is a great spot for a final night splurge especially if you're with that special someone. Gasparito in Noord was another favorite.
All that said, I will probably not go back to Aruba. The reason for me is that for a Aruba has about zero native culture left. For all its brightly-colored dutch-style buildings, Oranjestad felt like a cross between an outlet mall and Epcot center with no remnants of its history left intact. All this is subjective of course - I'm more of a stew chicken and plantains kinda guy.
