Post by JasonI'm off to Aruba soon and looking around the web, there seems to be a
Mermaid Sport Divers
see below for comments about them (not good)
They are located in the hotel next to the Wyndham. I haven't
heard much from them, but all seems good. I didn't dive with them
but they seemed ok.
Post by JasonPelican Watersports
I dove with them. nice operation, located on a pier next to
the Holiday Inn. They provide free pick up and drop off from you
hotel at no extra cost. 2 tank dives were $55 (tanks/weights) and
one tank dives were $35. Very good customer service. I would
definately dive with them again. Both Pelican and Dive Aruba
are located on Palm Beach, just offshore from the Antilla and
Pedernales wreck sites.
Red Sail is located in the Renasainse/sonesta hotel area. I
heard good things about them. The only negative things I
heard about them was since they were downtown and close
to the cruise boat port, they tended to load up lots
of cruise boat passengers. they are closer to the
better reefs though, which are south of the island.
Post by JasonAnyone got any personal experience of them? Mermaid seem to be the
cheapest, though I don't know if they do hotel pickups. I'm staying the
The Mill.
I've heard nothing but bad things about Mermaid. Check on the
http://www.aruba.com message boards and you'll hear all kinds of
horror stories about them. From over charging or double charging
your credit card, to sexual assualt by the owner, to inpropper
touching of female divers, to leaving divers in the bottom because
he didn't like how they did something. Since I saw this from
15+ people, then I wouldn't dive with them. Both PADI and NAUI
also have him listed as "no longer affiliated" on their websites.
so he was blacklisted by them for some reason.
For hotel pickups, see Pelican Watersports. The Mill is walking
distance to Dive Aruba. Pelican is walkign distance also,
but not really carrying scuba gear as it's 3/4 mile. Cab fare
in that area is about $5-$6 each way. Cab fare to town from
the hotel district is $10 each way.
Post by JasonI'm an experienced diver and don't like having my hand held. 40 minute
dive times tend to upset me too.
I think most of the places there tend to limit the dive times.
That was the one negative I noticed. All the dives are led
by a dive master and he seemed to never go past 45 minutes on
any dive. Of course nobody uses air the same, so on some
dives he brought the 'air hogs' back to the anchor line and
took us to dive some more since we had extra air.
Post by JasonRecommendations for the best dives would also be appreciated.
there are two main diving areas on the island. The West Coast
and the South Coast. All the hotels are located on the West
Coast as are most of the wrecks. The water here is very calm
and pretty clear with water depths of about 60 feet max. The
south coast has better reef systems and are a little deeper.
More in the 40-90' range. there is no diving hardly on
the north coast because hard to get too and the water
is extremely rough and bad currents. There is very little
diving on the east coast for some of the same reasons.
Also these areas have no hotels to accomadate people either.
The wrecks on the West Coast are the Antilla, a 400+ foot freighter
sunk intentionally by it's German crew at the start of WWII
in about 60' of water. The Pedernalis, a freighter torpedoded
and sunk in about 20' of water during WWII. Malmook reef, 60' deep
with a 100' ship sunk at the end of the reef. Arashi Reef 60' deep
with leftover remains of 4 engine plane on the bottom. Most
of the plane gone, only engines and a few pieces left.
While the Pederanalis is very shallow, the snorkel boats feed
the fish there, so the fish come right up to you while you
are diving. This makes it a good dive site to do fish photography
since they hold still in front of you thinking they are going
to get a free snack while you take their picture.
The South coast has various reefs and a few smaller wrecks and
an airplane or two sunk.
Expect water temps 75f to 80f. Most people dove in a shorty
or just a swim suit. I would wear at least a shorty or
a dive skin as some of the ones in the swim suits got a
little cold by the end of the dive or when swimming thru
the cargo holds in the Antillas hold. Visibility varied
by day. It wasn't as great as some other places, but
you still had 30' to 100' of vis, depending on the
dive and the day.
Hope this info helps some. If you have any other questions
just email me.
-mike