2000 Chapbook

Just off Venezuela's Caribbean coast, Aruba is not a prime scuba-diving destination, but bring your gear, especially if you have time for a jump to Curaçao or Bonaire for much better diving.... Miles of white sand, glitzy casinos, and beaches cater to windsurfers.... For the best deals on lodging and air, ask your travel agent to look into gamblers' packages.... There are several good boat dives, such as the wreck of the Antilla,a German freighter scuttled at the start of World War II. The South Wall, past San Nicholas near the southern tip of Aruba, is also good.... Expect water temperatures in the low 80s most of the time.... Aruba lies south of the hurricane belt...

Dive Aruba/Sonesta Suites, June 1999, Grace Culver, Fall City, WA. Vis: 40-60 ft. Water: 79-82 degrees. Divemaster set depth, time, according to use of air. Sonesta Suites is a time share. Walk to the dock in 8 minutes. Pleasantly surprised with the beautiful reefs. Fingers and Barcadero Reef were outstanding. Small reef shark at "Fingers." Trumpet fish and trunk fish were the largest I've seen. Otherwise, no large fish. Dive operation good small outfit. Lost a day of diving due to boat repairs. But owner Clive reimbursed us for the prepaid dives we missed. The divemaster Patrick and Eugene were knowledgeable and gave good orientations. Never more than 8 divers. Divemaster led each dive and checked visually each diver during the dive. We dived several wrecks. Some were shallow - 40-60 ft and some deeper - 90 ft. Dive Aruba beat the competition with their prices, personal service and friendliness. Had 3 drift dives. (Telephone 297-827337; Fax 297-821817.)

Native Divers/La Cabana, Irv Kaplan (Irv.Kaplan@EBay.Sun.COM), San Jose, CA. Husband and wife team, no dive shop, small boat. Romeo takes 2 to 6 divers. Great tour, no rush, points out things. He surfaces at 40 minutes you and your buddy can continue to dive your computer, after he has shown you the boat. Small boat, minimal cover, no dive platform (small ladder). Not for beginning divers, but experienced divers will like this. Water 78-80 degrees, vis only 35 ft (I should have been there last week). Other dive operations have fixed schedules and if you dive more than 3 days, you'll go to the same site (so many sites I don't know why they don't do them). Other operators do resort diving in afternoon, not good for experienced. La Cabana (time share, which we exchanged via International Resorts). Nice rooms, elevators need work, service poor. Eating expensive. $55 dinner for two. You can purchase a dine around pass that gets the multi-course dinners around $25-30. I recommend the Bonbonhanie (something like that) Downtown for Caribbean food, and the LA Dome for Dutch food (dress code inside, casual outside). Aruba you go on vacation and dive, but not a diving vacation. (Telephone 297-864763; Fax 297-864763.)

Red Sail Sports, October 1998, Gilbert Gray, Brooklyn, NY. Vis: 60-80 ft. Water: 75-80 degrees. Aruba is Dutch, Instructor's English varied from poor to moderate. On a night dive for my advanced open water certification, on "the Antilla" my instructor's lack of attention left me confused about what I would need to do as part of my instruction. His English was particularly poor. After initial tests on the bottom, we became separated on the wreck. I nearly ran out of air and had to surface on my own. He did not seem in the least bit concerned when he came back to the boat, did not seem to have been looking for me. Extremely bad support. (Ph: 415-743- 5306; Fax: 415-981-6203; or Telephone 297-861603; Fax 297-866657, e-mail: info@redsail.com, Website: www.redsail.com)

Red Sail Sports/Bushiri Beach Resort, April 1999, Frank, Orland Park, IL. Vis: 50-75 ft. Dive restrictions: Depth, time, 500 psi back on the boat. We were expecting to dive at least 10 different sites in 5 days, but repeated many sites. Red Sail Sports had informative and fun guides, but the office staff assumed you knew their procedures and I had to ask questions I assumed would already have been explained if necessary.

Red Sail Sports/Hyatt, August 1999, Sydney G. Platzer, Huntington, NY. Vis: 40-60 ft. Water: 83-84 degrees. Restrictions: 100 ft. Often repeated dive location when others are available. Hyatt a good hotel and great location for nondivers.

Red Sail Sports/Sonesta Suites/Wyndham, December 1998, Stephen Fox, Boston, MA. Water: 72-81 degrees, Vis: 30-100 ft. Wyndham: waited 30 minutes to check in at 3PM then told room not ready. Had to come back at 5PM and wait in another 45 minute line. Room was terrible, smelly, not clean. Found a suite at Sonesta Suites downtown. Staff fantastic, suites (with kitchen, separate bedroom with king bed, living room and balcony overlooking marina, OK pool). Sonesta's private island is a 10 minute water taxi ride, where is Red Sail Dive Center, shop, showers, restaurants, gym, tennis courts, and 2 beaches (one for families, other for adults). Flamingos, iguanas, geckos abound; atmosphere is relaxed. Can do shore dive to two drug runner aircraft in about 60-80 ft offshore. Sonesta Suites is 1st rate. Although reefs are not as spectacular as other destinations, and there is no real wall diving, I did 16 dives in 7 days and enjoyed most: "Jane's Sea" wreck (a 250' cement freighter 90' dive with good penetrations). Did relaxing De'oalm Slope," 15-120' reef dive that was a relaxing drift with barracuda, spotted eagle rays and good coral formations. Visibility varies from day to day, and Red Said works hard to find best spots. Staff at Red Sail are experienced, safety conscious (without being patronizing), let you do your own dive if you want. Red Sail has a frequent diver program.