 Diving in Aruba advice
<darrells@adelphia.net> wrote in message
news:lkd262tmc9ac73kulkcn95ae3fjojq8ra8@...
> Hi, my fiancé and I are looking for some site advice for scuba diving
> in Aruba. We are headed down at the end of May. We have relatively
> new divers having about 5 dives each under our belts and only have our
> Open Water certifications at this point. We are getting married down
> there and plan on doing 2 2-tank dives while there. There seems to be
> about 20 sites to choose from and we want to do the best ones. I have
> read the posts from back in 2003 and 2004 and they were helpful.
> Maybe there is information that is more current.
Ah heck, for a wedding gift I'll even throw in some general scuba advice,
especially since I know nothing about Aruba other than the fact that it's
next to the (allegedly) far more dive-worthy Bonaire.
> - - Wildlife dive: She would really like to see some sea turtles
> and they, as well as some sharks, should be nesting at that time, I
> think.
Although some wildlife might be practically guaranteed in certain areas of
the world at certain times, please understand that in most places the larger
animals (pelagics) come and go as they please. Your 30-60 minute view into
their world might happen across something very cool and it might not.
I'd guess that you're more likely to see a turtle than a shark. Good luck.
That said, there are dive operations that run "shark dives" where the sharks
are attracted by baiting or chumming, but I have no idea if there's anything
of the sort in Aruba.
> - - Coral dive: It also appears that there is lots of cool
> coral to see of all sizes and shapes.
That is far more likely since corals don't move as much as turtles and
sharks. Basically any Caribbean dive you do that's not a wreck dive will be
a coral dive. Unless it's a sand dive, but dive operators don't usually
take people on sand dives on purpose.
Please don't touch the coral. Also, please don't touch the turtles. And,
if you see someone trying to ride a turtle, kick him in the head with your
fin. You can always claim it was an accident if he turns out to be bigger
than you.
> I'm just getting into underwater photography as well so opinions there
> are helpful.
Good. My opinion is that you don't get into underwater photography yet.
You're still learning how to dive. Underwater photography requires good
buoyancy control and an awareness of one's surroundings that most new divers
don't have yet. Because a lot of the underwater realm is quite fragile and
delicate, a lot of underwater photographers are blamed for causing harm
based on the actions of a few. Please don't add to the problem by being yet
one more brand new diver with a camera kicking corals this way and that.
Besides, you'll miss all the turtles and sharks swimming by while you're
focused on taking pictures of fish.
> I'm a little leery
> of her stamina to shore dive to a site and then enjoy it fully. More
> practice swimming with fins is probably needed.
Most shore dives don't require much more swimming than you'd be doing in a
boat dive, since, except for wrecks, you're rarely going to be sitting in
one place during a dive. And I've dove plenty of wrecks that, due to
currents, required more stamina than plenty of shore diving I've done. Most
of the work during a typical shore dive is spent getting the gear to and
from the water since it's pretty rare that you can step right from the car
and into the sea like you would from a boat. Some Bonaire sites are pretty
close, though, and maybe some Aruba sites are similar.
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