Diving Aruba

Diving Aruba is made easy if you are staying at Aruba. The Hyatt has a pier right off of its beach and Red Sail Sports has a shot next door and kepts the dive boats at the Hyatt pier. After saying that, lets talk a little bit about the actual diving. Aruba is best known for its wreck diving. Their are numerous wrecks off the shore and are only accessible by boat. The only problem is getting the boat to go to all of them. Red Sail Sports seemed to my self and Mark as following set schedules with limited dive sites. We found ourselves going to the same sites sometimes as much as 3 times during our 5 day stay.

Above is a picture of the deck of the German freighter Antilla. The Antilla is the largest intact wreck in the entire caribbean, in excess of 400' feet. This is an awesome dive and worth coming to Aruba. Try a night dive, you will not be disappointed. Mark & I finished our wreck certification diving on the Antilla. The wreck sits in about 60' feet of water, with the upper decks actually protruding the waters surface. Good dive for novice and expert alike. There is little current, except towards the rear and the condition of the 50 year old ship is excellent, for being intentially blown up. During World War II, the Dutch surrounding the Antilla in Aruba water. Instead of surrendering the ship, the captain of the Antilla had the boiler super heated till it caused an explosion and thus sinking the ship.

A recent addition to Aruba, this plane was sunk next to the Pedernales wreck the weekend before we arrived. Being so new, the wreck has no build up of marine life and is excellent for penetration dives. The plane was used for drug running and was confisicated by the Arubian government.

The Pedernales wreck is another well know Aruban wreck. This freighter was torpedoed by a German U-Boat during World War II. There is not much left of the Pedernales since the US Government decided to salvage part of the hull and the Dutch used it as target practice. The dive is a good one for the novice diver due to its shallow depth.

Here are some more diving pics from Aruba:

click on image to enlarge

Antilla Wreck

Rear Side of Ship	Middle of Ship	Middle Section
More of Wreck	Can you find the morae eel?	Rear Deck

Pedernales Wreck & Airplane

Isle or Window Seat?

Foward Cabin

Want to Fly the Plane?

Emergeny Exit

Pic of Fish

More of Wreck

Part of Main Cabin.

Mark

Local Inhabitant

Local Inhabitant

Dive Sites

Visited

Arashi (35'-40' feet, Novice) - Arashi is a twin engine aiplane that is in fair condition. Not much to actually see and was the most boring dive of the entire trip. Site is rather desolate.
Antilla Wreck (60' feet, Moderate/Novice) - An excellent dive. Known locally as the "ghost ship", the Antilla was a brand new German freighter that was scuttled when Germany invaded Holland in 1945. The largest wreck in the Caribbean (400' long), it is great for penetrations due to the large compartments of this vessel covered by giant tube sponges and coral formations. A great place for night diving, the wreck is surrounded by lobster.
Pedernales Wreak (35' feet, Novice) - The Perdernales is an oil tanker torpedoed during World War II by a German submarine. The wreck offers a combination of large pieces of the wreck spread out between coral formations. The U.S. military cut this wreck into three pieces. The center piece, which was damaged by the torpedo, was left behind. The other two pieces were towed to the United States and welded together. The new, smaller vessel took part in the Normandy invasion fleet.
Sonesta Reef & Airplanes (20'-60' feet, Moderate/Novice) - Awesome beauty lies below the surface of Sonesta Reef. This is a shore dive. You will find elkhorn, staghorn and fan corals. There are two sunken airplanes to explore. This is a good dive site and the DC-8 is a good wreck dive. So take a boat out to the Sonest Island and do some shore diving, but watch out for the Atlantis submarine that occasionally lurks by.
Barcadera Reef (20'-100' feet, Novice/Moderate) - A favorite spot for the dive boat, but a not so favorite dive site for the divers. A rather dull reef with little marine life. About the only thing in abundance is the brain coral, which is not bad, but gets boring after awhile. To be fair, the huge sea fans are cool.
Jane Sea Wreck(30'-80' feet, Moderate/Advanced) - At a depth of 80', the Jane Sea is sloped at such a steep angle as to appear standing upright. The freighter is almost 200 feet long and is surrounded by some spectacular sea fans and brain corals. Large lobster are found here scavenging the ocean floor. Overall, not a bad dive site and is good for penetration diving.

Sites not visited, but hear are interesting

California (30'-45' feet, Advanced) - The fascinating wreck of the California is located at a depth that is ideal for underwater photography. The wreck is surrounded by large coral formations and an abundance of tropical fish. This dive location is only for advanced divers due to dangerous currents and choppy seas. The California made history as the ship that received, but did not react to the S.O.S. signals sent from the Titanic. The California is almost 100 years old and is located on the north coast of Aruba. Because of this wreck, the Hudishibana area is popularly called "California Dunes."

Kantil Reef (40'-110' feet, Moderate/Advanced) - Kantil Reef is a fascinating drop off, with gigantic boulders of brain and star coral. There is an abundance of massive formations of leaf and sheet corals, and plenty of huge sea fans and gorgoneas. You can expect incredible marine life encounters with yellow tails, morays, groupers, and manta rays. Eagle rays can also be seen here. This is an excellent dive for photography. Definitely a dive to be logged.

Lago Reef(120' feet, Advanced) - Deepest dive location with impressive coral formations. Deep water gorgonea, sponges, sea anemones, and numerous marine life. All types of fish abound with many large species.

Santana di Cacho Reef (20'-50' feet, Moderate) - Myriad of elkhorn and staghorn corals are found everywhere, making it home for an abundance of marine life. Entry is a little rough. A good dive that is easily accessible by car.

Cabez Reef (50' feet, Advanced) - Because of rough seas with strong currents, this dive is for experienced divers only. It offers an exciting shore entry, where you come face to face with large schools of barracuda, amberjack, and rainbow runners. The location is also known for sting rays as well as for many different types of tropical fish. It is a virgin area.

Natural Bridge (20'-110' feet, Advanced) -Enormous, awe-inspiring boulders. Incredible formations of brain and star corals as well as plenty of fire corals. Black and soft coral also abound, and giant barrel sponges rise from the bottom to decorate the ocean floor. This dive site has rough waters and extremely strong currents at times. For advanced divers only.

Red Sail Sports Aruba - Click here to learn more about diving in Aruba with Red Sail Sports.
Map of Aruban Dive Sites

Note: pictures taken from video camcorder and digitalized using Snappy.

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Isle or Window Seat?	Foward Cabin	Want to Fly the Plane?	Emergeny Exit
Pic of Fish	More of Wreck	Part of Main Cabin.	Mark
	Local Inhabitant	Local Inhabitant