Review of Certified 2-Tank Dive with Red Sail Sports Aruba

[marcia014]

Review of Certified 2-Tank Dive with Red Sail Sports Aruba

11/17/06

Booked onboard Carnival Destiny

 

The brochure and information onboard the ship regarding this excursion stated that we would dive at a reef and either a shipwreck or an airplane wreck. When talking to the instructor on the dive boat, we were informed that the airplane wreck that used to be there was destroyed by a hurricaine about 4 years ago. We dove two shipwrecks, so if you read about this excursion expecting an airplane wreck, be prepared that there isn't one anymore!

 

I went to the cruise terminal to wait for the Scuba diving excursion. Before long, a representative from Red Sail Sports met us in the terminal and first asked everyone for their certification cards and had us complete a waiver of liability. We then got into a van and were taken to Red Sail Sports equipment room at a resort. Each person checked out the equipment they needed for the day which was all included in the price of the dive. We each toted our equipment to the boat, assembled our gear and strapped on a tank and prepared to leave the dock. Emma was our instructor (not Dive Master – I asked) and was very informative and helpful. I was a little nervous and let her know that I would prefer to stay close to her during the dive. Emma also helped me with my weights and ensured that my tank setup looked good before we got to the first dive site. Emma paired everyone with a dive buddy, and my buddy was Frank from Pennsylvania. Frank was staying at the local Marriott, and was to be married the next day. He had just completed his certification at home and this was his first dive post-certification as well as his first saltwater dive. We were briefed on our first dive site, the wreck of the Antilla. Everyone entered the water and half of us stayed near Emma, while the others explored on their own. The water was a bit cloudy, but I still could see pretty well. We saw some puffer fish, scorpionfish, lots of coral and small marine life. After the first dive, we all came back on board and were given water or iced tea with skewers of fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, kiwi fruit, grapes, oranges) while being briefed on our second stop. The second dive was the wreck of the Pedernalis. This ship broke into five pieces so we were going to try to visit each of them. The water was a lot worse here than the other dive, and at one point Emma brought us to the surface and asked us to swim to a buoy which marked the largest part of the wreckage. She said that she had been diving at this same wreck this morning and it was clear and she didn’t want us to waste our down time or air on the travel between areas of wreckage. During this swim, I lost site of my dive buddy, but since Emma was keeping track I was not too worried. When we arrived at the buoy, Emma took us down and we were able to see a spotted moray and some fish but the visibility was just getting worse. Emma then asked us to come up and “fin” (or swim at the surface) to the boat since visibility was so poor. Emma realized that she could only count 7 of us, the missing person was my dive buddy. She stayed in the area we were diving to see if she could find Frank and as the rest of us arrived at the boat, Frank was already there. He lost sight of us in the murky water and decided to return to the boat. When Emma arrived at the boat she was relieved to find Frank! We all rinsed our equipment and prepared to go back to the dive locker and return our gear. After all the gear was checked back in, the van returned Frank to the Marriott and the rest of us to the cruise terminal. All in all it was a good dive, but the visibility was not good. Any questions, please ask!

[deepstops]

I did a Panama Canal cruise w/ RCCL (Brilliance OTS) in December 2004 and dove w/ RSS in Aruba and did those those same two wrecks. Hopefully Emma gave you the history of the Antilla and its' Captain, it's an interesting story IMO.

 

I quite enjoyed my trip with RSS.

[marcia014]

Hi deepstops,

Yes, Emma told us the history of both ships before we went down before the briefing. This was my first experience with diving with RSS, used them in Grand Cayman for snorkeling many years ago. I think they are a very good operation! Thanks for the input!