Discover Scuba in Curacao or Aruba

My 13 year old son is wanting to go on an discover scuba with his dad. I have thus far found availability at only two of our ports. The choices i have found would be Curacao with Atlantis Diving or Aruba through the cruise ship, I have no idea who their operator is in Aruba. Any comments on these options, any dive shops I should check out in Curacao? There is no availability in Grand Turk, and have something else planned for DR, so this just leaves us with these two choices of islands.

Thanks!

I brought my kids to The Dive Bus for a resort course and they were great. Good pricing, excellent "house reef" and terrific, fun people for whom safety is #1 and fun is #1B. Do a search in this forum and you'll find lots of recommendations for them.

Yes I have contacted the Dive Bus regarding availability but have no heard back. Right now Atlantis and Ocean Encounters are the ones who have responded with availability that day. So in general, would most consider the dive experience better in Curacao than Aruba?

I believe the cruise lines use Red Sail, in Aruba. I've never used them but a lot of people have a pretty poor opinion both here on Cruise Critic and Trip advisor.

A Discover Scuba dive is likely to be fun at either place, but not representative of the better sites any location has to offer.

Harris

Denver, CO

So in general, would most consider the dive experience better in Curacao than Aruba?

I've dived in both places multiple times and can say unequivocally that Curacao is better. Aruba is good, and I would dive it again, but Curacao is better. Also, discover scuba courses are easier to do as shore dives (IMO) and there are few if any shore dives in Aruba.

Curaçao is the better choice. To have a custom experience, contact CURious2Dive in Curaçao. Hans will pick them up at the pier and give them the most memorable dive ever!

My husband did a Discover dive with them a few years ago. He enjoyed it so much he decided to get certified in SCUBA

Thanks for all the responses. Have booked with Curious2Dive so all set!

Your son & his Dad will have the best time! Hans will take tons of underwater pictures and email them to a drop box where you can download them at no cost

We also had good experience withCURious2Dive in Curaçao. Hans was good. As was said, Curacao has good shore diving.

OTOH, if you go to Miami or FLL or Tampa to start your cruise, you can arrive a few days earlier.

From Miami/FLL can go to Key Largo. There're lots of good dive ops that can conduct dive training, and you can get certified with 4 dives (and other course material training). Getting certified, you can go do many more dives. If not certified, at every place you can only do the Discovery/resort course, and that'll usually be limiting.

From Tampa, can go to Crystal River. Get diving training, and snorkel with manatees. Also can do very easy drift diving in Rainbow River, in shallow water with great visibility.

My 13 year old son is wanting to go on an discover scuba with his dad. The choices i have found would be Curacao with Atlantis Diving or Aruba through the cruise ship, I have no idea who their operator is in Aruba. Any comments on these options, any dive shops I should check out in Curacao? Thanks!

OK, we have been diving on both of these islands several times. Here is my opinion.

On Aruba most cruise lines do use Red Sail. RED SAIL IS THE WORST DIVE OPERATION WE HAVE EVER GONE DIVING WITH. Their dives were total waste and a rip off. Avoid them at all costs. Try J.A.D.S. on Aruba. They do a good job if they are still in business. If they aren't around anymore then you will be better off with any other dive operation rather than Red Sail.

On Curacao go with the Dive Bus by all means. Suzy & Mark, the owners, have THE BEST dive operation in the Caribbean IMHO. They used to be right on the beach but moved across the street several years ago to a larger (and better) compound. They are terrific and do a great job with all aspects of diving. They can be a little difficult to get in touch with. Their combined computer expertise would fill a thimble so continue to try and reach them.

Try the following email addresses for them:

reservations@the-dive-bus.com

thedivebus.reservations@gmail.com

One of those two email addresses should get a message to Suzy. You won't regret the extra effort getting in touch with them. Tell them that Don & Kathy from Atlanta said hi.

Hope this info helps and that your son enjoys the intro to SCUBA dives.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July.

:):):)

We went with The Dive Bus in Curacao (loved them) and Happy Divers Aruba in Aruba (also loved them). Would highly recommend either operation. We are planning on return trips to both islands, and will likely use both of them again.

Hope they have fun - the ABC islands are my favorite dive islands in the Caribbean - BY FAR! :)

Sorry for the delayed response, but another endorsement for The Dive bus in Curacao. Short trip by cab and they were very good with my kids. Its also a shore dive which I think is considerably less stressful than a boat dive.

The only "downside" is you have to gear up and walk across the street

We used bashartsdiving.com in curaçao and it was amazing Bas was so patient with me and it's only your group that you book it was my son who was 13 my husband and me. I panicked and he took his time calmed me down and I got to dive which was a dream for me got to 45 ft. Hands down recommend him. He also takes professional pics of you at no extra cost