Atlantis sub - hard to enter ???

[hillbilly cruiser]

How hard is it to get in and out of the Atlantis sub in Aruba? Wife has trouble climbing.

Stairs not so bad ladders rough.

[swscruiser]

As I remember there is about an 8 step ladder 

[RWolver672]

Guessing that the one in Cozumel is the same, the only problem I had was hitting my head at either the top or  bottom of the ladder.  I don't remember which it was.

[CruisingViper]

I did the one in Cozumel, it's wasn't tough to get into, but I could see it being a little tough if you had a frailty or disability that made it tough to climb a ladder. I think there was a warning about it on the site/booking page.

[TravelGirlinDallas]

The one in Cozumel uses a ladder to enter. I didn't have any trouble with it. My husband has cerebral palsy on one side of his body and did just fine (although I could see that the staff were watching him carefully). But it is a vertical ladder, so keep that in mind.

[TravelGirlinDallas]

The entrance to the sub.

 

Here's a pic of the ladder. (My cute hubby on the right.)

[evandbob]

I would call it a staircase, not a ladder, since there are steps descending that are not in line with each other.  A ladder just has rungs.

 

Steps:       ____                                                           Ladder:   _____

                      ____                                                                       _____

                         ____                                                                    _____

                             _____                                                              _____

 

Either way, anyone with mobility issues may have difficulty with it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by evandbob

[hillbilly cruiser]

Thanks to all.

[Yukonjake]

4 hours ago, evandbob said:

I would call it a staircase, not a ladder, since there are steps descending that are not in line with each other.  A ladder just has rungs.

 

Steps:       ____                                                           Ladder:   _____

                      ____                                                                       _____

                         ____                                                                    _____

                             _____                                                              _____

 

Either way, anyone with mobility issues may have difficulty with it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They taught us in in Navy bootcamp that all vertical passages were ladders whether landlubbers called them stairs or ladders. So if you want to sound like a real tar, call both ladders {then explain that one is vertical and one more diagonal}.  😁

 

(Yeah, I know, I'm being pedantic. Some habits die hard. My wife still looks at me askance when I call the sanitary facilities a head and the MDR the mess deck. Late night pizza is midrats.)

[Organized Chaos]

23 minutes ago, Yukonjake said:

(Yeah, I know, I'm being pedantic. Some habits die hard. My wife still looks at me askance when I call the sanitary facilities a head and the MDR the mess deck. Late night pizza is midrats.)

 

No no, they're called latrines and chow halls. 😜

[Organized Chaos]

We'll be in Cozumel this winter and Aruba in early Spring next year. Both have these Atlantis sub tours. A while back I read someone's comment on here that when they did this in Cozumel, the current was a bit strong that day, so they could only descend to about 65 ft. (instead of around 100 ft.) and it was pretty murky. The video on the De Palm Tours website (Aruba) does show some cloudy waters. I know we can't really predict those kinds of things, but given their geographical locations, does anyone know if we'd have a better chance at clearer conditions in Aruba or Cozumel? It'd be a fun experience no matter what, but I sure would hate to miss out on descending to the full depth.

 

Has anyone done both and preferred one over the other, as far as underwater scenery goes? I'm reading that Aruba's includes a couple shipwrecks, which I think would be interesting.

 

One last question. Do they turn around and come back the same way they went out? Meaning, do the people on each side get a chance to see the things on the opposite side, or are people on the opposite side clambering to look and take pictures over your shoulder?

[May1cruiser]

on toured in Aruba, depth was 125 or so feet. Saw shipwrecks and yes, both sides had a chance to view. really enjoyed this experience

[RWolver672]

On 9/6/2019 at 1:52 PM, Organized Chaos said:

We'll be in Cozumel this winter and Aruba in early Spring next year. Both have these Atlantis sub tours. A while back I read someone's comment on here that when they did this in Cozumel, the current was a bit strong that day, so they could only descend to about 65 ft. (instead of around 100 ft.) and it was pretty murky.

 

One last question. Do they turn around and come back the same way they went out? Meaning, do the people on each side get a chance to see the things on the opposite side, or are people on the opposite side clambering to look and take pictures over your shoulder?

 

I think I am the one that posted where we didn't go down past 65 feet.  The reason that we didn't go further was because if we went further down, the current would make the water murky.  At 65 feet, we still could see everything quite plain.

 

The sub that we were on only had eighteen people on it.  We all sat on one side.  They told us that if the sub would have been full, they would turn it around so that both sides could see out.