Aruba, Royal Caribbean

Date dove: 12/07
Booked through ship? Yes
Operator: Red Sail Sports
Air Temp: 84° F
Water Temp: 78° F
Vis: 30-35 ft.
Depth: 47 ft. first dive, 24 ft. second dive
Return factor? Not any reason to visit here on a land based vacation, but we would not be opposed to a return trip via cruise. We simply would book a dive on our own.
Information about the island:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aruba

We don't often get as much honesty from dive masters about cruise ship divers as we did on this stop. They told us without hesitation that the dives they took us on were because we were cruise ship divers, who most often are not well trained enough for them to want us on their reefs. Other divers on the ship booked their own dives and were taken to the same two locations, so if you book on your own, ask where their trip goes and request the reefs at the south end of the island.
The first dive we did was the Antilla, of course. It was a worthwhile dive, the were good about telling us the history of the wreck and it did not disappoint in terms of twisted metal or marine life. Since navigation was not an issue on such a large and intact wreck, we were allowed to separate from the groups being led by the dive masters, which improved the quality of our dive dramatically. We saw some of the largest parrot fish we had ever seen and there were numerous small eels hiding among the wreckage. We got a full 51 minutes of bottom time here and wished we would have just done the Antilla on both dives. The second dive was on the remains of the Pedernales. Again, the history lesson we got pre-dive was interesting, but this time the story was better than the dive. Few fish, bad vis, ship pieces widely scattered and small. Where's the reef?

Our expreience here puts the ABC Islands in the following dive priority: Bonaire, Curacao, then Aruba.