Airplane Wrecks - Oranjestad, Aruba
N 12° 29.938 W 070° 01.786
19P E 388105 N 1381947
A nice wreck dive along the Aruban coastline. Two airplanes and a shipwreck. The first plane is in about 40' & the 2nd airplane is in about 80' & then off to a shipwreck in less than 15' of water to finish off your dive and deco at the same time!
Waymark Code: WMNWV0
Location: Aruba
Date Posted: 05/14/2015
Views: 58
We took this dive trip to go after a geocache that we never found. We got a lot of run arounds and confusing information from the dive master. But even though that didn't pan out it was still a great dive.
There are 2 planes and one broken up ship on this dive. It is a short ways out from land, but the section of land is on a private island that you have to pay to access, so it is better to get a dive boat to get here.
I won't give the name of the dive charter we went out on because we didn't have a good experience with them. The dive was great, they weren't.
You start off at the dive coordinates above, the island slopes off into deep water real quick, we first went to the airplane that was broken into several pieces in about 40' of water, there was one part of the plane you could still do a swim through on.
Then it is off to the deeper plane, as you go along you soon see the next plane looks to be intact and lots of fun to penetrate it as well. Be careful NOT to go into cockpit area, way too many jagged and sharp pieces of metal everywhere. We had a young diver that doubled back after the group left the plane and went in there and got stuck, luckily the dive master saw her and went back to help.
Next we came to a broken ship that's ribs and hulk was scattered all around in about 15 feet of water. So it was good to explore this ship and get a decompression stop at the same time.
We saw a big green moray, some anemones and one small banded shrimp hanging on one, lots of yellow tail schools, Queen Angelfish, French Angelfish, Parrot fish and more.
Although what we didn't see was the Lion fish that have been invading the area, the dive masters had gigs to get them with, but it seemed to be free and clear of them which was good.
All in all a great dive, just make sure to get a good dive company to take you to the dive site.
Water Type: Ocean
Salinity: Salt
Access: Boat (day trip)
Maximum Depth: 80
Typical Visibility: Excellent (60+ ft)
Has Reef?: no
Wreck or Submerged Object?: Plane
Underwater Life: Green Moray, banded shrimp, Queen Angelfish, schools of fish, slipper lobster
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Visit Instructions:
1) To log a visit, at least a picture taken at the surface, including any distinguishing landmarks or buoys if present, is required. While you do not have to enter the water, this is encouraged.
2) If you dive at the site, describe your visit including any details you wish to share such as weather, water temperature, visibility, bottom time, and anything of interest that you observed, living or nonliving.