Aruba

Dive Sites in Aruba

• Arashi Marine Park

  The park features a reef adorned with soft corals, sea fans, brain corals and elkhorn, along with numbers of tropical fish. Consistently good visibility and depths up to 40 feet make this a nice place for shallow dives and also an attractive spot for snorkelers. More info»

• South Airplanes

  Two twin-engine airplanes sunk and created this artificial reef. Both planes are intact; divers can swim within the structures and view lobsters, octopi, moray eels, and other marine life. One of the aircraft, the Beechcraft 18, lies on a sloping reef at a depth of 15 feet. The second aircraft, the Convair 400, rests at depths between 40 and 60 feet. More info»

• Wreck of the Antilla

  A 400-foot German ship sunk in 1940 and now lies at a depth of about 60 feet, just south of Blue Reef. This popular site features a mystifying freighter decorated with bright cup corals and tube corals. Lobsters, moray eels, throngs, angelfish, octopi, and puffer fish may be spotted amongst the wreckage. More info»

• Malmok

  Visitors looking for a good spot for shallow-reef snorkeling should come to this site. The beautiful reef can be found just 70 yards from the shore. More info»

• Blue Reef

  Located just south of the Wreck of the Antilla, this site is home to trumpetfish., wrasses, grouper, and stingrays, as well as Elkhorn and staghorn corals. The site can be reached by boat or by swimming from shore. Divers can swim along the reef at a depth of 50 feet, and then follow the drop off to the sandy bottom of 90 feet. More info»

• Wreck of the Pedernales

  The Pedernales was an oil tanker that sunk during WWII. Only the middle section of the ship remains underwater, providing novice divers opportunities to swim along with yellowtails, trumpetfish, squirrelfish, French angels, and more. More info»

• Barcadera Reef

  This reef is great for divers and snorkelers. A variety of sealife fills the region, including scorpionfish, various types of parrotfish, pink-tipped anemone, and gardens of elkhorn corals and staghorn corals. Visitors can swim at depths from 20 to 90 feet. More info»

• Mangel Halto Reef

  Less than a mile from Barcadera Harbor lies this slanted reef, which ranges from 15 feet to 110 feet. The excellent site is teeming with a great variety of marine life; divers will find sergeant majors, butterfly fish, grunts, stingrays, and jacks. Nurse sharks, barracuda, moray eels and tarpons swim at greater depths. Snorkelers as well as divers are welcome. More info»

• Isla de Oro Reef

  This is a more difficult dive located on the southern part of Aruba. The good visibility allows visitors to clearly observe hogfish, yellow stingrays, French angelfish, lobsters, and brain corals. Ledges and caves, populated with parrotfish and moray eels, can be found in deeper waters. Depths range from 20 to 25 feet. More info»

• Natural Bridge

  With depths ranging from 20 to 110 feet, this site engages divers with the black corals flourishing upon the enormous boulders, and the huge basket sponges that shape the underwater landscape. The site is recommended for experienced divers due to the currents encountered on the dive. More info»

• Tugboat Wreck

  This simple tugboat has become a fascinating display of black and blue sponges and sheet, brain, and star corals, as well as stingrays and moray eels. Divers can swim in waters from 40 to 90 feet in depth. More info»

• Wreck of the California

  Calm waters are required, should an experienced diver choose to take on this challenging dive. Bright yellow and orange sponges adorn the wreckage, as well as anemones and plate corals. Swimming amongst the staghorn and pillar corals are barracudas, sharks, grouper, and lobster. The ship rests at a depth of 40 feet. More info»