Aruba: Beginner Scuba Dive for Non-Certified Divers with Pickup

4.86

(194 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

Someone hands me a wetsuit that’s still damp from the last group — kind of comforting, actually. We’re standing near Tres Trapi, and our guide, Diego, is already cracking jokes about how clumsy we’ll look before we even get in the water. He’s right. I fumble with the mask straps while he explains the basics in this easygoing way that makes you forget you’re about to breathe underwater for the first time. The sun’s hot but there’s this salty breeze that keeps it from feeling too heavy.

After a short walk down to the shore (the sand sticks everywhere), Diego kneels beside me in the shallows and checks my tank one more time. “Just relax,” he says, and I try to remember how to breathe slow like he showed us during the theory bit back at the van. There’s a moment when my face dips under and I hear nothing but bubbles — it’s weirdly quiet down there. He gives a thumbs up; I nod back, probably too fast. My friend tries to say something through her regulator but it just sounds like muffled laughter.

The deeper we go, colors start showing up where I didn’t expect them — flashes of blue and yellow darting past my elbow. A turtle glides by so close I could reach out (I don’t). The current tugs gently at my fins and for a second I lose track of which way is up, but Diego taps his tank and points out some coral shaped like antlers. It smells faintly metallic when you surface again, or maybe that’s just adrenaline mixing with seawater in your nose. Anyway, I still think about that silence under there sometimes — not scary at all, just sort of peaceful in a way I didn’t expect.