Puerto Chiquito

Parking is ample and nicely groomed. The drop off is immediate after exiting the pools. Watch the current! Two very shallow pools make a perfect entry point.

Our most disappointing dive. Some SCUBA tour was coming out as we got there, they saw sea turtles, which we did not. We saw, really, nothing of interest. Our luck was probably set by the fact it was quite windy when we were there.

What a way to end our Aruba vacation. A 12 on a scale of 1 to 10. This was the best reef in Aruba. One of the easiest entries and the reef was really close, only about a 100 yard swim. To me this was a prototypical Jacques Cousteau reef. All different varieties of coral on the drop-off slope, layers of coral and all varieties of fish. Saw a huge spotted cowfish and made friends with a needlefish. We swam almost to the edge of the Mangel Halto/Spanish lagoon channel and back. Can't wait to return.

See Manngo visit Oct 20-24 2008. Best to park at Mango Vista and walk the 2-3 blocks to here. Enter the water, swim the 100' to the reef and drift to the channel that enters the Mango Vista lagoon. Best reef on the island.

Entry and exit was very easy - a short pier with a ladder in front of someone's house. We talked to 2 divers and one local - they said no problem using the pier. We parked our car near the street upon recommendations of other divers and a sign. We left no valuables, left car unlocked and windows down. No vandalism or anything stolen. Unfortunately visibility wasn't good, say 20 feet. Two days ago, viz was great in this area... Oh well. Some algae on coral. Lots of nice tropical reef fish and a Chain Moray Eel. Lots of groupers.

I also dive this site regularly, with or without students. Great corals, but weirdly enough, not so much sea life as you would expect at such a beautiful site. Entry is easy, exit to the site is also o.k., even when there are some waves. the problem might be when you need to return to shore. Because of how the reef and wave breakers are build, there is a small rip current, but nothing too bad, you just have to kick a little longer. Great site for our Deep Diving Specialty, Night Dives, etc. I myself have seen, a.o. a Manta Ray, Turtles, Scorpion Fish, 5ft Moray Eel, etc.

Very nice sloping reef was the closest thing to a Bonaire shore dive I found on Aruba. This site is a little hard to find and has a rocky entry. The reef slopes and so you can dive this site 20' to 100'. We dove it twice and the current (mild to moderate) was going different directions. The visibility was in 70' range and water was a toasty 82 degf in the middle of December. We stayed in the 50' to 60' range and saw an abundance of fish, creatures and corals.

A good snorkeling spot and great alternative to the busy northern spots. Most of the reef is a bit deeper (15' +) but the visibility is very good so it isn't a problem. We didn't see quite as many fish, but lots of different coral. It is a bit hard to find, though, and the driving directions are somewhat dated. It is easy to find if you locate Mangel Halto and then continue driving south a little ways (maybe .5 km). The driveway is partially paved and when we visited there was a yellow and black road sign at the end of the driveway.

Without street signs it's a little hard to find at first, but there is a large area to park between two houses. Went for three dives & one night dive here. There is a good variety & plenty of fish, a lot of brain coral. Not much current or none at all. The place that really helped us with our shore diving is a shop at Baby beach called JADS. It's on the PADI website, also. They were the most personable, decent, fun people to work with.

Did as part of my open water course here. I found it worth while to check it out again afterwards. Easy to enter. Between the corals you can find huge amounts of tube worms (Christmas tree worms) in numbers of colours. We have seen a trumpet-fish standing in the water with it's nose down, a sand-diver sitting on the coral and there were also different kinds of parrot fish (queen parrot fish and stoplight parrot fish). Most of these were still rather young.

This was the site where my wife and I did our 2nd & 3rd open water training dives. No crowds! In fact, we were the only ones there. After finning out a ways there were a couple of crushed coral spots on the bottom at about 20' that the dive operators use as a training site. We saw damsels, butterfly fish, and several stoplight parrotfish there. A little further out and down the slope at 60' we were shadowed by a curious barracuda. We found a good sized green moray hiding in his hole in the coral and were even checked out by a passing spotted eagle ray. This was a very enjoyable site and I would not mind going back to it at some point to explore it further.

Ik vond het het echt super mooie duik en het was ook mijn eerste duik in helder water wat ik wel jammer vind is dat je bijna nergens reclame ziet om te gaan duiken + prijzen

Paved road near site. Turn into small gravel parking area next to site. Easy 50 yard swim out of marina area into open water. Reef is very near mouth out of marina. Reef runs parallel to shore. Reef is about 30' deep at top to 85' at bottom. Visibility 35', good plant life, coral is ok but watch out for fire coral, fish life is good. There is very slight current. Nothing is spectacular, but overall it is an easy worthwhile shore dive.

This is a great spot for snorkelers and/or divers. Easy access in and out of the water. As you walk down toward the water there is a ladder over to your left. Make note that the picture used for the aerial shot is an older one and the pools are not as defined any more.

This is a great spot for snorkelers and/or divers. Easy access in and out of the water. As you walk down toward the water there is a ladder over to your left. Make note that the picture used for the aerial shot is an older one and the pools are not as defined any more.

Very easy parking and entry 30 feet to the water. Just swim out thru the canal about 70 yds. and descend. Great reef sloping from 20 ft. to deep blue. A lot of parrot fish, snapper and alot of fish. Absolutely beautiful!