Booked a vacation to Aruba for my girlfriend and myself. Did a lot of research on Trip Advisor for suggestions on dive companies and out of all of them, JAD's stood out to me. They seem to focus on smaller groups, which is true, they dive sites away from crowds, which is also true, and the price list on the site suggested reasonable rates. Trying to book ahead of time via email was a problem. I had reached out to them about dates, and dive site information and never heard back after their first reply. So I gave up on them and started emailing other dive companies on the island. I ran into the same problem with other companies. It seems like they'd rather you contact them when your on the island. Or it at least that's just how it seemed. Unique Sports, turned out to be the only dive center that was competent enough, and willing to answer my questions via email, but they were more expensive. As it turned out, I ended up reaching out to JAD's because I couldn't shake the fact that they were rated #1 on TripAdvisor. I mean I figured they MUST be doing something right. To make a long story short, I called them when we reached our hotel and booked a day for 2 dives at sites that they recommended. When I asked for a quote, the owner, JP, notified me that they were "currently" changing their prices, and he(the owner) had no clue as to what my trip would cost exactly. So he offered a round number and said it would be in that ball park. That was the second time I got shady vibes from this place. I wrote the number down and was happy because it was fairly reasonable. We set a time, and he told me I would be picked up and taken to the shop. Sounded easy.

The Dive Center is located on Baby Beach. If you take a look at a map of Aruba, its the south-eastern tip of the island. They're building is literally right on the beach, and right at the eastern tip of the island. The ocean to the left of the beach is the windward side(massive waves), and to the right was the calm water. Rumors, and reviews of Baby Beach are outstanding. And, I highly recommend you make a trip down there to snorkel, lounge, and swim during your stay. Just know its about a half-hour ride from the hotel district. Which is fine. You get to see plenty of the local culture on the way.

So on the day of my trip, JP, shows up at my hotel on time. On the way we talked about his shop, the dive sites he'd be taking me on, about the JAD's dive boat, and the new one he was getting. We arrived at the dive center, filled out some paperwork, and then started putting together the gear. Everything was great. I was really excited. But then a small group of maybe 6 of us are rounded up, put in a truck, with our equipment in the back, and driven AWAY from Baby Beach. Without JP, the guy who said he'd be on both dives with me. Odd. We probably drove about 10-15 min. before we pulled into a driveway of house and parked in the back. Apparently this spot was called "Rocky Beach". The odd thing was that, there was no boat. Now wait a minute. The entire time I had been talking to this guy he mentioned diving with his boat, and he mentioned him doing the dives with us. Instead he sent us out with two other instructors, and that's fine. But something just felt off. Especially now, finding out that we were doing a beach dive. I had never done one before, and I was fine with that as well. We really have a great dive. The site was basically a coral slope that slide into darkness where you couldn't make anything out. A good time. So after that we swim back to the beach, and drop our gear off in the back of the truck. Now, I had brought a dive knife with me. When I took my classes, dive knives, or "tools" were deemed to be a good idea to have with you. Cause you never know. Well these guys at this place looked me like i was crazy. So I left the knife in the truck while we dove. Apparently, while we all climbed into the truck to head back to the dive shop, the driver was repeatedly slamming the rear van door over and over. Something was wrong with the door's locking mechanism, and it just refused to stay shut. 2 Min. later, the driver returns to the driver's seat and hands me my dive knife. "Oh sorry, I bent the tip of your knife trying to fix the door." What?!? Now to some people that might get under your skin. I took the knife out and sure enough, the tip was completely bent as if he tried to use it as a screw driver. I couldn't believe it. I was hoping to hear something like, hey we'll replace it, or make it up to you, I'm really sorry, or something along those lines. Nope.

We get back to the store, have some lunch, relax, and then start getting ready for the next dive. I ask where we're going next, and JP, points out the back door. Apparently we're SHORE DIVING again, right off Baby Beach literally behind JADs. Once again, I'm wondering what is going on. Where is this "boat", why is everyone being so vague about everything, and what have I gotten myself into. Well I ask where our entry point is, and find out that we're entering on the WINDWARD side to the left of the store. I thought they were joking because the massive waves, that CRASH into the rock/coral walls created by some hurricane that blew through a couple years ago.. were over there. But, no, they were serious. Apparently we were going to "swim like hell" as they put it, between the rock walls at an entry point and then DRIFT dive back around to the calmer side of the island, to the right of JAD's. I again thought they were crazy. The waves were huge. But they reassured me that everything will be fine. So, two instructors on this dive. JP is still sitting in the dive shop playing with his computer. The plan was one instructor in the front for the dive, and one in the rear. As it turns out we get into the water, and the one instructor for the front, totally takes off with my assigned dive buddy and doesn't even wait for the rest of the group. He calls out to me telling me to come with them while he's getting blasted by the waves. I hesitated because the other instructor was still trying to get two 13 year old girls ready to enter. So I wait and figure I'll just enter with them. And we try to enter. To no avail. The surf was really rough. I actually got stuck on coral as the water got pulled out after a huge wave. At that point the instructor, and the girls were also being refused by the harsh water, so she recommends swimming around this lagoon to the next entry point further towards JADs, and we do. At this point its just the instructor, myself and these two young girls. Again I mentioned that this may not be a good idea and once again, the instructor insured me that we'd be able to enter. "Just swim as hard as you can for 45 ft. and then decend as fast as possible." Mind you, I've been on a total of 10 logged dives.

Well we begin our entry and everything is fine. We're swimming as hard as we can against the waves and we seemed to slowly make some progress. But then we reached the point where the waves started to crest, and the waves were literally towering us. I remember yelling out "look out", and the next thing I knew I was knocked face first down and being swept away, headed for god knows what in the water, or the rock walls that surrounded us. When the force of the wave finally let go of me, I lifted my head up out of the water and my regulator had been ripped out of my mouth and my mask off my face. The young girls and instructor were also hit hard as well. Everyone was scrambling. At this point for whatever reason the waves starting coming at us faster and even harder. They were just too large to fight. Every wave that hit, pulled my regulator and mask off. It was a nightmare. I literally feared for my life. After the wave hit you, you had maybe 5 seconds to get your gear back together before another hit you. It starting boiling down to what was more important. Being able to see, or be able to breath. I just kept scrambling for my regulator, but the waves would pretty much wrap them behind my back and were so hard to reach. It was at this point that the instructor asked us what we wanted to do. ??? That's when I mentioned we needed to get back. But, at that point the current had already swept us out in front of the rocks. Another wave, and another. Things got more and more frantic. Then one wave hits and I surface to see I'm 15 ft away from the group, and then another wave and I'm 25 ft. away from the group and being swept out towards the rock walls. I started taking the waves head on to avoid being knocked head first into a rock and knocked out. I kicked my feet out so I could hopefully prevent broken bones. The waves eventually threw me into the rocks and then washed me up onto them. I was so worn out by this point I couldn't even lift myself up. Even worse, was the fact that the camera JAD's gave me was attached to my wrist and stuck in the rocks. I couldn't move my arm to get my regulator back into my mouth. I ripped off my fins, freed my right hand, and finally managed to lift myself up. I climbed over the rock wall, and fortunately the other side of the wall was basically the backyard of JAD's. I couldn't believe it. I looked myself over. Had a couple cuts on my hands from the coral, lots of scrapes, and also had slammed my thigh into something cause it was throbbing. It was probably the rock wall.

The two girls legs were all cut up. Deep cuts, nothing but blood streaming down them. Same with the instructor. One of the girl's toes were also broken. I took pictures of everyone's cuts on the walk back to the shop, but unfortunately, just as I had suspected JP reviewed all the pictures before burning me a disc, and had removed them. I asked twice to make sure those pictures in particular were there, and of course he didn't. Everyone was pretty shaken up. I had never had something like that happen to me before. I'm telling you with absolutely NO exaggeration that I thought I was going to drown. It was scary. Even after all this happening, JAD's offered to not charge me for this dive. WOW! Are you serious? I wouldn't have paid for it either way. When he reviewed the bill with me, even with the disaster being taken into consideration, the price was still $40 more than what he quoted me on the phone a couple days prior. I couldn't believe it. Not only that, but the employee's thought the whole experience was cool. They kept saying that now I'm a real "JAD's diver" because I now have battle scars. They told me numerous stories of the same kinds of things happening with other divers. That to me doesn't sound cool... it sounds like a problem.

Do I recommend JAD's to anyone?? Sure. Extremely experienced divers that won't take any shit from anyone. The business is shady. Be very clear with them because they are kings at being vague, and taking advantage. Contact Unique Sports or anyone else for that matter.

My family and I recently took a trip to Aruba and chose JADS for our Scuba excursions. They were absolutely fantastic. We had excellent equipment, amazing personalized attention, and an all around great experience. My wife, oldest son, and myself dove and my younger children (7 and 9) did the bubble maker course. We had the opportunity to meet 3 instructors and they treated us like family. The staff was also amazing and did an excellent job arranging our dive schedule to meet our individual needs. When travelling to Aruba we would highly recommend this outfit.

During our trip to Aruba we stayed at the Hyatt where Red Sail Sports was located and they had scuba diving through them. But beforehand we had heard about JADS and decided to go with them instead and we are glad we did. Red Sail did all the trianing in the resort pool and in large groups of people. But my wife and I had a private lesson with the owner of JADS J.P. at Baby Beach. It was an awesome experience for two beginners who have never been diving before. We saw a ton of marine life and were able to have a private lesson for less than what it would have cost with the larger Red Sail Sports. We loved the personalized attention and the exotic training site on the baby beach reef. It was a great experience. Although JADS is a small little spot on a secluded spot on the island the staff is friendly personable and the experience was great. We would highly recommend it to anyone going to Aruba

I read about JADS online ahead of my trip and contacted the shop once I arrived in Aruba.
Although I was traveling with a group of girlfriends to the island for the first time (and diving with someone I had never met), Jean-Pierre (J.P.) scheduled for us to come in and dive so he could determine our skill level. I called back to add two friends to our trip to snorkel and Christy was very accommodating to make sure we could include our non-diving friends. I hadn't dove in two years, so I was relieved that J.P. and Walter were willing to take time with my friend and I.
Upon arriving at the shop in the morning on May 8, it was very comfortable and I felt at ease preparing for our two dives with Walter and J.P. We rented some of our equipment from the shop and they were great about assisting us with whatever we needed. I found the equipment to be in good condition and didn't have any issues.
The first dive of the day was a shore dive at rocky beach. It was a great location and we were able to shore dive while our friends snorkeled. We had a great time and saw so many fish! Our second shore dive with Walter was at Baby Beach while our friends snorkeled. Baby beach was a very cool dive, with a ton of variety of sea life. After two dives with Walter, I can see why he is the most requested instructor. I am also considering a return trip to Aruba to complete advanced certification with the shop. Walter is great about communicating the logistics of the dives and making sure everyone is comfortable. He understands the importance of paying special attention to divers when necessary. Both J.P. and Walter treated us like we were family and we were excited to have another day of diving.
Our second day of dives (three tanks) beginning the morning of May 9 with Jair and Jairo were off the boat. We had a great time seeing a variety of sites and really enjoyed having support both in the water with Jair and in the boat with Jairo. This time our friends decided to stay at the hotel, but it worked out splendidly. Diving in Aruba was the highlight of my trip, not only because of Aruba's many reefs and abundance of sea life, but the welcoming and accommodating crew at JADS, including Chi Cha, Christy, Jair, Jairo, J.P., and Walter.
I would gladly recommend diving in Aruba with JADS.