Coco Cay, Bahamas port

[Foo]

Hi, I've looked through all the pages of posts for this forum, and haven't seen any mention of Coco Cay. We're going on a Royal Carib. cruise that will spend a day at the RCL's small private island, Coco Cay. Has anyone been there, and is there any diving? The reviews that I have found only mention the snorkeling.

We'll also be in Naussau for a day of diving. Feel free to post your best recommendations as far as dive ops, etc. Thanks so much!

Foo

 

[tmds]

I was at coco cay about 2 years ago and the diving is fine there. It is a great port for family fun also. Parasailing is also great. While snorkeling I saw a 12 ft. black tip swimming about 3 ft. from the small airplane at about 20 FSW. It is a fun day!

Tom

 

[billtodive]

Bride and I went snorkeling on coco cay. a bit crowded and trampled in the shallows, but lots of fish none the less. Also free-dove to 35 feet as there were 3-4 rays cruising there. Set up diving day through RC. Took a very interesting and rough 5 mile ride to Nasau scuba center (about 2 miles away) on a bus that lost one of the duals (tires) on the back. Driver never said a thing. First dive we swam over a reef at 45 feet and decended to 80 over the wall to line up with dozens of black tips, then finned by the shark feeder ( in chain mail suit) at 40 ' feeding the locals. Dive 2 was 45fsw max, but coral rising 10 feet off the botom, with volcano coral large enough to hold a couple yellow snappers at a time (I think that's what they were).
Amazing place to dive. Next time I'm staying lots longer! Enjoy! BTW. carrying gear back to the boat is terrible there......

Then when I rinsed my gear, I took the weights out of my BC.

 

[RAD Diver]

The bus lost a wheel. Not surprising as our trip in the SDC bus was also a great adventure with the driver jumping out of the frt seat thinking something ran across his feet , a rat is what he thought it was,never stopping the bus.The dives were great so thats all that mattered to me.Carrying gear was a bear , but after seeing rental gear I didnt mind so much.I was just there Oct. 23rd.

 

[Foo]

So, Rad- You actually dove in Coco Cay? Is it all shore diving, or are there boats that go out? And hopefully, there is a dive shop on premises for renting tanks? I tried looking at cruise reviews, and the comments on there seemed to be that the snorkeling was great, but no mention of SCUBA. I appreciate all of you for your help!

Foo

 

[NOVIZWHIZ]

I did the "dive" at CoCo Cay. It's pretty basic, they ferry you to the island from the ship. Gear up and walk in. Surface swim too a bouy that marks the reef. Pretty good dive AFTER you get under. No stress - except for the surface swim... saw some beautiful ccoral, fish then in comes about a 1/2 dozen HUGE rays...followed each other in a line right in front of us. Saw a small octopus, lotsa parrot fish. Average depth was 30 - 40 ft ( I think). The snorkeling area has an airplane and some fake cannons - pretty neat. Lotsa other stuff to do on the island, nice beach and the "CoCo Loco's" will sneak up on you....

 

[NOVIZWHIZ]

OOPS! They have all the gear you need there, shorty, vest, weight belt, fins., tank , reg...all you really need is your C card - I did take my own mask. My C card was from the early 70's - they had some fun with that....

 

[Foo]

Cool! Glad to hear there's actually SCUBA there. I suppose we carry our roller bags with our gear on the ferry? We really would rather use our own gear, have taken it on a cruise before. It's kind of a pain in the room, but we found a wetsuit dryer on Ebay that works great and used it in our stateroom. Thanks so much for the responses!

Foo

 

[NOVIZWHIZ]

I'm sure it'll be okay to carry your bags, lotsa room The ferry boats are pretty big, I went on the 7 AM dive and it wasn't crowded at all....