Cruiser looking for independent dives

[Ks Bob]

We will be going on a cruise in December to Cozumel and Belize. I am not looking forward to the "Cattle" dive operations. We are also scheduled to go again in May to Cozumel, Cayman and Jamaica. May i indulge upon your thoughts and recommendations on Dive Operators that will accomadate cruisers?

Going on the Elation by chance. We are booked for Elation 12/12/04. From the recommendations I've heard, Belize is best booked through the ship due to logistics. I'm definitely diving in Cozumel, but not sure if I can sneak away from the wife and kids for Belize.

 

[diveborg]

I also dred getting buddied up with Ima Hoover, or some other Bozo. But that can happen booking through the ship or on your own.

Actually I would think that getting a rapid consumer of compressed air more likely on a ship's excursion. It is my impression that the typical cruise diver is somewhat inexperienced, being a once a year type diver. Of course my impression could be wrong and because it is a generalization and probably doesn't apply to you.

Still, I do recommend making your own arrangements, especially in Coz (but probably not in Belize, even I'd go with the ship there). You will definitely have more control over the dive site and therefore the quality of the whole experience.

 

[diverrick]

I second the recommendation to do Eden rock in GC. Great dive, and it's Cheap!! As for Belize, I'd save my money there, as I found the diving that close to Belize City to be pretty rotten, IMHO. Long boat ride, and "eh" kinda diving. My wife and I actually came up early on that dive, as it was so poor. There are some other shore excursions that were highly liked by others on my cruise ship, In particular the inner tube drift. I heard alot of good responses to those who did that excursion. In Cozumel, you can choose just about any one of the dive ops, there are plenty to choose from I like to use Segio Sandoval's "Aquatic Sports". you cancontact them@ sergio@ecozu.com.
I have to also agree about Jamaica. Save your money and do something else. I was less than impressed by the diving there, at least in the radius possable around the port where the ship docked. We were at Ocho Rios, due to some problem witht he cruise company, as we were supposed to go into some other port. so any place else on the island you might port at I can't speak for. have fun. Wish I was going!

 

[BIG DADDY ONE]

going on Carnival in Feb (Presidents' week), same ports. Let us know if GC is put back together by Dec.
I'm a little chicken to book my own and usually go through the ship. Also I am usually a lone diver.
I also dred getting buddied up with Ima Hoover, or some other Bozo. But that can happen booking through the ship or on your own.

hey deeplou, i have the same concerns but just the opposite. since I am a newbie I fit into the Ima Hoover range and do not want to get a buddy that is more conservitive with the air. Also do not want to bwe put with a cruise group with higher skill levels than mine. You have to crawl to walk to run. I am between crawl and walk. I want to respect the others as I would want to be repected.that is why i am soliciting all the advise i can

Thanks to all and any other ideas are welcome
David

 

[DEEPLOU]

While I do have my concerns abt the Hoovers, I also, believe it or not, do get enjoyment of being able to help a newer diver better their skills. Heck, I sometimes even get a new idea from a new diver also.

As for Belieze, I have been there twice on cruises. Did the dive excursiton through the ship both times. Both times the ship anchored out a good distance off from Belieze City. And the dive operators came up to the side of the ship and picked up the divers and off we went to the dive sites. (the first trip got to go to the Blue Hole) (little advanced)

 

[Diver Kat]

hey deeplou, i have the same concerns but just the opposite. since I am a newbie I fit into the Ima Hoover range and do not want to get a buddy that is more conservitive with the air. Also do not want to bwe put with a cruise group with higher skill levels than mine. You have to crawl to walk to run. I am between crawl and walk. I want to respect the others as I would want to be repected.that is why i am soliciting all the advise i can

Thanks to all and any other ideas are welcome
David

David - which ever op you choose, make sure you're clear with them about your newbie status and any concerns. A good op will match you up with a similar level divers if possible. We've have used Papa Hogs for 22 of our 24 Cozumel dives, and from the get-go they took very good care of us, making sure we were comfortable. Since they use mostly 6 pack boats, it makes it easier for them to sort the divers into different group levels. I can say I started the first trip as a nervous newbie, and by the 2nd trip I was so comfortable with PH's that we were going out with the more experienced groups.

We've also done the shore diving at Eden Rock, and it was easy and fun. We're hoping if Grand Cayman is back on their feet by late November to try the shore diving by the Turtle Farm .... supposed to be great.

In Belize we used Sea Sport Belize, as we didn't want to do the ship excursion as brand new divers - wanted a bit more personal attention - it was out first ever blue water dive, and they were terrific.

 

[Hawkeye Mark]

Recently on cruise ship. Booked with Dive Paradise in Cozumel and Subway Watersports in Roatan. Since its low season in late September, Dive Paradise was only operator of five I contacted willing to commit to afternoon dive without 2 minimum. Since wife is non diver, I was on my own. Subway took me out on my own but a DM in training went along just for the dive. Declined to pay 135 for ships excursion in Belize.

 

[diversteve]

We're hoping if Grand Cayman is back on their feet by late November to try the shore diving by the Turtle Farm .... supposed to be great.

A great way to dive the site is rent scooters from the Divetech location just north of the Turtle Farm. It's only about $40 or so, and the scooters give you a huge range of options. You can fly along the Mini-wall south near the Turtle farm or ride out to the North wall dropoff. There was a school of Tarpon hanging out in the shadows of the mini-wall and you'll probably see some turtles since the farm is right there. And it's a real easy entry down the ladder and into a protective cove, then a short swim out to the mini-wall even if you don't rent scooters. Hopefully things are still the same there post-Ivan. There's also an hour long escorted scooter dive from Divetech/Cobalt Coast to their location at the Turtle Farm, I think it's midweek, but I never did it since we went to SRC instead that day.

And I've heard good things about the food at the Cracked Conch, above the Divetech shop there. (hope it's still there...)

 

[diversteve]

We will be going on a cruise in December to Cozumel and Belize. I am not looking forward to the "Cattle" dive operations. We are also scheduled to go again in May to Cozumel, Cayman and Jamaica. May i indulge upon your thoughts and recommendations on Dive Operators that will accomadate cruisers?

Depends on when you arrive in GC. Most of the boats go out fairly early in the morning, before 8am or so, since they try to get in two dives before the wind picks up in the afternoon, so you probably won't get off the ship in time. There is one dive op we saw waiting there with their van to pick up cruise ship divers, I think it might have been Soto's (Foster's?) but I'm not sure. I've heard that Red Sail handles a lot of the cruise dives, but they're pretty much cattleboat.

Another good option might be to go to Sunset House, they're only about 1/2 mile s. of the cruise port and have excellent shoredive faciliities. Easy entry off a pier/ladder that was just redone a couple years ago. Course this is pre-Ivan.

The famous Amphitrite Mermaid is there in about 50' of water and there's a lot of nice reef structures around it. They also have a WWII landing craft sunk in 80-90' of water a little further out, we started there and then followed a buoy back to the Mermaid for pictures, made for a nice easy dive profile. You could see where you were going the whole way, the water was really clear. We dove there about 1pm, since it's sort of protected by the island, there wasn't any current or waves to deal with.

And My Bar, Sunset House's outdoor grille is great for lunch. Plus if you're into u/w photography, the Cathy Church gallery is in the basement of the main house.

We dove there and also dove Eden Rock a couple days later. We liked Sunset House much better, Eden Rock gets a lot of cruise traffic - you could swim to your ship from there - so it's more worn down. And a lot of it is just sand flats once you get out past the grottos. Diving down into some of the grotto openings was pretty fun though. I also didn't like the fact that you could see/hear the jetskis overhead just out from there, they're in their own restricted area, my buddy ventured out a little farther than I did under them and almost under a big ship(Voyager of the Seas?). And when they blew the horn, it was pretty intense.

Never been to Coz or Jamaica, but a diver friend of mine who lives in Belize said all the good diving there is in the Caye's and out further on the longer boat trips.