Cruising to Grand Cayman

[drbsimon]

We are going on a cruise that is taking us to George town Grand cayman. We have been forwarned not to book diving through the ship. Can anyone reccomend some dive ops and some spots to check out. We are both 15 year vets and are advanced/ nitrox certified with hundreds of dives under our belts.

Thanks Doc

[CameronMartz]

Ocean Frontiers (http://oceanfrontiers.com) is on the East End, but they will come pick you up and take you back. They are the best run dive op I've ever seen, and the divers that go with them are usually more experienced, like you, because it is a little out of the way of George Town.

Ask to go to "Fish Tank" for your second dive. That's a favorite spot with many regulars, and it was our favorite dive out of a 4 day trip there last month.

Cameron

[Drew Sailbum]

While you certainly can check with Ocean Frontiers, usually cruise timetables do not permit you the time to dive with the East End dive operators. The drive would be approximately one hour each way (allowing for traffic), and there are no guarantees that you can get on one of the early tenders to shore.

Shore diving is a popular option, or many of the west side dive operators can arrange to meet you at the dock. You may be able to arrange a North Wall trip with one of them.

[detroit diver]

Ocean Frontiers is a no-go w/ cruise ships. When I saw this post, I contacted them because I will be there in December. They can't get you on the 8am dive charter in time, or off their boat by the last tender time.

[BurBunny]

I highly recommend Neptunes Divers. They are terrific about accommodating cruise ship times, run a quality operation, small boats, personal service. Casey is just terrific!

Depending on your ship's schedule (and beware some don't change to local time, so you'll want to check into that before you arrive - Carnival stays on the time of the departure port, for example), you might also try DiveTech. If they can't get you on their boats, they have a good mini-wall shore dive off their Turtle Farm location.

[chuck e]

We are going on a cruise that is taking us to George town Grand cayman. We have been forwarned not to book diving through the ship. Can anyone reccomend some dive ops and some spots to check out. We are both 15 year vets and are advanced/ nitrox certified with hundreds of dives under our belts.

Thanks Doc
We dove GC from a cruise ship in May. I recommend a shore dive at http://www.divetech.com/ facility on the north end. We dove at their shop next to the turtle farm, but you can also do a shore dive at Cobalt Coast resort. Take a taxi from the cruise dock. Be aware of the time difference.

[CameronMartz]

Ocean Frontiers is a no-go w/ cruise ships. When I saw this post, I contacted them because I will be there in December. They can't get you on the 8am dive charter in time, or off their boat by the last tender time.

Doh! That's too bad.

My wife and I also dove Eden Rock (http://www.edenrockdive.com) (the real one, not the bar that also rents tanks) right downtown, which is a shore dive that you can do at your own pace. I don't know how it compares to the other shore diving that is being mentioned, but they have a few resident schools of squid and other neat things to see at only 40ft deep.

It seems to get a lot of divers, though, so it might not be as good as some of the others mentioned (I'm curious about that, myself).

Cameron