Taking cruise to Cozumel, hoping to dive

[khacken]

Our ship should be there on a Saturday from 7am to 7pm. Would I be able to get four dives in? I was planning on doing Nitrox and making the first dive at nine. I know there are shops that have morning dives at nine and dives at one pm.

[Christi]

Our ship should be there on a Saturday from 7am to 7pm. Would I be able to get four dives in? I was planning on doing Nitrox and making the first dive at nine. I know there are shops that have morning dives at nine and dives at one pm.

Most shops actually leave between 8:00 and 8:30 for morning dives.

Not departing until 9:00 for the dives, getting four dives in and back to the ship by 6:00 (since you typically have to be back to the ship 45 minutes or so before the boat pulls out) is really going to be pushing it unless you are doing short bottom times and short SI's.

[flyhimd]

I was on a Royal Caribbean cruise Dec 15-23. We were in Cozumel 7am-11pm, but four dives would have easily been do-able if we had pulled out at 7pm...provided the ship docks and doesn't tender. If tendering, you need to budget an extra hour on both ends to be safe. Check your your itinerary; it should say if you're tendered or docked. Not a guarantee, but a pretty good bet you'll get to shore as advertised. Also, make sure when you make your arrangements, you take into account any difference between ship time and island time.

I went with BlueXTSea.com (Christi is the shop owner, and her crew Pedro and Hector were great). We did Palencar Bricks and End of Delila in the morning. We didn't schedule an afternoon, but it would have been easy...and the SI would have been more than ample. Face it, there's not much more at 130 feet than there is at 70 or 80, so you can work a plan out with the divemaster I'm sure that will bring you many fantastic memories...safely. I did Santa Rosa Wall last year, and it was boring as blue can be at 90 feet...the good stuff was all around 60-80 feet, especially with my camera.

Only reason we didn't do an afternoon and a nite dive in Cozumel: we were really dived out by the time we hit Cozumel (the last port)...in the three days before, we did Cayman, Belize, and Mahahual (talk about a spacious livaboard).

If you're going to hit any of the other ports above on your cruise, or have more questions about diving from a cruise ship, I'd be happy to share what I just experienced...just post a question if you like.

[Christi]

I was on a Royal Caribbean cruise Dec 15-23. We were in Cozumel 7am-11pm, but four dives would have easily been do-able if we had pulled out at 7pm...provided the ship docks and doesn't tender. If tendering, you need to budget an extra hour on both ends to be safe. Check your your itinerary; it should say if you're tendered or docked. Not a guarantee, but a pretty good bet you'll get to shore as advertised. Also, make sure when you make your arrangements, you take into account any difference between ship time and island time.

I went with BlueXTSea.com (Christi is the shop owner, and her crew Pedro and Hector were great). We did Palencar Bricks and End of Delila in the morning. We didn't schedule an afternoon, but it would have been easy...and the SI would have been more than ample. Face it, there's not much more at 130 feet than there is at 70 or 80, so you can work a plan out with the divemaster I'm sure that will bring you many fantastic memories...safely. I did Santa Rosa Wall last year, and it was boring as blue can be at 90 feet...the good stuff was all around 60-80 feet, especially with my camera.

Only reason we didn't do an afternoon and a nite dive in Cozumel: we were really dived out by the time we hit Cozumel (the last port)...in the three days before, we did Cayman, Belize, and Mahahual (talk about a spacious livaboard).

If you're going to hit any of the other ports above on your cruise, or have more questions about diving from a cruise ship, I'd be happy to share what I just experienced...just post a question if you like.

His departure time is at 7:00pm, not 11:00pm which means he needs to be finished diving and heading back to the ship by about 5:30/5:45. A two-tank afternoon dive is usually pulling back in between 5:30 and 6:00 so yes, it would really be a close call for him.

[flyhimd]

Again, depends a lot on whether the ship docks or tenders, and how you define "close call" for yourself. For me, a 7pm sailing would not be a problem at all IF the cruise ship docks. The "close call" bar gets a little more conservative if your itenerary has you listed for tendering, or you get stuck at the pier farthest from town (which is probably a taxi ride).

If you dock and get the main pier downtown, you probably will have until 6:30 or 6:45 to re-board, and it's a 5-minute walk from the dive boat. There's even a good chance that you'll be able to grab a quick dinner or Corona on shore in between.

Many of the dive boats leave from the area in between the main piers (the strip along the seawall...there's a small T pier); it's about a 5 minute walk to either of the main piers. Facing town, the main pier on the left is the ferry/tender pier, the one on the right handles cruise ships (up to 3 or 4 at a time). There's another one too, a little further down to the right (hopefully you won't get that one)...but nevertheless, it's a quick cab ride, a bit too far to walk.

If you tender in, you'll end up at the cruise ship pier, which again would be a 5 minute walk to the dive boat locations.

This was the third time I've dove Cozumel, arriving on island by boat each time: once by ferry from Playa, another on a cruise where we tendered, and this time docked. In all cases, it seemed tight on paper, but in reality, everything's in walking distance (depending on who you dive with). Heck I could see the entire lay-of-the-land and look right down into the dive boat from my stateroom.

[khacken]

Thanks! I think I will just be up front with the dive operator and let them know my situation. I would really love to get four dives in.