Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Key West Cruise/Dive Trip

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DiverG

Reached My 2nd Goal!
Messages
1,489
Reaction score
287
Location
Houston, Texas, United States
# of dives
100 - 199
I'm cutting and pasting a trip report that I posted on another site. This is a cruise/dive trip that I took on Dec 9-16 and had a grand old time.

Yesterday I returned from a fun week of cruising and diving the caribbean. Earlier this year I decided that I would try a different type of trip. One that I've wanted to do, but had never done. My dive club organized a cruise on the Royal Caribbean Cruise line's Rhapsody of the Seas with port calls in Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Key West. First of all, the ship was great. This particular ship is only 5 years old so it is in great shape.It is over 900 ft long with plenty to do. Plenty of great food from fine dining, casual buffets and snacks such as burgers hot dogs pizza and more. Entertainment was really great with different type of shows each night. We had dancers, magicians, comedians and more dancers with long legs :) there was gambling for the gamblers on board, several pools, spas etc. Something for everyone.

Now to the trip. We left Galveston, Texas on Sun December 9 at 5 pm and Monday was a Sea day. We arrived in Cozumel Tuesday morning tostart a three dive day. In Cozumel, we dove with Aqua Safari, and the first dive was at Palancar. Not sure what area of Palancar we dove, but it was a nice dive with water temperature being about 81 degrees. Next dive was at Cedar Pass atleast I think that's the name. Please forgive, I'm not all that great at keeping note and am doing this from memory. for those of you that went on DL2000 this is the site that was ripping when we dove it. Gary and Den was on my dive boat that day and should remember that dive. Well this time there wasn't much current to speak of and it was a nice enjoyable dive. After wards we went to that pavalion were we had our DL2000 dinner party for lunch. Last dive was Chakknaub (sp?) to finish our days diving. Unfortunately, we did not dive the wreck. I really wanted to dive the wreck so I could see how much growth has taken place on it since DL2001. I guess I'll have to go back someday when I'll have more then a day of diving. Total time in Cozumel 10 hours. Part 2 to come.....

We left Cozumel at about 5PM heading for for Grand Cayman. Scheduled for arrival around 10AM. We got there about 9AM. We anchored out and had to catch a tender into port. The bad thing about this was the wait to clear customs. I think we waited over an hour to get off the boat, and we were the first group to get off.

Once ashore it seemed like we were waiting another hour for our dive op to pick us up. Seems like there was a little mix up in scheduling. In Cayman we were diving with Red Sail Sports and found them to have a great operation. We used to boats and I was on a 48ft speedster that got us out to the dive site quick. Our first site, was Round Rock. We got a good briefing about the site. It was a guided dive and the one thing I really liked about our divemaster was that he wore two different color fins. He said it makes it very easy for people to spot him. Haven't seen any one else do this, but it seems like a good ideal to me. Now on to the dive. This site has alot of swim throughs that I found very interesting. We even came acroos a turtle. That was so cool.

Next dive was the Oro Verde/Paradise Reef. Originally the Oro Verde was several hundred yards from the reef, but the last several hurricanes have basically pick it up and moved it to the reef, In the process the ship has broken up according to our dive guides. This site had alot of different fish and two resident eels. All in all this was the best diving of the trip. Part three to come...

The final port call of my cruise/dive trip was Key West, Florida. I thought the wait to clear custom in Cayman was long, but it didn't compare to the long wait I had in Florida. I really don't have much to say about the diving in Key West other then I wasn't to impressed with it. We did dive Joe's tug which was okay, but visibility was marginal. We then move a very short distance to a reef that was in poor shape. It was a max depth of about 25 feet and there was heavy surge making it impossible for me to enjoy the dive. I took pictures but none worth posting. The one thing I did like about this port call was that I was able to tour the town a little after the diving. this was good because we just didn't have time to explore Cayman and Cozumel.

Overall this was a great trip. The ship was great, the people I was with were great. This type of trip isn't for the hardcore diver, but is great for someone that has a significant other that isn't into diving. It's also good for those that aren't hardcore divers, and it's a good way to try diving inseveral different areas in a economical way.

DiverG
 
DiverG - thanks for the trip report! I love cruising and I love diving - hopefully i can put them two together one day!

One question - did you organize the dive trips yourself or did Royal Caribbean do it?

S :)
 
SunshineFish I was with a group of about 80 people of which 40 were divers. We arranged our own diving in each port. In Cozumel we used Aqua Safari. In Cayman we used Red Sail Sports and I don't remember who we used in Key West.
 
Nice report. I love to cruise too. Been on quite a few now. It's not as many dives as a dedicated dive trip, but it's still a lot of fun. Also, I agree, great if there are non divers in the family, so they don't get bored.
Thanks for sharing.
:gorgeous:
 
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