Princess - Dawn April

[scSCUBA]

I'm off on a cruise the first week of April. How's this diving in or around Ochorios?

Our Itenerary goes to Grand Cayman, St Thomas, Cozumel, St Marteen and Jamacia. My wife has no desire to see Jamacia, so I figured that would be the best day to leave her on the boat, and go dive. I know that Grand Caymen probably has 'better' diving, but, since she doesn't dive, I don't feel right about abandoning her when "WE" could explore and or do beach tourist stuff together.

 

[diveborg]

I'd rank the quality of diving on these island in the following order:

1. Cozumel. Just too many good sites to dive. Healthy marine life and lots of dive OP's to choose from.

2. Grand Cayman. There are some sites here at are every bit as good as Cozumel. The added benefit of little if any current makes Grand Cayman a bit easier to dive for the novice and it is much easier to photograph when you are not flying over the reef at 3 knots like can happen in Coz. GCM also has quite a few quality dive OD's to choose from.

3. St. Maarten. Quite a ways back from GCM and Coz in quality of dives as well as easy of diving. Almost all the sites are in the open ocean, so if the ocean isn't calm, you will be subject to all the wave action that the ocean is sharing for that day. There are only a few dive OP's on St. Maarten for a reason, the diving is pretty lack luster.

4. and last and least is Jamaica. Of all the island's on your trip, Jamaica has the lowest standard of living. Many people need to fish in order to feed their families. Guess what this does to the fish population. Don't expect to see many fish and definitely no large fish. Cozumel and Grand Cayman both have large marine protection areas, not so in Jamaica. Of all the places to dive in the Caribbean, Jamaica is last on my list. Personally, I never need/want to visit there just because there are so many better islands to visit.

Hope this helps.

If you want any recommendations for dive operators in Coz or GCM, I'd be happy to offer my opinion on these too.