First Ocean dive coming up.

[markyodo]

Hello all. I am new here and I am still considered a rookie.
I am PADI certified since 2012 but only have 8 logged dives, all in quarries here in central Ohio.
The family is doing a cruise to Cozumel, Belize, Mahogany Bay, and Grand Cayman and I have plans to do my first ocean dives here. I am not sure if should be taking any of my dive equipment, but will be taking my Mares Puck for easy logging.
I am also taking my 16 year old son with me to a beginners scuba in Mahogany Bay in hopes he will catch the bug and become my future dive buddy.

I look forward to any advice or stories about others first time diving in any of these locations.
Thanks.

 

[Steve_C]

Your call on bringing stuff, but mask and dive computer are always good. I had that and my regs with me. Several boats were in port in St. Thomas. They ran out of regs. I got to dive. Half the folks from our boat did not. Have fun.

 

[TMHeimer]

You'll get a lot of opinions on what gear to take. Of course a consideration is number and weight of baggage and how much you will have to donate to the airline. I've done one plane dive trip and took everything (even 12 lbs. weight--don't put this in your carry-on....) except tanks. Many agree taking the reg is good 'cause you know it works as opposed to renting one.

 

[SamRobertshaw1]

I think if I was conscious on what I was taking whilst travelling I'd go with computer, mask and most probably regs. You can get away with all of those in hand luggage and I'd prefer it to be honest.
Diving with your own equipment will most likely make it more enjoyable for yourself presuming that all your equipment has been taken care of.
Either way I'm sure you'll have a blast, I've heard many good things about Cozumel and Belize so enjoy!!!

 

[freewillie]

It depends on how much gear you want to bring and how much you have to pay for baggage fees. I recently took all of my gear which was BC, regs, computer, wetsuit, mask, and fins for only one day of diving (two tank morning dive) in the Bahamas. I also packed my daughters BC, wetsuit, mask, and fins for same trip and squeezed all the gear into one dive bag.

in retrospect I'm still not sure if would have been easier to just rent and take mask and fins. From an economic perspective it was actually cheaper to take the gear. I paid a single $25 fee for the bag only because my wife used the wrong credit card. She booked with her airline credit card but I'm the primary card holder and should have had all bags travel without baggage fees. We encountered one airline employee who wouldn't waive the fee. I also had a credit at the dive shop for a free single item rental with online booking so adding the regulator for my daughter was free.

Now, if I rented at $15 per item for two regs and two BC's that's $60. It goes to $90 if you throw in two computers. Even if you paid $25 each way for luggage fees you still come out ahead. you then get the benefit of diving with your own gear which you already know and feel comfortable with.

once on vacation I had a BC malfunction and for one dive was forced to use a rental BC. I normally dive back inflate and haven't used a jacket BC since certification. But it was actually no big deal and I didn't really notice a huge difference. So it isn't really a make or break issue since most divers can make do. You will also have to decide how much space the bag will take up in the room and if you can manage space wise aboard a tightly cramped room aboard a cruise ship.

As for the cruise, if you are diving as one of the shore activities definitely go through the ship's booking. Reason is if it's their booking then if you are late they hold the ship. If you go through an outside booking then you miss the ship and you are out of luck. You will pay through the nose to catch up and get back on board.

 

[claymore]

One thing to remember about taking a cruise is that there are usually 2 Formal nights in the dining room which means extra clothing to pack and the rest of the night want dressy casual.

I am am an exception to the usual travel diver as I can get my whole kit, except fins, in one carry-on so I do not loose any space/weight in checked luggage.

If you take any gear I would take your computer, regs and mask at a minimum.

 

[diversteve]

In Belize one of the operators (Hugh Parkey's) picks up off the ship since everyone else is tendered in. Although that might be the one stop where I'd seriously consider not diving and doing one of the interesting land tours instead. I'm not sure that within the limited time frame you can get to the better Belize diving - although I really don't know for certain.

The Mahogany Bay (Carnival) operator is Anthony's Key but they don't do the DD there but rather at their location on the north side - they provide the shuttle over. Some info about it is here: Dive Excursions - Anthony's Key Resort - Roatan - Honduras

Cruise operator on Grand Cayman is Don Foster's - Don Foster's Dive Grand Cayman Other options also in town are Lobster Pot, three operators work from there - the two listed and Off The Wall. Also with a buddy, there's the Eden Rock shore dive 500' from the cruise port - although their new website seems all snorkel focused so I'm not sure what's happening there.

Cruise Ship Visitors to Grand Cayman |
Grand Cayman Scuba Diving for small groups
Cayman Diving Guide

 

[markyodo]

Thanks everyone for their words of wisdom. I have only the beginners scuba booked through Carnival so far with my son in Mahogany Bay and I understand the risks with trying to do excursions outside of booking with the cruise which has me concerned with diving offshore - not through a paid excursion. But I have had much better excursions booking them privately in the past, though I've never done this for dive trips before.

diversteve - I had read about the shore dives close to the port in Grand Cayman. I had wondered how that works with single divers just walking off the ship (not booking an excursion). I wonder if there are normally others waiting for dive buddies.

 

[diversteve]

I don't know because we purposely avoided going there until after the cruise ships had sailed one afternoon. By then we pretty much had the place to ourselves. You can't get much closer to the ship though. And since there can be 4-5 in port there's a possible good pool of dive buddies. I think this picture is a few years old at least. http://caymanislandsdiscounts.com/3outside.JPG

Another highly likely spot - especially for an afternoon dive - would be Sunset House. It's about 5mins. south of the port by cab and one of two AI dive resorts. We dove there one afternoon, My Bar was full of divers, while eating lunch at least a dozen or more geared up at the dock/salt water pool. From there you can see your ship in the harbor. And we probably saw 4-5 groups in the water as well on our dive. They only do 2-tank boat dives in the morning so it might be a better afternoon option - IDK as I bring my own buddy. Sunset House - Grand Cayman's Hotel for Divers, by Divers - Sunset House

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I always take all our gear on dive trips. However, a one day excursion off a cruise ship is probably a different matter. I encourage you to dive where and when you can. Be an active diver. Active divers are competent and safe divers. It's had to think of your son getting the "bug" to dive one every year or two. Enjoy the warm clear water, and hopefully you will alos get the bug to be an active diver.
DivemasterDennis