First tropical ocean dive...bittersweet

[Bigeclipse]

Just got back from a cruise trip. It was a long time overdue honeymoon with my wife (married 2 years now). Well one of the stops on the ship was at Royal Caribbean's private island called Coco Cay in the Bahamas. They offered a morning scuba dive for 65 dollars including equipment, which was nice since bringing my own would have stunk for one dive. I have had many lake and quarry dives over the past few years but I have never been in the ocean, let alone warm parts of the ocean. so I was really excited to say the least. The dive was only to 30ft on their "reef". They had stated on the website there was a sunken plane and boat which would be cool to see as well as the fish and reef itself. Well let's just say that is where the excitement ended. Before we went out, the dive master stated the visibility has been down the past week. I must say the visibility was still better than the lakes and quarries I am used to BUT nothing like the pictures my parents have shown me from their scuba trips. We saw a handful of fish (which included a lobster and a large puffer fish). That was about it... We never saw the plane nor the boat (apparently only the snorkel people get to see those now). The reef did not seem very alive. Saw some corals but again nothing like my parents pictures from their dive trips to Bon air or Cozumel. Diving without a 7mm wetsuit was a HUGE improvement. I cannot believe how freeing it felt and the drop in weight was pretty substantial which was also awesome. Overall, id rate the dive a 6 maybe 7 out of 10. It was definitely better than diving the quarries and lakes ive been to but nothing like I was hoping for. Hopefully my next trip will be to an actual scuba diving location!

 

[Water Boy76]

A 30ft scuba dive? Wow thats terrible. Don't give up on diving the Ocean. I've never dove fresh water and have no plans to.

 

[Rick Murchison]

... Hopefully my next trip will be to an actual scuba diving location!

Here's one for ye (The Lovely Young Kat & I really like this trip)... with a couple of videos I shot back in '03
Rick

 

[agilis]

Cruise ship dives on their 'private' sites are usually junk, just snorkeling for children with nothing much to see beyond worked over murky shallow water. Even arrangements with real dive operations at destinations are usually second rate because they will have to accommodate a lot of people, and kick back money to the cruise line.

Cruises are fine for drinking and such, but in general they are a poor substitute for real travelling, really just a scam trading on the naïve fantasy left over from 1930s films. Today cruises are crowded regimented glorified tour bus experiences.

 

[sheeper]

there are some FANTASTIC dives in 30'. don't let that discourage you. i'm also from NY, once upon a time.

my dive club here on Florida's treasure coast is cursed with having 365 days of dive opportunities every year! Google "Blue Heron Bridge" for more excitement than you can handle on a single dive!

check out our club (Vero Beach Scuba Club) on Facebook and come on down and dive with us. :cool2:

 

[Bigeclipse]

Cruise ship dives on their 'private' sites are usually junk, just snorkeling for children with nothing much to see beyond worked over murky shallow water. Even arrangements with real dive operations at destinations are usually second rate because they will have to accommodate a lot of people, and kick back money to the cruise line.

Cruises are fine for drinking and such, but in general they are a poor substitute for real travelling, really just a scam trading on the naïve fantasy left over from 1930s films. Today cruises are crowded regimented glorified tour bus experiences.

Honestly...the cruise itself was AMAZING! The wife and I had a GREAT time partying, eating and seeing the sites. it was one of the best trips we have been on. She has been all over the world previously to this with her family and she agreed this was one of her favorite trips so honestly my opinion of cruises is actually pretty high! As far as diving I fully agree with you and look forward to diving in better locations.

 

[sheeper]

we cruise a lot as it is our favorite form of vacay. i rarely book dive trips that have anything to do with the cruise line. I look for the 5-star dive centers from SDI-TDI, or PADI, even NAUI and contact them to book my own trips. I've had some spectacular dive trips that way. You just need to be specific on your travel logistics and make sure the dive op can get you to and from their place somehow. I've taken cabs to a dive center and had the owners drive me back to the cruise ship.

 

[hilljo88]

we cruise a lot as it is our favorite form of vacay. i rarely book dive trips that have anything to do with the cruise line. I look for the 5-star dive centers from SDI-TDI, or PADI, even NAUI and contact them to book my own trips. I've had some spectacular dive trips that way. You just need to be specific on your travel logistics and make sure the dive op can get you to and from their place somehow. I've taken cabs to a dive center and had the owners drive me back to the cruise ship.

I've done the same thing as Sheeper. Just takes a little more pre-trip planning. Check the ship's schedule and find a local dive op. They will usually know the ship's schedule and be able to provide transportation for you. Once in Croatia, the dive op took me back to the ship in his Zodiac. We stopped on the way to pick his kids up after school.

 

[The Chairman]

If you like cruises, you probably will like a liveaboard like the Belle Amie:

​

 

[Doc]

Cruise ships are great places, especially the 2 a.m. Ice Cream Buffet.

When you disembark, that's when you're what's on the menu. The ship really doesn't want you to get off the boat- they lose revenue and you go and spend money elsewhere. That ain't right. So you have to understand that whatever cruise ship excursion you bought, the island vendor us getting just a taste of the money you threw down. The vendors might be categorized as desperate to have even accepted this crappy deal, your experience will be commensurate.

Shore excursions of any type generally suck or blow, two different things, but the same effect. For SCUBA, even more so, but most Cruise Ship Divers reboard all a-glow with tales of the briney deep, possibly some pictures from the Shark Rodeo to prove it.

Diving on shore leave is marginal, most popular cruise ship ports are well established and have had ample opportunity to locally destroy its reef ecosystem. Even in newly established Zonas de Devistacion such as Roatan, the experience will be marginal. The piece of land that the your Bahams cruise ship bought and renamed Coco Cay bit the dust 30 years ago

Dive ops that accept cruise ship traffic all have very similar modes of operation. They do not trust their passengers in any manner, you will be taken to idiot proof dives, ones with "hard bottoms" and you will all be treated equally, to the lowest common denominator. Even if you go on your own with an outside dive op, they're still going to give you the stink eye. A new arrival is a new arrival. In training I led many cruise ship dives, like herding cats with mental issues. They range from "out of practice" to "just got my c card...three years ago", the net effect was the same. I never found any one that made me relax, so I acted accordingly. So, it's what is expected, the DM has no time to judge or a week to help improvement. Git along little doggies.

That you survived and returned to tell the tale was all but guaranteed. As was your "meh" 6 to 7 kind of experience.

Spend a week on island, go diving. I like that plan you proposed.

What you have so far graded as a 6 or 7 will quickly plummet to a 2 in comparison.