Best Dives - Western Caribbean Cruise

[Eden Rock Cayman]

We offer some great shore dives guided (or not) close to the cruise ship terminal in George Town
(Eden Rock and Devil's Grotto).
Diving from shore can save you time and allow your wife to visit the duty free shopping in George Town.

 

[indydivegal]

I will look you up when I am back down there. I WILL be back, I loved the diving there. Do you have a website of your shop? Would love to check it out.

 

[Eden Rock Cayman]

Please visit Cayman’s best shore and boat diving Eden Rock Diving Cente

 

[pamawi]

Oh Wow!! I am going on a cruise to the exact same locations in September! I have a ton of information from other SBers that I would be glad to send to you. It is at home at the present time, otherwise I would send it to you now. I have been told about several locations and that for diving in Costa Maya the diving is not so great and to spend the day at the beach. We tallied up the cost of diving at all locations through the cruise ship and it was about $1100 for the two of us. I will send you a private email with the info I have collected.

I just booked the Legend for Feb 17th and would love to get a copy of that info you were going to send letsgodiving. My husband doesn't dive, so I'll need a buddy if anyone is interested. I booked this cruise because all 4 ports known for diving and so I could do the manatee swim beforehand near Tampa. I'd like to dive in all four ports, but may skip one or two to do something different. Been to Coz on dive trip before and loved it, so I'm thinking of doing cenote dive since I've never done it. Also have never seen Mayan ruins and I'm thinking of doing that in Cozumel and diving in the other ports since I'll probably get back to Cozumel on future cruises and will have future opportunities to dive there again. Appreciate any feedback.

 

[Eden Rock Cayman]

Eden Rock Diving Center offers guided shore dives (1 or 2 tank) to Eden Rock and Devil's Grotto as well as 2 tank boat dives to the West Side ideal for cruse ship passenger.
Cayman’s best shore and boat diving Eden Rock Diving Cente

 

[indydivegal]

I just booked the Legend for Feb 17th and would love to get a copy of that info you were going to send letsgodiving. My husband doesn't dive, so I'll need a buddy if anyone is interested. I booked this cruise because all 4 ports known for diving and so I could do the manatee swim beforehand near Tampa. I'd like to dive in all four ports, but may skip one or two to do something different. Been to Coz on dive trip before and loved it, so I'm thinking of doing cenote dive since I've never done it. Also have never seen Mayan ruins and I'm thinking of doing that in Cozumel and diving in the other ports since I'll probably get back to Cozumel on future cruises and will have future opportunities to dive there again. Appreciate any feedback.

Oh Man!!! I wish I could join you!!!!! I would love to go back and do more diving at those places. It was spectacular! Grand Cayman and Roatan are MUST DIVES!!!! I did not dive in Belize as I have been warned that diving there is hit or miss due to weather. The people that went on our boat that we talked to said it was a 2 hour boat ride out and 2 hour boat ride back with only one or two short dives. They said it was good diving, but long rides out and back. I think if I were to stay in Belize for more than a few hours, then I would dive for certain. I did do a dive in Coz, but the currents were really really strong that day for drift diving. I liked it, but really the silt and moving so fast kept the vis cluttered. Vis was good, but just cluttered.

 

[letsgodiving]

OK, I can answer my own question now. Got back from the cruise yesterday, had an absolute blast. We decided on Cozumel and Belize for the dive trips mainly because we wanted to check them both out for a potential vacation next year.

I wasn't that impressed with the diving in Cozumel, not much better than Key Largo in our opinion. Belize was very good, and I would definitely like to dive there again in the future.

The Costa Maya stop was replaced by Roatan because of hurricane damage but we had already booked our dives when the change was made. We did go snorkeling in Roatan, and the coral and sea life was far superior to both our dives in Cozumel and belize.

After taking to the boat skipper in Roatan we have decided that Bonaire will be our dive holiday for 2008, plus a drive down to Key Largo.


BTW - the Belize dive was great. The dive boat picked us up at the ship. We had a 20 minute ride to their Island/resort to pick up gear, and a 20-30 minute ride to the dive site. The dive boat was excellant, very professional and we had a 44 diver boat for seven of us. They dropped us back at the ship and we were off the ship for a shorter time than in Cozumel.

 

[pamawi]

OK, I can answer my own question now. Got back from the cruise yesterday, had an absolute blast. We decided on Cozumel and Belize for the dive trips mainly because we wanted to check them both out for a potential vacation next year.

I wasn't that impressed with the diving in Cozumel, not much better than Key Largo in our opinion. Belize was very good, and I would definitely like to dive there again in the future.

The Costa Maya stop was replaced by Roatan because of hurricane damage but we had already booked our dives when the change was made. We did go snorkeling in Roatan, and the coral and sea life was far superior to both our dives in Cozumel and belize.

After taking to the boat skipper in Roatan we have decided that Bonaire will be our dive holiday for 2008, plus a drive down to Key Largo.


BTW - the Belize dive was great. The dive boat picked us up at the ship. We had a 20 minute ride to their Island/resort to pick up gear, and a 20-30 minute ride to the dive site. The dive boat was excellant, very professional and we had a 44 diver boat for seven of us. They dropped us back at the ship and we were off the ship for a shorter time than in Cozumel.

Thanks for the report. I assume you went with the ship's excursion with Hugh Parkey in Belize to the Turneffe Atoll. I've booked with Seasports in Belize and Subway in Roatan. Found a dive buddy on cruisecritic forum for Belize and Roatan. I'm beginning to wish I chose the cruise dives since it seems they aren't very crowded like I've heard people complain about. Being picked up and dropped off at the ship sure sounds nice. Probably going to do Tulum ruins in Cozumel and maybe a wall dive in Grand Cayman.

I'm surprised people haven't been that enthusiastic about Cozumel diving lately. I wonder if hurricane damage made it less spectacular than I remember it. I heard that inland sites were damaged but thought deeper sites were still good. If Key Largo is anywhere close to Cozumel even on a bad day, I've got to check that out.

 

[DivingPrincessE]

Sorry I didn't see this thread before you went. I could have told you that Sand Dollar Sports sucked when we dove with them off of Royal Caribbean. Oh well, live and learn. I agree that Belize was great and dive op was very professional and efficient there. Although, they picked us up at the ship and we didn't even need to go to their shop. They had gotten all the rental size information the night before from the cruise ship so it was waiting on their boat. Off we went, right to the dive sites.

 

[letsgodiving]

I thought Sand Dollar were pretty good. The pick up and drop off was well organized, and the boat crew were very helpful. I just wasn't impressed with the reef and sea life we saw in Cozumel. Living in Florida we have been diving in the SE of the state quite a bit, Pompano to Key Largo. We dove in the Bahamas and Cozumel this year and we expected the diving to be better than Key Largo but it wasn't. We enjoyed both locations but neither are much better than Key Largo, which is very easy and cheap for us to dive.

We will being going on the same cruise next year because it is a very stress free and cheap vacation cruising out of our home port. Next time we will dive in Cayman and Roatan.