mike_s
Contributor
Just a quick trip report here as I've seen several people ask about Co Co Cay, Bahamas diving. CoCo Cay is the "private island" of Royal Caribbean Cruise
Lines. They offer a 1 tank shore dive on the island to cruise boat guests.
Overview:
The dive is a one tank "shore excursion" dive that you reserve through
the shore excursions desk on the ship or via internet before you sail.
The one tank dive was $45 (I think) using your own gear or $55 using
their gear. Tanks, weights, air fills are provided.
Check In:
You check in about 7:45am at the shore excursions departure point
on the departure deck of your ship. There you fill out the normal
dive paperwork and liability waviers. Here they will check your
certification card, etc. After that you take the tender boat over
to the island where you meet the DiveMaster. From there you go
to the Diver Shack to gear up.
Equipment:
The equipment they provided was Aqualung regulators with Suunto
gauges and SeaQuest BC's. I think the wetsuits were SeaQuest also
but not 100% sure.
The Dive Area:
This is a shore dive and the area we dove in was about 150 yards
from shore. The tide was down/low, so they told us that we had
to swim out to the area where it was deep enought to descend.
The area right off shore was pretty shallow and you had to 'hand
over hand' pull yourself down the rocks for some distance. It
wasn't that hard, but 150 yard surface swim in scuba gear does take
some effort. Normally they said they would have pulled us out on
a "rescue sled" that was behind a jet ski, but the water was too low.
They did do this on the return as apparantly the tide had come in
a great deal while we were out diving. The jet ski acts as "surface support"
in the event there is a problem since we were at least 200 yards offshore
during the latter parts of the dive.
The Dive:
This was a pretty decent dive, but I wouldn't call it "great" diving.
There was ample fish life and decent sea coral, but nothing really
great. Max depth was maybe around 40 feet where a small 10-15 foot
high ledge of coral dropped off to the sand bottom. The dive was
lead by one of the Dive Masters from the shop and we only had 3 divers
on the dive from the ship.
We saw some nice fish on the dive but the only "rare" sighting was a
nice size octopus. The coral was in decent shape, but the DM said
that the last hurricane in the area had dropped a lot of sand on the reef.
There were also some nice spotted eagle rays and some southern atlantic
sting rays in the area.
As one of the divers got low on air, the DM had already previously instructed
us to ascend the float line and that the Jet Ski would pick us up and take
us back to shore.
After the dive was over, the Jet Ski picked up the rest of the divers
and you "rode the sled" back in to the beach. I suggest you put your
regulator in your mouth for the ride back in. You will get some water
splashed hard in your face, but mostly because the fumes on the
jet Ski's 2 cycle engine will choke you.
Summary:
Hardcore divers might not like this dive, but it's a good dive for your
general recreational diver and to me any "decent diving" in the ocean
is better than diving in the quarry back home.
Would I do it again?:
Yes. It was a great way to start out a nice day on their island.
Other activities on their island:
Snorkel gear rental - $10, float rental - $10, 1 hour wave runner tour for 2 people - $97, Hobie Cat sailing - price unkown, Beach chairs and lunch provided by cruise line. Bar drinks at normal cost.
I'm also going to upload some pics, but I've got to resize them first to a smaller
size for Scubaboard.
Hope this review was helpful for those wanting to know about diving at CoCo Cay.
-mike
Lines. They offer a 1 tank shore dive on the island to cruise boat guests.
Overview:
The dive is a one tank "shore excursion" dive that you reserve through
the shore excursions desk on the ship or via internet before you sail.
The one tank dive was $45 (I think) using your own gear or $55 using
their gear. Tanks, weights, air fills are provided.
Check In:
You check in about 7:45am at the shore excursions departure point
on the departure deck of your ship. There you fill out the normal
dive paperwork and liability waviers. Here they will check your
certification card, etc. After that you take the tender boat over
to the island where you meet the DiveMaster. From there you go
to the Diver Shack to gear up.
Equipment:
The equipment they provided was Aqualung regulators with Suunto
gauges and SeaQuest BC's. I think the wetsuits were SeaQuest also
but not 100% sure.
The Dive Area:
This is a shore dive and the area we dove in was about 150 yards
from shore. The tide was down/low, so they told us that we had
to swim out to the area where it was deep enought to descend.
The area right off shore was pretty shallow and you had to 'hand
over hand' pull yourself down the rocks for some distance. It
wasn't that hard, but 150 yard surface swim in scuba gear does take
some effort. Normally they said they would have pulled us out on
a "rescue sled" that was behind a jet ski, but the water was too low.
They did do this on the return as apparantly the tide had come in
a great deal while we were out diving. The jet ski acts as "surface support"
in the event there is a problem since we were at least 200 yards offshore
during the latter parts of the dive.
The Dive:
This was a pretty decent dive, but I wouldn't call it "great" diving.
There was ample fish life and decent sea coral, but nothing really
great. Max depth was maybe around 40 feet where a small 10-15 foot
high ledge of coral dropped off to the sand bottom. The dive was
lead by one of the Dive Masters from the shop and we only had 3 divers
on the dive from the ship.
We saw some nice fish on the dive but the only "rare" sighting was a
nice size octopus. The coral was in decent shape, but the DM said
that the last hurricane in the area had dropped a lot of sand on the reef.
There were also some nice spotted eagle rays and some southern atlantic
sting rays in the area.
As one of the divers got low on air, the DM had already previously instructed
us to ascend the float line and that the Jet Ski would pick us up and take
us back to shore.
After the dive was over, the Jet Ski picked up the rest of the divers
and you "rode the sled" back in to the beach. I suggest you put your
regulator in your mouth for the ride back in. You will get some water
splashed hard in your face, but mostly because the fumes on the
jet Ski's 2 cycle engine will choke you.
Summary:
Hardcore divers might not like this dive, but it's a good dive for your
general recreational diver and to me any "decent diving" in the ocean
is better than diving in the quarry back home.
Would I do it again?:
Yes. It was a great way to start out a nice day on their island.
Other activities on their island:
Snorkel gear rental - $10, float rental - $10, 1 hour wave runner tour for 2 people - $97, Hobie Cat sailing - price unkown, Beach chairs and lunch provided by cruise line. Bar drinks at normal cost.
I'm also going to upload some pics, but I've got to resize them first to a smaller
size for Scubaboard.
Hope this review was helpful for those wanting to know about diving at CoCo Cay.
-mike
