Scuba Opinions

[boowaaccaa]

Ok, for my next cruise I was hoping to do the intro Scuba thing--I was all set to do it in Belize but of course the price has gone up! So--I have looked and I can do it at other stops too...is there anyone out there who has done this type of course and has an opinion about the best spot to do it..?

$129 at Belize

$99 at Cozumel

$119 at Roatan

 

Thanks for any ideas!

[tootsiescurly]

Ok, for my next cruise I was hoping to do the intro Scuba thing--I was all set to do it in Belize but of course the price has gone up! So--I have looked and I can do it at other stops too...is there anyone out there who has done this type of course and has an opinion about the best spot to do it..?

$129 at Belize

$99 at Cozumel

$119 at Roatan

 

Thanks for any ideas!

 

We are certified open water divers. Do yourself a favor. Take the classes at a local scuba shop so you are certified when you go on the cruise. You will be able to book your dives with a scuba op other than the ship thus having a better experience. You will not be stuck diving with 20 or more of your new bestfriends who are not very good divers. Also, you will find out if you like scuba before spending money on something you may not like. That being said, Cozumel would probably be your best bet for discover scuba.

[mcwebber]

Ok, for my next cruise I was hoping to do the intro Scuba thing--I was all set to do it in Belize but of course the price has gone up! So--I have looked and I can do it at other stops too...is there anyone out there who has done this type of course and has an opinion about the best spot to do it..?

$129 at Belize

$99 at Cozumel

$119 at Roatan

 

Thanks for any ideas!

 

It really depends on where and under what conditions they will be doing it. Especially weather, water depth, visibility.

[Denicewu]

We did discover Scuba in Roatan last year and loved it so we then decided to get certified over the summer and when back on another cruise a few weeks ago and did the 2 tank dive. Both were great. Also in our Discover Scuba last year there were only 6 of us and it was a great experience

[Loves_Dogs]

I did 'intro to scuba' years ago in St Maarten and thought it was worth every penny. Its a good way to 'get a little taste' of scuba before you commit to going through the certification classes.

 

While Cozumel is a great place to dive it is a 'drift dive' which I would think be a little intimidating for someone brand new. That being said, I personally would probably not do an intro dive there (just my opinion.)

 

Have to warn you though, scuba is as addicting as cruising. Shortly after I got home from that 'intro to scuba' cruise I enrolled in classes at my local dive shop, got my certification and the rest shall we say is history. Safe diving and have a GREAT cruise!

[ryoku]

We were suppose to do Discover Scuba in Cozumel last Jan but the weather canceled our excursion. We tried for Roatan, again the weather canceled it. We ended up doing it in Belize. We had an amazing time. We had 8 divers and 3 guides with us so it wasn't crowded at all. I would do it again in a heart beat. It was beautiful.

[tootsiescurly]

I did 'intro to scuba' years ago in St Maarten and thought it was worth every penny. Its a good way to 'get a little taste' of scuba before you commit to going through the certification classes.

 

While Cozumel is a great place to dive it is a 'drift dive' which I would think be a little intimidating for someone brand new. That being said, I personally would probably not do an intro dive there (just my opinion.)

 

Have to warn you though, scuba is as addicting as cruising. Shortly after I got home from that 'intro to scuba' cruise I enrolled in classes at my local dive shop, got my certification and the rest shall we say is history. Safe diving and have a GREAT cruise!

 

You will probably be drift diving in Roatan as well. Diving with the ship in Belize is NOT fun! Alhtough, the dive op is good. They do not watch the dive profile carefully which can be dangerous. Newly certified open water divers should not be going down to 90 feet. There are too many people. The groups of divers are too close together. They don't care what divers do to the reef. We watched inexperienced divers destroy sponges, fans and coral with their fins. The best place on a western cruise to do discover scuba is Grand Cayman.

[tootsiescurly]

We were suppose to do Discover Scuba in Cozumel last Jan but the weather canceled our excursion. We tried for Roatan, again the weather canceled it. We ended up doing it in Belize. We had an amazing time. We had 8 divers and 3 guides with us so it wasn't crowded at all. I would do it again in a heart beat. It was beautiful.

 

You were lucky! We have always had 20 or more divers when diving with the ship in Belize. Parkey's is a good dive op but give me a dive with an op not affiliated with the ship any day!!!

[megmno]

We'll be on the Valor next August, and I've also been interested in doing a discover diving course. I found one online that takes you near Stingray City in Grand Cayman, so it seemed like a really cool place to try scuba.

[tootsiescurly]

We'll be on the Valor next August, and I've also been interested in doing a discover diving course. I found one online that takes you near Stingray City in Grand Cayman, so it seemed like a really cool place to try scuba.

 

Cayman is a good place for discover scuba because many of the dive sites are shallow plus no current to speak of at these sites.

[Loves_Dogs]

You will probably be drift diving in Roatan as well. Diving with the ship in Belize is NOT fun! Alhtough, the dive op is good. They do not watch the dive profile carefully which can be dangerous. Newly certified open water divers should not be going down to 90 feet. There are too many people. The groups of divers are too close together. They don't care what divers do to the reef. We watched inexperienced divers destroy sponges, fans and coral with their fins. The best place on a western cruise to do discover scuba is Grand Cayman.

 

I agree 100%! Cayman (for me) was the easiest, calmest (no current) dive experience to date and would be the perfect place for an intro to scuba.

[boowaaccaa]

Thanks all for your tips and ideas.

We already have an excursion planned for Caymen--tho --truth be told it could be cancelled.

What is 'drift diving'?

 

Also I wanted to do Belize as I was told this is the best place for diving in the world---it was just someones opinion tho.

 

I want to do the 'resort dive' becuase I don't think I will get certified. I have said for years I would do it but I never do so for me if I do the resort dive at least I will have experienced a dive even if it is only 20 feet.

[madibeme]

In July we went diving in Roatan. Booked through Island Marketing. Loved it. It was $100 for a 2 tank dive. It counts as the first part of your PADI cert too.

[tropical.dreams]

We are certified open water divers. Do yourself a favor. Take the classes at a local scuba shop so you are certified when you go on the cruise. You will be able to book your dives with a scuba op other than the ship thus having a better experience. You will not be stuck diving with 20 or more of your new bestfriends who are not very good divers. Also, you will find out if you like scuba before spending money on something you may not like. That being said, Cozumel would probably be your best bet for discover scuba.

 

So she should spend $300 to take classes and get certified to find out if she likes scuba before spending $100 on a beginner's dive? That makes a whole lot of sense.

 

I'm doing the dive in Cozumel in February because I've always wanted to try it, but didn't want to spend $300 to get certified for something I may get to do only once every few years. I'm so excited I can't stand it.

[mysh442olds]

alot of dive shops offer a in the pool intro to see if you even like it before spending the full amount on the class

st thomas does a nice intro at coki beach divers in the small bay there

[mysh442olds]

the cert idea is the best

we have dove grand caymens wall dive only 5 in our private group so cool

[bela47911]

We are certified open water divers. Do yourself a favor. Take the classes at a local scuba shop so you are certified when you go on the cruise. You will be able to book your dives with a scuba op other than the ship thus having a better experience. You will not be stuck diving with 20 or more of your new bestfriends who are not very good divers. Also, you will find out if you like scuba before spending money on something you may not like. That being said, Cozumel would probably be your best bet for discover scuba.

 

I completely agree! The intro to scuba at these islands are very basic. If you want to take scuba diving go to a local shop and learn before you go. you will learn the right way and not a quickie that really doesn't teach you scuba.

[JoeU]

Ok, for my next cruise I was hoping to do the intro Scuba thing--I was all set to do it in Belize but of course the price has gone up! So--I have looked and I can do it at other stops too...is there anyone out there who has done this type of course and has an opinion about the best spot to do it..?

$129 at Belize

$99 at Cozumel

$119 at Roatan

 

Thanks for any ideas!

 

In Cayman, there is a dive operator called Divers Down. They are not far from the tender pier (walking distance). They used to, and I think still do, a discover dive on the wreck of the Cali. I had booked this a few years ago, but couldn't do the dive because of weather. I have since gone PADI AOW certified.

 

I will be that way in February, and am considering diving it because it is a shore dive.

 

I have done Discover dives in St Marteen (got me hooked), Manzanillo, and Cozumel. We dove with Sand Dollar Sports in Cozumel, and they were ok. We were 4 divers with a DM, my DW was one of the divers. The other couple we were with didn't really even belong in water, let alone with gear!

 

My suggestion in the end is, if you want to do a discover dive, book it with a dive op separate from the cruise ship. Then you can choose your operator based on recommendations from other divers. And like one other poster said, be careful! Diving is easily as addicting as cruising!

 

Joe

[ffmikey]

We've been on that itinerary a few times and loved the diving on most of the stops. For a beginner I would highly suggest Cayman. There is a place called Eden Rock just a few blocks from where the tender drops you off. The dive shop there might do resort dives. There is next to no current, great marine life and depths are generally shallow. That has been the best shore dives we have done so far. Cozumel is by far our favorite dive stop but there is ALWAYS a current, even on shore dives. This might add to an anxiety level for new divers. Roatan is a great spot, we just dove it this past year. Little current and great marine life. We went to West End. Belize, in all honesty, was our least favorite. The marine life is not protected like most other areas in that part of the Caribbean. The boat ride to the reef will take about 30 minutes. The diving we did there was in pretty heavy surge (waves), because there is no protection from the ocean waves. We are both AOW divers and one of the main reasons we cruise is because of the diving. As I tell friends, "Amazing enough.. where ever the ship goes there is water, so we can dive!". Be careful, it is very addicting and very enjoyable. It is a very unique environment. Good luck with your decision.

Mike

[zqvol]

Thanks all for your tips and ideas.

We already have an excursion planned for Caymen--tho --truth be told it could be cancelled.

What is 'drift diving'?

 

Also I wanted to do Belize as I was told this is the best place for diving in the world---it was just someones opinion tho.

 

I want to do the 'resort dive' becuase I don't think I will get certified. I have said for years I would do it but I never do so for me if I do the resort dive at least I will have experienced a dive even if it is only 20 feet.

 

The best place for you is going to be Roatan. It will likely be a beach dive, meaning you walk in from shore, not off a boat, and not likely to be a drift dive. The currents are almost no existent.

 

Belize will involve a boat. While the diving there is good you have to be able to get to the right spots and that is not going to happen on a discover scuba dive.

[crdtrnr]

We just did the discover thru Island Marketing in Roatan...again, $100 for 2 tanks.

1st is the skills and just a little off the shore, then off the boat at the reef, just a ways off the shore.

 

The dive shop was Anemona Divers (the owners were from Spain). They were fantastic!

 

I would definetly recommend them!

[Colorado Kat]

A drift dive is where you are dropped off in a boat, and drift with the current. Usually good, but I've been on drift dives where the current was too strong.

 

Where-ever you go, make sure they have a limit to the number of divers they take. 6 or 8 at the most.

 

I would also think Grand Cayman would be the best location.

[EastTex]

Thanks all for your tips and ideas.

What is 'drift diving'?

 

Also I wanted to do Belize as I was told this is the best place for diving in the world---it was just someones opinion tho.

 

With drift diving, you are carried by a current. The dive boat drops you off at a beginning location and follows your dive group down current and picks you up. Depending on the current strength, you may not be able to linger at one location very long without expending a lot of effort. On the other hand, you cover a lot of territory.

 

My experience diving in Belize does not echo some of the other folks. The visibility was fantastic, reefs were superb and fish varied and abundant. I've never witnessed divers openly damaging reef structures but not naive enough to believe it never happens. I was well satisfied by the vendor used by Carnival and would dive with them again.

[coasterjan]

We just did the discover thru Island Marketing in Roatan...again, $100 for 2 tanks.

1st is the skills and just a little off the shore, then off the boat at the reef, just a ways off the shore.

 

The dive shop was Anemona Divers (the owners were from Spain). They were fantastic!

 

I would definetly recommend them!

 

I would absolutely NOT recommend booking through Island Marketing for this "2 tank" excursion. It's NOT a 2 tank dive. I've done discover dives in most of the stops in the western carribean (17 dives and counting), and this is the ONLY one that counted the shallow water learning phase as a "dive". Do yourself a favor and book directly with amenona. They were great (especially Jose our dive master), and there's no need to book through Island Marketing.....

Janis

[LoboMX]

I would agree with some of the posts, the Cayman islands are fantastic. Any of the three areas you listed would be good. You shouldn't be doing any drift dives in a discover scuba diving program.

 

One thing you want to look for when choosing a shop to go with is that they're affiliated with a scuba diving agency. The most popular being PADI, but also NAUI, SSI and CMAS are around the Americas. Anemona Divers that's been mentioned is PADI affiliated. Reputation of a good shop is much more important than price. Remember you're going to be in an environment that humans weren't designed to go into, we don't have gills.

 

Also when you're doing a discover scuba diving program there are some limitations set by each agency. The one I know is PADI so I'll use that as a guide. If you're going to the open water there's a limit of 4 participants per certified instructor (divemaster doesn't work). You're also limited to a maximum depth of 40'. But don't worry about the depth, there's plenty of things to see in shallower waters.

 

There was a suggestion to do a discover scuba in a pool at a local dive shop first. I'd suggest this only if you're not very comfortable in the water. If you can submerge your body in a pool without plugging your nose and you're comfortable you'll be fine. If you're not comfortable having the extra time in a local pool would make your first experience in the open water more enjoyable.

 

A couple other concepts that will jump start your experience is breathing and equalization. Try breathing in and out through your mouth for a while, then in through your mouth and out your nose. You'd be surprised at how many people have trouble doing this. The second concept is equalizing your ears. Just plug your nose and blow gently against your plugged nostrils. You will feel a slight popping sound of air going into your ears. Do those two things and you'll have a jump start on anyone else in the discover scuba diving program.

 

Nathan