Scuba in Grand Cayman & Cozumel

[thecountess]

We are going on the Aug. 13th sailing of the Conquest. We booked the two-tank dives from Carnival in Grand Cayman and Cozumel. My question is, who are the dive outfits that Carnival is dealing with in these two ports?

 

Thank you for your answers. I tried looking in the Scuba/Snorkeling forum and didn't see an answer.

[wolfie_47]

The last time I booked a dive through Carnival in Coz they used Sanddollar water sports. It was a cattle boat but the great diving in Coz made it all worth it.

[Sports Mama]

I don't know who Carnival uses, but we used Eagle Ray Divers (www.eagleraydivers.com) in Cozumel. They were great and take a small number of people.

[flynrph]

I, too, don't remember who Carnival used, but I booked thru Carnival at both of these ports in January, and was very happy with the dive service. Professional, friendly, helpful and courteous. You shouldn't worry.:cool:

[thecountess]

Thank you for your replies.

[Middleager]

I had also looked into the same thing. In Cayman Carnival uses Don Fosters. Some had good experience and some had poor cattleboat experience with uncaring staff, and diving at two shallow locations.

 

When booking through the cruiseline, some dive ops tend to keep to less than 60' depth, because some cruise divers are novice.

 

In Cayman there are several shops that are near the cruise terminal (Divers Down, Eden Rock, Abanks) and others will pick you up. I booked with Wall to Wall, who will pick you up to get to the Cayman Yatch Club. Some had good experience with Neptune Divers (you meet them at Seagrape Beach). Anyway, lots of choice, and many of them take max 8 divers, unlike the cruiseship's cattleboats.

 

In Cozumel there are >130 dive ops, some of them are frequented by experienced divers. I booked stand-by to go with Aldora as they have 120cf tanks with >1hr bottom even on first deep dive and their second dive is often like the first deep dive of other ops.

 

Booking independently has better chance to get more personal attention to a small group. Always cheaper too. But booking thru the ship has its convenience if you don't mind the crowd.

[psterman]

On Cozumel, I would recommend Aldora Diving -- they have 120ft steel tanks you can use -- really long dives (my longest dive with them, when using Nitrox, was over 90 minutes!)

 

PS

[BarbTrips2]

On the same cruise, we'll not only be stopping in the Caymans and Cozumel, but also Jamaica. Is the snorkelling worthwhile there?

 

Many thanks.