1st timer looking for diving advice

[Noniitis]

I will be on the Valor in January. The ports are Belize, Roatan, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel with my wife (a non-diver) and 2 1/2 yr old son. If it was just me I would be diving for four days, but that wouldn't be fair so I will be limited to diving at one or two of the locations.

 

How would eveyone rate those four spots for diving. Also, any recommendations for dive operators? Also, would it be feasible for my wife to get in an open-water referal on the trip, or does that typically take more than one day? I did mine in the BVI over two days.

 

Thanks in advance!

-Clark

[sportsterjohn]

All 4 ports are great for diving. As far as topside activities. GC has the sting rays which your 2yr old may love (or be terrified of). Coz has alot of beach clubs, the dune buggy tour which is a total blast and the park which I am not going to try to spell. Belize has the zoo, alot of mayan ruins and cave tubbing although you would not want to bring a 2yr old on that. Roatan also has good beaches for hanging out. If you want your wife to do her checkout dives, she should be able to do 2 at 1 port and then the next 2 at another port. Although risky due to the possiblity of missed ports, it can be done. In fact I did check out dives 1 and 2 with subway water sports in Roatan and 3 and 4 with manta ray divers in cancun on a cruise a few years ago. I would look into subway or fantasy island in roatan, neptune in GC and eagle ray in coz. Although there are other dive ops in these ports that also are highly recommended. In Belize it is a little tougher, you pretty much are limited to diving with the cruise line's op due to the fact that the dive sites are pretty far away from where you will tender.

[stingraynz]

Clark

 

I am not going to sugar coat this, it is going to be tough. You have basically pciked the diver's cruise itinerary. ;)

 

They are all really great dive ports and the decision may be that you have to dive all of them.

 

I agree with what John has already said and you may want to go diving in a port where there isn't a good choice of something else to do as a family anyway. So I would recommend going diving in Roatan and/or Belize as those dives where really fantastic. Coz is great but I was there just after Wilma last year and I still loved it but there was heavy distruction and I am not sure how long the reef takes to rebuild. I would definitely recommend Eagle Ray divers.

 

GC also really good but there are a lot of options to do stuff with your family - like the turtle farm etc. I love stingray city but I took my 10 year newphew and he was terrified so I am not sure how other little kids will be.

 

Maybe you should check your schedule in port, maybe you could do some morning dives and spend the afternoon back with your family.

 

here are my write ups from the dives I did a few years ago on a very similar intinerary. Follow the links.

 

COZUMEL

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=117777

 

BELIZE

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=117774

 

ROATAN

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=117773

[KaC-Cruiser]

I'd list Cozumel as #1, Grand Cayman as #2, Belize as #3 ... haven't done Roatan yet - so can't help you there.

 

In Coz we use Scuba with Alison - she's a great DM and willing to work with cruiser schedules. In GC - your wife & son could visit the Turtle Farm - Dive Tech next door has pretty decent shore diving .... In Belize - we've used SeaSport Belize, and Hugh Parkey's for diving - both nice ops. Haven't spent any time on land in Belize, so don't know what the trade off for family activity might be.

[Noniitis]

Thanks for the replies, I hadn't considered shore diving, that might work out well and allow both diving and good family time. I'm leaning towards doing a familiy outing in Belize, going on my own in Roatan with subwaysports? (Any other suggestions). If I dive in GC, it will be a shore dive or two. Is dive tech near the turtle farm? I would like to do stingray city with the family, any suggestions on the best way to do that? Than diving with Alison in Cuz. Is there good shore diving in Cuz? If so maybe I could dive all four and still get lots of time with the little guy.

[cruzegirl]

Clark,

I'm doing almost the same itinerary in December on the Valor... Are you sure your going to cozumel?? We were supposed to but all the itineraries for the valor have changed from Cozumel to Costa Maya... I can leave more info. on here after I go.... So far I'm diving every port.... But I hear Belize, Roatan and Costa Maya is a "don't miss" for divers.......

[Noniitis]

Cruzegirl,

 

I just double checked, and yes, we are going to Cozemel. I think at one point it had changed to Costa Maya but has since been switched back. Since I spent a week at Cozelmel on my honeymoon, I kind-a wish it we were going to Costa Maya instead. doesn't much matter, it's all good!

[MauiLvrs]

Clark

I am not going to sugar coat this, it is going to be tough. You have basically pciked the diver's cruise itinerary. ;)

 

They are all really great dive ports and the decision may be that you have to dive all of them.

There probable isn't a better dive live aboard trip than this on a ship that holds more the 40 people. This really is a diver's cruise itinerary.

 

If you want to drop 1 you could drop Cozumel, or you could take everyone on a trip to Stingray City.

 

That was probably M&M coated;) This will be probably get hot, but have you thought of this?

Get a sitter.

Have your sweetie get certified (If she never dives again, this could still be the trip of a lifetime)

Have a second honeymoon ultimate live-aboard dive trip.

 

We did this for our 20th anniversary and had a blast. We’re doing it again for our 30th next year and can’t wait.:D

[DiveCruiser]

Cozumel #1 a must

Grand Cayman if it isn't rough.

Belize if GC is rough

Roatan I can take or leave.

 

Bob

[booth22]

Roatan has great diving and several resorts, Athony's Key, Bay Island Beach Resort, etc. have boat and shore diving. Roatan should be one of the top two on your list- along with Cozumel. Belize is nice if you can get out to the cayes, but Roatan is one of the better places I've been diving. Of course I usually lug the camera gear and enjoy the small life the island has- seahorses, flamingo tounges, etc. etc.

[Tony8489]

Given the excellent dive reputations of all these ports I would strongly recommend that your wife get certified before the trip. I had a friend get certified on a Princess cruise, he had an impatient instructor and wound up having to retake the course on another cruise a year later. Also, in a great place like Grand Cayman you want to be enjoying the coral and sea life, not sitting on a sandy bottom doing drills to get certified.

[Middleager]

In Coz, Blue Angels has a 10am dive/snorkel combo trip. We had good experience with Blue Angel.

 

In Cayman, there is good shore diving/snorkeling at Eden Rock, just a few minutes (a few hundred yards) walk south of the cruise terminal. It's free if you have your own gear, just rent a tank at either Eden Rock Diving Center, or Abanks.

 

In Belize, we went with Ecological Tours and first flew (low altitude) to Ambergris Caye then dove/snorkled there. But if you are taking the kid, may want to just ride a boat to a beach (to a caye), maybe also snorkel there.

[pcgirl]

In Grand Cayman last year we went diving with Red Baron Divers - http://www.redbarondivers.com. We had two newly certified divers with 2 experienced divers and 2 snorkelers. Nick and Patrick were great making sure the new divers were comfortable and we did not feel rushed or anything. It was one of the best dive experiences we ever had. They checked out the weather and currents before picking us up to make sure we went to some good sites and we had a great experience. If you decide to dive in Grand Cayman I would highly recommend them, but contact them early as they do book up fast because they only take out small groups of 4 - 6 people at a time.

[Eleris]

If your wife were going diving what are you doing with the 2 1/2 year old? Most cruiselines don't take kids under 3 so unless you are bringing a nanny where is the baby gonna be if your wife dives with you? Don't mean to be a party pooper but you might want to rethink both being underwater and leaving the baby with strangers. As for your original question Grand Cayman last year was amazing diving, sea turtles, squid, fish galore. Spent a week in Bonaire in July and actually saw more in Grand Cayman. Cozumel would be my second choice and since they offer snuba that might be a good intro for your wife if she is uncertain about diving. It is very restrictive for divers but less work for people that are not 100% about diving. They also offer intro classes offshore all over Cozumel. Good luck in whatever you decide and if you are not near the water in Belize be prepare to sweat your butt off and bring a lot of bug spray.

[Noniitis]

Thanks all for all the input. I think I will dive in Roatan and Cuz, with Belize and GC being family days. Maybe I will include a shore dive in GC from dive tech..thanks for the suggestion.

 

So, I am trying to decide between Banarama and subway in roatan, seems like Banarama is pretty new, not much about them on this site. I emailed these two as well as several others and these were the ones I was most impressed with. I've heard a lot about subway, but could only find one thread with info on Banarama. If anyone has experience with them please let me know.

 

Thanks again. With the first snowflakes falling yesterday, the mind starts to wander.....

[wystiria]

Hey there, I did this exact Itenerary last january and it certainly is a divers dream! :) I agree with what everyone else has posted

 

EXCEPT - I can't recomend Subway - it is possible that we just had a poor captain and a poor DM that day, and certainly the conditions were not ideal. But the bottom line is they were not safe, didn't have enough non-hissing tanks, didn't give some of the other divers on our boat the correct gear (thankfully I carry extra hoses and our gang carries a tool kit), couldn't change o-rings (we did it to correct a number of tanks), didn't have enough weight on the boat, didn't check current conditions, and over all were not helpful.

 

I did a full report if you search for my posts you will find it. we dove 3 out of the 4 ports (skipped Belize). Had fabulous experinces everywhere but Roatan. I can say though that the dive I did complete - was fabulous! great life!!! and awesome size gorgonians etc.

 

Have fun!

[booth22]

Try doing your diving at CocoView on Roatan, they've been known to get cruise ship passengers to enjoy it enough to let the ship leave them at the resort! And you can make it a family day as well since the shore diving is so great. Kids/wife can snorkel above while you dive below and on the surface ints, you and family can have fun on the beach!

[cccole]

We have recently done the Western itinerary twice and our group has included divers and snorkelers, kids and adults. On Cozumel we have used Alison for both trips, and she accommodates both divers and snorkelers on a trip to the Palancar Reef so we were able to have great family days. The first trip to Grand Cayman we arranged a scuba/snorkel trip and it did not work well. On our last trip, in August, the divers went with the Eden Rock group and had a great time. It is close to the port so those not diving could swim, snorkel, and eat at Eden Beach.

[lbrooks34]

I agree with DiveCruiser. I can take or leave Roatan. Do not get me wrong, the diving was great! But there was definitely a safety issue. However, you are a certified diver and should know what to do to take precautions. We stayed at CocoView for the week. That is another story. However, for cruising, I would not even choose a cruise that went to Honduras. Nothing there to see. Though there were more American shop keepers in West End than I expected. As I said, the diving was great. When staying a week, you get a good pick of the sites. (Request Valley of the Kings if you get a chance - I have never seen more marine life in one place). The dive operation at CocoView was ok. We were a little leery about going there becasue in June 2005 there were two deaths (a Missouri guest and their most popular DM). Go to Scubaboard.com to read more. They, the resort, never did say what caused the deaths, though the word is bad air. Remember, you are going to a third world country. Be careful! Bring your own gear! Take my opinion with a grain of salt. A lot of people would choose to dive Roatan over any other place on the planet.