Roatan, Belize, Cozumel

[Boytjie]

From what I have read all three are good diving locations. I am on a cruise that makes those three stops in February (and also Half Moon Cay). I could dive all three, but perhaps I should also do something else at at least one of those ports.

 

How to decide.....

[BurBunny]

There are three ways I'd look at evaluating these, either by logistical ease, quality of diving or if there was something else I wanted to do in a particular port.

 

If you're booking on your own, the easiest logistically is Cozumel, followed by Roatan and finally Belize.

 

On quality, I'd rank it as Cozumel, followed by Roatan and Belize pretty close to one another, but perhaps Roatan just a little ahead (only because of places you can reach from the ship - overall I'd put Belize higher).

 

As for something else you might want to do - only you can answer that.

[Boytjie]

There are three ways I'd look at evaluating these, either by logistical ease, quality of diving or if there was something else I wanted to do in a particular port.

 

If you're booking on your own, the easiest logistically is Cozumel, followed by Roatan and finally Belize.

 

On quality, I'd rank it as Cozumel, followed by Roatan and Belize pretty close to one another, but perhaps Roatan just a little ahead (only because of places you can reach from the ship - overall I'd put Belize higher).

 

Thanks for the insight. :)

 

We are in Roatan from 9 am to 9 pm so that may be place to get dives in and do something else. We will be at the other two ports from 7 am till 5 pm.

 

As for something else you might want to do - only you can answer that.

 

Sorry, no, I wasn't looking here to get ideas for non-diving excursions!

[sportsterjohn]

Cozumel probably has the most options for both diving and non diving activities. Belize has some great Mayan ruins tours for your non-divers. Roatan has mostly water based activities (and great diving).

[islandwoman]

All three have great diving. I wouldn't give up diving in any of these ports in order to do something else. But there are lots of interesting things to do in Belize - Mayan ruins, tubing through caves, cloud forest, jaguar preserve.... I've spent a week there twice and hope to go back again. IMHO, Belize is worth more than a one-day port call. If you like it, you might want to plan to return for a longer trip. Then you can dive and do other things :)

[Boytjie]

IMHO, Belize is worth more than a one-day port call. If you like it, you might want to plan to return for a longer trip. Then you can dive and do other things :)

 

That sounds like a plan!

[Boytjie]

Background: our cruise was a 7-day RSVP charter of the Zuiderdam February 23 - March 1, 2008. It was a different itinerary from the ships regular Eastern Caribbean itinerary. We departed from Ft. Lauderdale with calls at Roatan, Belize, Cozumel and Half Moon Cay. I had decided that even though I always wanted to see Mayan ruins, on this trip I was going to dive at all three ports of call.

 

The first port of call was Roatan.

 

One of the travel agents - who was also on board - had arranged an excursion to Paya

Bay - a resort on the Eastern end of Roatan). Included in the price was se of the resort facilities, snorkeling and lunch. There was an additional option for a 1-tank dive. It turns out that out of our group of 31 I was the only diver. The diving was offered with Tropical Island Divers through another resort - Marble Hill Farms. So I was driven over to Marble Hill Farms where I met up with Glenn, the dive master and after the paperwork and equipment set-up we were off to do our dive at Punta Blanco Wall. This was my first time diving with my Olympus SP550 UZ in its brand new underwater housing and apparently I was chasing after the fish and not getting many worthwhile pictures. The fish just don't stay still!

 

Chasing fish I ended up using up my air faster and it ended up being a 38-minute dive. But it was fun being the only diver with the dive master and playing with my new toy. After the dive they dropped me off at the dock at Paya Bay.

 

Tropical Island Divers seemed to be setting up shop or reorganizing, but they still did a good job.

 

I have to say Paya Bay is beautiful. The Eastern side or Roatan seems less developed than the Western end (that I only saw through fellow cruisers' pictures, I must admit). Spending a week at Paya Bay scuba diving and doing not much else is really appealing!

 

Then we were off to Belize.

 

I had signed up for a 2-tank dive with ShoreTrips as part of a group organized through the same travel agent. After tendering in it were a few short blocks to Sea Sports Belize and after the paperwork and getting equipment we piled into the boat: one snorkeler, 2 for checkout dives with an instructor and 5 of us divers with the dive master. We headed out past our anchored ship to Sand Bar Key - a spit of land where we also enjoyed lunch. I don't think it was even half the size of a football field. This time tried to heed Glenn's advice and not chase every fish for a picture. The diving was good even though I did not see anything out of the ordinary. No rays, no sharks but lots of fish. We had lunch on the cay - sandwiches, chips, soda and cookies and we then headed out for the second dive.

 

Sea Sports Belize did a good job too.

 

The next day we arrived in Cozumel - with 10 other cruise ships! We anchored off the International Pier and I was one on of the first tenders for a HAL diving excursion through Sand Dollar Sports at the Wyndham Cozumel Resort and Spa.

 

It was windy out and the water was rough. Our tender got banged against the dock but we made it ashore safely. Apparently around 10 am a tender was slightly damaged while docking at the pier and all tendering was suspended till 1 pm. By then HAL had organized for a big party boat to tender passengers ashore.

 

At the pier we had to fill in paperwork before being transported via taxis to the resort. I got a scare when they saw my medical information and they seemed hesitant to let me dive. I had a catheter ablation last summer to (hopefully) fix the problem of atrial fibrillation. So far it seems to have been successful but I am still on medication (Toprol – a beta-blocker usually prescribed for high blood pressure), though the dosage has been lowered and I hope to be off it in a few months. The worst would have been to be turned away knowing that my cardiologist also scuba dives and knows that I was going diving and he had no problem with me diving. If only I had gotten a letter from him stating that it was OK to dive... but I never thought it could be an issue. After explaining my procedure etc. they conferred with each other for a few seconds and then gave the OK.

 

There were three Sand Dollar boats going out: one was for passengers from other ships and the other two boats were all for passengers from the Zuiderdam. On our boat there were 18 divers divided into three groups of 6 each. We were going to dive the Santa Rosa Wall and IIRC Santa Rosa Chute. This was going to be my first time drift diving and I loved it! What a different experience. Not everyone enjoyed it and preferred the usual way of swimming where you want to go and stopping when you want to stop. I also think for some there was the issue of dropping below the surface and then hoping that when you surface your dive boat would be there too. With many other boats and divers in the area I wonder how often things get mixed up? It makes sense to make a mental note of what boat you were on.

 

On the dive at the wall we got to swim through a cave/hole in the wall that was quite thrilling. One again, I did not see anything out of the ordinary (happily snapping pictures of the fishes - or empty coral). Others did see a Moray eel and a ray.

 

After the second dive we headed back to land and by now the water was getting really rough. They had a tough time getting us to the dock and we circled for about 30 minutes with numerous attempts at getting the lines thrown to the dock, missing, trying again and again. Eventually we made it safely to land and after returning our gear and buying some t-shirts they had taxis waiting to take us back to the International Pier.

 

Sand Dollar Sports also did a good job considering the conditions were les than ideal.

 

Getting back to the Zuiderdam was quite an experience in the rough weather and that night and into the next day we had waves of 12-18 feet. Needless to say, many people got seasick. I have been prone to seasickness before but I was fine this time around. After all the diving and excitement getting to the Wyndham's dock and back to the ship, I had worked up a mighty appetite and had doubles of almost everything at dinner! My partner wasn't feeling that well and was quite nauseated by my food. He pecked on his salad for a bit and then called it a night.

 

The next morning I felt some discomfort in my right ear, which is prone to infections (swimmer's ear). I decided to have it checked out by the doctor on board since I did not want to fly back to New York with an ear infection. It turns out it wasn't an infection but he asked whether I had problems equalizing when I was scuba diving. I actually had some problems in Belize but that seemed to have been solved by ascending and then descending again slowly. Apparently there was some minor trauma but nothing serious and he just described Sudafed for the flight home and to see my own doctor if it was still an issue. To be safe I have had it checked out by an ENT (who is also a scuba diver!) and everything seems OK. He thinks it may be more of nasal issue that affects the Eustachian tube.

 

For this cruise I had taken along my own mask, snorkel and fins (that are OK for snorkeling but not really good for scuba diving). Since out charter was mostly men (gay charter) the dive shops can run out of wet suits in the Large and Extra Large sizes. I did not see any of them have issues with not having enough fins in the larger size (which I have experienced before). I will most likely buy a shorty wet suit for Caribbean diving and take it along the next time.