Scuba in Grand Cayman, Roatan, Cozumel or Belize???

[sslkrissi]

Hello,

I have just begun my open water certification course and will be certified in time for my 06/22/08 sailing on the valor. I would like to book my excursions as soon as possible, so that I don't run the risk that they will be full. So, my question is, for a beginner, which is the best location to dive in: Grand Cayman, Roatan, Cozumel or Belize??? I plan on diving in 1 or 2 of the ports, and leaving the other ports open to do excursions with our non-diving friends that we are cruising with.

 

Thanks :)

[alfngf]

My husband and I did a resort course last year and did our open water dive in Cozumel. I've heard its the best for new divers.

 

We are hitting the same spots you are on our cruise and we are fully certified now. Since we dove Cozumel already we are going for Grand Cayman and Roatan. I've heard that both are wonderful.

 

Cozumel was gorgeous and I've heard a lot of people say that its their favorite place.

[Canuck2008]

Hi sslkrissi,

 

I sailed the Carnival Valor on January 20-27, 2008, and dove at all 4 ports utilizing the excursions through Carnival and I was completely satisfied with all the dive operations, except for Don Foster's in the Caymans. The DM/Instructer at Don Foster's (Sally) insisted on seriously underweighting everyone on the first dive, but on the second dive after complaints from everyone onboard the boat, the second DM/Instructer allowed everyone to properly weight themselves which made the second dive an enjoyable experience.

 

As a general overview, I think Carnival did a good job in selecting it's dive operators, and I would have no problem in booking any future excursions through the Carnival Cruise ship. I found that when we arrived at each port, we always met early at pretermined locations on the ship and we were usually given priority in being the first group off the ship.

 

The 4 ports, dive operators and diving site were as follows:

 

Port - Grand Cayman / Dive Operator - Don Foster / Short Tender 1000'

Good Equipment / Excellent Dive Boat

 

1st Dive - Eagle Ray Rock - Max Depth 80'

2nd Dive - Arm Chair Reef - Max Depth 60'

 

***************

 

Port - Roatan / Dive Operator - Anthony Key Resorts / Dock at Port

Good Equipment / Excellent Dive Boat / Well Organized & Divided Group Based on Experience

 

1st Dive - Mandy's Ell Garden - Max Depth 70'

2nd Dive - Romeo's Elbow - Max Depth 60'

 

***************

 

Port - Belize / Dive Operator - Hugh Parkley's / Long Tender to Port

Good Equipment / Excellent Dive Boat / Picks you directly from Carnival Ship using their own boat as the ship must tender passenger a good distance to the port / Well Organized & Divided Group Based on Experience / Suggest using the Carnival Excursion as we were given priority and were the very first off the boat, and arrived back 15 minutes before departure.

 

1st Dive - Aldo's Armchair - Max Depth 80'

2nd Dive - Creek Ozeen - Max Depth 60'

 

***************

 

Port - Cozumel / Dive Operator - Sand Dollar Sports / Dock at Port

Good Equipment but dated / Good Dive Boat but crowded compared to the previous 3 Dive Boats/ Well Organized & Divided Group Based on Experience

 

1st Dive - Santa Rosa Wall - Max Depth 80'

2nd Dive - San Clementa - Max Depth 60'

 

***************

 

P.S. Had a great time aboard the Valor, the cruise ship staff really go out of their way to give you an enjoyable experience.

 

:)

[sslkrissi]

alfngf- I've heard that Cozumel has stronger currents and requires drift diving (???). Did you feel safe as a new diver in Cozumel?

 

canuck2008- In which of the 4 places did you see the most aquatic life? I would love to see some turtles, sharks, lobsters, etc.

 

Thanks

[tootsiescurly]

DO NOT DIVE WITH THE SHIP!!! As a new diver you will not be comfortable. Dive with Alison in Cozumel! You will have an outstanding time. The Caymans are great too, but DO NOT dive with the ship!!! Unless of course you like cattleboat diving.

[Boytjie]

DO NOT DIVE WITH THE SHIP!!! As a new diver you will not be comfortable. Dive with Alison in Cozumel! You will have an outstanding time. The Caymans are great too, but DO NOT dive with the ship!!! Unless of course you like cattleboat diving.

 

I dived "with the ship" in Cozumel and it was a good experience, it was not a cattle ship at all. HAL used Sand Dollar Sports at the Wyndham Cozumel Resort and Spa.

 

The water was a bit rough and one of the guys freaked a bit at the start of the first dive and got back on board. They buddied him up with the most experienced diver and encouraged him to try again on the second dive, and he did.

[tootsiescurly]

I dived "with the ship" in Cozumel and it was a good experience, it was not a cattle ship at all. HAL used Sand Dollar Sports at the Wyndham Cozumel Resort and Spa.

 

The water was a bit rough and one of the guys freaked a bit at the start of the first dive and got back on board. They buddied him up with the most experienced diver and encouraged him to try again on the second dive, and he did.

 

The dive operations are fine it is the people who book excursions with the cruiseline who make the experience uncomfortable. Inexperienced divers who flail and damage the reef are not fun.

[Canuck2008]

 

canuck2008- In which of the 4 places did you see the most aquatic life? I would love to see some turtles, sharks, lobsters, etc.

 

Thanks

 

Hi sslkrissi,

 

All 4 locations have great aquatic life, but if I had to only pick 2 then I would pick Cozumel and Roatan.

 

If your comfortable doing drift dives then Cozumel is the place, though it sustained some damage during the last hurricane, it still has some of the most beautiful reefs and lots of aquatic life.

 

Without question Roatan has some of the most pristine untouched reefs and an abundance of aquatic life. As the choice for excursions is limited in Roatan, this is a good spot to dive, and an opportunity to save your land based excursions for another port like the Grand Cayman.

 

As a footnote, like "Boytjie" I had a positive experience doing my dive excursions through the ship, and I never found any of Carnival's dive operators to be running over crowded cattle boats. As for inexperienced divers, I found that all the operators were pretty good about dividing the divers into groups based on their experience levels, so that everybody could maximize their air/bottom time.

 

Hope you have great dives at whatever locations you decide on.

 

:)

[alfngf]

alfngf- I've heard that Cozumel has stronger currents and requires drift diving (???). Did you feel safe as a new diver in Cozumel?

 

canuck2008- In which of the 4 places did you see the most aquatic life? I would love to see some turtles, sharks, lobsters, etc.

 

Thanks

 

 

I felt totally comfortable as a new diver in Cozumel. And we didn't notice any strong currents at all. I know one location we went we were not far at all from the shore and the other we were a bit further out. When we went they dropped the certified divers off first since they could go deeper than us but we never had any problems at all. I loved it.

 

In Cozumel we saw a turtle and a pretty good sized sting ray. I probably would have freaked seeing a shark. ;)

[Boytjie]

The dive operations are fine it is the people who book excursions with the cruiseline who make the experience uncomfortable. Inexperienced divers who flail and damage the reef are not fun.

 

You could get unexperienced and/or annoying divers on independently booked dives too. :confused:

[Boytjie]

If your comfortable doing drift dives then Cozumel is the place, though it sustained some damage during the last hurricane, it still has some of the most beautiful reefs and lots of aquatic life.

 

Cozumel seemed fine in February. :)

 

I did dives in Roatan, Belize and Cozumel and enjoyed all of them, especially my first drift dive in Cozumel. I don't know how new divers would experience it though.

[JoeU]

I am fresh off of this cruise (Valor 4/13). Since i am not certified, yet, these are Discover Dives.

 

We booked in GC with Divers Down to dive the Wreck of the Cali. We couldn't get out because the water was too rough. We actually tendered into Spotts Bay instead of Georgetown because of this. I was really looking foreward to diving here, but it was not meant to be.

 

We booked a Discover dive through the ship inn Cozumel after this. This was through Sand Dollar Sports. I really didn't care for this dive. It was a shore dive, and because of the people in our group, a couple were very nervous, so I was the person that ran out of air. I was the only one under water the whole time. In fact, one of the other divers kicked my regulator out of my mouth. Thank God for the safety training!:D There wasn't much to see inthis location though, and the current was very strong. I actually had to hold onto the rocks below to make any progress. Conversely, I saw more snorkeling on a cloudy day in Roatan.

 

I would dive Roatan or belize first because of the reef. Can't wait to get certified and go back!

 

Joe

[gmcrow]

I'd rate those ports for new divers in the following order:

1. Roatan, 2. Grand Cayman, 3. Cozumel, 4.Belize

 

Roatan and GC offer good quality diving with little or no current at a depth suitable for newbies.

 

Coz ALWAYS has current. It's a geographical thing caused by the location of the island. Not noticing it is kind of scary. I wouldn't not dive there, but pay attention to the current and the dive briefing carefully.

 

Have fun! http://www.cruisedivers.blogspot.com