Scuba diving preferences in the Western Carribbean

[walka3]

I'll be visiting Grand Cayman, Belize, and Cozemel during the 3rd week in Feb. '09 (Carnival Legend). I only have time to dive at one stop. Any recommendations?:confused:

[Loves_Dogs]

Most of the experienced divers here I am sure will say Cozumel. Me personally, while I certainly enjoyed my dives in Cozumel (and there was plenty to see) I just wasn't crazy about the drift diving. Dont get me wrong if I went back to Cozumel I would absolutely dive again, but if I had to choose between the two, I would choose Grand Caymen over Cozumel.

[mariemorgan]

I'd say Belize

[clayhabitat]

I only have done one shore dive in Cozumel of those choices. This cruise, in 5 days, I will dive in Roatan and a shore dive at Eden Rock in Cayman.

[unavox]

Never dove Belize, so I can't say.

Between Grand Cayman & Cozumel each has their benefits: Cozumel was a more relaxing dive (drift) with more sealife than Grand Cayman, but more of a cattle call. Grand Cayman is more varied (reefs and walls) and much much less of a cattle call.

If I had to choose only one, it would be Cozumel as we did not find much of anything else to do there.

 

Enjoy whatever you do!!!

[jdbmga]

Now see, we preferred our dives in Cozumel vs. Grand Cayman because of both the diving and the service.

 

Our dive in GC was through RCCL and was definitely a cattle call. We booked privately in Cozumel and had a great time.

 

We are diving in Cozumel and Belize this cruise.

[CVL105]

I would say Cozumel...i love it there! Santa Rosa Wall is fabulous!

[walka3]

Now see, we preferred our dives in Cozumel vs. Grand Cayman because of both the diving and the service.

 

Our dive in GC was through RCCL and was definitely a cattle call. We booked privately in Cozumel and had a great time.

 

We are diving in Cozumel and Belize this cruise.

I was considering booking privately to avoid the overcrowded boats, were you concerned about the quality of the provider? How did you go about researching to find a good dive shop?

[walka3]

Do you remember what dive shop you dove with, It looks like I might be diving in Grand Cayman now.

[jdbmga]

We were going to dive with this outfit. We wish we had vs. the ship.

 

http://www.diversdown.net/

[Latitude 20]

I'll be visiting Grand Cayman, Belize, and Cozemel during the 3rd week in Feb. '09 (Carnival Legend). I only have time to dive at one stop. Any recommendations?:confused:

 

All three places will have good diving--it just depends on how long you're going to be in each port, tenders vs. docking and what else you may want to do.

 

Cayman: We always dive here because there's not much else to do (in our opinion, of course). The one problem is this port seems to get skipped more than the others due to bad weather or sea conditions. Casey and Keith (http://www.neptunesdivers.com) are great.

 

Cozmel: Great diving but crowded (even if you're not on a cattle boat, there'll be a lot of other divers around). But this port also offers trips to the ruins in Tulum which are a must-see in our book. We dive with Alison (http://www.scubawithalison.com) but she's probably already booked for Feb.

 

Belize: Fantastic diving but we wouldn't do it on a cruise ship. You have to tender here and the best dive spots are too far away to get to in the time the ship has in port.

 

Hope this helps your decision. You'll have a grand time no matter what you pick!

 

Kathi & Leo

[CVL105]

Belize: Fantastic diving but we wouldn't do it on a cruise ship. You have to tender here and the best dive spots are too far away to get to in the time the ship has in port.

 

Not necessarily true. I'm not sure how much time the original poster has in port, but my parents dove here. They tendered in and then took a small plane to one of the cayes I believe for their dives. They had plenty of time.

[reddi]

We have used diversdown (you can walk there) in Grand Cayman and scubawithallison (with both Allison and Chucho) multiple times in Cozumel and have had very good experiences with both of them. We are making our first dive in Belize in March and are going thru the ship based on comments read on this board about logistics issues and convenience.

[runner26.2]

We spend two weeks in GC over Christmas 2007. We dove 3-4 days with Off the Wall Divers. Danny and crew were great. Having said that it can be difficult using some of the local diveshops when arriving by cruise ship. The tender process slows up your arrival at the dive shop and the local dive shops want their boats going out early to ensure they get divers out in both the morning and afternoon.

 

http://www.otwdivers.com/main.php

[reddi]

Runner,

 

Just guessing from your name that you run marathons ... so I'll be in week 12 of marathon training when we cruise in March, and need to do 5/8/5/6/16 that week. Have you trained while cruising and any suggestions for what you've done for long runs besides the treadmill or short track? We're going to Coz, Costa Maya, Belize and Nassau and I'm for sure diving in Coz and Belize but not sure about the others yet.

 

thx

[TheVegasMan]

When I'm in Cozumel I dive with www.divewithmartin They are located on the International Pier, dive site is chosen by the divers. Saw my first Bull Shark with them at Columbia Deep in 2006.

[Synchronicity]

Diving in Belize is spectacular. I went in 2006, Carnival Miracle. No problem with tendering, the dive boat picks you up right from the ship! Quick trip to the dive shop for gear, etc., then out to the atolls, 2 great dives, then back directly to the ship! Not sure if they still do it that way, but it was a fantastic day. :)

[runner26.2]

Runner,

 

Just guessing from your name that you run marathons ... so I'll be in week 12 of marathon training when we cruise in March, and need to do 5/8/5/6/16 that week. Have you trained while cruising and any suggestions for what you've done for long runs besides the treadmill or short track? We're going to Coz, Costa Maya, Belize and Nassau and I'm for sure diving in Coz and Belize but not sure about the others yet.

 

thx

This will be my first cruise so I haven't had any experience with trying to run on a cruise ship. My only suggestion is to do your longer runs on land. I would try to juggle your training sched and do your 16 mile the day you get back or the next day. Missing a couple of the shorter runs is not going to set your training back to much ... in fact the rest might even do some good.

 

I have run 8 miles on a treadmill. It can be done but very boring. Bring your own ipod and it is manageable.

 

I have been to Mexico (PV) in the past and ran while I was there. i expect if you do some on line research (maybe even runners world) you can see if its safe to run in Coz. Given what I've read about Roatan & Belize I'd say that running there is not really an option, but I think you'd be ok to run in Coz.

 

Best of luck ... what marathon are you running

[reddi]

Thanks runner. I have run on cruise ships - the treadmills are okay but tedious and the track is very short. I've never explored running on land but it might be interesting if it's early and not too hot. We're either doing the Nashville Music City Marathon or Oklahoma City at the end of April. Some of my group has run Nashville before but noone has run Oklahoma City. We're trying to qualify for Boston which is around 8:15 pace for our age so flat would be nice. Oklahoma City is b/c of the date, the description sounds good on marathonguide and some are trying to hit a new state. Have you run either of those?

[TheVegasMan]

http://divewithmartin.com/ Scratch the www