Which carribean tour for diver ??

[dataquatics]

Hi all,

 

I am an Aussie cruiser, looking to do a carribean cruise next year. Was after feedback as to which carribean cruise region (east / west / south) is likely to offer me the best selection of dive opportunities.

Any input appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Greg

[jamga02]

Hello! I have cruised on each of the tours, eastern, western and southern. My favorite by far was the southern, with western a near second. On the southern you can dive Bonaire, St. Lucia and Dominica, each which are gems for diving! Barbados is okay for diving, and Grenada is very nice if the visibility is good. Grenada has an underwater sculpture park that is awesome and eerie! Look it up on the internet/youtube. I have a couple of dive pictures taken on my dive trips to the Caribbean at:

 

http://www.flickr.com/search/people/?q=jamga02

 

The western Caribbean has Grand Cayman ( a dive mecca), Belize, Costa Maya (one of my favorites) and Cozumel (drift diving). All are great places to go, but my favorite is Eastern. Last year we dive a scuba cruise to the Eastern and had a blast!

 

John

[TheVegasMan]

Western Caribbean with stops in Honduras, Belize, Cozumel and Grand Cayman would be a diver's dream.

[bruce-r]

While I have enjoyed diving in the Caribbean, I have to say that it really isn't "all that" when compared to the diving in Fiji. I personally wouldn't want to fly all the way from Austrialia just to cruise in the Caribbean if diving was the primary importance of the journey. I'd stick to the South Pacific or Indonesia.

 

If you don't really have much choice about having to cruise the Caribbean, then I'd pick Western with stops in Grand Cayman and Cozumel as my first choice. Southern would be a close second as long as there was a stop in Bonaire. Finally, if you end up on an Eastern cruise, try really hard to make sure it stops in Grand Truk. I'd avoid ANY cruise that stops in Jamaica.

[amandaepperson21]

I'm taking this exact cruise for this exact reason! It's on carnival.

 

 

Western Caribbean with stops in Honduras, Belize, Cozumel and Grand Cayman would be a diver's dream.

[adk0425]

Since you live in Australia, it may be hard to top Great Barrier Reef (world's largest barrier reef system), but if you want to say I dove on the second and third largest reef systems in the world, either Mexico (Belize, Cozumel) or Grand Turk would be my suggestion for the Caribbean.

[dataquatics]

Thanks for all the input folks. Much appreciated :) I agree with several of the comments regarding both Fiji and our own GBR, but I'm also keeping my travel options open.

I have already had dives in Mexico, Hawaii, Fiji (4 times), Vanuatu (twice), and New Caledonia (twice also) as well as several on the GBR but would like to add Caribbean to my list. As I usually travel cruising with my wife (and often kids) the diving needs to be "coincidental" but I don't see any harm in pushing for the preferred itinerary.

 

Cheers,

 

Greg

[GeneHunter]

Go on the Western Caribbean with stops in Honduras (Roatan), Belize, Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Then, head over to Bonaire and spend a week!