Advice about diving in G Cayman?

[LarryW99]

Taking a cruise with the wife (she can't dive so I have to do these trips) to Cozumel and Grand Cayman. We'll be in the ports only one day usually 7AM until 4PM. I have time to do a 2 tank dive either morning or afternoon usually. So, does anyone have recomendations about a local dive shop that caters to the cruising tourists? I have tried diving with the cruise lines excursion trips. Theu are not the best for the money. I like to book as a single from charters that do their own thing. My trip is Sept 6, so I have plenty of time to check out trips and get booked.
Thanks to all replies in advance and "SEE Ya at the Mooring Line.":cool2:

 

[Lake Travis Scuba]

You will not go wrong diving with Nick Buckley and Patrick Weir of Deep Blue Divers Deep Blue Divers::Grand Cayman::Cayman Islands::Tel. (345) 916 1293. They offer two six-pack boats and take care of you during the charter. They get you to the best sites Grand Cayman has to offer and make diving easy. Their business is located at the Lobster Pot Dive Center, www.lobsterpotdivecenter.com in downtown Georgetown, where the cruise ship tenders unload passengers. They will take you to the boat and back to your ship.

Patrick is an incredible photographer in addition to being a great captain/dive leader. Check out Patrick's photo site at www.digitaldiver.biz.

I highly recommend them and know you will have a great dive with them.

Hopes this helps.

Robert Weiss
Lake Travis Scuba
Welcome to Lake Travis Scuba

 

[Buccaneer]

Sunset House is also really close to where the cruise ship docks. Just to the right on the main road there, past the tourist section. (take a very short 1 mile cab ride if you are bringing gear- otherwise rent there) If you really want to save $$$ you can shore dive with an easy entry (ladder on sea wall) and it is a great dive site. I got sea turtle pics there as well as pics of the 9ft Siren/mermaid statue you see in ads all the time. Plus the outside bar is world-famous and usually always makes the top 10 after-dive bars list. Also, the very famous u/w photographer Cathy Church has her studio and camera shop on site. She is awesome to talk with and very down to earth. One of the greats I reccomend not missing.

Otherwise another dive charter that runs trips right out of 7-mile beach is Divers Down. They were awesome. they use smaller boats, and out of 6 days of diving, 4 of us had a boat to ourselves for 5 of those days. They too will pick you up and tansport you to and from the dock.
Guaranteed no more than 8 of you on the boat.

 

[Rhone Man]

You want to avoid diving in Cayman if possible. Water is too clear and too warm, and the fish and coral are far too colourful.

 

[bubbasbaitshop]

I just got back from the Grand Caymans and dove with Deep Blue Divers. This was my first dive trip and salt water dive. The folks at Deep Blue were great. I did 5 days of diving while I was there and Patrick, Rick Tavia and Nick were great and the diving was phenomenal. They also made sure that we did not duplicate dives for those of us that were diving with them for the week. The most we had on any dive trip was 8. Most days it was 5-6. We did a wall dive to start the day and then a reef dive that was max 60 ft.

 

[slvrshdo45]

I have dived from a cruise ship at Grand Cayman also. The only problem is that dive shops dont really give you any advanced dives. Nonetheless, the dive shop that is really the the best is Red Sail sports. That is usually who most of the cruise ships use there. If you've never been to Grand Cayman Red Sail will hopefully take you to the Trinity Caves like they did me which is absolutely awsome. As a matter of fact I use cruise ships to locate where I want to go for a week and this Nov I'm going to Cayman for a week. Cozumel a dive shop there is Aldora divers. Spent a week with them. The other best locations in the Caribbean are Dominica which is my second favorite even better than Bonaire great cruise dive shop there. My top spots of the Caribbean are
1. Dominica
2. Grand Cayman
3. Roatan
4. Cenotes yucatan penisula Playa Del Carmen Hidden worlds "Dos Ojos". Xcaret the theme park there actually has a good little dive sea horses, turtles, Baracuda, crabs. Really pretty good for a qucik dip in the ocean. Stayed in Playa Del Carmen for a week also.
5. Belize next spring for a week.
6.Cozumel
The dive shop the cruise ship used in Bonaire and St Thomas were just awful.
Good dive shop in St Thomas is Chris Sawyer
Grand Cayman I'll be diving with Red Sail on the east end of the island. Really too far away for a cruise ship to take you there or any other dive shop because of the time you have to stay there. Have fun. Hope this was helpful. Love to dive the Carribean.