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This is my first trip report, so I've neglected anything or you want more info on something let me know and I'll add it (or just message me). Pics, right off the bat:
Cruise - a set on Flickr
This was our first cruise (or at least my first one since I was a child), and we had a great time. To give you our vantage point on the whole thing, we've recently been diving (prior to this trip) in St. Lucia, Cozumel, Riviera Maya (ocean and cenotes) and Turks and Caicos- and of course the quarries, rivers and oceans of the (frigid) northeast US. In the past I've been to Australia, St. Thomas, St. Barth's, Nevis, St. Kitt's, Statia and Saba. We're both in our mid/late twenties but have traveled a lot (on as minimal a budget as possible) and enjoy an older crowd more than a really young one.
We were skeptical about going on a cruise, especially the diving aspect of it, but Celebrity was definitely the way to go. Great food, high quality shows and no drunken raving (maybe this doesn't happen, but it was spring break and I didn't want to deal with it). Celebrity has some great stuff like wine tastings/wine activities and tons of live bands/singers and other things to do. We picked a nice ship, cheap room and an itinerary with the maximum number of ports. Rough weather impacted other cruise lines (the larger Carnival ships could not dock at several ports due to their size relative to the channel and rough seas). The ship was new and quite beautiful. There are a lot of discounts to be had on these things- call the cruise line directly and haggle close to the departure date. We saved a ton and got a lot of freebies by bartering a week out. Anyway, you're probably not here to hear about the boat...
We did not bring our gear as we had an inside room and didn't want to deal with bringing it around the islands. This was the first time we had rented any gear on a trip. We opted not to dive Grand Cayman to save money. I wish we had, in hindsight, but mostly to have another notch on dive belt.
On to it....
Cozumel: We were just here in December and did 10-12 dives in the north and south. The diving then was absolutely fantastic and we loved Cozumel. We dove with Jeremy and Mario (Loco) at Living Underwater that first time. I rarely plug business, but he was fantastic. Great boat, great staff, great amenities (dive jackets, etc), snacks, water and safety conscious (declined to take us to northern sites until seeing us dive). He was booked this time, so we dove with Aldora. We wound up on Aldora 3, which is a brief cab ride from where Celebrity docks. Cab services are reliable on Cozumel (more to come on this later) and it was easy to get there. I am not sure that Aldora 3, or the crew, is the typical setup seen by people not on cruises who rave about this company. Given the late departure, we were only with other cruise divers. I was not very impressed with the boat and our dive guide seemed more eager to take us to a closer site (given topside conditions and surf) than one that had reportedly good conditions underwater that day. A wall dive was likely not the best thing to do. Rental equipment was okay but showing it's wear and tear with some minor leaks. Top-side weather in Cozumel was nice, but they had apparently been hit with heavy winds and seas for a few days prior to our arrival. As a result, we were the only ones to head to Santa Rosa. Conditions below were poor with visibility at about 30-40' (re-phrased...poor for the Caribbean) and heavy current that was alternating (no, not typical Cozumel diving). At one point there was a mild down current off the wall and I found myself quickly dropping about only ten feet before getting out of it. The conditions seemed to have greatly diminished the fish willing to stay out of the reef and we didn't see much at all on the dive. As a result of the conditions, which quickly hammered us into the reef if we left cover, we spent the vast majority of the time darting between swim throughs- and I didn't manage many pictures. Unfortunately, it was the first dive in a long time that felt mostly like work even though the swim throughs were beautiful here. We surfaced after about 1:04 (120' steel). The second dive was Las Palmas. Visibility was still poor by local standards and the current was heavy, but linear- so the dive was very enjoyable. We saw an eagle ray off in the distance, the usual Cozumel fish, many arrow crabs and two splendid toadfish. The surf was too rough topside to dock at the southern beach club, so we had spent our interval on the boat.
Roatan:
This island is beautiful, still cheap, not yet built up and had wonderful diving. The cab service here is not reliable and official representatives insist you have no options. They demanded $55 RT to take us to Barefoot Cay and asked for $4 up front with $51 paid to the driver when they picked us up. I talked them down to $35 before realizing we were being ripped off. Public buses go essentially from end to end for $4-6. We took a cab from Barefoot Cay to West end later for $10/person negotiated with the driver and later took a bus from West End to Coxen Hole for only $2/person. Unlike Cozumel, prices are most definitely open to interpretation.
We initially setup two dives with Barefoot Divers on Barefoot Caye. Because dive sites are very close to the caye, they book these dives as single tank dives where you return to the shop between but cannot go to the hotel or beach portion of the facility. The shop was nice and the building brand new. The boat was a good size and well equipped. Our dive guides were surprisingly young and one was new (again, being on the cruise with a later dive departure, the normal dive guides were already out). We were scheduled to leave on 10am and 2:30pm dives. We arrived early and left at what would have been the 8am dive, which is good because the 10am departure was cancelled due to weather. The cay itself is protected, but the dive sites on the south are not. Like Cozumel, winds had recently moved through. Swells outside the harbor were at least 6' and most on the boat, including the guide, were vomiting. The ride out was pretty uncomfortable, but I was eager to dive Roatan. They decided to cancel all dives for the remainder of the day prior to getting in the water. We attempted to moor at Menagerie reef, but the heavy surf actually ripped the cleat off the bow. Entry was giant stride off the back and very difficult as it had to be timed very gingerly with the swells. Getting back on was also extraordinarily tricky. In hindsight, of course, this was probably a dive that should not have been done. Underwater there was some decent surge, but nothing stronger than Cozumel currents on a typical day. The reef was beautiful! A flat bottom at about 40' with tons of soft and hard corals and a huge number of juvenile fish and macro life. Reefs here clearly were pristine. We saw several schools of squid, a large number of Bermuda chub and several huge eels off the sheer wall. Visibility was good. Despite the topside difficulties, we were extremely disappointed to not be able to do the second dive. They refunded us the dive cost ($40 US) but not the equipment rental. Desperate to dive, we took a cab to West End where the area is protected and walked from shop to shop. We stumbled across Native Son divers and they let us on their trip departing right after we got there. Diving was $35 including gear. Their ship was a little older, but nice, and the dive site was very close and amongst perfectly calm seas. We drifted gently from Jolly Roger to Blue Channel. Diving here was less "wild" than in the south shore, but still stunning. Many more hard corals were seen amongst the peaks with an equal amount of macro life. There was little appreciable current here, but they still termed it a drift dive. Both dives were about 50 minutes with south shore being deeper at about 80' max depth and Blue Channel being only about 50'.
Costa Maya:
This was our last stop and we opted on a whim to find some diving as we hadn't gotten enough on the previous days of cruising. The ship wanted around a hundred for 2 tanks. When we got to the port, a few less than reputable dive reps were advertising a single tank for $80. After talking to them for a minute, the price dropped to $60. I figured out pretty quickly it'd be cheaper in town. This "town" is tiny, with only about 3k residents and seems to have been built only to attract cruise ships. As a result, it's more of a Mexican vacation spot than an American one. The nearest airport is quite far away at about five hours. Everything here is new and clean. There is a bus to Mahahual Beach, which is stunning besides the hard sell soliciting and chasing at every corner that one finds in Mexico. At the end of the touristy area, we came across our first real dive shop, Doctor Dive. Along the way, we had been offered $45 for a one tank dive including all gear and Doctor Dive met the price. Their shop is brand new and they also own a beach club next door. This area of the beach is quieter without soliciting and has free wifi, good food and dollar beers. Doctor Dive's gear was brand new (refreshing) and apparently they replace it yearly. The ship was small but workable and we dove with only two other people. We did not expect much from diving here, but we were impressed. The crew was professional and nice and the diving was very nice. Apparently they occasionally see manatees in a protected channel just off the beach and dolphins aren't uncommon outside of it. We weren't lucky enough for either. Instead, we dove a large finger reef about 50' tall with massive canyons every fifty yards or so that totally split the reef. The usual Mexican life was present- huge green morays, big lobsters, giant crabs, a turtle and typical coral. The reef here is much healthier, probably due to low traffic, than Riviera Maya's was. Visibility was amazing at about 140'. Again, a "drift" dive but current was minimal. I believe our dive left at about 1pm.
PICTURES, again:
Cruise - a set on Flickr
Click through them- they're jumbled but all are labeled.
Summary:
Roatan: Careful with the cabs- you could lose quite a bit of cash. Would love to dive the south shore again, but it is unprotected and can be very rough- apparently. You will not have much to do during a surface interval at Barefoot and our particular guides seemed very new. Subway Sports picks you up at the dock, but we didn't dive with them and I can't attest to anything. They're in the north. West End was still beautiful and has a beach. Native Sons was more than adequate and the DM seemed more experienced. Recommend the BBQ man on the beach for lunch. Can't wait to go back here!
Cozumel: Weather was poor but Cozumel is a wonderful place to dive. Would recommend Living Underwater- but please don't book them when I'm there because I don't intend to dive anywhere else, and they may not be able to accommodate cruise passengers due to dive departure times. Aldora was adequate, but nothing special. They do accommodate cruise passengers- but there is a small (large?) armada of dive shops on the island- so there is plenty to choose from I'm sure.
Costa Maya (Mahahual): Dive Doctor (and the co-owned YaYa Beach Club) was great. The staff and equipment couldn't have been better. The diving was nearby and the reefs were healthy with impressive structure. This wouldn't be a "dive destination" for me over Roatan or Cozumel, but it's a good third dive location and cheap with a wonderful beach.
Let me know of anything else you want to know-
Clip
Cruise - a set on Flickr
This was our first cruise (or at least my first one since I was a child), and we had a great time. To give you our vantage point on the whole thing, we've recently been diving (prior to this trip) in St. Lucia, Cozumel, Riviera Maya (ocean and cenotes) and Turks and Caicos- and of course the quarries, rivers and oceans of the (frigid) northeast US. In the past I've been to Australia, St. Thomas, St. Barth's, Nevis, St. Kitt's, Statia and Saba. We're both in our mid/late twenties but have traveled a lot (on as minimal a budget as possible) and enjoy an older crowd more than a really young one.
We were skeptical about going on a cruise, especially the diving aspect of it, but Celebrity was definitely the way to go. Great food, high quality shows and no drunken raving (maybe this doesn't happen, but it was spring break and I didn't want to deal with it). Celebrity has some great stuff like wine tastings/wine activities and tons of live bands/singers and other things to do. We picked a nice ship, cheap room and an itinerary with the maximum number of ports. Rough weather impacted other cruise lines (the larger Carnival ships could not dock at several ports due to their size relative to the channel and rough seas). The ship was new and quite beautiful. There are a lot of discounts to be had on these things- call the cruise line directly and haggle close to the departure date. We saved a ton and got a lot of freebies by bartering a week out. Anyway, you're probably not here to hear about the boat...
We did not bring our gear as we had an inside room and didn't want to deal with bringing it around the islands. This was the first time we had rented any gear on a trip. We opted not to dive Grand Cayman to save money. I wish we had, in hindsight, but mostly to have another notch on dive belt.
On to it....
Cozumel: We were just here in December and did 10-12 dives in the north and south. The diving then was absolutely fantastic and we loved Cozumel. We dove with Jeremy and Mario (Loco) at Living Underwater that first time. I rarely plug business, but he was fantastic. Great boat, great staff, great amenities (dive jackets, etc), snacks, water and safety conscious (declined to take us to northern sites until seeing us dive). He was booked this time, so we dove with Aldora. We wound up on Aldora 3, which is a brief cab ride from where Celebrity docks. Cab services are reliable on Cozumel (more to come on this later) and it was easy to get there. I am not sure that Aldora 3, or the crew, is the typical setup seen by people not on cruises who rave about this company. Given the late departure, we were only with other cruise divers. I was not very impressed with the boat and our dive guide seemed more eager to take us to a closer site (given topside conditions and surf) than one that had reportedly good conditions underwater that day. A wall dive was likely not the best thing to do. Rental equipment was okay but showing it's wear and tear with some minor leaks. Top-side weather in Cozumel was nice, but they had apparently been hit with heavy winds and seas for a few days prior to our arrival. As a result, we were the only ones to head to Santa Rosa. Conditions below were poor with visibility at about 30-40' (re-phrased...poor for the Caribbean) and heavy current that was alternating (no, not typical Cozumel diving). At one point there was a mild down current off the wall and I found myself quickly dropping about only ten feet before getting out of it. The conditions seemed to have greatly diminished the fish willing to stay out of the reef and we didn't see much at all on the dive. As a result of the conditions, which quickly hammered us into the reef if we left cover, we spent the vast majority of the time darting between swim throughs- and I didn't manage many pictures. Unfortunately, it was the first dive in a long time that felt mostly like work even though the swim throughs were beautiful here. We surfaced after about 1:04 (120' steel). The second dive was Las Palmas. Visibility was still poor by local standards and the current was heavy, but linear- so the dive was very enjoyable. We saw an eagle ray off in the distance, the usual Cozumel fish, many arrow crabs and two splendid toadfish. The surf was too rough topside to dock at the southern beach club, so we had spent our interval on the boat.
Roatan:
This island is beautiful, still cheap, not yet built up and had wonderful diving. The cab service here is not reliable and official representatives insist you have no options. They demanded $55 RT to take us to Barefoot Cay and asked for $4 up front with $51 paid to the driver when they picked us up. I talked them down to $35 before realizing we were being ripped off. Public buses go essentially from end to end for $4-6. We took a cab from Barefoot Cay to West end later for $10/person negotiated with the driver and later took a bus from West End to Coxen Hole for only $2/person. Unlike Cozumel, prices are most definitely open to interpretation.
We initially setup two dives with Barefoot Divers on Barefoot Caye. Because dive sites are very close to the caye, they book these dives as single tank dives where you return to the shop between but cannot go to the hotel or beach portion of the facility. The shop was nice and the building brand new. The boat was a good size and well equipped. Our dive guides were surprisingly young and one was new (again, being on the cruise with a later dive departure, the normal dive guides were already out). We were scheduled to leave on 10am and 2:30pm dives. We arrived early and left at what would have been the 8am dive, which is good because the 10am departure was cancelled due to weather. The cay itself is protected, but the dive sites on the south are not. Like Cozumel, winds had recently moved through. Swells outside the harbor were at least 6' and most on the boat, including the guide, were vomiting. The ride out was pretty uncomfortable, but I was eager to dive Roatan. They decided to cancel all dives for the remainder of the day prior to getting in the water. We attempted to moor at Menagerie reef, but the heavy surf actually ripped the cleat off the bow. Entry was giant stride off the back and very difficult as it had to be timed very gingerly with the swells. Getting back on was also extraordinarily tricky. In hindsight, of course, this was probably a dive that should not have been done. Underwater there was some decent surge, but nothing stronger than Cozumel currents on a typical day. The reef was beautiful! A flat bottom at about 40' with tons of soft and hard corals and a huge number of juvenile fish and macro life. Reefs here clearly were pristine. We saw several schools of squid, a large number of Bermuda chub and several huge eels off the sheer wall. Visibility was good. Despite the topside difficulties, we were extremely disappointed to not be able to do the second dive. They refunded us the dive cost ($40 US) but not the equipment rental. Desperate to dive, we took a cab to West End where the area is protected and walked from shop to shop. We stumbled across Native Son divers and they let us on their trip departing right after we got there. Diving was $35 including gear. Their ship was a little older, but nice, and the dive site was very close and amongst perfectly calm seas. We drifted gently from Jolly Roger to Blue Channel. Diving here was less "wild" than in the south shore, but still stunning. Many more hard corals were seen amongst the peaks with an equal amount of macro life. There was little appreciable current here, but they still termed it a drift dive. Both dives were about 50 minutes with south shore being deeper at about 80' max depth and Blue Channel being only about 50'.
Costa Maya:
This was our last stop and we opted on a whim to find some diving as we hadn't gotten enough on the previous days of cruising. The ship wanted around a hundred for 2 tanks. When we got to the port, a few less than reputable dive reps were advertising a single tank for $80. After talking to them for a minute, the price dropped to $60. I figured out pretty quickly it'd be cheaper in town. This "town" is tiny, with only about 3k residents and seems to have been built only to attract cruise ships. As a result, it's more of a Mexican vacation spot than an American one. The nearest airport is quite far away at about five hours. Everything here is new and clean. There is a bus to Mahahual Beach, which is stunning besides the hard sell soliciting and chasing at every corner that one finds in Mexico. At the end of the touristy area, we came across our first real dive shop, Doctor Dive. Along the way, we had been offered $45 for a one tank dive including all gear and Doctor Dive met the price. Their shop is brand new and they also own a beach club next door. This area of the beach is quieter without soliciting and has free wifi, good food and dollar beers. Doctor Dive's gear was brand new (refreshing) and apparently they replace it yearly. The ship was small but workable and we dove with only two other people. We did not expect much from diving here, but we were impressed. The crew was professional and nice and the diving was very nice. Apparently they occasionally see manatees in a protected channel just off the beach and dolphins aren't uncommon outside of it. We weren't lucky enough for either. Instead, we dove a large finger reef about 50' tall with massive canyons every fifty yards or so that totally split the reef. The usual Mexican life was present- huge green morays, big lobsters, giant crabs, a turtle and typical coral. The reef here is much healthier, probably due to low traffic, than Riviera Maya's was. Visibility was amazing at about 140'. Again, a "drift" dive but current was minimal. I believe our dive left at about 1pm.
PICTURES, again:
Cruise - a set on Flickr
Click through them- they're jumbled but all are labeled.
Summary:
Roatan: Careful with the cabs- you could lose quite a bit of cash. Would love to dive the south shore again, but it is unprotected and can be very rough- apparently. You will not have much to do during a surface interval at Barefoot and our particular guides seemed very new. Subway Sports picks you up at the dock, but we didn't dive with them and I can't attest to anything. They're in the north. West End was still beautiful and has a beach. Native Sons was more than adequate and the DM seemed more experienced. Recommend the BBQ man on the beach for lunch. Can't wait to go back here!
Cozumel: Weather was poor but Cozumel is a wonderful place to dive. Would recommend Living Underwater- but please don't book them when I'm there because I don't intend to dive anywhere else, and they may not be able to accommodate cruise passengers due to dive departure times. Aldora was adequate, but nothing special. They do accommodate cruise passengers- but there is a small (large?) armada of dive shops on the island- so there is plenty to choose from I'm sure.
Costa Maya (Mahahual): Dive Doctor (and the co-owned YaYa Beach Club) was great. The staff and equipment couldn't have been better. The diving was nearby and the reefs were healthy with impressive structure. This wouldn't be a "dive destination" for me over Roatan or Cozumel, but it's a good third dive location and cheap with a wonderful beach.
Let me know of anything else you want to know-
Clip
