lisa4516
Contributor
We arrived home late Sunday night following a 7 day cruise with Carnival Destiny. The ports were: St Thomas, Dominica, Barbados and Aruba. We had a great time and did not really want to come home to the cold here in Michigan but here we are!
Since my Husband, Don, had had major abdominal aortic sugery in late October, I wanted our first dives to be easy and controlled. We did some snorkeling in St Thomas and Dominica, just to get wet and practice with our new Sealife digital camera.
In Barbados, we dove with THE DIVE SHOP which has been recommended by various people on the scuba board. The only real problem that we had was that they were very late picking us up, they actually ended up sending a taxi for us. When we got to the shop, we, did the paper work and then Haroon, the owner told us to walk down the beach a bit and wade out to the catamaran. So, down the beach (not too far) we walked and found the boat out in the water. Don volunteered to carry my scuba bag out for me. Having had an instructor who was big on women being independent, I thanked him and told him that I could do it my self. Mistake! I am only 5"2 and everything in the bag was soaked, towels etc. Oh well, things dry.We dove 2 reefs which were between 30-50 feet. On the first dive we saw quite a few turtles. The coral was colorful but there were not as many fish as I remember seeing last year on Grand Cayman. The dive master and captain were very helpful and Don and I had relaxing and interesting dives. There were only 4 other divers on the boat of varying abilities and the more advanced divers seemed to have ther leeway to do their own thing. One of the other divers was having some problems with her ears and equipment and only did one dive. All in all, I got exactly what I had requested. Shallow, easy dives in a small group. We went home satisfied. As we left the boat, to go back to shore, I let Don carry my scuba bag back to shore but decided that I could carry my wallet which was on a string around my neck. High tide! Had to swim in to shore, and several travelers checks had to be dried out later.
Aruba: We dove with Clive Palur of Dive Aruba, also reccommended by SB. I misunderstood where he was to meet us and almost missed him but it worked out. The Dive Aruba shop has been displaced by a large resort and is temporarily working out of an office building. We went by there to do the paper work, etc and then to the dock. The boat is small, holds a max of 6 divers. We had 4.The water was a bit choppy but did not cause a problem. Clive was very helpful. The only problem that I really had with the small boat was that Don and I usually check out each others equipment before entering the water, to make sure everything is in the right spot, turned on etc. On this boat, you sat down, he helped us on with the equipment, we stood up and did a giant stride in. I missed the complete buddy check. On our first dive, we saw our first sharks. They were circling the reef. Fortunately they did not look too hungry! The second dive was a drift dive Clive was an excellent guide, showed us a lot and was in tuned to his divers. I liked that, some DMs tell you to let them know when you are down to 1500 psi but you can never get their attention! Again, we got what we asked for, relaxing shallow dives, just to get our feet (fins) wet again.As usual, My air lasted longer than Don's. He had an al 80 and I used Al 63 and ended up with quite a bit more air. We could have used about a hundred more dives. Definitely wanted to stay and dive some more. I think we need to go somewhere and stay a few weeks and dive dive dive. With such a short vacation , you just start getting comfortable with your buoyancy, etc and you are done! I think that Don and I will continue to practice in the pool here and see if we can't improve Don's air consumption so that we can have more bottom time, we were averaging around 40 minutes. We hope to do some diving while at Hilton Head in May and frequent the Ohio quarries this summer. Hopefully, sometime soon we can try a shallow wreck somewhere!
In summary, we were satisfied with both dive operations. They gave us exactly what I asked for. I have no doubt that they could have provided us with more challenging opportunities had we asked.
As for the cruise, it was our first and we had a great time. We were there with 40+ senior citizens who participate in our water fitness classes. We all had a great time! The only real hint that I have for cruisers who book their own dives is to make sure that you understand exactly where they are going to meet you! Happy Diving everyone!
Since my Husband, Don, had had major abdominal aortic sugery in late October, I wanted our first dives to be easy and controlled. We did some snorkeling in St Thomas and Dominica, just to get wet and practice with our new Sealife digital camera.
In Barbados, we dove with THE DIVE SHOP which has been recommended by various people on the scuba board. The only real problem that we had was that they were very late picking us up, they actually ended up sending a taxi for us. When we got to the shop, we, did the paper work and then Haroon, the owner told us to walk down the beach a bit and wade out to the catamaran. So, down the beach (not too far) we walked and found the boat out in the water. Don volunteered to carry my scuba bag out for me. Having had an instructor who was big on women being independent, I thanked him and told him that I could do it my self. Mistake! I am only 5"2 and everything in the bag was soaked, towels etc. Oh well, things dry.We dove 2 reefs which were between 30-50 feet. On the first dive we saw quite a few turtles. The coral was colorful but there were not as many fish as I remember seeing last year on Grand Cayman. The dive master and captain were very helpful and Don and I had relaxing and interesting dives. There were only 4 other divers on the boat of varying abilities and the more advanced divers seemed to have ther leeway to do their own thing. One of the other divers was having some problems with her ears and equipment and only did one dive. All in all, I got exactly what I had requested. Shallow, easy dives in a small group. We went home satisfied. As we left the boat, to go back to shore, I let Don carry my scuba bag back to shore but decided that I could carry my wallet which was on a string around my neck. High tide! Had to swim in to shore, and several travelers checks had to be dried out later.
Aruba: We dove with Clive Palur of Dive Aruba, also reccommended by SB. I misunderstood where he was to meet us and almost missed him but it worked out. The Dive Aruba shop has been displaced by a large resort and is temporarily working out of an office building. We went by there to do the paper work, etc and then to the dock. The boat is small, holds a max of 6 divers. We had 4.The water was a bit choppy but did not cause a problem. Clive was very helpful. The only problem that I really had with the small boat was that Don and I usually check out each others equipment before entering the water, to make sure everything is in the right spot, turned on etc. On this boat, you sat down, he helped us on with the equipment, we stood up and did a giant stride in. I missed the complete buddy check. On our first dive, we saw our first sharks. They were circling the reef. Fortunately they did not look too hungry! The second dive was a drift dive Clive was an excellent guide, showed us a lot and was in tuned to his divers. I liked that, some DMs tell you to let them know when you are down to 1500 psi but you can never get their attention! Again, we got what we asked for, relaxing shallow dives, just to get our feet (fins) wet again.As usual, My air lasted longer than Don's. He had an al 80 and I used Al 63 and ended up with quite a bit more air. We could have used about a hundred more dives. Definitely wanted to stay and dive some more. I think we need to go somewhere and stay a few weeks and dive dive dive. With such a short vacation , you just start getting comfortable with your buoyancy, etc and you are done! I think that Don and I will continue to practice in the pool here and see if we can't improve Don's air consumption so that we can have more bottom time, we were averaging around 40 minutes. We hope to do some diving while at Hilton Head in May and frequent the Ohio quarries this summer. Hopefully, sometime soon we can try a shallow wreck somewhere!
In summary, we were satisfied with both dive operations. They gave us exactly what I asked for. I have no doubt that they could have provided us with more challenging opportunities had we asked.
As for the cruise, it was our first and we had a great time. We were there with 40+ senior citizens who participate in our water fitness classes. We all had a great time! The only real hint that I have for cruisers who book their own dives is to make sure that you understand exactly where they are going to meet you! Happy Diving everyone!
