Thanks for all of the recommendations! We were happy with all of the dive operations we went with. I won't post a full trip report, just a few sentences about each. Remember that we were diving from the Carnival Legend. And we're still new divers, but AOW certified at least.
Opal's Dream - Cozumel - Two Tank Boat Dive (Drift Dives). What a nice, friendly group of guys. First of all, they held a boat for us until we could get there from the cruise ship, even though the ship was late. There were only 3 other divers, and we took a "fast boat". As in "catching air between waves" fast, whoo! They also took care of our gear for us. We asked for "easy" dives since it was our first time in the ocean, and left the rest up to them. We dove the Palancar Caves (not really caves, just swim-throughs) first, and Yucat Reef second. I loved the topography at the Palancar Caves. Our DM was good at finding interesting creatures and pointing them out (and occasionally letting us hold them). I'll have to find his name... Our surface interval was on the boat and at Paradise Beach. All in all, a great introduction to ocean diving.
Hugh Parkey's (Carnival Tour Operator) - Turneffe Atoll, Belize - Two Tank Boat Dive (Anchored). This is also a great operator, and you can't beat the fact that they tender you directly to/from the ship, which saves hours of time. We didn't rent gear, but what we saw looked pretty new. They took care of our gear for us, even rinsing it at the end. The long boat ride out to the atoll was pleasant, fast, and totally worth it. These were the most lush dive sites we saw on our trip. Rare corals, sea fans everywhere, huge sponges... wow. Our first dive was at Pine Ridge and our second was at Midpoint, both on the west side of the atoll. Our DM's nickname was "Emmy", and he also did a nice job of pointing out interesting creatures for us. Our surface interval was on the boat.
West Bay Beach snorkeling - Roatan, Honduras. OK, it wasn't a dive, but if you ever go to Roatan, there's a fantastic reef and mini wall inches from the surface at West Bay Beach. You just have to know where to find it. There's an inflatable water slide very close to it, and when we were there there were men in kayaks above the reef, telling you where to go. We set up at the Bananarama beach bar because the beach access is free there (and Bananarama is nice), left some family members to watch our stuff, and walked up the beach to where the reef was (a five minute walk and a three minute swim out).
Sundivers - Turtle Reef, Grand Cayman - Two Tank Shore Dive. We had an instructor, Steve, take us out on our first shore dive here. That was a good idea, because we were more confident on both dives, even though we did the second dive with just the two of us. We had gotten spoiled with having our gear set up for us, but not on this one. We also felt awkward with Steve - he was quiet, businesslike, and not outgoing like the other people we dove with on the trip. I felt like he was testing/evaluating us or something. Negatives aside, they call this the best shore diving on Grand Cayman, and I believe them. The topography of the wall, outcroppings, and overhangs was lovely, and we saw the most interesting marine animals there. The big school of tarpon is awesome. We saw lots of big tropical fish too, in the 2 to 6+ foot long range. Lots of tiny colorful fish. Flounder, barracuda, and a couple of sea turtles just a few feet away. Steve also did more involved weight checks to help us get our weight down, which was nice and helpful. Our surface interval was at Macubo's beach bar, right there at the shore dive entry. I recommend the conch platter - yum!
