Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, or Island Roatan?

[munclematt]

My wife and I are doing a Cruise upon my return from Iraq and I want to dive! I am a Rescue diver, but she is not certified... yet. Our Ports are Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Island Rotan. We arent against snorkeling at all, I got pretty good at free diving for mooring balls out in Hawaii while stationed there with the Navy. However, I would love to get an actual dive in at at least two places. I am a lover of wrecks, walls, caves, and sharks. I know that is a little advanced for her but one of the dives is my birthday present.

So were would the great Caribbean dive community dive if they had to chose between these places? Any and all information is a great help. I am a big fan of Scubaboard from my diving days in Hawaii and look forward to the mass amount of advice the divers have to offer. Thanks.

 

[naimis]

My wife and I are doing a Cruise upon my return from Iraq and I want to dive! I am a Rescue diver, but she is not certified... yet. Our Ports are Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Island Rotan. We arent against snorkeling at all, I got pretty good at free diving for mooring balls out in Hawaii while stationed there with the Navy. However, I would love to get an actual dive in at at least two places. I am a lover of wrecks, walls, caves, and sharks. I know that is a little advanced for her but one of the dives is my birthday present.

So were would the great Caribbean dive community dive if they had to chose between these places? Any and all information is a great help. I am a big fan of Scubaboard from my diving days in Hawaii and look forward to the mass amount of advice the divers have to offer. Thanks.

I haven't been to Grand Caymen or Belize yet, myself, but Roatan is definitely all about the wall dives. I also did a shark dive there with Waihuka Adventure Diving, which was a lot of fun.

Cozumel is more about drift dives. There's an artificial reef there, the C-53 Felipe Xicoténantl that's a pretty decent wreck dive even for beginners. The current can be pretty strong there, so getting to and from the ship can be a struggle. There are also cenotes on Cozumel, though I've never been. I can't remember being disappointed in the diving in Cozumel.

 

[Shawnda]

I have dove in both Cozumel and Roatan. There were more skates and rays in Cozumel, but Roatan has more macro and is more colorful. On another note, on Cozumel you did not need to be certified to dive, and we found that we were herded like cattle. Much safer on Roatan by far, as they insist on safe diving.

 

[Byte Me]

The only one of the four I haven't been to is Belize. Grand Cayman and Roatan (south side of the island) are both definitely wall diving, Coz is as well but count on current and a drift dive v your typical down to approx max depth on the wall, swim along to a predetermined PSI then up to the top of the wall to return to the boat. Roatan and Grand Cayman the 30+ dives I did were all moored while all the dives I've ever done in Coz or Playa were drift.

Drift and wall have their complexities and depending on if you're planning on having your wife dive with you and her comfort in the water you may be better in Roatan or GC simply because there is less current and if you're not OK w/ depth you can stay more shallow on the wall if you want. It would be easier to play "follow the DM" in Roatan or GC than if the current is ripping in Coz.

With the exception of the East end of GC (which is the best diving I've done thus far) that unfortunately you most likely wouldn't be getting to if you're cruising, the condition of the reefs are substantially similar depending on the dive site. Some are better than others based on the site. I did see more "big" stuff come up out of the blue in GC - eagle rays, sting rays, turtles, (sharks on the east end). The week prior to our diving GC on a couple sites they saw hammerheads. In Roatan we stayed at CoCo View and saw a bunch of stuff as well, eagle rays, turtles and lots of little stuff!! Reports of hammerheads there as well but I keep missing them! Did the Cara a Cara shark dive too - but if you did that I don't know if you'd get another dive in because of timing. Coz never saw any big stuff but to be fair I've done only 6 dives there and about 15 in Playa.

The only other thing I'd mention is that your experience will obviously be impacted by the dive op you choose. Once you decide where you want to dive check back here in those forums for suggestions on who to dive with. In Coz I've always enjoyed Blue Angel. GC we dove with Neptunes but their schedule doesn't work for cruisers and in Roatan dove exclusively with CoCo View - unfortunately not an option for you.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[TBresortBelize]

We havent got much wall diving in Belize but lots and lots of nurse sharks. You can also see whale sharks down near Placencia at Gladden Spit. The diving in Belize is nice and easy with chances to see lots of fish such as stingrays, eagle rays, turtles etc. It is actually turtle mating season at the moment so more chance to see them!

Hope this helps!

 

[Rhone Man]

Is 'all of the above' an option? Seriously though, all of them are excellent, but perhaps not all of them offer good cruise ship diving options. I could be wrong, but I remember someone telling me that cruise ship diving in Belize didn't hit particularly good sites (forgive me if I got that wrong).

Stay safe in Iraq.

 

[lthomas132]

I have been diving in all 4 locations. Each one has its good points. From a cruise ship perspective, Belize would be hardest because the ships only dock at Belize City, some distance from good diving locations, San Pedro, Placencia, etc. Grand Cayman or Roatan would be the shortest distance wise to dive boat operations. Grand Cayman is by far the most expensive, Roatan the cheapest. Cozumel, because of the currents, might be the toughest diving, GC and Roatan, the easiest. We dove Belize last fall, Grand Cayman in Jan., and are going back to Roatan for the 3rd time in 2 weeks. I guess that says which is my favorite.

 

[LynnB]

We did a cruise 2 summers ago to the same ports. In Grand Cayman we just did a shore dive at Eden Rock as we just wanted to get in the water and have spent time on GC diving before. It gets pretty pricey when you try and do them all. Next we did Roatan and AKR does the cruise ships. They picked you up and took you to the resort for your dives. They did a great job and the diving was wonderful.
We next did Belize. While the diving was great the boat ride was long. The ships are not docked so the dive op sent a tender to pick us up. It seemed like we went forever before we came to a little island. Set up our gear and then went for another long boat ride out to our dive. It was a long day, the diving was good but it was the most expensive. Now I see why.
After leaving Roatan we said we could definately see going back. Well last summer we went back and will be leaving in less than 4 weeks to go back again.
Hope that helps you some.
Take care in Iraq and hope you have a great cruise.
Lynn

 

[jimw]

I've been to all 4 multiple times for weeklong or so diving vacations and also dove them all cruising several times. Grand Cayman can be the cheapest--shore dive in one of several places for the cost of a tank and a cab ride--I like Sunset House a little further down from Eden Roc. Both are almost walking distance to the right from the tender dock lugging gear and definitely easy walking distance if not. Roatan--I went to Coco View to dive once since we had stayed there several times--arranged it thru their US office-not expensive--very good shore dive in front of the resort. Many other otions closer to the pier here as well. Cozumel--arrange in advance with any of dozens of dive ops or pick up a trip on th dock after arrival. Belize--I recommend the ship trip as the tender in to Belize City is 4 miles and then not much choice of dive shops--Marine Sports just to the right. The ship trip will pick you up at the cruise ship and on to diving.