Grand Cayman Cruise - dive op?

[bgrif3fan]

We are cruising with Carnival in July and were planning a family dive. We are all PADI certified open water divers, but our son is only 11 and will turn 12 two days after we arrive in Grand Cayman (while we are on the cruise ship.) Carnival will not allow us to book a dive with their excursion operator as they have a minimum age of 12 for their excursion and they won't make an exception for a birthday during the vacation. Anyone have a reputable dive shop that will work with a cruise schedule to get us in the water? Our son wants to dive! We want to dive! There are plenty of good dive sites between 40 and 60 ft, and with 100 ft visibility we can't go wrong. We don't want to miss the opportunity to dive in Grand Cayman.

 

[EastEndDiver]

I am pretty sure that Don Foster's is the cruise ships Op.Why not contact them directly and explain the situation see what they advise.

 

[bgrif3fan]

I am pretty sure that Don Foster's is the cruise ships Op.Why not contact them directly and explain the situation see what they advise.

Yep. We did that right before we posted here. However, their website states that you cannot book thought them directly and must do so through the cruise site. Hoping there are exceptions, or that someone has a really great recommendation for another op. Not being able to dive would be a vacation spoiler for all three of us.

 

[BUDMANOK]

call Nick at Deep Blue

 

[Fatterboy]

In 2008 we used Off the Wall Divers, they had us back in time for departure. They gave us several choices, the majority chose to do stingray city. Stingray city as a dive is MUCH less crowded, there were no snorkelers where we were, it was a small group, and we had a wonderful dive. Max depth was only about 18 feet, but there were some shallow coral heads, a really friendly moray, and massive amounts of small fish (mostly yellow snapper 10-12 inches long) trying to steal our bait.

 

[bgrif3fan]

I love this website! There seems to be a huge amount of knowlege here. I appreciate the suggestions so far, please keep them coming. Looking at trip advisor there are so many dive shops on Grand Cayman, we would really like to find one that is a good fit for us.

 

[Alex777]

My 10-year-old daughter has dived several times with Don Foster's, so the restriction must be something Carnival is imposing on its own initiative. I would complain ...

 

[EastEndDiver]

Another option would be Eden Rock,which is a short walk from the terminal.You can arrange a guided tour with them .max depth is 40'-50'.The reef is a little beat up and may be crowded with snorkelers but it is a nice dive.

Scuba Cayman with Eden Rock

 

[billinwilliamston]

Another option would be Eden Rock,which is a short walk from the terminal.You can arrange a guided tour with them .max depth is 40'-50'.The reef is a little beat up and may be crowded with snorkelers but it is a nice dive.

Scuba Cayman with Eden Rock

It's a decent dive with lots of swim throughs and fish life. You'll likely see a good sized school of tarpon along with other fish. If you think of it as a rock dive rather than a reef dive and you won't be disappointed. It will also be a quite a bit cheaper than booking through Carnival even if you hire a guide.

 

[diversteve]

Besides Deep Blue, the other operator that works out of Lobster Pot in Georgetown is Wall to Wall - I recommend them regularly for cruise divers. They leave from a dock just north of the cruise port so it minimizes the chance of missing the ship. And they work within cruise timeframes. The Lobster Pot itself recently closed (burned?) but the dive operations are still based there. The Lobster Pot Dive Center Grand Cayman - one of the few dive centers with our own dock located on the west side, with Cheeseburger Reef, just a short swim from our shore. It's also walking distance from the cruise port.

Plan on a small delay as you're tendered in to Georgetown. Yours may be one of 5-6 ships hovering offshore. IMO it's a good time to be somewhere else, downtown is pretty small.

Or if you're there all day, you could get on an early afternoon dive boat to Stingray City after your morning dives - ours left at 1PM - it's about a 20min. van ride over, maybe 20+? mins. out and a 45min. dive. It's only 15' deep so your son would have no issues - and a lot of fun. Just about everybody does it, likely including both Deep Blue and Wall to Wall so maybe go with them.

I don't see why your son couldn't do the Kittiwake also as that's a small group escorted dive (as are all dives on GC) and an easily penetrable wreck. CITA does have some restrictions in place for decks/penetration based on certification level but I don't recall seeing anything about age. The Official Website for the Kittiwake Shipwreck - Home

You can also cab 5 mins. south to Sunset House and spend the day there. The Mermaid dive and a small wreck just offshore - a lot of it is 40-50' the base of the Mermaid is at 55' - and they have the salt water pool for easier entries. Also the Cathy Church photo gallery/school on site. My Bar there is good for lunch. Cayman Islands Scuba Diving Resort

The best accessible shore dive is probably Turtle Reef up in West Bay. Under 30mins. by cab/car depending on the congestion near the Ritz. Sundivers is on-site there and Macabuca Tiki Bar for lunch. It's a mini-wall 40 yds. out that bottoms into a sand flat at 50ish feet. The wall all the way down is covered in stuff - there's usually hundreds of Tarpon hovering in the shade to the south. Cracked Conch Grand Cayman Ocean Front Seafood Restaurant and Tiki Bar Shorediving