ax-man
Registered
I am a newbie and am going on a cruise and will be in Cayman from 9am-5pm. Any suggestions on who to dive with? Can I reach them ahead of time to set up the dive. Thanks for the input
Grand Cayman
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A short walk south of the cruise ship terminals is Eden Rock & Devil's Grotto. A bit further south are Sunset House and Seaview. All are convenient shoe dives, with onsite dive operators. You can set your own schedule, and should still have more than enough time to see Georgetown.
Your cruise ship will offer to arrange boat dives on a schedule that works with the cruise ship's itinerary. Often those dive boats will be very full.
If you have a large enough group, you may consider chartering out a boat from one of the smaller operators.
Your cruise ship will offer to arrange boat dives on a schedule that works with the cruise ship's itinerary. Often those dive boats will be very full.
If you have a large enough group, you may consider chartering out a boat from one of the smaller operators.
richhagelin
Contributor
What is the cost for equipment at these shops? How does the diving compare to what you will get to with a boat?
Rich
Rich
For shore diving, figure approximately $25-30US for rental gear, depending upon whether you need mask and fins. Another $7-10US per tank for air. A two tank boat dive with gear may cost $80-100. Your milage may vary.
I have seen some dive boats moor up and have customers dive these same sites that can be easily accessed from shore. Of course usually the boats go elsewhere. On the west side, diving from shore is comparable to the boat diving.
BEM
Contributor
We'll be returning home from Cayman Brac on a Sunday and there is a stop-over in Grand Cayman. Does anyone know if it is feasible to go to sting-ray city to snorkel between planes?
We can leave CB at either 7:00 or 10:00 hours and the plane home leaves at 16:00 hours?
We can leave CB at either 7:00 or 10:00 hours and the plane home leaves at 16:00 hours?
There are two locations commonly called Stingray City. The "original" SRC is a slightly deeper spot and is commonly used for scuba diving. A larger percentage of the snorkel trips go to the SRC Sandbar, but a few dive trips stop there as well. The depth at the sandbar allows people to wade in.
Most any other day, no problem going to the sandbar. While there are some boats that go out to SRC sandbar on Sundays, it is ostensibly for locals on Sundays. Many operators ignore this.
(I know this comes as a shock to many. Source is no other than the man who started SRC by getting in and hand feeding the rays, Mr. Pat Kenney. Heck, there's no other reason that both Red Sail Sports and Bob Soto's don't do trips to the sandbar Sundays.)
Several operators do go to the original SRC Sundays. Check with smaller operators for better options, but you may be snorkling 10-15 ft above them rather than wading with them swimming between your legs.
Most any other day, no problem going to the sandbar. While there are some boats that go out to SRC sandbar on Sundays, it is ostensibly for locals on Sundays. Many operators ignore this.
(I know this comes as a shock to many. Source is no other than the man who started SRC by getting in and hand feeding the rays, Mr. Pat Kenney. Heck, there's no other reason that both Red Sail Sports and Bob Soto's don't do trips to the sandbar Sundays.)
Several operators do go to the original SRC Sundays. Check with smaller operators for better options, but you may be snorkling 10-15 ft above them rather than wading with them swimming between your legs.
Bubblez
Guest
I would recommend Divers Down or OFf the Wall . They are both great operators and small enough to keep it personal and flexible 
Bubblez once bubbled...
I would recommend Divers Down or OFf the Wall . They are both great operators and small enough to keep it personal and flexible
If you don't mind a shore dive, I would recommend Divetech's Turtle Reef location. Its just north of Seven Mile Beach.
They have a cove completely brimming with Tarpon. I saw in excess of thirty when I dove it last weekend.
If Tarpon don't interest you, you can swim out to a reef, dive a mini-wall or visit other interesting sites.
You could easily do a two-tank shore dive.
When you are done, you can eat at the Cracked Conch and visit the Tortugas Bakery for rum cakes. You can also walk about 100 feet down the street to the Turtle Farm (I didn't like that, but at least you know its there).
Divetech will rent you equipment. The entry is very easy and the swim to the Tarpon Cove is great. There is a mini-wall with a moray eel and some other stuff. Max depth is about 60 fsw, as I recall.
You can reach divetech at www.divetech.com.
Cruise diving is OK but not the best. If you want to go on a cruise and do a littlte diving, it's great. If you want to do a lot of diving on a cruise, forget it. Last year my wife and I took a cruise of the western carribean with stops in Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Jamacia. We did our diving through the cruise line. If the cruise is on a short stop over, you may want to go through the cruise line. This way if something happens with the dive boat you wont miss the cruise ship. If something happens with a private dive outing and the cruise ship leaves without you, you are up a creek without a paddle. It would be at your cost to get back to the ship.
We dove at both Grand Cayman and Cozumel. All the dives were a max. bottom time of about 30 min. So you don't have a lot of bottom time for the cost. I think at both locations we did 2 dives for a cost of about $75 a piece. This included all equipment except mask,fins, snorkel. So it is a little pricey for the amount of bottom time. But both places had great diving. We figured we can at least see a little of what each place is like and if we would want to got back in the future. But the diving through the cruise ships is very limited. I would suggest that immediatley gettiing on the cruise ship, go to your room, find the forms for the excursions, filling them out and then dropping them off at the appropriate desk. We met a few divers that waited till later in the first day to drop off their forms, and they did not get into the dives. These people did arrange a dive with a private operator and all went well, but you never know. You should be able to contact the cruise line and get a listing of all the excursions that are available on your cruise so you know what you want to do before stepping the the ship.
If you have any more quesitions about Cruise Diving feel free to email me at jrr@mackinengineering.com
Jeff
We dove at both Grand Cayman and Cozumel. All the dives were a max. bottom time of about 30 min. So you don't have a lot of bottom time for the cost. I think at both locations we did 2 dives for a cost of about $75 a piece. This included all equipment except mask,fins, snorkel. So it is a little pricey for the amount of bottom time. But both places had great diving. We figured we can at least see a little of what each place is like and if we would want to got back in the future. But the diving through the cruise ships is very limited. I would suggest that immediatley gettiing on the cruise ship, go to your room, find the forms for the excursions, filling them out and then dropping them off at the appropriate desk. We met a few divers that waited till later in the first day to drop off their forms, and they did not get into the dives. These people did arrange a dive with a private operator and all went well, but you never know. You should be able to contact the cruise line and get a listing of all the excursions that are available on your cruise so you know what you want to do before stepping the the ship.
If you have any more quesitions about Cruise Diving feel free to email me at jrr@mackinengineering.com
Jeff
I've never been on a cruise ship.
However, I saw one of the ship's in port dumping her divers onto the wreck of the Oro Verde. I've never seen a more badly prepared group of divers in my life. One minute I'm serenely contemplating the ship's generators. The next I'm dodging overweighted morons in badly fitting equipment who were apparently on a mission to destroy as much coral as possible in the short time available.
Their dive skills were nonexistent. We actually had to rescue some of them when their equipment started to fall off.
On a second dive to the same site, I was leading my divers around the bow when another group dropped on us. I gave the rally hand signal to my divers and moved them out of the area. All of a sudden my group doubled as a number of cruise divers began following me. They ignored my note that they were with the wrong group because they couldn't find their DM.
I had them on the 20 fsw hang before their divemaster found them. I was looking forward to several cases of beer if they landed on our boat.
If it comes down to a shore dive on your own or a boat dive with that category of diver, I'd say go for the shore dive. No matter how good your skills are, you will not enjoy being in the water with the other 99% who should have stayed home.
However, I saw one of the ship's in port dumping her divers onto the wreck of the Oro Verde. I've never seen a more badly prepared group of divers in my life. One minute I'm serenely contemplating the ship's generators. The next I'm dodging overweighted morons in badly fitting equipment who were apparently on a mission to destroy as much coral as possible in the short time available.
Their dive skills were nonexistent. We actually had to rescue some of them when their equipment started to fall off.
On a second dive to the same site, I was leading my divers around the bow when another group dropped on us. I gave the rally hand signal to my divers and moved them out of the area. All of a sudden my group doubled as a number of cruise divers began following me. They ignored my note that they were with the wrong group because they couldn't find their DM.
I had them on the 20 fsw hang before their divemaster found them. I was looking forward to several cases of beer if they landed on our boat.
If it comes down to a shore dive on your own or a boat dive with that category of diver, I'd say go for the shore dive. No matter how good your skills are, you will not enjoy being in the water with the other 99% who should have stayed home.
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