HAL WESTERDAM 12/30/20102-01/06/2013 1st Cruise diving

[TomZ]

Grand Turk 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM 12/31/2012
Ocho Rios, Jamacia 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM 01/03/2013
Grand Cayman, Cayman Is. 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Recommendations? Any other SB'rs on board?

The wife snorkeled with the stingrays years ago and loved it. It's a must re-do for her. Are there any stingray/dive options? I'm AOW/Rescue, she is OW with about 40 dives, mostly in Cozumel.

We've been on HAL before and did a discover SCUBA while in Aruba, booking with the ship. Now that we're actual divers, and a bit smarter (hopefully), I'd like to get away from the ship-booked dive ops. She was a good sport about spending the first two weeks of July in Cozumel, so I'm willing to try the cruise/dive option .

 

[TomZ]

Anyone?

 

[Cohoona]

There's a good stingray swim in the Caymans. They take you out about a half hour to a sunken sand bar and you bail out with buckets of squid. It was awesome, you are literally out in the middle of the ocean in chest deep water.

I know Grand Turk has some awesome diving as well. If you are doing the stingray in Cayman, Id definitely dive Turk.

Have fun!

 

[diversteve]

There's a Stingray City Dive that many dive operators do typically in the early afternoon. It's much less crowded than the Sandbar snorkel nearby - what the above poster is referring to - there can be dozens of boats and hundreds of snorkelers there now. And there's the Kittiwake now also - the other signature Cayman dive. http://www.kittiwakecayman.com/ - there's also a pretty complete list of CITA operators listed - many of them have a boat for Stingray City - usually they bring you over in a van since they leave from a marina in the Sound.

Don Fosters is the HAL cruise operator for Grand Cayman. Welcome to Don Foster's Dive Cayman - Cruise Dive Program Personally I'd book with someone else. Foster's has a lot of big boats. While they hold to an 8 divers/DM ratio like everybody else, most of the other Cayman operators only go with 6-8 divers max.

Lobster Pot Dive Center books both Deep Blue Divers and Wall to Wall Diving - Giles at WtW would be my choice but I've read good reviews of DB also. They're also walking distance from the cruise port. The Lobster Pot Dive Center Grand Cayman - we are 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. Perfect After you come back from boat diving, they'll give you a tank to shore dive there also. There's also options for lunch nearby since you're tendered in.

Other options to shore dive:

Eden Rock is 100 yds. from the cruise dock (everyone is tendered in) - another option a few minutes by cab/longer walk is Sunset House. Eden Rock suffers from decades of prior cruisers - it's convenient but not the best of Cayman diving.

Scuba Cayman with Eden Rock
Sunset House - Cayman Islands Scuba Diving Resort

You could make a good day of shorediving at Sunset House, My Bar is there for lunch - it's a dive resort. And you'll see your ship (plus others) in the harbor nearby so no worries about missing the boat. It's not the best diving though - that's the NorthWest Wall. South is good also - depends on the weather.

Oasis is the cruise operator on Grand Turk - IDK anything about them as we dove from Provo. http://www.oasisdivers.com/cruise-ship-guests
Given your later arrival that may be your best option. Other options: http://www.turksandcaicostourism.com/activities-grand-turk.html

 

[TomZ]

Thank you Cohoona and Diver Steve. I appreciate your input.

 

[Whodat26]

I'm going on a Carnival Cruise In May/2013 stopping at
Key West- not sure here
Grand Caymen - probably going to us Wall to Wall here
Ocho Rios- probably going to use Jamaica Scuba Divers here
both have good reviews on SB and on Trip Advisor. Would like to hear how it goes for you.

 

[TomZ]

Ship stopped in Grand Turk, 1/1. Previous days heavy weather blew out the viz, dives were cancelled. 1/3 stopped at Ocho Rios, did not schedule dives, did the Duns River Falls hike, which was nice. 1/4 stopped at Grand Cayman. Wife wanted to snorkel with the stingrays (Stingray City), which we did, and enjoyed (Moby Dick's).

 

[Lefty Writer]

We were on the Westerdam in 2008 for a SE Alaska cruise. She's a nice ship! We'll be taking the Carnival Triumph out of Galveston this April for a quick trip to Coz...diving with Scuba with Alison.

Later this year we are planning a "back to back" out of Miami. First will be the Carnival Liberty, hopefully diving in Coz (again with Alison), Roatan, Belize and Grand Cayman. We'll disembark the Liberty and then board the Breeze. Our plans are to dive at least Grand Turk and St. Thomas. St. Maarten will be strictly reserved for plane watching on Maho Beach.