Ahonen:
Taking a family cruise and are stopping at several ports of call. Only have time for 1 dive and don't know which destination would be more enjoyable. The cruise hits Key West, Cozumel, Ochas Rio(Jamaica), and Grand Caymen. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks
Since you haven't dove in 2 years and only have 6 dives total. I'd do a "refresher" course with your local shop before you go to make sure you aren't a saftey hazzard to yourself (or others). Get it out of the way before you go though.
Here's my advice as I've been to all the spots above that you mentioned.
This is based on the fact you said "family" cruise which implies to me that not everyone going is diving and you are just trying to figure out where you can dive on the trip not everyday, but only a few days.
1.) Key West - The diving wasn't all that great compared to other places. The only other big thing to do is tour the stuff in Key West. So it depends on what you want to do. The "touring" is to go up/down Duval street to the shops, bars, etc. There are also a few museums like Hemingways house, the Mel Fisher Museum, and the Key West Aquarium. I havn'e beeh to Hemingways house. I had much "higher expectations" out of the Mel Fisher museum. You can see some of the stuff they found, but there is very little about them and how they found the stuff. I just expected more. The Key Aquarium is nice, but it's also very small. Just FYI in case you are expecting one of the "mega" aquariums. They have lots of small tanks with different fish and the only large tanks are in the "center" of the walkway and are waist high, but you can "pet" any creatures in them. (turtles, sting rays, sharks, etc). I know that's a lot of detail, but FYI in case you don't want to dive.
2.) Ocho Rios. I'd skip diving here also. When was the last time you heard someone say "oh, I loved the diving in Ocho Rios?" never huh? The thing to do here is climb Dunns River Falls. Take a waterproof dispoable camera and wear shoes you can get wet. Tennis shoes or scuba booties. Your "guide" will gladly take pictures of you all the time. They also stand there with their hand out at the end of the tour as I think they work for tips only, so have some cash. As you leave the falls you have to walk through the flea market vendors. Have cash here if you want to buy stuff. They will hassle you to get you into their booth. Ignore them and avoid eye contact with them and they'll go to the next "tourist". There are also other shopping districts in ocho rios. check them out. Not much more to do there unless you take the plantation or mountain tour which isn't real exciting. Make sure you buy some 100% Blue Mountain Jamacian Coffee. Best coffee ANYWHERE! You'll pay $10 to $12 bucks a pound for it there, but compared to $45 to $50 per pound for the imported coffee in the US, it's deal. Trust me, it's great coffee. The Appleton Rum (made in Jamacia) is great also!
3.) Grand Cayman. They don't dock here. They use "tenders" to take people ashore. Problem is that all 2,000+ passengers want to get off the boat at the same time, which causes a problem. If you book your tours/dives through the cruise line, they give them preferential treatment and take them off first. Grand Cayman is pretty simple. Either you go do watersports, goto the beach, go shopping, or take the island tour. There's nothing else there. Most of the name brand stores are the same as in Cozumel or can be bought in the US, so I wasn't that impressed with shopping. The diving here is great, but not sure how good after the last summers worth of Hurricanes, which hit Grand Cayman hard. I'd check into that first before diving. You can also do some snorkle or swim with stingray trips here which can include the whole family. This island is also very safe and your wife/family can safely roam the streets and shop while you dive.
4.) Well the diving here is great and the reefs didn't get harmed by the past hurricanes. The shoppping here is very nice also as there are stores here that you won't find in the US. Especially pottery and jewelry. You're wife will like these most likely. You can book all kinds of dives here with the ship or on your own. Some of the best diving in the world is here. If you want to stay with the family, you can all do the "Beach break" where they take you to a tourist beach area they have set up for cruise boaters. You pay a fee to get in and get a beach chair,umbrella, etc. They have sunk fake ruins, etc underwater that you can snorkle on or shore dive from. If you do boat dives instead, expect them to take a better part of your stay as the cruise boats are typically only in port for about 6 hours and depart again. (a boat trip will run you about 4 hours I'd say. +/- )
Summary:
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So if you had to split it and choose two places not to dive and 2 places to dive, I'd dive in Cozumel and Grand Cayman and "NOT" dive in OCho Rios and Key West.
that help any. feel free to email/PM if you have more questions.
-Mike
on the forums, or go to the specific areas (there is a COZ forum) for more information.
