New Divers Need Honeymoon Dive Site Advice

[Cookie82909]

Hello all!!

My fiance and I are getting SCUBA certified next weekend (assuming we don't do something dumb on our test dives hehe) so that we can dive on our honeymoon in early September. Being brand new divers, we have no idea what the best sites are and are hoping some of you more experienced divers can give us some advice.

We are taking a Carnival cruise that stops at the following ports and offers the following dives through the cruise line itself. Do you guys recommend any of these sites, or do you suggest we take a little side trip to find a better/cheaper/less crowded site?

Tue, Sep 1
Grand Cayman, Cayman Island 7:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Dive Excursion through Carnival:
Certified two tank dive (4 hrs total), first at West Wall, 80ft max depth, second at a reef or shipwreck. $99/person

Wed, Sep 2
Cozumel, Mexico 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Dive Excursion through Carnival:
Undisclosed dive site (4 hrs total), simply says "Participate in two dives, the Captain will select based on weather conditions, with depths ranging from approximately 50 to 80 feet." $81/person

Thu, Sep 3
Belize 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Dive Excursion through Carnival:
Turneffe Atoll Two Tank Dive (5 hrs total), $169/person

Fri, Sep 4
Isla Roatan 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Dive Excursions through Carnival:
1.) Certified Dolphin Dive (2 hrs total) described as:
* Take a short ride to AnthonyÃÔ Key and the Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences.
* Be taken by boat, just outside the reef, with a dive guide, dolphin behaviorist and a videographer.
* Spend 45 minutes observing, photographing and playing with the dolphins.
* Take part in a one-tank dive at depths of up to 60 feet over a white sand bottom adjacent to a shallow reef wall with two dolphins.
$199/person
2.) Certified Two Tank Dive at Anthony's Key (4 hrs total), reef and wreck sites. $109/person

I know this is a lot of information to sift through... thanks in advance to those who take the time to read it and respond. Can't wait to hear your advice!

Cynthia & Jonathan

 

[diversteve]

The Cayman dive is likely through Foster's, they're in town and have the cruise line contract still afaik. Welcome to Don Foster's Dive Cayman They have one of the largest fleets in Cayman - as does Red Sail. There are a lot of 6-8 pax charters that can pick you up a few hundred feet from the cruise dock also. Try Neptune's Divers, Wall to Wall or Ambassador Divers. Mention your skill level as a lot of 1st dives on Cayman go deep down the wall - 120' is pretty typical.

We did the AKR dolphin dive last year. It's worth it, you'll first meet the dolphins in the pen then they'll follow you out to the dive site. They're not captive in any way and generally like to go looking around for a while first. In our case that was 28mins. So if you're not good on air consumption, your dive may be almost over before they show up. And you literally will have nothing else to see/play with while waiting for them as it's a sandy flat bottom area for their safety. btw, at 60' you're laying on the sand.

It's really an excellent experience, I got "kissed" by one on the chin and still talk about it. Not the one in my avatar, that was in Curacao.

fwiw, if you book directly with AKR, the dolphin dive is $137pp. The morning we did the dive, there were 5 of us on the boat. But you'd probably have to make your own ride arrangements. A cab to/from there s/b no more than $20 - negotiate in advance - prices go up the days the cruise ships dock.

http://www.anthonyskey.com/en/dolphins/index.html

Sheesh, I can't believe what the cruiseline is charging for regular dives thru AKR. Maybe contact Coconut Tree Divers or Native Sons in the West End instead if you want to reef dive there instead - CTD charges $35/dive - $30 if you bring your gear. A cab from Coxen Hole to the West End wouldn't be more than $15-20 for two of you, but negotiate upfront as the rates go up when a cruise ship docks. Also you'd have time to walk around the West End and shop/eat - AKR is all by itself a few miles east of there.

Gay, the owner of Coconut Tree posts on SB occasionally.

Not saying anything bad about AKR as we had a good experience there but they do have some seriously big boats. And they seem to fill them, they had a signup board with about 6 boats and a lot of names per boat. CTD takes only about 10-12 max, Native Sons less than that. But on Native Sons you'll be doing a back roll entry and climbing back up a small ladder.

 

[DeputyDan]

Regardless of where you chose to dive

You are new diver - WATCH YOUR DEPTH - You can get really deep really quick in Cozumel and the Caymans (Most other places also).

 

[Tom Winters]

Too bad you already booked a cruise. For maybe $6K to do it right, you could have gone to Ladera on St. Lucia, helicoptered in, had your own room 1,000' up the mountainside in the saddle of the two Pitons there with a private splash pool, dived nicely, and eaten extraordinarily well.
Hey, maybe next time, right?

Caribbean Resort - Ladera St Lucia

 

[LynnB]

We did the same cruise in August. We did a shore dive in Cayman but we had spent a weeke there before. Loved the dive in Roatan and will be leaving in 5 weeks to spend a week there. We went through AKR and seeing that our itnerary got changed due to weather were happy that we booked through cruise line. They were great at AKR. Didn't do dolphin dive just reg. dive.
We did dive Belize and I personally liked Roatan better. It is a long way out to the Atoll. About 30 min boat ride from ship to an island and then about another 30 min. It was nice but wouldn't spend that much money to do it again. That is just my opinion.
We didn't dive Cozumel we just toured the island in a rented jeep and had a blast.
Have fun and be careful. Like was posted before.... make sure they know you are new divers.
Lynn

 

[Cookie82909]

Thanks for the responses so far everyone. =)

As to the reply about the all-inclusive vacation for $6K... as lovely as that sounds, it is wayyy over our budget. The entire wedding and reception is being done for less than $12,000, and the cruise itself cost us $1,200 for both of us for 8 days and a balcony suite. If I ever have that much to blow, though, I'll be sure to look into it!

 

[Doc]

Hmm, might want to on :sblogo: for this often asked question. It will be well within your $6,000 budget

Try searching in the Cruise Ship Forum http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cruises-liveaboards-charter-boats/ first. There you might get advice that one of the more fun dives in GC might be Stingray City, that the Dolphin Dive at AKR might not be as good as the "Encounter Snorkel" and that your "5 hrs" in Belize will largely be spent in-transit to and from the dive site.

p.s.: Elope, keep the 12 grand

 

[robint]

As the others have said, diving from a cruise ship isn't really a dive vacation and much of your time will be spent in transit from the ship to the dive shop (to get fitted for rental gear) then to dive sites, back to dive shop to return gear, then back to cruise ship. :shocked2: It makes for very, very long days (especially the Belize excursions because the diving in Belize is FAR from where the cruise ships dock). If you do decide to dive on your cruise, I would do the Roatan dives and Cozumel dives, and do other things at the other ports (Caymans do the snorkel with stingrays, Belize do one of the Mayan ruins excursions). Just my 2 cents.

Since you live in Florida, how about going down to the Keys after you finish your certification? This summer you should be able to log some dives there so that you are more comfortable diving on the cruise if you choose to do it.

robin

 

[JoannB]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! One of the most romantic places we have ever visited was Anthony's Key Resort in Roatan, Honduras. The view from the restaurant is spectacular, there is even a place to get married, the cottages are in the water, are immaculately kept, as is the rest of the resort, the food is scrumptious and had I known this place existed, I would have gotten married there. There is only one downside, the no-seeums. HOWEVER if you douse yourself regularly with DDT, or cactus juice, you will be fine. The diving is awesome, we encountered no current, the boats are modern, the dive masters were professional, fun and knowledgeable and our cabin was close to the dolphin encounter so every day, a couple of times a day, we got to see the dolphins. I highly recommend Anthony's Key and would go back in a heartbeat. Congratulations again and the best of luck at whichever place you choose for your honeymoon.