As a multiple-time visitor to Grand Cayman [10 times since 1999] and Cozumel [twice; most recently in 7/07], I have never been enamored of cruise ships and the "cattle" that one sees desultorily dragging through the island tourist traps. But since I didn't have to pay for this cruise, and since it WAS going to my 2 favorite dive destinations, what the hell!
The Pearl is only a year and a half old, and cost half a billion dollars to build. Beautifully decorated, but CROWDED -- about 3,000 passengers. Fortunately only a few of them signed up for the dive trips.
A couple of months before the cruise, I had a long conversation with Norwegian about how to set up dive trips from the ship. I was told then that no dive trips for experienced divers [i.e., certified] were showing as being offered. I would have to make my own arrangements. At Grand Cayman, where the passengers have to ferry in from the ships in the harbor, that meant I would have to wait until all the Norwegian shore excursions were off he ship before I could get off. And, if I was late getting back, the ship WOULD leave me, whereas with a Norwegian-sponsored trip, that would not happen. Basically a big pain in the neck.
About a month before the cruise, however, I received Norwegian documentation indicating that 2 tank boat trips WERE available through Norwegian. Knowing the average dive trip price, I figured that the Norwegian trips were marked up by about $30 apiece [$60 usual in Cozumel, $89 was the NCL price; $90 usual in GC, NCL price $119], but I paid for them anyway, because the hassle factor figured to be lower.
A word about the Pearl, Norwegian, and cruise ships generally. The Pearl itself is beautiful and new. I compared my ship to another, smaller, Norwegian ship docked next to us in Cozumel. Believe me, new is good. No rust, larger ship, more amenities. The kickers are these: (1) very snug staterooms, especially if you have dive gear that needs to be rinsed and hung to dry; (2) by its nature, it's a cattle call. As I've gotten older, I do not care for big crowds. Fighting hundreds of people at the breakfast/lunch buffet and for table space is a drag. I stood in no fewer than five lines just to embark the ship, and had to deal with various lines and delays through the course of the voyage. Also, what you pay for room and board does NOT cover soft drinks, liquor, and some of the higher end restaurants, so be prepared to spend extra money over and above the initial cost.
On the other hand, the ship is well decorated. The "Freestyle Cruising" aspect means that you can eat anytime you want, and that you can make reservations at any one of the multiple restaurants on board. The quality of food was generally good to very good, and you can have as much as you want. There is a theater for various stage shows, including showgirls, magic, and comedy. Just show up for this entertainment. There is an extensive pool/hot tub setup on Deck 12, with bars and grills just adjacent to the aquatic activities. The Pearl also features a basketball court and a rock climbing wall for those inclined. Oh yeah, there's also the casino if you -- like me -- LOVE to lose money. Lots of activities, if you don't mind the people crush.
On Christmas Day, we awoke to find ourselves dockside in Cozumel. I got off the Pearl, and made my way about 200 yards to the Aviso Sports kiosk. Although a 7:50 a.m. departure was designated, we didn't leave until about 8:10. We backtracked along the concrete pier, went down a flight of steps and into the Yucab II. After a brief stop at Aviso's HQ [for what, I don't know], we motored about 10-15 minutes south to the first dive, Yucab. En route, Manuel, who was grumbling a bit about having to work on Christmas Day, briefed us extensively, assuming that we were completely inexperienced divers. I took no offense, because who knew the skill levels of the others on the boat? One of the things he said was that we should not worry too much at the beginning about our weight status, but that he would have extra weight and would give it out as needed as we got into the dive.
We giant-strode in at Yucab with 81 degree water temps. Even though I had eighteen pounds of weight, I still felt light, but was able to get under and descend normally. This dive was a classic Cozumel drift dive, with the current carrying us at a stately couple of knots south to north [I think]. Visibility was probably 100 feet plus.
Unfortunately, my Mares Abyss regulator, a chronic wet breather, continued its errant ways, despite a complete overhaul by Mares in July. With the reg, I have learned to breath and spit out seawater simultaneously.
I saw the usual suspects vis-a-vis fish life -- parrotfish, queen angelfish, yellow tail snapper. The coral, where there was any, was healthy enough -- there just wasn't enough of it. The dive buddies I hooked up with on the boat got separated from me fairly early on, but no worries, as I was with the main group. The challenges came toward the end of the dive.
At about 800 psi, I started to come shallow. I felt the underwightedness really start to have an effect, and Manuel was nowhere in sight to give me more weight to counteract. At about 700 psi, I decided to get my safety stop while I could. I found myself with legs pointing straight up toward the surface, kicking for all I was worth, to maintain 13 to 18 feet for the stop. I was working as hard as I have ever worked underwater. At two minutes into the three minute stop, I ran out of air. Afraid that my Suunto Vyper would object, but having no choice, I surfaced. It took 15 or 20 minutes before I really caught my breath. Whew!
Now, it turned out that I was using 18 pound in Cozumel last July with just a diveskin; using the same weight with a 3 mil wetsuit caused the underweight problem. With a 4 pound wright in my BCD pocket and a total of 22 pounds, I was fine thereafter. I was a little vexed that Manuel with the extra weight was, ahem, unavailable.
The second dive was not far to the north, at Paradise. Frankly, it looked about the same as Yucab, without quite as much current. Again, the reef was a bit spotty, not because of deterioration, but simply because there wasn't much reef. A very pleasant dive, however, without having to worry about weighting problems. Also, I switched to my other regulator, an Aeris ATMOS Sport, which doesn't breath quite so easily as the Abyss, but does breath dry. All in all, a nice 50 minutes or so.
The boat returned to the pier about 1:30, I walked my gear back onto the Pearl, and went to lunch. I was starved! Besides, I'd been to Cozumel before, didn't think much of San Miguel, where the ships dock, and was more interested in relaxation than the tourist traps on shore.
My sense following this boat trip was that the Aviso guys were not terribly pleased at having to work on Christmas Day, and did only the minimum to give us cruise ship cattle our two dives. Certainly not the best diving I have ever done, but, like sex, even when it's bad [or as here, not great], its good.
After leaving Cozumel about 7:00 p.m., and steaming all night, we arrived in Grand Cayman about 10:00 the next morning. As a long time Cayman visitor, I am used to waking up in the morning and watching the parade of ships coming in to Georgetown. It was different to be ON one of the ships coming in. I could clearly make out Sunset House, where I have been staying in recent years.
The group who had signed up to dive met in the theater and was escorted directly to the ferry boat to take us to shore. Because there are no docking facilities for the big ships, and also because of the number of ships in G.C. on an average day, cruise ship catt -- uh, passengers must take these ferry boats in to the port authority terminal.
After a short wait in the open air terminal, Resort Sports walked our group about three blocks to where a somewhat dilapidated bus was parked. We motored up West Bay Road [Seven Mile Beach off to our left], and turned in at the Yacht Club to meet the boat that would take us on our dive.
The boat was typical for Caymanian diving. Interestingly, the guys running the dive insisted we take off our footwear before boarding. Apparently, they didn't want to swab the deck after we were done. OK, no big deal.
On my request, we dove first at Eagle Ray Pass, one of my most favorite dives ever. After descending to about 50 feet from the boat, you further descend though one of the many gaps in the reef to the north wall. So, to your right are towering spires of healthy coral. To your left, the wall descends to about 3,000 feet.
After a few minutes at about 99 feet, we started working our way up. We had a one-legged diver in our group who was having a lot of trim and control problems. He was banging into a lot of coral, a big no-no for Caribbean diving. He didn't mean to; he just wasn't under control. The young Caymanian dive master leading our group had to take him in hand fairly quickly. As we rose over the top of the reef at about 60 feet, he was motioning us to follow him. We thought. When we reached the mooring line, he started up with the one legged diver immediately, leaving the rest of us at sixes and sevens. No worries, though, as I had dived here several times before. Basically, we tooled around on top of the reef for the rest of the dive, got a lot more bottom time than had we stayed deeper longer, and made a leisurely ascent after about 45 minutes. A very nice dive. By the way, it turned out that the one legged guy had blown through his air at a prodigious rate, which was why the dive master had to take him up so quickly.
After a brief 20 minute surface interval, we dove the 12 foot Stingray City dive. For the uninitiated, you settle on the sandy bottom, take some cut up squid in hand, and the stingrays flock to the proverbial dinner bell. I had last done this dive in 2001, and I found the stingrays this time much more aggressive than before. No danger, mind you; they just knew there was food in the water and thy went for it. Usually, you also get yellow tail snapper trying to horn in on the food, but they were not in evidence this time. On the bottom at 12 feet, it's a 45 minute safety stop, basically.
It's worth doing. Once. I had to do it this time, because that was what had been advertised. It was OK. The stingrays are soft and velvety, and as long as you don't step on them or get your fingers in their sucking mouths, you're OK. If they brush up too close, just firmly push them away. They don't mind.
After getting bored with the stingray feeding spectacle, I found myself focused on a tiny shell, about the size of my thumbnail, that was inching its way along the sandy bottom. I turned it over, and found a spidery organism apparently trying to crawl out of the shell's interior. I spent about 10 minutes trying to help it out, but every time I picked up the little shell, the spidery thing would drop back inside it. After 45 or 50 minutes, I had used only 600 psi of air. But they wanted us up, so up we went.
Then, everything went in reverse. We returned to the Yacht Club, got on the bus, returned to the terminal and that was that. I could had tramped over to Eden Rock and done a third dive from shore, but I was hungry, and didn't want to fight the cruise ship cattle in Georgetown. There were seven ships in that day. that means CROWDS. So, back on the ferry for the short ride back to Pearl.
Four dives in two days. A lot of fun, with some challenges. My only two suggestions -- aside from better dive sites in Cozumel -- are these: The cruise ships need to have a rinse tank available to divers. There is simply not enough room in the staterooms or showers to properly rinse the gear [no bathtubs]. Also, it would have been nice to have had a place to hang the gear to dry. When I finally got home two nights later, mildew was starting to set in. I had to immerse my gear in my bathtub at home and lay the stuff out to dry thoroughly. It would have made life much easier if we could have had access to a rinse tank either before we re-embarked or once we had gotten aboard.
The Pearl is only a year and a half old, and cost half a billion dollars to build. Beautifully decorated, but CROWDED -- about 3,000 passengers. Fortunately only a few of them signed up for the dive trips.
A couple of months before the cruise, I had a long conversation with Norwegian about how to set up dive trips from the ship. I was told then that no dive trips for experienced divers [i.e., certified] were showing as being offered. I would have to make my own arrangements. At Grand Cayman, where the passengers have to ferry in from the ships in the harbor, that meant I would have to wait until all the Norwegian shore excursions were off he ship before I could get off. And, if I was late getting back, the ship WOULD leave me, whereas with a Norwegian-sponsored trip, that would not happen. Basically a big pain in the neck.
About a month before the cruise, however, I received Norwegian documentation indicating that 2 tank boat trips WERE available through Norwegian. Knowing the average dive trip price, I figured that the Norwegian trips were marked up by about $30 apiece [$60 usual in Cozumel, $89 was the NCL price; $90 usual in GC, NCL price $119], but I paid for them anyway, because the hassle factor figured to be lower.
A word about the Pearl, Norwegian, and cruise ships generally. The Pearl itself is beautiful and new. I compared my ship to another, smaller, Norwegian ship docked next to us in Cozumel. Believe me, new is good. No rust, larger ship, more amenities. The kickers are these: (1) very snug staterooms, especially if you have dive gear that needs to be rinsed and hung to dry; (2) by its nature, it's a cattle call. As I've gotten older, I do not care for big crowds. Fighting hundreds of people at the breakfast/lunch buffet and for table space is a drag. I stood in no fewer than five lines just to embark the ship, and had to deal with various lines and delays through the course of the voyage. Also, what you pay for room and board does NOT cover soft drinks, liquor, and some of the higher end restaurants, so be prepared to spend extra money over and above the initial cost.
On the other hand, the ship is well decorated. The "Freestyle Cruising" aspect means that you can eat anytime you want, and that you can make reservations at any one of the multiple restaurants on board. The quality of food was generally good to very good, and you can have as much as you want. There is a theater for various stage shows, including showgirls, magic, and comedy. Just show up for this entertainment. There is an extensive pool/hot tub setup on Deck 12, with bars and grills just adjacent to the aquatic activities. The Pearl also features a basketball court and a rock climbing wall for those inclined. Oh yeah, there's also the casino if you -- like me -- LOVE to lose money. Lots of activities, if you don't mind the people crush.
On Christmas Day, we awoke to find ourselves dockside in Cozumel. I got off the Pearl, and made my way about 200 yards to the Aviso Sports kiosk. Although a 7:50 a.m. departure was designated, we didn't leave until about 8:10. We backtracked along the concrete pier, went down a flight of steps and into the Yucab II. After a brief stop at Aviso's HQ [for what, I don't know], we motored about 10-15 minutes south to the first dive, Yucab. En route, Manuel, who was grumbling a bit about having to work on Christmas Day, briefed us extensively, assuming that we were completely inexperienced divers. I took no offense, because who knew the skill levels of the others on the boat? One of the things he said was that we should not worry too much at the beginning about our weight status, but that he would have extra weight and would give it out as needed as we got into the dive.
We giant-strode in at Yucab with 81 degree water temps. Even though I had eighteen pounds of weight, I still felt light, but was able to get under and descend normally. This dive was a classic Cozumel drift dive, with the current carrying us at a stately couple of knots south to north [I think]. Visibility was probably 100 feet plus.
Unfortunately, my Mares Abyss regulator, a chronic wet breather, continued its errant ways, despite a complete overhaul by Mares in July. With the reg, I have learned to breath and spit out seawater simultaneously.
I saw the usual suspects vis-a-vis fish life -- parrotfish, queen angelfish, yellow tail snapper. The coral, where there was any, was healthy enough -- there just wasn't enough of it. The dive buddies I hooked up with on the boat got separated from me fairly early on, but no worries, as I was with the main group. The challenges came toward the end of the dive.
At about 800 psi, I started to come shallow. I felt the underwightedness really start to have an effect, and Manuel was nowhere in sight to give me more weight to counteract. At about 700 psi, I decided to get my safety stop while I could. I found myself with legs pointing straight up toward the surface, kicking for all I was worth, to maintain 13 to 18 feet for the stop. I was working as hard as I have ever worked underwater. At two minutes into the three minute stop, I ran out of air. Afraid that my Suunto Vyper would object, but having no choice, I surfaced. It took 15 or 20 minutes before I really caught my breath. Whew!
Now, it turned out that I was using 18 pound in Cozumel last July with just a diveskin; using the same weight with a 3 mil wetsuit caused the underweight problem. With a 4 pound wright in my BCD pocket and a total of 22 pounds, I was fine thereafter. I was a little vexed that Manuel with the extra weight was, ahem, unavailable.
The second dive was not far to the north, at Paradise. Frankly, it looked about the same as Yucab, without quite as much current. Again, the reef was a bit spotty, not because of deterioration, but simply because there wasn't much reef. A very pleasant dive, however, without having to worry about weighting problems. Also, I switched to my other regulator, an Aeris ATMOS Sport, which doesn't breath quite so easily as the Abyss, but does breath dry. All in all, a nice 50 minutes or so.
The boat returned to the pier about 1:30, I walked my gear back onto the Pearl, and went to lunch. I was starved! Besides, I'd been to Cozumel before, didn't think much of San Miguel, where the ships dock, and was more interested in relaxation than the tourist traps on shore.
My sense following this boat trip was that the Aviso guys were not terribly pleased at having to work on Christmas Day, and did only the minimum to give us cruise ship cattle our two dives. Certainly not the best diving I have ever done, but, like sex, even when it's bad [or as here, not great], its good.
After leaving Cozumel about 7:00 p.m., and steaming all night, we arrived in Grand Cayman about 10:00 the next morning. As a long time Cayman visitor, I am used to waking up in the morning and watching the parade of ships coming in to Georgetown. It was different to be ON one of the ships coming in. I could clearly make out Sunset House, where I have been staying in recent years.
The group who had signed up to dive met in the theater and was escorted directly to the ferry boat to take us to shore. Because there are no docking facilities for the big ships, and also because of the number of ships in G.C. on an average day, cruise ship catt -- uh, passengers must take these ferry boats in to the port authority terminal.
After a short wait in the open air terminal, Resort Sports walked our group about three blocks to where a somewhat dilapidated bus was parked. We motored up West Bay Road [Seven Mile Beach off to our left], and turned in at the Yacht Club to meet the boat that would take us on our dive.
The boat was typical for Caymanian diving. Interestingly, the guys running the dive insisted we take off our footwear before boarding. Apparently, they didn't want to swab the deck after we were done. OK, no big deal.
On my request, we dove first at Eagle Ray Pass, one of my most favorite dives ever. After descending to about 50 feet from the boat, you further descend though one of the many gaps in the reef to the north wall. So, to your right are towering spires of healthy coral. To your left, the wall descends to about 3,000 feet.
After a few minutes at about 99 feet, we started working our way up. We had a one-legged diver in our group who was having a lot of trim and control problems. He was banging into a lot of coral, a big no-no for Caribbean diving. He didn't mean to; he just wasn't under control. The young Caymanian dive master leading our group had to take him in hand fairly quickly. As we rose over the top of the reef at about 60 feet, he was motioning us to follow him. We thought. When we reached the mooring line, he started up with the one legged diver immediately, leaving the rest of us at sixes and sevens. No worries, though, as I had dived here several times before. Basically, we tooled around on top of the reef for the rest of the dive, got a lot more bottom time than had we stayed deeper longer, and made a leisurely ascent after about 45 minutes. A very nice dive. By the way, it turned out that the one legged guy had blown through his air at a prodigious rate, which was why the dive master had to take him up so quickly.
After a brief 20 minute surface interval, we dove the 12 foot Stingray City dive. For the uninitiated, you settle on the sandy bottom, take some cut up squid in hand, and the stingrays flock to the proverbial dinner bell. I had last done this dive in 2001, and I found the stingrays this time much more aggressive than before. No danger, mind you; they just knew there was food in the water and thy went for it. Usually, you also get yellow tail snapper trying to horn in on the food, but they were not in evidence this time. On the bottom at 12 feet, it's a 45 minute safety stop, basically.
It's worth doing. Once. I had to do it this time, because that was what had been advertised. It was OK. The stingrays are soft and velvety, and as long as you don't step on them or get your fingers in their sucking mouths, you're OK. If they brush up too close, just firmly push them away. They don't mind.
After getting bored with the stingray feeding spectacle, I found myself focused on a tiny shell, about the size of my thumbnail, that was inching its way along the sandy bottom. I turned it over, and found a spidery organism apparently trying to crawl out of the shell's interior. I spent about 10 minutes trying to help it out, but every time I picked up the little shell, the spidery thing would drop back inside it. After 45 or 50 minutes, I had used only 600 psi of air. But they wanted us up, so up we went.
Then, everything went in reverse. We returned to the Yacht Club, got on the bus, returned to the terminal and that was that. I could had tramped over to Eden Rock and done a third dive from shore, but I was hungry, and didn't want to fight the cruise ship cattle in Georgetown. There were seven ships in that day. that means CROWDS. So, back on the ferry for the short ride back to Pearl.
Four dives in two days. A lot of fun, with some challenges. My only two suggestions -- aside from better dive sites in Cozumel -- are these: The cruise ships need to have a rinse tank available to divers. There is simply not enough room in the staterooms or showers to properly rinse the gear [no bathtubs]. Also, it would have been nice to have had a place to hang the gear to dry. When I finally got home two nights later, mildew was starting to set in. I had to immerse my gear in my bathtub at home and lay the stuff out to dry thoroughly. It would have made life much easier if we could have had access to a rinse tank either before we re-embarked or once we had gotten aboard.
