Roatan,Belize,Grand Cayman,Cozumel

[Luckyfishrag]

Hi There,
I am looking for some advice. Hubby and I are going on a cruise to Cozumel,Grand Cayman, Belize and Isla Roatan, then to the Florida Keys. I need help deciding where to dive, which outfit to hire to get me there, etc... I would love any suggestions. We are both new divers, so we don't need anything too challenging, just some great scenery, critters that don't want to eat us, etc...
Help!
Thanks,
Lucky

 

[caymancase]

Well, I may be prejudice? You can't miss Grand Cayman diving! Conditions here are perfect for new and old divers alike. No current, warm waters, tons of great fish life and the scariest thing in the water here is my boyfriend, Keith! I run Neptune's Divers (www.neptunesdivers.com) and we take out small groups and our schedule generally coincides with most cruise ship schedules. And we only take out 8 divers max per trip. Just give me a holler from our web site if you have any questions.
Just to give you a couple of other good ops here for diving that you might want to check out that can accomodate cruise ship divers: Danny at Off The Wall Divers www.otwdivers.com Joanne at River Sport Divers rivsport@candw.ky. Try to avoid the cruise ship operations as they will have you diving with up to 2 dozen other divers at a time... plus they tend to be more expensive than booking your own trip. Cruise ship needs to get their cut, if you know what I mean...
Cozumel is also a port that you should get in the water! Many of our cruise ship divers have used Papa Hogs www.papahogs.com and have been very happy with them. I've also had dealings with them over the past years and they are great!
I have heard from my cruise ship folks that you should book your diving in Belize with the cruise ship excursion because the dive sites are quite far out and you don't want to miss your ship departing. But I may be wrong?
Can't help you with Isla Roatan or the Keys. You might want to try an archive search on this board... lots of great info here.
Hope this helps! Have a great time!

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

We cruised with Norwegian in April, 2002. I found the ship arranged diving to range from okay to scary. Grand Cayman was a cattle boat but the diving was pretty good (Red Sail Watersports). They only took us about 1/4 of a mile from the ship (Texas Wall dive site). Roatan was really good because they used Anthony Key Resort for the dive. Belize was really kind of scary. The cruise line used a dive op that shall remain nameless and we endured a one and a half hour boat ride one-way on a really crappy boat to relatively average diving. In Cozumel we chartered our own boat with Aldora Divers (Three divers). It was awesome. They accommodated the cruise ship schedule and our varying levels of expertise (one newbie, one with 20 dives and one with 75 dives). The divers on the cruise ship chosen dive operation ended up with a cattle boat and a real short and crappy dive. If you can arrange your own diving do it. Cayman and Cozumel may be the easiest to do it.
The ship sponsored dive ops are quite conservative and also time-oriented. They want you in the water as quick as possible and back to the ship in record time. Stay together, stay above 80 feet and out of th water when the first diver hits the limit.
There is lots of info on the board right on point. Use the search function to find cruise threads from the past.

 

[leadweight]

In short, Red Sail is a decent operator so far as off cruise ship diving goes. I have stayed at AKR resort and would not hesitate to go back. Nice diving on that end of Roatan. There is no diving near where the ships dock in Belize city. The boats probably go to Turneffe atol. It can be good; it was not for Tim. In Coz I did the charter thing once, or you could make advance arrangements with Dive with Martin (he is near the south cruise terminal) or Pappa Hogs. Note that a 2 tank dive in Coz is usually $55 and most ships charge $90 for the same thingwith a 3rd class operator. Heavy markup.

 

[richhagelin]

I dove with Neptune's Divers off a cruise ship last April and have nothing but good things to say about Casey's operation.

Rich Hagelin

 

[LibbyinDC]

I have to put a plug in for Neptune's Divers. My fiance and I did our check out dives with Casey and Keith and they were fantastic! We actually got engaged on the trip to grand Cayman and we got Casey to take wonderful photos of us that have made for great memories- well worth it to get the professional photos taken if you are looking for a great souvenir. Thanks guys! Anyway, I think that Casey and Keith's operation is fabulous and I would not hesistate to recommend them to anyone- I've already recommended them to all of the divers in my office back in DC.

As for the other ports of call. I did the Norwegian Sun voyage with these ports of call. Anthony's Key Resort in Roatan was great and I would definitely go with the ship's excursion on that one.

I can't say anything about Belize since I didn't dive there.

AS for Cozumel... I really liked Sand Dollar Watersports, but I'm sure that there are other really great dive shops.

Good luck!

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

I've been to G. Cayman and Cozumel...Don't miss G. Cayman. Have fun and I'm Jeolous

 

[SCUBAMedicBill]

I suggest Neptunes Divers and DiveTech. Both of these operators were great.

Keith and Casey from Neptunes were eager to please and gave a good trip. I did four dives with them. You are restricted to air on their dives.

Dive Tech has two locations, one at Turtle Reef and the other at Cobalt Coast. I did six dives with them, mostly with Andy. Can't say enough nice things about him. They have air, LP100, and Nitrox.

Red Sail is also there. I dove with them in Aruba, but not Grand Cayman.

Bob Soto's Reef Divers is also a good operator. Didn't dive with him but I hear he's very good. He is the longest operating shop on Cayman and actually has a piece of a lot of the shops.

Have a great time (can I come?).

Stay well and die save

Bill

 

[SCUBAMedicBill]

I suggest Neptunes Divers and DiveTech. Both of these operators were great.

Keith and Cassie from Neptunes were eager to please and gave a good trip. I did four dives with them. You are restricted to air on their dives.

Dive Tech has two locations, one at Turtle Reef and the other at Cobalt Coast. I did six dives with them, mostly with Andy. Can't say enough nice things about him. They have air, LP100, and Nitrox.

Red Sail is also there. I dove with them in Aruba, but not Grand Cayman.

Bob Soto's Reef Divers is also a good operator. Didn't dive with him but I hear he's very good. He is the longest operating shop on Cayman and actually has a piece of a lot of the shops.

Have a great time (can I come?).

Stay well and die save

Bill

 

[busted]

You may wan to consider shore diving in Grand Cayman. My wife and I did this as new divers and it was a lot of fun. There are several shore dive area within walking distance of Georgetown.