Cruise Excursions in Roatan and Belize, how deep?

[Cruzin-K]

Does anyone have a clue how deep the dives would be in Roatan and Belize on the cruise ship excursions? I'm still very new to diving and prefer to stay above 40 feet or so. Would I be better off finding a dive op and booking something not through the cruise line so I'd have more control over where I end up going?

[suezyq50]

I hope someone answers. I am wondering too.

[Kryssa]

We sailed on the Carnival Dream in March this year and dove both these ports.

 

First dive in Belize was 62 ft max depth and the 2nd was 57 feet. We really never dive with the cruise ship's excursion but did so in Belize. With the tendering process, you are saving a lot of time and hassel to go with the ship's dive op.

 

In Roatan, we dove with West End Divers and let me tell you- this was our best cruise ship dive experience yet. We booked online with them about 2 weeks before the trip. They picked us up right outside the port, drove us to the shop, we did 2 great dives and had time for homemade tacos down the street during the surface interval. On the ride home, we got a little tour of the island. First dive 64 ft, second dive 52 ft.

[BillOh]

Karen,

 

Good luck with that, hope to hear how it goes. We had a snorkeling excursion our one trip to Belize and it got canceled. I just past my dive certification last weekend.

[pamawi]

In Belize, I dove with the ship's diveop Hugh Parkey's Belize Dive Connection in Jan 2010. First dive max dept 71 average dept 47, 2nd dive max dept 62ft average depth 41ft.

 

In Roatan, I dove with the ship's diveop Anthony's Key Resort in Jan 2010. 1st dive Max depth 82ft, avg 38ft. Dive 2 Max 74, Avg 31.

 

In Roatan, I dove with the ship's dive op Anthony's Key Resort in March 2011. 1st dive Max 70ft, avg 38ft, dive max 73ft, avg 47ft.

 

Usually on these reef dives, you can stay above the group to not be quite as deep as everyone else and the dive leaders even advise it if you don't feel comfortable at those depths or have good air consumption. The reefs often start around 40ft. They just tell you not to go below 70 or 80 ft. I usually go to that level, but several people stay more shallow. The water is so clear you can still communicate with the dive leader through hand signals.

 

If you are ever going to go deeper this is the place to do it with pristine conditions is better than going deep other places for the first time. An excellent place for shallow reef diving is Key Largo which has very healthy shallow reefs, clear water and lots of sealife. I go out with Rainbow Reef because they offer a boat that only does shallow reef dives (40ft or so) and they have dive leaders at no charge. They also have a boat that does one deep wreck dive & one shallow reef dive. You can stay next door to their boats at the marina at the Courtyard Marriott or Holiday Inn & roll out of bed & onto the boat without having to drive.

[Cruzin-K]

In Belize, I dove with the ship's diveop Hugh Parkey's Belize Dive Connection in Jan 2010. First dive max dept 71 average dept 47, 2nd dive max dept 62ft average depth 41ft.

 

In Roatan, I dove with the ship's diveop Anthony's Key Resort in Jan 2010. 1st dive Max depth 82ft, avg 38ft. Dive 2 Max 74, Avg 31.

 

In Roatan, I dove with the ship's dive op Anthony's Key Resort in March 2011. 1st dive Max 70ft, avg 38ft, dive max 73ft, avg 47ft.

 

Usually on these reef dives, you can stay above the group to not be quite as deep as everyone else and the dive leaders even advise it if you don't feel comfortable at those depths or have good air consumption. The reefs often start around 40ft. They just tell you not to go below 70 or 80 ft. I usually go to that level, but several people stay more shallow. The water is so clear you can still communicate with the dive leader through hand signals.

 

If you are ever going to go deeper this is the place to do it with pristine conditions is better than going deep other places for the first time. An excellent place for shallow reef diving is Key Largo which has very healthy shallow reefs, clear water and lots of sealife. I go out with Rainbow Reef because they offer a boat that only does shallow reef dives (40ft or so) and they have dive leaders at no charge. They also have a boat that does one deep wreck dive & one shallow reef dive. You can stay next door to their boats at the marina at the Courtyard Marriott or Holiday Inn & roll out of bed & onto the boat without having to drive.

 

Thank you so much for the info. My first real dive trip was to Key Largo in May 2011 and I loved it. It was the perfect depth for me, and I enjoyed being in a "real life aquarium". We used Scuba Do the first two days and then went a little further south for the last day to go out with another dive op whose name I can't remember at the moment, but they had a much larger boat, completely full. I preferred the small group better. I would love to get back down there, but time & money are just not where I would like them to be :rolleyes:

[pamawi]

I forgot to mention that I have also booked privately in Belize & Roatan with similar depths. In Belize I went with Seasports and they didn't get us back by the deadline. Fortunately we did make it back on board because there was a long line for the tenders. In Belize the ship's diveop picks you up & drops you off at the ship so you don't have to tender, which is very convenient. I dove on my first 2 trips to Belize but the third time I did the popular cave tubing, which I enjoyed. Cozumel & Roatan are the better diving ports in my opinion. In Roatan, the first time I went out with Subway Watersports at Turquoise Bay, which was nice, but tried the ship's diveop Anthony's Key and thought they were great and used them the next two times. I'd love to go stay there for a week. I don't know if you are going to Cozumel but the reef starts at 40ish feet and you might be able to find a dive op to just take you shallow and not down the wall. Maybe you could go on the same boats as the deeper divers, but just hire your own guide to stay with you shallow. Sand Dollar is the dive op Carnival uses in Cozumel but that may have changed due to some recent dive accidents. www.Scubaboard.com is a good resource to use also. They have a cruise forum on that site and a forum for each destination.

[Cruzin-K]

I forgot to mention that I have also booked privately in Belize & Roatan with similar depths. In Belize I went with Seasports and they didn't get us back by the deadline. Fortunately we did make it back on board because there was a long line for the tenders. In Belize the ship's diveop picks you up & drops you off at the ship so you don't have to tender, which is very convenient. I dove on my first 2 trips to Belize but the third time I did the popular cave tubing, which I enjoyed. Cozumel & Roatan are the better diving ports in my opinion. In Roatan, the first time I went out with Subway Watersports at Turquoise Bay, which was nice, but tried the ship's diveop Anthony's Key and thought they were great and used them the next two times. I'd love to go stay there for a week. I don't know if you are going to Cozumel but the reef starts at 40ish feet and you might be able to find a dive op to just take you shallow and not down the wall. Maybe you could go on the same boats as the deeper divers, but just hire your own guide to stay with you shallow. Sand Dollar is the dive op Carnival uses in Cozumel but that may have changed due to some recent dive accidents. www.Scubaboard.com is a good resource to use also. They have a cruise forum on that site and a forum for each destination.

 

I've spent quite a bit of time on Scubaboard, mostly back when I was just learning. I haven't been diving lately though, so haven't kept up with the latest news on the boards.

 

Despite Cozumel being a fantastic diving destination I won't be diving there for two reasons. One, we will be there on December 21, the end of the Mayan calendar and maybe the end of the world :D I'll be doing an excursion to Mayan ruins that day. Also, and this is probably the main reason, a good friend of a good friend died while scuba diving in Cozumel last year. I didn't know her very well, but she was really close to a couple good friends of mine and I can't quite bring myself to go diving there yet. That's also a reason I want to stay shallow. There was a pretty long discussion about her on the Accidents and Incidents board on Scubaboard.

[phillie gal]

I have been to Belize twice but not on a cruise. I did my OW certification dives there so it will always be special to me. If the cruise ship offers a snorkel/scuba trip to Shark Ray Alley, the dive is only about 35 ft.

[pamawi]

Good choice to go to the Mayan Ruins at that time. I assume there will be some special events going on then.

 

I completely understand your feelings about Cozumel. I have always loved Cozumel and have dove there several times from a cruise and stayed there a week once on a divetrip, but reading about several diving deaths due to down currents has made me a bit reluctant about diving there again.

 

I also know a diver from my area who died in Belize last year on the ship's scuba excursion, but they say he had a heart attack and it wasn't dive related.

[Agutaya]

Karen,

 

I see you are from Cibolo. That is our address too, though we technically live in Schertz. :confused: I'm jumping in here to contact you to let you know that we have a group of cruisers in the San Antonio area that get together every so often. We are having a gathering this coming Friday evening. The details are below.

If you can't make it this Friday but are interested in future gatherings you can subscrribe to that thread.

 

Mary (Agutaya)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34588267&postcount=1574

[Cruzin-K]

Karen,

 

I see you are from Cibolo. That is our address too, though we technically live in Schertz. :confused: I'm jumping in here to contact you to let you know that we have a group of cruisers in the San Antonio area that get together every so often. We are having a gathering this coming Friday evening. The details are below.

If you can't make it this Friday but are interested in future gatherings you can subscrribe to that thread.

 

Mary (Agutaya)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34588267&postcount=1574

 

 

Awesome! I checked out the thread but I'm not sure I'll make it this week. I subscribed though, so I will see future updates. It will be nice to get to know some fellow CC-ers here in town.