Scuba Review - Western Caribbean

[Chevdiver]

We just returned from Western Caribbean onboard the Explorer of the Seas. Here is a brief review of my diving adventures.

 

Belize - Dove with the Ship Excursion (Hugh Parkey Dive Connection). Picked up right at the ship. very easy. Dove 2 dives. Vis was good. 75 to 100. Max depth 82ft. water temp 84. dove along the wall around 65 - 80 ft until 1000 lbs of air, then finished up around 40 ft. Time 50 minutes. Water calm on first dive, but front was moving in. 2nd dive was shallower. 50ft max at Elkins Reef. Also, good vis, time 55 minutes. Saw Turtles, Rays, Eels, and a Barracuda. Trip back in was rough. One diver got bent and was on oxygen and had to go to chamber. weather went south quickly after second dive. Swells up to 6 feet and heavy rain on the trip back in.

 

Cozumel - Dove with Alison. Awesome Dives. 2 drift dives. Saw 8 foot nurse shark, turtles, rays, stonefish, and tons of other assorted fish. vis 200 feet. water temp 86. we dove shallow profiles on both dives due to a diver that also experienced minor DCI issues in Belize but didn't tell anyone. He discussed it with Chucho thoroughly. Chucho almost told him no, but the diver convinced Chucho that he was fine. Chucho decided on shallow dives as an added precaution. He asked me if that was ok and I said it was fine. Both dives were awesome with tons of fish and beautiful reefs. first dive 59 minutes at a spot called Tormento, second dive 65 minutes at Paradise Reef.

 

Grand Cayman - Dove with Ship Excursion. Not so good. Vis was 70, temp 86, but dives were physical due to anchoring in current. everyone used up air quickly. first dive 82 ft for 32 minutes at Grey House Reef , second 54 feet for 34 minutes at Paradise Reef and the wreck of the Oro Verde. Had to swim HARD to get back to anchor line. Continuous kicking to just maintain a hover, and hard kicking to move against the current to get back to anchor. these would have been good drift dives, but they aren't allowed to drift there so we had to tie the boat off to fixed anchor points. lots of fish, but the reefs were pretty much a mess due to last years hurricane. Three divers were bitten by grey fish, and one actually drew blood from a divers elbow. one fish got teeth stuck in divers lycra suit at the bicep and tore a hole in it. Another diver was bitten on the finger while swimming with hands crossed at this waist. not sure what type of fish it was. The wreck, Oro Verde, was a mess too. All broken up now after the hurricane. not much left in tact. The dive boat itself, Red Sail Diving, was perfect. large wide pontoon boat made for very easy on and off. held 22 divers comfortably. The ship was tendered and the dive boat wasn't allowed to pick us up or drop us off. we had to carry all our gear on the tenders and catch the dive boat from the shore. that was a real drag.

 

I didn't dive in Costa Maya and didn't hear from anyone that did.

 

Overall, I did 6 dives and saw different stuff on each. Cozumel was by far the best, then Belize, and finally GC.

 

I used my 3mm full suit at all three places and was very comfortable. There were some jellyfish at each location, but not very many.

 

Overheard many conversation about how bad the rental gear was. I took my own so I didn't personally experience it.

[10X]

Chevdiver,

 

Thanks for taking the time write your review. After three years of diving in the Pacific, Hawaii and Tahiti, I'm headed to the Caribbean for the next two years, so this is very helpful.

[w&k]

Chevdiver-

 

Thanks so much for your review...but the Belize dive description gave me the willies.

 

Wow...a bent diver + DCI issues with another. Not a good way to spend a cruise.

 

I have to admit that I shot into the dive closet and checked my computer for dive times on an 80 footer, and got 31 min max. Yes, it was a multilevel dive, but 50 minutes definitely seems to be pushing things a bit to me. Especially backed up with 50 ft for 55 min. (I'm ass/u/ming air and ~1.5 hours for a surface interval).

 

Anyone else's brain timer say WHOA on this profile? Anyone else wonder "WHAT IN THE 7734" the diver with DCS issues was thinking when they got BACK in the water?

 

Maybe I'm just getting old. And fat. And lazy. And cautious. Especially since I tend to be a bit overtired and dehydrated on cruise dives.

 

Let's all take a moment to remember that the dive tables (and our computers) are based on the Navy dive tables, which are based on Navy divers - young males in superb physical condition.

 

I hope the divers involved are OK...

 

Dive safe & leave something to look at next time!

 

Wendy

[Jerry_G]

Chevdiver

 

Thanks for the review. I'm doing the same loop on the Legend of the Seas in December. I've set up ship excursions on GC and Belize, but will be diving with some local friends in Cozumel. You mentioned that in Belize they tied off the boat and you had to fight the current. Do you know if that is the condition at all dive sites or just the one you happened to dive at that day. I've had to fight heavy current before, and unless there is something extra special to see, it takes the fun out of diving.

[Chevdiver]

I rechecked my dive notes and mis-stated the bottomtime on my first belize dive. my bottom time was 35 not 50. but, my DW and I were first on the boat a good 10 minutes before the other divers came up due to my wife having ear troubles. so, the other divers did have bottom times of 45+. I guess I didn't mis-state by that much. Sorry about that. The dive guide stated the profile to be max 65 feet, but on the wall almost all the divers in our group dropped to the 80 foot range before leveling off around 70. some went even deeper. one of the ladies actually hit 92. the guide really did do a good job though. he stopped at 65, but the group was pretty much scattered at first. then as we swam along the wall we gradually worked our way back up to consistenly shallower depths. The first dive didn't really feel very aggressive, but the group was scattered at first and perhaps that played a role. Anxiety and rental equipment probably played a major role in everyone dropping below the 65 foot mark. I had my own gear and still hit 80 really easy as I was paying more attention to the reef and the fish than my depth gauge at first.

 

The was no current to speak of in Belize.

 

In Grand Cayman it was strong enough that you had to kick just to hover and to move against it took some aggressive kicking. Not sure about the current in other dive spots in GC. The dive guide in GC said it wasn't that bad where we were. I think she misjudged that.

 

In Cozumel, it was moving pretty good, but we were drift diving and it was really easy. we drifted quite a ways on both of our dives.

[Jerry_G]

The fact that some divers did not adhere to the pre dive plan is why most excursions dives are usually set up for beginning divers. Many beginning divers have not mastered bouyancy control and it is easy for them to overshoot the stopping distance and become a "dirt dart". As you go deeper your BC requires more and more air. As your decent speed picks up you can actually reach a point where you cannot fill your BC fast enough. Do this on a wall dive and your body may never be recovered. If you ever decide to take a specialty glass take the "peak performance bouyancy" it certainly was a valuable class for me.

[Chevdiver]

I'd pass on this if you have a chance. They gave us a choice of a wreck or reef dive for our second and we all chose the wreck. Had I known it was just a bunch of scattered debris, I would NOT have chosen to dive there. I thought the ship was in tact. It isn't anymore. The hurricane picked it up and moved it about 200 yards against a small reef and bascially broke it all up in to pieces. It is nothing but scattered pieces of rusty steal now. The only piece still intact somewhat was a 10 foot piece of the bow section. We opted to leave the wreck site and swim as a group around the reef. Looking back, this made for better siteseeing, but also took us down current and we had used up a ton of air getting back. GC was on Friday, which was our second Formal Night, so that made me a pretty tired puppy that evening. I got through dinner ok, but was off to bed soon after.

[Hilary]

Thanks for the great review! We're heading to Belize in December on a Nekton liveaboard cruise and I love reading anything and everything about diving there. Gee, can you tell I'm excited.

 

I'm sorry to hear about the reef conditions in GC, not that I'm surprised after they got nailed last year. I've read very few poor reviews about diving in Cozumel, so it's no surprise that your dives there were the best. Scary about the divers and DCI...sure makes you wonder, doesn't it?