Costa Maya Diving is GREAT!

[henrywl]

I just got back from a cruise on the Carnival Valor. The cruise line does not offer SCUBA shore excursions. What a pitty.

 

The good news is that I dove with DreamtimeDiving (http://www.dreamtimediving.com). It is so easy to get there. You leave the cruise ship pier and venture oiutside of the villiage. You get a taxi which costs $3 and you go to town. When you get in town you take a "yellow taxi" to DreamTime Diving for $2.

 

Diving with these folks was terrific. This is NOT a cattle boat operation. My divemaster was Steve and he is a good diver. Visibility was nearly unlimited. At 80 feet you easily saw the surface and you could easily see 150 feet plus in all directions. The selection of sea critters was good.

 

I also had a dive video shot by Fabia. She is not only a knockout but is friendly, a good diver, and competant video filmer. The dive staff is primarily americans and europeans while the boat operators are locals.

 

This dive operator was very easy to work with, the staff is excellent, the boats are in good shape, and they know where to dive. Two dives cost $75 and that is less expensive than any Carnival dive shore excursion. Diving is about five minutes away from the beach where you leave.

 

Be sure to dive when you go to Costa Maya on your cruise!

[robandrea]

I found a young man who took myself and 2 others diving for $40 each. The boat was a small fishing boat, yamaha engine and a rebar anchor! Best diving I had on the trip. Lots of bottom time and great dive master. 500 psi was the time to start heading up!

We are getting ready to do Valor in April. I hope I can find the guy again!

[acbauer]

Ditto Henrywl's comments on Dreamtime Diving. A first-class operation, especially considering the remote and under-developed region in which they operate. Our Cozumel dives the day before with Sand Dollar Sports were not even half as good -- the equipment was very suspect (leaky tanks) and Hurricane Wilma has really taken a toll on the reef system there.

 

Since most cruise ships make both stops, definitely choose to dive Costa Maya over Cozumel.

[SDCruiser2]

We are traveling on Princess and Dreamtime won't let us book with them directly but I wonder if we wait and walk up, if then they would take us, would it be hard to find another dive if we wait until we get there, Grand wants to charge us 140.00 and I think that is a bit steep since we are a group of 7 going.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you,

Sue

[billeelou]

sue, when you going

????

 

Cause I am on the 21st cruise and am booking with Maya Palms at 75$$ a head 2 tank dive ....Dream time would not even entertain my questions, saying check with the Ship....

[SDCruiser2]

We are going on the 30th, How did you end up booking your dive? Will they pick you up at the pier? Would you be too nervous to wait till you get there to book it? Do you know if they will do refresher courses on board the Grand? There are 7 of us diving and a few of us have not gone in a couple of years.

 

Thanks for the help.

[vespa134]

I think that the Grand Princess dive excursion in Costa Maya IS with the Dreamtime Dive shop and it is $149 per person...

 

If you're on Princess, book the dive excursion for Belize, you won't be dissapointed.

[billeelou]

Sue - no Maya palms is on the "other side" of Majahual and is a 15$ one way Taxi ride- up to 4 people per ride so it works out to about 3.50 per person one way- but even at that the dive is $75 and the round trip at $8 and lunch at $10 there( a buffet) you are still 54$ ahead of the game....I just got word the ship did not stop oin Majahual this week but went to Playa del carmen instead...and skipped Majahual

 

phone number is 1888-843-3483 thru a dive shop in Missouri...you can look them up on line at Mayapalms.com

 

but with 7 divers I would book with SEASPORTS in Belize, the SEARLES do a great job and they are located right at the dock...also on line also 1/2 the ships cost. but I am solo so the Parkeys will get my $$$ in Belize

[SDCruiser2]

Hi,

Sue - no Maya palms is on the "other side"

How far is the other side of the island? Is it easy to catch a ride back to the docks?

Where did you see that the ship did not port at Costa Maya? The only problem with Maya Palms is that they want 100% up front, I wonder how hard it is to get a refund it we don't port there? Would you feel comfortable waiting and booking a dive after you got there? but with 7 divers I would book with SEASPORTS in Belize,

In Belize we were going to take the kids on the Zip Line Tour and not dive that day. I hope that we are not dissapointed

When will you be going again? Hope you have a blast.

 

Thanks,

Sue