Grand Cayman - Helmet Diving or Bubble Sub?

[Kim225]

We are going on the NOS in April and have started looking at some of the shore excursions listed on RCCL's website. Does anyone have any feedback on the Helmet Diving or the 2 man bubble sub in GC? My son is 10 and would like to do the Helmet Diving because he liked the sound of the descripion that it is like walking on the moon. My nephews (teenagers) think the 2 man bubble sub sounds like more fun. My dh is the adventurous one in the group, so he would like to do both.

 

How do you know, or when do you find out, what time the excursions are so that we can determine if there is time to do both excursions. Based on your feedback, that may help us decide which excursion is more worth while.

 

I appreciate your input.

[RoyalWoman]

On the RCI website, you can go to the Shore Excursions page. On the top of that page, click "purchase." You will have to enter your booking number, sail date, etc. Then, you can click on the excursion of your choice, and it will show you the available times and the duration of the tour. I haven't done either yet, but we are looking into a Helmet dive in the eastern. Have a great cruise!

[wrinklesandme]

Hi Kim,

 

We did the Helmet Dive in Cancun two years ago. We enjoyed it, but you really did not see a whole lot.

 

My children were 8 and 10 at the time. My DD (8) actually went in with the helmet, but then it wasn't working properly and she flipped out. Would not go back in with a new helmet. Because she flipped, DS (10) would have no part of it. (the place was very nice and refunded their portion of the dive.)

 

DH and I both did it and it is very neat. Yes, you do feel like you are walking on the moon. You go with a group of 8-10 people. They put each person in the water via a ladder, put the helmet on, and down you go. You will have to pressurize (swallow) to clear your ears. Once you are at the bottom, you walk along holding a rope. There are divers around you in case you have a problem. (felt very safe.)

 

There are fish swimming around, but it's not like you are by a reef that will attrack a lot of interesting ones. We had one fish hanging around that was just as curious about us as we were of him.

 

The first person in, has the longest time down there as it's last in, first out.

 

We did this at Chankanab (SP?) park in Cancun. You might be able to do it direct with them cheaper than through the cruise. I know there is a web-site and you can make arrangements ahead of time.

 

Let me know if you have anymore questions.

 

Enjoy,

Leigh

[PappaSiera]

We did the bubble sub this last December and it was great. They take you to a couple coral head, and we saw a lot of fish. went right through a school of yellow snappers, saw baracuda, a sea turtle, and others. One thing that caught me by suprise is that the curvature of the canopy on the sub causes everything to look smallerby about half their actual size.

[Kim225]

Thanks very much for the responses. Once I learned how to look at the available times, I found out that the Bubble Sub is already booked. It looks like that won't be an option for us unless someone cancels. It must be a pretty good excursion to already be full. The Helmet Dive sounds good, so we will probably give that a try.

 

PappaSiera - Did you do the Helmet Dive that you described in Grand Cayman?

[wgeddings]

Not what you asked but if you are in Grand Cayman, I highly recommend that you consider doing the Stingray City tour. You can helmet dive and ride a sub in a lot of places but I do not think anywhere else has anything like Stingray City! Other places may have stingrays, but this has to be seen to be believed (and no, I do not work for Grand Cayman or anything). The stingray city thing usually includes a couple of snorkel stops and then the stingray city stop. This is way out in the ocean but you are on a sandbar so it is really neat. Although ships offer the tour, it is normally on a reall big boat and with lots of people. We used Capt Marvin but there are others who offer it on smaller boats and just loved it. Check out the Grand Cayman section for more information and you may also find out more about the helmet dive and bubble sub. The Stingray city thing however was the best excursion we ever did and is my first thought whenever I hear Grand Cayman.

[PappaSiera]

Kim,

 

I think you were refering to wrinklesandme's response. I did the bubble sub.

 

wgeddings, FYI, the 2 man bubble sub is only offered in GC. There are 3 such vessels in the world, 2 for the tours in GC and one used for research. You're right about SR City. If you haven't done it, highly recomended.

[wgeddings]

Hmm, I did not realize the 2 man sub was only there. I was thinking of the other subs I had seen (or even a BOB vehicle).