Scuba diving in Grand Cayman or Cozumel?

[NewCop26]

Which is a better place to scuba dive in? Grand Cayman or Cozumel? I am cruising to both in 2 weeks and need to make a reservation soon. Any help will be appreciated! Thanks...:D

[sportsterjohn]

flip a coin, both are great. Different but great! The main 2 differences is that Coz has drift diving, while GC there is almost no current. Also, you can shore dive in GC. Coz also has more surface activities.

[bruce-r]

The easy answer is to dive BOTH.

 

In GCM, http://www.neptunesdivers.com is my recommendation, followed by a shore dive at http://www.divetech.com 's turtle farm site.

 

In Cozumel, my favorite is http://www.bluextseadiving.com Also recommended are http://www.scubatony.com , http://www.divewithalison.com , and http://www.eagleraydivers.com

[river_sand_bar2]

Bruce.... question on the Cozumel diving... I am heading there on The Miracle in Nov and have booked my diving through the ship. It didn't seem like that bad of a price as it was $95 for a 2 tank dive w/equip.

 

The question is... on the diving excursions booked through the cruise lines, are they cattle boats as well?? About whats the numbers of passangers that dive usually??

 

Thanks, as this is my first cruise... I wasn't sure what to do.

[bruce-r]

Bruce.... question on the Cozumel diving... I am heading there on The Miracle in Nov and have booked my diving through the ship. It didn't seem like that bad of a price as it was $95 for a 2 tank dive w/equip.

That really isn't that bad a price since it does include the rental gear. I think the average price for a 2 tank dive is around $70 w/o gear. Dive with Martin would definitely be less expensive as his prices include rental gear and he charges only $65 for a 2 tank dive. You might take a look at DWM.

 

The question is... on the diving excursions booked through the cruise lines, are they cattle boats as well?? About whats the numbers of passangers that dive usually??

I would expect a large boat with at least 12 divers, probably more, divided into groups lead by separate DM's.

[thedebbied]

That really isn't that bad a price since it does include the rental gear. I think the average price for a 2 tank dive is around $70 w/o gear. Dive with Martin would definitely be less expensive as his prices include rental gear and he charges only $65 for a 2 tank dive. You might take a look at DWM.

 

I would expect a large boat with at least 12 divers, probably more, divided into groups lead by separate DM's.

I have recommended Dive with Martin in the past also. But, check his website for info for cruise ship passengers as it appears he has made changes in his reservation process. I know that all of these operators have difficulty trying to coordinate these divers with the land based ones. The schedules rarely match and they want to have full boats going out twice a day whenever possible.

[MauiLvrs]

The question is... on the diving excursions booked through the cruise lines, are they cattle boats as well?? About whats the numbers of passangers that dive usually??

 

Thanks, as this is my first cruise... I wasn't sure what to do.

We dove with Princess's shore excertion and were very happy. They used a PADI 5 star that was very nice and safe. You can get a better deal, but for the cost and safety it is hard to beat. We had about 8 divers on a 36 foot or so boat. Not over packed.

 

The interesting story went like this: Get off ship and get in taxi. Drive 5 miles south. Get on boat and travel another 5 miles or so south. Jump in water and dive for 45 min. and come up where the boat started. One diver had to ask "are we going to swim back to the ship?" The Captain and Divemaster exchange a few words in spanish, laugh and respond yes. Sure enough, we ended the second dive about 100 yards from the ship. It was a cool ride.

 

We dove both. Were both different and both great dives. If we had to pick only one we'd pick GC.

[Stevesan]

I'm a snorkeler, not a diver. However, I have been on a few cruise ship booked boats that combined snorkelers with divers. One at Nassau was very crowded. It was a two deck boat, the bottom deck full of divers and the top snorkelers.

 

This doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

 

As a snorkeler, I try to book independent. When divers and snorkelers share, it's always been a small number of both.

[MauiLvrs]

As a snorkeler, I try to book independent. When divers and snorkelers share, it's always been a small number of both.

There are not many places where it works out to be a good site for both divers and snorklers. There are some though.