Which Port of Call would you recommend diving at?

[bremmerh]

My husband and I dove for the first time in Grand Cayman. We are not certified but would love to do another dive similar to the one in Grand Cayman and would like any input on the best place to Scuba and or snorkel. we are going to St. Martin, St.Lucia, Barbados, Venzuela, Curacao, and Aruba. Thank you for any information.

[bruce-r]

I'd pick Curacao from your list of islands. The Dive Bus got a great review a couple of months ago. I don't know if they have a Resort Dive (also called a Discover Scuba dive) listed on their site, but I'm sure they offer them. Shoot them an email and ask.

[Middleager]

The intro/resort scuba is more limited, and expensive. It is aimed at people who has never dived before.

 

If you enjoyed diving, I'd suggest you get the Open Water certification. You can complete the course work at one place, and get the open water dives in other places -- referral dives. After certification, you can book the regular OW dives, at cheaper rate than intro/resort scuba and can go deeper.

 

Or at least go half way and get the PADI Scuba certification, to have two of you dives count for some credit, and work toward Open Water certification.

[w&k]

Bremmerh-

 

I'm the one that found The Dive Bus. http://www.the-dive-bus.com From our thread on the Empress last year, I put together a group of mixed divers, Discover divers, snorkelers, and some folks that just went to drink beer and hang out. We had such a good time, I'm also taking a group from my Radiance Panama Canal sailing in October, and I'm going to be setting up another in the spring for another Empress trip. Suzy and Mark are a hoot!

 

Here's a link to my 'Dive Bus at the Hut' blurb on our Radiance thread that has links to the review, Discover diving, and all sorts of good stuff. Some of the folks that went on the trip also posted, and a great time was had by all. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=6794694&postcount=1722

 

I can also recommend John and Mary from Dive Barbados http://www.divebarbados.net - a classic dive shack on the beach with true personal service, and we're heading back there in the spring as well for trip #3. Here's a link to my latest review. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=367272

 

We were also very pleased with Clive at Dive Aruba, and resort dives are available according to his website. http://www.divearuba.com

 

St. Martin is usually reported to have dive sites in open and rough water, and we found the ship's dive with Scuba St. Lucia to be quite high-priced, and very rushed.

 

Also, you might want to consider getting your Open Water certification before you leave. Another option is doing the classroom & skills portion, then doing your dives in the islands. Just something you might want to consider.

 

Have a great trip and an awesome dive!

 

Wendy

 

dive pix

http://community.webshots.com/user/wendyandkeith

[deec]

W&K

It seems that you have some good recommendatins for dive operators...do you have favorites for Costa Maya (Majahual), Roaton, Belize and Cozumel.

 

We are new divers. will be on Princess' Grand Dec30-Jan6

 

We will have 6 divers in the group.

thnaks

[bruce-r]

W&K

It seems that you have some good recommendatins for dive operators...do you have favorites for Costa Maya (Majahual), Roaton, Belize and Cozumel.

 

We are new divers. will be on Princess' Grand Dec30-Jan6

 

We will have 6 divers in the group.

I can only comment on Cozumel, but since you have 6 divers in your group, you definitely should consider a private charter. You'll get to set the schedule and pick the dive sites. Many of the small boat operators would be happy to have a group your size to fill their boat. My favorite is Christi's http://www.bluextseadiving.com She is quite popular, so make you'll need to check availability right away. Others I would consider are http://www.scubatony.com , http://www.scubawithalison.com Blue Angel and http://www.divewithmartin.com There are many other fine dive operators on Cozumel in addition to these, but I'd start with this list.