Help please! Scuba in Cayman??

[teras75]

I have a general question... We are cruising in May to the Western Caribbean. We already have a dive scheduled through the ship (RCCL) for Cozumel, but I have been reading the boards and was wondering about diving in Grand Cayman. We are new divers and new cruisers and really like to have divemasters that know what they are doing. There is a certain security for me to dive with excursions through the ship, but it sounds as if you can walk off of the ship and go to a dive shop and go diving...Would that be recommended for us newbies??? Are you supposed to call ahead and schedule it?? Is it a lot cheaper?? I think through RCCL its $80 without equipment. We will be bringing our own... Thanks for the advice!

[bruce-r]

You can just walk off the ship and walk a couple of blocks to Eden Rock and do a shore dive. Check Eden Rock dive center. (If you) Have your own equipment, a guided dive is $30.00 plus tank and weight rental. http://abanksdivers.com.ky/ charges $20 per person for 1 to 4 divers, probably plus tank/weights.

 

 

 

If you want to do some boat dives, I recommend http://www.neptunesdivers.com Contact Casey if you have more questions. She's really nice.

[awgil]

I would recomend the Eden Rock Dive Center. I just dove their Tuesday and it was great the staff were very professipnal. There are 2 main dive sites right in front of the shop Eden Rock and Devils Grotto. They are both great dives.

 

I had my wife and 2 teenage sons with me. The boys were just certified 2 weeks before and I did not want to throw them on a cattle boat. This site was perfect. We carried our gear with us rented tanks from the dive shop and did our first dive at Eden Rock. We dove for about 40 minutes

came out did a surface interval, rented another set of tanks and did Devils Grotto.

 

The shop has picnic tables to help set your gear up on, a ladder for going into and out of the water, a outside shower to finse off, and a fresh water tank to rinse your gear with. If you do not feel comfortable diving by yourself they can set you up with a guided dive.

 

All four of us got in 2 dives total cost was less than $100.00 renting tanks weights and weight belts and lockers.

 

If you are carrying your gear it is a long hike from the port to the shop. If your gearbags have wheels like my sons its not bad, but I was not so lucky.

[scubaran]

Hi,

 

I also shore dived with Sunset House (just down the road from Eden Rock). They were great with rental equipment, lockers, guides for rent and the best bar overlooking the ocean for after the dive. www.sunsethouse.com As with any dive shop, most won't guarantee the equipment or guides will be available when you get there so it always helps to pre-arrange with them in advance. Most will reply to e-mail so no expensive long distance calls are necessary. Also be aware that when I was in Grand Cayman our arrival (8:30am) was too late for most of the dive boats so a shore dive was my only option. Plus be aware that transportation is on you though taxis are reasonable on GC (in Caribbean terms).

 

Randall

[KaC-Cruiser]

Besides taxis, Grand Cayman has a bus service as well. We've used it to go up to Dive Tech (next door to the turtle farm) and do shore diving there. The bus was WAY cheaper!! Dive Tech has a nice reef area right in front of the shop .... very easy diving!

[Jazzbo]

We dove with Ambassador Divers the first week of April, and I would recommend them. My husband and I wanted to dive with the stingrays and my parents wanted to snorkel. Jason (originally from Arkansas), the owner, met us at the pier, drove us to the marina, where Larry (a PADI instructor) met us at one of their 2 boats and took us out. It was just the four of us and it was fantastic! (It really is the world's most spectacular 12 1/2 foot dive.) Nothing fancy, but warm, personal service. It was $85 each for my husband me (included equipment) and $35 each for my parents. Jason was very responsive to e-mails. They do all kinds of dives. The e-mail address is ambassadordivers@candw.ky

 

Vivien

[Middleager]

You can just walk off the ship and walk a couple of blocks to Eden Rock and do a shore dive. Check Eden Rock dive center. (If you) Have your own equipment, a guided dive is $30.00 plus tank and weight rental. http://abanksdivers.com.ky/ charges $20 per person for 1 to 4 divers, probably plus tank/weights.

 

If you want to do some boat dives, I recommend www.neptunesdivers.com Contact Casey if you have more questions. She's really nice.

Bruce-r has good suggestions here. I was in G Cayman last Aug. I did a 2-tankdive in the morning with Casey Neptune. The coral growth was not as good as Cozumel (Coz was great), but there were lots of fish.

 

I then took a bus to Eden Rock. Unfortunately that day Eden Rock was closed. So I walked back a few steps to the stand of Abanks. They wouldn't rent to me without a buddy. I waited for my family and friends to go snorkeling and they never showed up (MIL had a problem so they were with her). But another diver showed up, and we rented and went shore diving there. It was a fairly good shallow dive. The coral growth was so so, but I found a nurse shark, and saw lots of fish. The shallow dive lasted 60min.

[mielyse]

I highly reccomend Divers Down. We were in Grand Cayman this Sept and dove with them. We were a group of 6 and chartered a boat and were able to dive where we chose. The price was $500 for the day. At $85 for a two tank dive, it was cheaper to charter and well worth it to be only our group. If you dont have a big group, this probably wont work for you. But the most they dive with is 8 people, so you won't be on a "cattle boat" herded to the easiest dive spots. They are a PADI Gold Palm 5 Star facility. Extremely professional and knowledgable DM's. Hope this helped! ENJOY GRAND CAYMAN!!!

 

Mike

[mielyse]

Here is the link for Divers Down...

 

http://www.caymandivingcollege.com/

[ALadyNCal]

I would recomend the Eden Rock Dive Center. I just dove their Tuesday and it was great the staff were very professipnal. There are 2 main dive sites right in front of the shop Eden Rock and Devils Grotto. They are both great dives.

How crowded was the dive shop & dive site? I am trying to decide between Eden Rock and out by the Turtle Farm for shore diving. I thought maybe Eden Rock would be esp. crowded because it is in walking distance for cruise passengers and is an convenient place to snorkel. Thanks!

[bruce-r]

How crowded was the dive shop & dive site? I am trying to decide between Eden Rock and out by the Turtle Farm for shore diving. I thought maybe Eden Rock would be esp. crowded because it is in walking distance for cruise passengers and is an convenient place to snorkel. Thanks!

 

If Eden Rock is too crowded, just keep walking a bit farther to Sunset House. They have an on-site dive shop and their shore dive is easy.

 

I believe that Dive Tech's shore dive by the turtle farm is better than Eden Rock.

[ALadyNCal]

I believe that Dive Tech's shore dive by the turtle farm is better than Eden Rock.

Thanks for the info. I am leaning towards the Dive Tech site.

[KaC-Cruiser]

Thanks for the info. I am leaning towards the Dive Tech site.

I think you'll enjoy it better. The people at DiveTech are really nice, and we just about had the reef to ourselves the few times we've dove out there .....

[scottydawg]

+1 on Sunset House... Also a great shop half way between Eden Rock and Sunset House is Don Fosters (which used to be Parrots Landing). Much better service and attitude there then Eden Rock.

[nancyhi]

Besides taxis, Grand Cayman has a bus service as well. We've used it to go up to Dive Tech (next door to the turtle farm) and do shore diving there. The bus was WAY cheaper!! Dive Tech has a nice reef area right in front of the shop .... very easy diving!

 

I was in grand cayman last year staying put for the week and tried to get a bus, and they are small vans that were unmarked, and a couple had passed me by before someone pointed out that those were the buses, and asked why I wasn't getting on? I decided to walk back to the hotel, a block away, and grab a taxi.

 

Also, dive tech is a reputable company and I would have loved to dive with them, but be forewarned that its not the closest operation to the cruise ships, and may be difficult to get there, dive a two tank and then return to the ship on time. It depends on how long your ship is there.

 

I went out with Wall to Wall and asked them if I returned on a cruise ship, if I could bring my kids out on their boat since they had such a nice operation. After several days of diving with Giles, I was disappointed to hear that since their Stingray City (not Sandbar) afternoon dive doesn't synch with the cruise ship schedule, and that its always possible that it could take you longer to get back to the cruise ship than expected. If you have to get back to the ship by 4 pm for example, you really need to be in the tender area about an hour before to be safe - and they didn't want to be responsible for us missing the boat. They said they would try to accommodate us, but didn't want to commit until we were sure when we were coming again, and then they'd see what they could do about going out earlier.

 

But if you're just going on a regular dive around the area, rest assured many of the better dive operators go out early, and cruise visitors will miss the early two tank and its hard to go to the north end. I guess if you resign yourself to the dive spots closer to the ship, its not a problem.

 

Check DiveTech's schedule and make sure you can get reliable transport to and from the ship - if all you want is to see the reef and some fish, stick closer to the ship area near Sunset House or eden. If you want to go to Tarpon Alley, figure on a one tank, and pray for good weather, and a timely schedule.

 

by the way, a taxi CAN make it in about 15 minutes from the ship to Dive tech area.... I went from Sunset House to the turtle Farm in 20 minutes, paying the taxi driver to hurry so i could see it before they closed. I didn't have a boat to get back to, just restaurant reservations for a special event. well, eh hem, let's just say - he made it. right to the minute I asked him to get us there by. And this was just weeks prior to the renovation opening, so it was easy to see this "farm" in 20 minutes, spending more time in the shop than in the farm area. i spent more time in a taxi getting up there and back than really seeing anything. Hell is a cool nature thing to check out, but I'm glad I happened to see it as a side trip while in the area - and didn't make a special trip to see it. Altogether I spent about $35 in taxi fares from Sunset house to Turtle farm to Hell to this upscale restaurant (I forgot the name) right near the north end. then I had to pay to return to the hotel back on Seven mile beach.

 

there's lots of reputable dive operators. Red Sail Sports is at the Marriott, where I stayed, and they had the "cattle boats" of cruise divers, so that's why I opted to use Wall to wall instead of the dive operation at my hotel. But red sail did look like they had lots of services. Prices are about the same whether or not you went through the cruise ship or straight to them. don fosters was next door. If i hadn't gone out with Wall to Wall, don Foster's is who i would have used. Not sure if they handle cruise passengers tho for same reason as Wall to Wall. I don't think their regular schedules allow enough time for people to get back and forth.

 

unless a lot has changed in about a year, I wouldn't depend on the bus transportation option to get me to dive tech.

[KaC-Cruiser]

I was in grand cayman last year staying put for the week and tried to get a bus, and they are small vans that were unmarked, and a couple had passed me by before someone pointed out that those were the buses, and asked why I wasn't getting on? I decided to walk back to the hotel, a block away, and grab a taxi.

Yes, the buses are actually large vans, they are marked by number on the front as to which route they are on. We paid about about $2.50 per person rather than $20+ for a taxi - each way!! The buses can all be picked up next to the library in town - a few blocks walk from the cruise ship pier. It will drop you right at Dive Tech / the Turtle Farm. Coming back takes a bit longer, since the bus drives the back area of the island, but it was a very interesting and we drove thru Hell on the way back, and we met some very nice local people on the way.

 

Also, dive tech is a reputable company and I would have loved to dive with them, but be forewarned that its not the closest operation to the cruise ships, and may be difficult to get there, dive a two tank and then return to the ship on time. It depends on how long your ship is there.

We did shore diving, so it was at our own pace ... we didn't try to do boat dives as the scheduling didn't work with the cruise schedule.

 

unless a lot has changed in about a year, I wouldn't depend on the bus transportation option to get me to dive tech.

We've done it a number of times - no problem at all - as long as you don'y have a short port day. It should be fine taking the bus on any normal port day .... we've done it in Grand Cayman, as well as other ports ... it just saves more $$$'s for cruises!!! ;) :D

[ALadyNCal]

DIVE TEK was it :) We had more than adequate time and it was a great choice. We walked 5 minutes from the pier, got onto a local bus (near the library/post office) for $2.50/pp each way and it was maybe 15 minutes to the turtle farm. We were about the first people at the dive shop. Rented gear and tanks and made the EASY ENTRY with their ladder :) Had a nice dive and came back to sit in the sun for awhile and talk with other divers. By then about 10 other people were around and gearing up. Did our second dive, which was also very nice. Returned the gear and sat out in the sun to have sandwiches we brought. Went back to where we got off the bus and caught a return bus back to town. We had well over an hour left before time to catch the last tender and we were not first off the ship.

 

Easy plan. Inexpensive. Nice dive shop. Simple entry. Two nice dives. Great plan :)

 

We were happy we got away from the pier and the crowds.

[KaC-Cruiser]

Glad to see that others are using the buses with no worries!! We even took all our gear with us and had no problems ... the bus drivers were all very pleasant, and it was fun to chat with the locals as we rode around!!

[Lovin the Cruise]

We have always gone with Jason at Ambassador Divers. He's very personable and very flexible. He picks us up in his van so there is never a need for a taxi.

http://www.ambassadordivers.com