Shore Diving at Eden Rock in Grand Cayman

[jdbmga]

DH and I are thinking about shore diving in GC at Eden Rock. DH has been certified for 30+ years but I am newly certified. I have only done my 5 open water certification dives. Should we do the shore dive or a boat dive at the wall and a reef?

 

If we do a shore dive is a guided shore dive recommended or should we just dive by ourselves? Eden Rock requires a reservation for a guide and wants me to fax them my credit card # which I'd rather not do.

 

Thanks for your replies.

[Jimmers]

Eden Rock is a very reputable dive shop and I wouldn't be concerned with giving them your cc #. My wife and I did our open water checkout dives there in August and booked online several months before. They didn't actually charge our card till the day we got there.

 

I think the diving from shore would be fine for a new diver to hone their skills but off shore diving would no doubt be more interesting with better water clarity. I didn't take any underwater pictures but you may be able to find some online.

[jdbmga]

Jimmers,

 

It's not giving them my credit card # I am as concerned about since I can give them a temporary one (shop safe#). I just don't want to have to fax to GC. I'm not sure how to do it and how much it would cost.

 

I am also considering the boat dive but I'm not sure if I could make it down to 100 ft.

[Jimmers]

Jimmers,

 

It's not giving them my credit card # I am as concerned about since I can give them a temporary one (shop safe#). I just don't want to have to fax to GC. I'm not sure how to do it and how much it would cost.

 

I am also considering the boat dive but I'm not sure if I could make it down to 100 ft.

 

Yes, now I remember. That was an issue for me too but then I realized I had fax to email capability which allowed me to fax to Eden Rocks email which didn't cost me anything. Probably have to call your phone service provider and ask.

 

We're only certified to 60ft I believe so 100 ft would be out of the question for us. It's good you have your dh to go with you to show you the ropes. I'm hoping we can hone our skills abit in a newbie friendly setting so we don't make too big a fools of ourselves when we do go on a boat dive with more experienced divers.

[bruce-r]

Jimmers,

 

It's not giving them my credit card # I am as concerned about since I can give them a temporary one (shop safe#). I just don't want to have to fax to GC. I'm not sure how to do it and how much it would cost.

 

I am also considering the boat dive but I'm not sure if I could make it down to 100 ft.

Why do you think you'd have to go that deep? You don't. Whoever you dive with, be sure to tell them your experience level. Any reputable dive operator won't take you deeper than you feel comfortable which should be about 60 ft.

[jdbmga]

I just didn't want to hold anyone else back. I heard that some dive ops only go as deep as the least experienced diver. Not true?

[scubaran]

I just didn't want to hold anyone else back. I heard that some dive ops only go as deep as the least experienced diver. Not true?

 

In GC that's not an issue. With walls everywhere, if they know they have shallow divers they'll pick a wall that allows experienced divers to go deeper while shallow divers stay at the top. Besides, you're assuming experienced divers dive deep. On my last trip to GC, we had 6 experienced divers and the captain said we were going to do a 100' wall. I do underwater photography so I asked if we could go shallower, it's pretty much all blue/black colors at that depth, and everyone else chimed in and said they wanted shallow as well. So the captain smiled and said, "I know just the place" and we had two dives in 40-60' waters and the diving was great. Also keep in mind that your air goes a lot quicker at depth so I think a lot of divers want to maximize their bottom time (45min-1hr per tank), especially on a cruise where you're only at the port for a day, rather than clock a deep depth for 8-10 minutes. :)

 

But with all that said, shore diving in GC is excellent diving as well.

 

Randall

[Stevesan]

Jimmers,

 

It's not giving them my credit card # I am as concerned about since I can give them a temporary one (shop safe#). I just don't want to have to fax to GC. I'm not sure how to do it and how much it would cost.

 

I am also considering the boat dive but I'm not sure if I could make it down to 100 ft.

 

If you don't have fax/email compatibility, go to the nearest Office Depot or Max. The clerk will walk you thru it.

The cost is about the same as a LD phone call.

[quester1]

DH and I are thinking about shore diving in GC at Eden Rock. DH has been certified for 30+ years but I am newly certified. I have only done my 5 open water certification dives. Should we do the shore dive or a boat dive at the wall and a reef?

 

If we do a shore dive is a guided shore dive recommended or should we just dive by ourselves? Eden Rock requires a reservation for a guide and wants me to fax them my credit card # which I'd rather not do.

 

Thanks for your replies.

 

The last time we stopped in GC on acruise we could not make it from the ship to Eden Rock in time to take a boat dive so we rented equipment from Eden Rock and did our own shore dive. My wife and I have been diving for 25 years and throughly enjoyed our Eden Rock shore dive. When we where there they had rentable lockers and change facilities right on the beach - very convenent.

 

Since your husband been diving for a long time and has some experience i think you will enjoy a self guided shore dive. The people at Eden Rock will be more then happy to point you in the right direction to see some of the great coral formations. The coral heads are so big that they jioned together at the top leaving opennings so big that I could easily swim through them to the other side. My wife was a little apprehensive about swim under the coral heads so she watched me,swam over the top and meet me on th eother side.

 

I understand that Reef off shore from eden rock has suffered greatly and is not as beautiful as it was a few years ago.

 

You may find that a boat dive will allow you see much more spectacular coral reefs and/orwall then you would see doing a shore dive.

 

Since Eden Rock is so close the cruise port the cost of cab fare is minimal and the cost of renting equipment is about a third of the cost of boat dive. In addition, fill the tanks for a second or even a third shore dive cost only $7.00 per tank since you rent the equipment for the day.

 

Check out the price of the boat dive excursion sold on your cruise ship and compare it to the cost of booking your own boat dive and paying for round trip cab fare.

 

As I said before we could not make it to the dive shop in time to take the morning boat dive becasue of delays in tendering from the ship to shore. As well we could not take the afternoon dive becasue it did not return soon enough to catch the last tender back to the ship.

 

It you book a boat dive from the ship they will have made special arrangements to coordinate the boat dive with the tender operations or disembarkation at dock side from the ship so that you will plenty of time for the dive(s). On our last cruise to GC the captain determined that the ocean would become to ruff to operate the tenders in the afternoon and therefore he decided to skip the portH had we booked our own dive direct with the dive shop we would not gotten our money back. Since your captain decided to skip the port we got all our money back. As well, if the captain had decided to allow passengers off the ship and we went on a shore excursion boat dive that coulod not have made it back in time to catch the last tender the ship would wait for us. Or if passengers were stranded on shore because tender operations had to be suppended because of ruff seas the cruise line would be responsible for all the passengers cost incurred to catch up with the cruise ship at the next port.

 

As well we have discovered that when it comes to boat dives the cruises ship excursions are usually a good value because they include all transfer costs. On a boat dive to Molikini crater in Hawaii, the cost of the NCL shore excursion two tank boat dive was only $20.00 more than the cost of the dive if I booked it through the dive shop because it included a all necessary dive equipment,wet suits cab fare from the port to the dive shop on the other side of the island. The cabbie told me that the cab fare would have cost us about $180.00 round trip. We therefore saved about $70.00 per person by booking through the cruise line in addition to the cruise line excursion guarrantees.

[KJHorton]

I think alot of it depends on your comfort level as a new diver. The shore diving would be fine, but would you feel comfortable with only yourself and your husband or would you feel more comfortable with a local guide? I think that is an important consideration for you.

 

Also, the Eden Rock shop is close enough that you can walk from the ship. We did with our gear and had no problem.

 

Every shop I have booked with outside of the ship has assured me that if our ship can't make it into port that day, they will not charge me.

 

Finally, is there any reason you can't just email your credit card # to them?

[scubaran]

Finally, is there any reason you can't just email your credit card # to them?

 

Hi,

 

Besides being a recreational diver I'm a Global Security Analyst by trade. I HIGHLY recommend at any time that you don't e-mail your credit card number, Social Security number, bank account information or any personal or financial data. The internet is inherently not secure and you might as well paint the information on the side of your car and slowly drive around town. Faxing is still a point-to-point communication method so I'd go for faxing the info. As far as costs, it's only a few dollars at best but worth a lifetime of credit reporting due to someone getting the data through an e-mail.

 

My 2-cents worth,

Randall

[KJHorton]

Thanks for the info, Randall.

[jdbmga]

Thank you all for you input. I'm still undecided but leaning more towards the boat dive. I've kind of had my fill (for now) of shore diving during my certification dives. I'd like to do something different.

 

I may just book through RCCL in GC to make it easy. I have a trip booked with Alison in Cozumel.

[bruce-r]

I just didn't want to hold anyone else back. I heard that some dive ops only go as deep as the least experienced diver. Not true?

 

It will depend on the dive operator. I know that http://www.neptunesdivers.com does guided dives and won't take you deeper than you feel comfortable, but they also allow more experienced divers to buddy up and do their own dive if they choose.

 

You'd be safe going with the ship's excursions as they tend to be geared toward the less experienced diver.

 

At Eden Rock, Eden Rock dive center isn't the only dive shop. Abanks Divers is also there.

 

Or you could walk a little further and dive at http://www.sunsethouse.com

[zippybossrock]

I'm also newly certified (Oct 2007) and went diving recently in both Cozumel (with Alison.....you'll love her) and in GC at Eden Rock. I did the guided shore dive (Devil's Grotto and Eden Rock) and while it was wonderful, it wasn't as nice as Palancar Horseshoe & Paradise Reef in Coz. Both operations are very professional and will not want you to dive beyond your capabilities. Whichever you decide to do.....enjoy!!!!:D

[SpudLand]

I dove Eden Rock in March 2006, got right off the ship (Carnival Conquest) and hooked up with 5 others who were looking for the same thing. Rented tanks, Vest, etc. on the beach the shop was very helpful in telling us where to go. Did a "do it ourselves" dive around the area. It was great. Doing it again I would pay for a boat and wall dive somewhere in GC.

Good Luck and Good Diving.

[jdbmga]

We decided on a boat dive with RC. Being a tender port and a wall dive I heard that the cruise ship divers are usually newer divers so I thought I'd be more comfortable going that route. In Cozumel we booked independently with Alison.