Dive Report-Mariner of the Seas 6/15 (Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel)

[Loves_Dogs]

Cruised Mariner of the Seas, 6/15 sailing. Purpose of the cruise was to relax and spend time scuba diving with my son. Cruise and the diving were both wonderful.

Just to give a little background, I am a new diver having only completed my open water certification dives which was 2 years ago. My son is more advanced, having 50+ dives. In addition to his Open Water certification, he also has a Stress & Rescue C-card.

 

JAMAICA

Ochos Rios Jamaica was our first dive. Now, after all the reading and research I did on the subject, I almost didn't book any dives here. Most people said not to bother, stay on the ship, the diving was awful. I would have to disagree. Maybe we enjoyed it because we live in Central Ohio and have only cold murky quarries to dive in, who knows. This was the only place that I booked the dives through the ship. We ended up on a good sized boat with several other divers, the dive boat was just a short walk from where the ship docked. The first spot we went to was called Lunchtime Reef. I thought it was an interesting dive, we saw plenty of fish, turtles and other creatures of the sea to make it interesting. The dive master was very conservative and we had some younger kids on the dive so we stayed very shallow but still had an enjoyable dive.

Our second dive was called the Katrina Wreck. This was very cool. The wreck was not real big, but had a few big openings to peek in. Once again we saw lots of sea life and enjoyed the warm water. While I am not a 'seasoned' diver, in my opinion, if you get a chance to dive in Jamaica, go for it. We had a wonderful time!

 

GRAND CAYMAN

We booked on our own with Neptune's Divers. We met them on Sea Grape Beach which was just a short cab ride away. It was a pain in the rear hauling all our dive equipment down that beach but it was worth it. Casey (one of the owners) was our dive master. The boat was nice with a cover for shade and a platform on the back for easy exits and entries. There ended up being 6 divers including us. We went a little deeper here than in Jamaica, staying around 55 feet on the first dive and a little more shallow on the second. The first spot we went to was called Eagles Nest. I could not believe how clear the water was and how far away we could see. It was unbelievable. We saw good size turtles, an eagle ray, stingrays and many fish. The beautiful colors of the coral reminded me of a painting. Next dive was a place called Aquarium North. We saw just as much sea life here. Knowing we were under strict time constraints, Casey did a good job keeping track of time to ensure we would not miss our ship and as promised, she had us back to the beach by 12:30 (which for us was 1:30). This is one place that I would HIGHLY recommend you dive if given the chance.

 

COZUMEL

We booked outside the ship with Scuba With Alison. She instructed me to take a cab to the Caleta Marina and look for her boat, the Maximus. We went to the marina and couldnt find the boat. Our cab driver got out and asked some of the locals and they advised us to look for the Enigma, which is Alison's other boat. We found the Enigma and just as we were getting out of the cab were approached by a man who asked me if I was jeleja. He introduced himself (Chucho) and his friend (Carlos who ended up being the boat captain) and said that he would be taking us diving because Alison had to take out some early morning divers. He had an email from her to give me apologizing but informing me that Chucho was a very experienced dive master and we would be in good hands. I must admit, I was a little 'rattled' by all this. Two other divers approached who were vacationing in Cozumel and had booked with Alison but had been diving with Chucho all week. They said he was great and they were diving again today, so it ended up being just four divers including us. The dive boat Enigma was a small what they call 'six pack', but it had some cover for shade. I could not believe how fast that little boat was! I have to say that Chucho ended up being our favorite dive master of the entire trip. He was thorough in explaining his dive plan, extremely cautious checking everyones equipment before each dive and was just overall very pleasant and friendly. In between dives he had fresh fruit, pastry and bottles of water for everyone which was a nice treat.

 

Now, we had never done a drift dive before and I must say it is a whole different ballgame, WHAT A RIDE! The first place we went was called Cedral Pass. We were very impressed by all the sea life, coral and sponges. We saw turtles, lobsters, fish, and a moray eel to name a few. Our second dive was known as Yucap and Tormentos and we were again entertained by all the colorful coral and sea life. In Cozumel we stayed around 60 feet. If you ever make it to Cozumel, you gotta dive with Chucho (Scuba With Alison), he is a blast. Overall we had a near perfect vacation, cruising and scuba diving, it doesn't get much better than that!

[w&k]

I have to agree that hauling your gear down the beach in Cayman is a pain in the a&&, but diving with Casey & Keith at Neptune's is definitely worth it! I have some happy snaps of our trip posted, and an old review that might still be hanging around on this board.

 

Jamaica is normally described as a desert - I'm very glad you found something to see.

 

You can't go wrong with any of the Cozumel operations rated highly by cruisers on this board.

 

We prefer drift dives to anything else... there's nothing like the feeling of gently moving along, with a lazy fin tip here and there to adjust and look at something.

 

I'm so glad the two of you had a great trip!

 

Wendy

 

dive pix

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

 

http://www.freewebs.com/wendyandkeith

[heydn62]

Just wanted to say thanks for posting your review.

 

I'll be on the Mariner, same itinerary, in October. My son and I did our open water certification in April, and this will be our first chance at "real" diving. We're also booked with Alison - have heard nothing but positives about her. My e-mail from her told me to do the exact same thing as you re: the cab to the marina - Hope we can either find Chucho or the boat.

 

We also plan to dive in the Caymans, but not sure what to do yet. No plans to dive Jamaica. We had planned to find other things to do there. Not everyone in our party dives - I guess we need to do things with them as well. :)

[Loves_Dogs]

w & k-

Thank you for the comments, I am so glad we had a great trip too. All the planning and expense, just a lot of work. Yeah, we must have lucked out in Jamaica because, although it was nothing compared to the other ports we dove in, we did see enough to make it fun and interesting. I enjoyed looking at your scuba pics, looks like you have been on some great dives.

 

heydn62-

CONGRATULATIONS on you and your son getting your certification!

You are welcome for the review. I love these boards, I have learned so much here. I envy you, trust me you are going to have a blast on your cruise. And I agree that you should plan a dive in Grand Cayman, the visibility is so good and there is so much to see. You really dont want to miss it. If you haven't already found it, there is another great web site with loads of information for divers, its called scubaboard dot com...check it out.

[vplsh]

We booked with Allison months ago, and received the same email. Unfortunately we arrived in Cozumel to find a voicemail on our cellphone from Allison telling us she had motor problems and had to cancel the dive. No alternate arrangements had been made- she suggested my husband try to get on the ship's dive excursion. To be honest, we were very disappointed with this type of customer service- we couldn't believe she didn't make alternate arrangements- she knew we were on a cruise ship and didn't have access to much in the way of options.

 

He did dive with the ship, but it was really disappointing. Don't know what we'll do when we are in Coz again next April. Probably book with one of the other highly recommended companies on these boards.

 

BTW- in Grand Cayman he dove with Eden Rock and had a great time.

[bruce-r]

We booked with Allison months ago, and received the same email. Unfortunately we arrived in Cozumel to find a voicemail on our cellphone from Allison telling us she had motor problems and had to cancel the dive. No alternate arrangements had been made- she suggested my husband try to get on the ship's dive excursion. To be honest, we were very disappointed with this type of customer service- we couldn't believe she didn't make alternate arrangements- she knew we were on a cruise ship and didn't have access to much in the way of options.

That must have been very disappointing. It sounds uncharacteristic of Alison not to to arrange a back up for you.