snuba in Grand Cayman

[shamrockace]

Has anyone tried snuba in Grand Cayman and how was the experience? We've done the snorkling and don't want to take the time to get certified in Scuba. Is snuba a good choice? How long was the tour?

[shamrockace]

has no one tried the snuba?

[Nitram]

My friend & I just booked Grand Cayman Snuba for our Jan. 09 cruise & I was wondering the same thing.....

Has anyone tried it?

[Nitram]

Let me add to my question because I just found some other posts from the beginning of the year where some had given a little more info on their experience with it....

Our excursion is from 7:30am-9am:eek: (I'm thinking a little early for me, but hey, it's vacation- I can sleep later.)

For those of you that have tried it, how'd you feel after? Any problems with doing another excursion after, etc.? Would you do it again?

Thanks for the info!

 

Hey Shamrockarse- I see you're going in Feb.(?) If anything, I'll post after I get back & let you know how it went.;)

[Nitram]

Just got home from sailing Carnival Freedom & did the snuba in Grand Cayman. Hummmm....well, for me.....I didn't like it at all & spent most of the time on top of the water. :(

Our tour started at 7:30am- COLD water. We walked 5 min from the pier & walked into the water with all gear with 5 ships in view (so no private beach, no boat taking you somewhere secluded,etc.) Was hard to put on gear with waves & rocks at very small "beach". You have to swim out (while pushing your small raft that holds your tank & hoses) where your guide will put more weights on your belt. Snuba can wear you out if you're not in shape. The whole excursion takes approx. 2 hours. Make sure to bring a towel with you as they do not provide any. They do have small wooden lockers outside to use & a bathroom to change out of your wet swimsuits before you walk back to the pier. The tour company does a very good job explaining how to use all the equipment & what to expect.

I like to snorkel so didn't think this would be any big deal for me. I think the part that I couldn't get past was how you have to suck in deep & blow out hard on the mouth piece.... to me, my brain says "if you suck in deep underwater, you're going to suck in water!" :o

My friend liked it, but she did have some problems with getting her ears to pop & was wore out afterwards.

The good thing about an early excursion, we were able to get back on the ship, shower, change & go back on shore & hit Margaritaville!

Hope this helps.

[shamrockace]

Thank you Nitram. We've decided to skip this excursion based partly on your report. This is what is so great about this board. You hear from everyday people! We are not in the best shape and I'm not willing to work that hard. lol Thanks again

[Nitram]

If I had to do it all over again, I would do an excursion that took me somewhere away from the very busy pier. Maybe a Catamaran with snorkeling... Grand Cayman is beautiful, with crystal blue waters & I wish I would've been able to enjoy seeing it's underwater beauty more. Oh well, maybe next trip! :)

[AMT]

We just got back from a cruise on the Ruby Princess, where we did SNUBA Stingray City. It was great! There was a 15-20 min mini-bus ride to the dock, and then a boat ride out to Stingray City. During the boat ride the guides instructed us on the use of the equipment and the stingrays. They were very professional and courteous. I had some trouble getting used to breathing through the regulator and not my nose, but eventually got the hang of it and had a great time (hint: just hold/plug your nose for the duration underwater if you can't only breath through your mouth and not your nose!;-) The stingrays were everywhere! They were very graceful and docile...amazing! There was an underwater videographer filming the whole thing, and yes of course we bought the DVD! The whole trip was about 3 hours including travel, with what seemed like forever in the water with the rays but was really probably 30-45 min.

[icerider]

Did you book through the cruiseline or direct?

[icerider]

Just wondering if you booked through the cruiseline or direct?

[nofears2day]

Is there only one company in Grand Cayman that offers snuba? Grrr

I've done snuba before and would love to do it again but the reviews seem so-so for the money we'd pay.

 

Also, is it rare for people to be stung by stingrays? I see a lot of excursions around the stingrays...LOL i guess I am the only one a little apprehensive.

[dmarie21]

Anyone done this excursion recently and have feedback? Is it worth it?

[DerwoodCruiser]

I am curious about snuba in Grand Cayman also. I did it with my husband and kids (11 and 9 at the time) in St. Thomas and we loved it except for my husband, but we knew that beforehand. He doesn't like snorkeling either because he doesn't like breathing through his mouth. I am a certified diver, but this was the kids' first experience breathing with a regulator. The guy in St. thomas was wonderful, made sure we all knew how to clear our masks, pop our ears, etc., then we started from the beach and he tested us in the water before he let us go over our heads. It was fantastic. We are dying to go again. Our next cruise stops in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Costa Maya and we want to snuba in at least one of them. My hubby will stay on the beach this time though... I'm not in great shape, and I did fine. Some people just feel like they have to work too hard, you just have to try to breathe as normally as possible and not overexert yourself.

[dmarie21]

I am curious about snuba in Grand Cayman also. I did it with my husband and kids (11 and 9 at the time) in St. Thomas and we loved it except for my husband, but we knew that beforehand. He doesn't like snorkeling either because he doesn't like breathing through his mouth. I am a certified diver, but this was the kids' first experience breathing with a regulator. The guy in St. thomas was wonderful, made sure we all knew how to clear our masks, pop our ears, etc., then we started from the beach and he tested us in the water before he let us go over our heads. It was fantastic. We are dying to go again. Our next cruise stops in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Costa Maya and we want to snuba in at least one of them. My hubby will stay on the beach this time though... I'm not in great shape, and I did fine. Some people just feel like they have to work too hard, you just have to try to breathe as normally as possible and not overexert yourself.

 

I'm so glad someone finally replied! LOL We're probably going to go ahead and do this. It seems it's not a popular excursion among CC crowd. I have searched and found very little feedback. DH really wants to do it, so I'm thinking we will. Thanks for sharing your experience :D

[dmarie21]

Did snuba in GC last week and it was incredible. I would definitely recommended this excursion to anyone. We met up with our small group of 6 right outside the port gate at 10am ship time. A woman was holding a “Carnival Snuba” sign and directed us to the waiting area. After giving her our tickets we all then walked single-filed down the street about 5 minutes to the snuba site. We were then passed off to our guide Precious, and then had to fill out a short health questionnaire and waiver. After that we were given instructions on how to relive ear pressure and how to use the regulator. We were able to put our things in a locker and were given snorkels, masks and fins. There is a ladder you use to go down into the water and it's not very deep so you can put your fins on while standing. There were 2 people per raft and we were given more instruction on how to use the regulator and given time to practice. Precious checked each group for additional weights and then we held onto the raft and swam out to the dive site. OK. Here is where I honestly freaked out. I've never been comfortable not being able to touch the bottom of the ocean, a pool, whatever. The feeling of not being able to touch the bottom was causing me to breathe rapidly and it was hard to use the regulator effectively. I told me husband I didn't think I could do it and wanted out...lol He told me to calm down and give it a try. I realized I needed to control my breathing and slow it down. Once I did that and got use to the air exchange from the regulator, and realized I was going to be fine--it was great.

 

The shipwreck was our first stop and it was really neat to see. I was surprised at how quickly I got used to swimming along underwater with the fish. So cool! The guides have scuba tanks on their backs and we were briefed on hand signals as part of the earlier instructions. Precious used our camera and video camera to get pics and video of us. We swam around the reef and got to see lots of fish. Now DH wants to learn scuba! I would 100% do snuba again. I only wish it lasted longer :(

 

Anyone has questions, feel free to ask.

[maryj426]

You said the first stop was the shipwreck where else did you go? Was the shipwreck murky down there and a lot of fish? Do you have pics? We are deciding weather to do this in GC or Cozumel and i thought cozumel may be prettier than GC

[dmarie21]

It was not murky IMO. Here's a pic of my husband and the shipwreck:

And here's another pic of the guide, Precious, part of DH and a little fish. I have no idea what these fish are called, but they are in lots of pics I've seen.

We also went to the reef. We did see lots of fish, but I think I kinda expected to be surrounded and that definitely didn't happen. I feel like we went in a circle counter clockwise from the shore to the wreck (Cali) to the reef and then an open seafloor area with large fish and then back to the shore.

[ILoveScotland]

Thanks for the pictures. I'll be on Grand Cayman for a week next month and have thought about snuba. I didn't realize you could actually swim with the snuba. I thought you just walked on the bottom of the sea. Now I know it's not always like that.